Volunteer in Nepal: Help Rebuild Ethnic Village in Himalayas

Local people from GRE village in Tamang dress

We are thrilled to announce a new VOLUNTEERING PROGRAM IN NEPAL, rebuilding an ethnic village of Gre in the Himalayas.

IN THE NUTSHELL, our goal is to put the Gre village on the map and keep it there. We will be bringing a cohort of skilled volunteers to the village to help enable the villagers to create sustainable tourism in their village to ensure their livelihood.

PROBLEM: In April 2015 Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake and the Langtang region (including Gre village) was hit the hardest! Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, lives, and/or loved ones. Sadly, many people in Gre village still live in temporary shelters and lack basic needs, like showers or toilets.

However, the potential of the village is impressive:
-Gre is located on the Tamang Heritage Trail, which promises peaceful trekking among the gorgeous Himalayas without the crowds of more established routes.
- Gre currently lacks facilities to accommodate hikers, but many families are interested in establishing homestays.
- Tamang ethnicity and culture is very rich and interesting to learn about, and people are eager to share their way of life.
- Local families are eager to launch homestay businesses and just need the guidance of mentors to show them the way.

SOLUTION: We would like to bring a group of 10 volunteers to the village for 2 weeks to fulfill the following OBJECTIVES:

1) Help BUILD the infrastructure necessary to support tourism: - Many homestays are newly-constructed or still in the works and need solar showers, toilets, hand-washing stations, hygiene facilities, etc.
- Develop a curriculum of ‘English for Hospitality’, tailored for Gre villagers (Bonus opportunity to help local school teachers refine English language curriculum at village school!)

2) Help ESTABLISH safe, sustainable business practices for the benefit of all:
- Teach and importance of hygiene and hygienic cooking;
- Encourage sustainable approaches and Eco-tourism and work with local entrepreneurs to create a plan together;
- Address issues of culture shock, customer service, and conflict resolution;
- Educate entrepreneurs about the legal requirements and government benefits of running homestays in Nepal (to be led in partnership with qualified Nepali staff);

3) Help ATTRACT travelers to introduce this emerging destination to the world:
- Collaborate with locals to create a sustainable marketing strategy;
- Teach social media marketing basics and boost technical literacy overall;
- Put Gre village on the map (quite literally) and spread the word through PR and outreach to influencers;

FEE: the program fee is $550 for two weeks. This includes:
- Transportation to and from Gre village (an adventure in itself!)
- A wonderful and experienced local guide
- Very basic accommodations in Gre
- 3 meals per/day in Gre village, local cuisine (additional food and drinks available for purchase)
- Program orientation and basic Nepali language class
- Supplies for teaching and program needs

WHO: we are looking for passionate people with some of the following skills:
- Construction, design, experience with plumbing and/or solar equipment;
- Social media marketing, branding, online/digital marketing;
- English as a foreign language teacher/ curriculum developer;
- Project management (overseeing broad goals);
- Blogging (preferably if you already have some platform to write about this project), storytelling, copy writing;
- Photography/ videography/ editing;
- Graphic design

REQUIREMENTS for volunteers:
- 18+ years old
- Physically and mentally able to hike a few hours to the village, carry your own pack, sleep, eat, and live in conditions below Western standers (a thin mat on the floor, no central air, limited electricity, squat toilets, etc.)
- Travel or volunteering experience is NOT required
- Experience in one of the above areas (i.e. construction, blogging, etc) is highly appreciated!

INTERESTED? Please fill out the APPLICATION FORM:
https://bit.ly/2CdxnZg

With all questions please E-mail Girls Empowered by Travel - Nepal, a non-profit organization running the volunteering program, at girlsEbyT@gmail.com

Join With Us!

If you are the one really passionate to help the small children or your interest lie with development of children, then we want you to join our team. GET-Nepal, the non-profit organisation aims to provide the traveling opportunities for young girls and create the community projects in need.

Two years back, our GET-Nepal team went to celebrate Nepali New Year with the children in Brick kiln factory in Bhaktapur. The Kids from the factory had never such enjoyment in their life. We danced, played games and distributed them stationary materials. It wasn't the end.

Agriculture has been the primary occupation for over 60% Nepalese people. From Nov-April, mostly farmers remain free and they look for income diversifying sources. The poor families migrated to Brick kiln factory to make bricks with their small children. These children are obliged to drop out the school for six months and they feel hesitant to join the new school in the city areas because of diverse languages and cultures. However, GET-Nepal designed the six months project (Nov 30-April 30) to educate these children through innovative games, sports and arts.

Hurry up if  your interests are outlined.

Job Vacancy: Internships
Stipend: Yes
No of Vacancies: Two
Working hours: 3 hours a day and six days in a week.
Project site: Bhaktapur (100 m ahead from Bhatbhateni)
Project duration: 6 months

Job Specifications

• Education level: Bachelor in Social Sciences (or other relevant studies)
• Must have experienced working in education sector.
• Candidate should be self-motivated, managing work independently and should understand the psychology of children
• Friendly and Kids lover
• Able to teach children in friendly and homely environment.

Please read the article written by one of our Hitaishi participants-Nirisha Manandhar.

We are very thankful to Glocal Khabar for featuring our travel story! One of our Hitaishi -3 participant Sristika Shrestha shared how this travel changed her perspective about the beauty of Terai. 
Please have a read!

Terai Confined as the Granary is Much More Than That!

“Now everybody writes an essay on-Our Country Nepal in 300 words. For this! I will give you 30 minutes.” Watching at his wrist, my social studies teacher gave us the class assignment. I was ready with my notebook and ink-pen and started to write that cliché line “Nepal is a beautiful country with high mountains and hills. Nepal is also known as Mountainous country and an even highest mountain of the earth, Mt. Everest lies here…” To make it to 300 words, I would add about how Nepal is culturally rich and use lots of prepositions.

Great news from Nepal!

Our amazing NAANI project has been approved for 2018's Accelerator Program by Global Giving. This is a great opportunity for us to fully fund this project and provide proper education for unprivileged children. 


Access our DONATION PAGE clicking here for more details. The donation period starts this Monday, September 10th.
You can donate any amount between $10 to 85,000 USD. Donations can be done once or monthly.


More about NAANI

                                               

Project Hitaishi (हितैषी) is back with its third phase! We’ve all grown up reading the cultural diversity of Nepal. Let the books come to life. Come travel with us to various communities of Nepal and explore the vast cultural diversity yourself. Not only will you get to travel, but also have an opportunity to conduct programs on “Sexual Health” in these communities. Hitaishi 3’ is a rural-urban cultural exchange project, where urban-based girl participants will be provided with an opportunity to travel to and interact with rural communities of different districts of Nepal.

Have you ever heard about the SDGs Hike?

The hike that aims to aware the youth about 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the role of Youth to achieve by 2030. It was a practical way of education to educate the participants that how a youth can contribute in a practical way to achieve these goals. About 23 youths were participated in the hike, which started from Nagarkot to Changunarayan from beautiful lush green forests to beautiful world heritage sites.

The hike was organised in the collaboration of YOUTH FORCE 2030, Binitar Karki, co-founder delivered the session with the definition of SDGs and different strategies to achieve it.