Sankalp Volunteer Society India

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8.6 / 10 after 189 Reviews Based on overall, support & value average ratings

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I spent one month volunteering in Jaipur in January 2013, traveling on the weekends. The attention the program has given us, as well as hosting, food and transportation was really good. I chose the Women Empowerment volunteering program where me and a girl from NY split and taught together girls from a village near by. I chose the older ones because they spoke more English and because of that I was able to treat them less like children and more like human beings living in our curent planet Earth. i taught them globalizaiton, world currencies, and also did a test in which they had to know what is their talent, work, knowledge, what are resources and what is Indias worst enemy. This was to make them understand that the country they live in has everything, but poverty is Indias biggest enemy, which was indeed the overall answer from each and every single one of them. It has been a life-changing experience for me without a second of doubt. Also because of the wonderful hindi vegetarian food cooked in the house everyday, I turned into a vegetarian ever since - 3 years now - once I realize how people live well and deliciously without our Western unbalanced craving for constant meat. `We had to wake up very early everyday and had a curfew to return home, 8 pm. But it works since we all had the energy throughout the whole day to give to teaching and also see places of Jaipur. In the weekends the program has arranged amazing travels for the volunteers who chose the work and travel program and I have definetely experience a few of the best moments of my life in these travels, as well as in the teaching program. I could see from my girls that the frequency of english speaking volunteers has actually taught them english, and they are able to communicate even though their educaiton doesnt help so much and they are surrounded by a poor village, that in itself it extremely valuable.
On a note: I dont know how it works in India with these things since prices are always different however I do think getting couple a least of computer to teach the girls things like Word, and other basic things would be extremely helpful. I taught them Powerpoint and they all made presentations about themselves. This can be a valuable tool in the future for children who want to thrive in a system that was imposed on them,.
Overall, Sankalp Volunteer is an excellent program and up to today I recommend it to everyone. I am gratfefull to have chosen this program.

Program:
Location:
Posted: November 30, 2015
Overall:
10
Support:
9
Value:
10
Age:
21

I was there in august of 2014. It was a great experience teaching english and maths to childs that live in risk of social exclusion, although another volunteers were working in an orphanate and another programs that the NGO gets you to chose. It was a invaluable experience because you can learn how that culture and religion are, and how those people live. The NGO provide you tasteful vegetarian food and bring you everyday to your workcenter where you will work 4 hours, the rest of the day you will can enjoy the live in Jaipur.
Don't miss this opportunity to rise your awareness and your knowledge enjoy helping people!

Program:
Location:
Posted: November 30, 2015
Overall:
8
Support:
9
Value:
8
By: guillem
Age:
22

I arrived Jaipur with an open mind, and tried to have as few expectations as possible.
In the beginning of my stay everything was good. But the longer I stayed, the more I began to realize that there's something sketchy going on here.
Everyone working beneath Preney and Amita(the leaders) seems to be really scared of them, at least at Preney, and they don't seem to have a secure and safe working-contract.
Every time they entered the room people became quite, and walked around on their toes. And when we tried asking common everyday questions to one of the women working at the school she always asked us several times not to say anythinf to Preney and Amita, even though it was just normal things about her life, or about a holiday.

At the end of our stay we went out to meet a friend, and came back home 2 hours after the curfew. We sent a message to let them know we'd be late, but when we arrived back home they threatened to not let us back in, saying we should get a hotel. They also claimed they had been so worried, even though none of them had even tried to call our phones. The day after we went down to talk to Preney about it. He acted like a stubborn teenager and refused to discuss it and try to sort it out. We got thrown out, and had to leave the same day.

Earlier in the program there were to Indian men volunteering, they came back at the same time several times, but no one said a word to them.

I just hate that I put my money into this program, when seeing that most of the money don't even go to the volunteering programs, but directly into the leaders pockets.

I would not come here again, and I would not recommend it to anyone else either. I reckon you can find much better.

Program:
Location:
Posted: October 21, 2015
Overall:
2
Support:
1
Value:
2
By: martegs
Age:
20

Comments

Thank you for submitting such a long review, which also happens to be our first Negative feedback since 2004. Here we would like to point out to the readers that Egreenwood and two other volunteers had been terminated from the Program due to noncompliance of organization rules and safety requirements. The Current Negative Review is in response to the above which has been fabricated and created by their own imagination. Please also note the following points: 1. Safety of the volunteer is our Primary objective. India being a mix of many cultures, religions, faiths and regional diversity Requires discretion on the part of the volunteers and they are required to adhere to the rules laid down for their own benefits, including house timings. 2. If 90% volunteers left unhappy from our organization then your Negative review would not have been the first one. 3. Running and Handling an organization such as this for over 10 years is not a Child's play and not every 20 year old has the experience or intellect to understand the complexity and the effort that is required to balance human and other resources. 4. Organization funds: Kindly note that no volunteer/health/childcare/Other organization in the world can survive without creating revenue for its future development and sustainability. We are not funded by the Govt. of India, neither we get any grants or special privileges. We have to develop and create our own resources in order to fulfil our commitment to help the underprivileged. Be it Land and building, Human resources, Transportation or Technical infrastructure. 5. Please note Macs, laptops, iphones, mobile phones are not status symbols, they are necessities. Be known that Apple has created a technical ecosystem that works best with its owned manufactured products. Surprising you found it wrong on our part making use of good technology for office work. And yes we have multiple parental homes and ancestral properties which is "none of your business" to get involved in and our personal matters. We Respect all Volunteers and seek the same Respect for ourselves to continue our efforts for creating a better environment for the underprivileged. Thank You.
I had a very similar experience to you except I did 4 weeks in the orphanage program. The majority of the volunteers who worked in other programs often shared how the staff seemed very intimidated by Pranay and I had first hand experience of feeling intimidated with him raising his voice and becoming very angry. My friends and I tried very hard to negotiate the curfew as we had plans to travel a little further (without using their expensive travel programs - which may have been why they were so inflexible with us). We planned to arrive back monday morning thinkng there wouldn't be any safety concerns as it would not be night. Without any rational explanation this idea was completely banned. My friends and I decided to go anyway and as a consequence were banned from volunteering for a week. I accept that there was a consequence as we went against their wishes, however instead of punishing us they punished the children who had to go a week without any one looking out for their welfare. It was heartbreaking.

I had attended the 2015 summer program and really enjoyed it. I wanted to make a review for the program, say some things about my stay, India itself, and tips for first time abroad travelers.
I was using the Verizon 3G network and had lots of coverage, more so than anyone else in my group. If you are doing just brief calling and texting I wouldn’t worry about an international plan at all. But I ended up unexpectedly using a lot of my data coverage for navigating my way through the city with Google maps, as well as finding places of interest and doing quick Google searches on something. You can very easily use up 100 meg and I would suggest getting on some kind of international plan if possible.
For my 3 week stay, I applied for the Visa on Arrival which was very easy and didn’t have a problem getting it. When you go through customs, I just said that I was doing sight seeing and where I was going. They advise in advance not to say that you are doing volunteering as this requires a different visa and is a more difficult process to go through. You might have to check if you need a visa for doing international transfers in a particular country but in China you did not need one. When it comes to travel insurance you usually can tack on some for a little extra if you go with an online travel agency like priceline, Travelocity, Orbtiz…etc.
One major problem that I had was using the ATM machines. They were not reliable at all and most of the people in our group had issues withdrawing money at one point or another. You have to make sure that you are withdrawing from an international bank and not a state bank (you can do a wiki search on the list of banks in India for reference). Unfortunately in the process of discovering this I was blocked out of my account after repeated attempts and had to call my bank to have them unblock my card or wait 24 hours to try again. I only was able to withdrawal money once during my 3 week stay there. It's better just to bring a big wad of cash to last you the whole time as unadvisable as many people say not to do. You can bring credit cards but most merchants, rickshaws, restaurants, and eating areas will not accept them. It was a frustrating experience to have and am glad that I brought enough to survive my trip as I would have been in trouble otherwise. In general, food costs about an average of 250 rupees at a restaurant plus or minus one hundred for a meal with 150-250 for one way rickshaw rides. Higher end restaurants will cost more in the 500 range for a meal. Clothes are also in a 150-250 price range. 3,000-4,000 rupees a week is fine for food, transportation and other purchases though you could get by with less if you just stayed at the guest house.
The heat during the summer was relentlessly uncomfortable. I had to constantly keep a rag around my neck to wipe the sweat out of my face on a regular basis. I could literally just be sitting doing absolutely nothing and be sweating. Most of us after our volunteering activities had to take a cold shower afterwards. I would visit India again but not during the summer.
Pranay handles all of the e-mails and was really awesome in responding to all of my messages and questions that I had. I was really concerned about my first time abroad and wanted to make sure that it was a legitimate organization. There are a number of similar volunteering in India organizations and I wanted to stick with a more reputable one based on the reviews I was reading. He provided me with 6 different references of people who had all done the program before and I exchanged e-mails with them before I committed to it myself. During our meeting in person though he seemed rather disinterested in our group and lacked a kind of proactive engagement to get to know everyone. It was almost as if he was kind of bored with his mind elsewhere, but he was still kind and polite if you spoke with him. All of our guides were really great, spoke with everyone, and made sure we were all together. Our pick up and drop off tour drivers were good for the most part but could not speak English enough to answer any questions we had which was difficult. This can also be unnerving when you don’t know where you are going and traveling down dark alleys in slum like areas. It's also weird when they drive in the opposite direction on the roads, constantly open the door to expectorate, and honk at everyone and everything that is in their path. A behavior pattern I didn’t find out until much later in my trip to actually be normal for their culture…
The tourist companies provided by Sankalp will take you directly to where you need to go and know the locations of all the places. Many rickshaw drivers do not however and will take you to jewelry stores and textile shops (places where they are paid by to get more customers) or request more tips for taking you to tourist sites. Choosing to go along with them is up to you but most of us were not interested and found the experience frustrating.
I was volunteering with the Street Kids and found the experience to be absolutely fine with no problems whatsoever. I regularly volunteer in the U.S. and fully understand all of the logistical problems that come with it. During my stay there were a few people volunteering at the orphanage who openly disagreed with the way the program was run and wrote a lengthy document expressing their disapproval. These particular individuals were not with our summer program and I only heard through the grape vine that there was some heated arguments which ended in their termination of stay at the guest house. I know from experience that this can happen as many volunteers can be overly aggressive. Don’t fall into this trap. If you have a problem, do not write a lengthy document stating the problems. Simply make an inquiry into the areas of concern and schedule a meeting for conversation. One thing that would have been good would have been to ask the level of experience a person has in dealing with kids and volunteering so that there could be a proper placement. For some it was easy but for others it was a first time experience which made things unnecessarily difficult.
The Himalayan hiking was definitely more than I think a lot of us had expected. Two people from the previous group had ended up getting sick and were not able to make it. And two of our own people where having a really difficult time with it but were able to make it to the Triund Lodge with some encouragement from the group and our guide. You definitely need some hiking experience and don’t try it without at least some level of physical conditioning, especially if you have never been in a high altitude location before.
I would have definitely liked a confirmation e-mail sent to communicate an expectation of arrival and last things to consider and think about. Such as (make sure to bring a travel adapter, or name of person who is doing the pickup). Traveling all the way to the other side of the world to an organization that you are not familiar with is a big commitment and I just felt that the communication when it came to this was a little too loose for my taste. Sometimes, like on the visit to Pushkar, we were just sort of left in a city to do whatever without much guidance as to where to go or how to get there. It would have been nice to get more direction or a traveling map on these visits but we seemed to manage it ok without any. One last thing was the age differences. Most of the people there at the guest house were around their late teens and early 20s. Given that I was 30, I was roughly 10 years older than anyone else which was kind of isolating in a way. I don’t know why there wasn’t a more diverse age group but if you are looking for people to talk and socialize with that are in your generation I would check in advance to see what the ages of the people are. When it comes to the program as a whole, it didn’t really blow me away but I trust and would recommend them to anyone interested in visiting India for the first time.

Program:
Location:
Posted: August 8, 2015
Overall:
8
Support:
8
Value:
10
Age:
30

Comments

I'm looking to take part in the Orphanage program instead of the Street Kids one at Sankalp next month. I was just wondering if I could chat with you about your experience. My email is elizabeth.chand@gmail.com please feel free to contact me if you are interested in sharing more of your experience. Thanks!

It was an amazing experience in India. Sankalp is organized an keeps track of the needs of the volunteers. I've helped in the orphanage and it was great.
I strongly recommend the experience and the organization.

Program:
Location:
Posted: April 22, 2015
Overall:
8
Support:
8
Value:
10
Age:
27

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