Volunteer in Himalayas (India)

Old May 23rd, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Volunteer in Himalayas (India)

Hi,
I am planning to Volunteer in the Himalayas for about 8 weeks this summer for July - August. I am looking for organization providing such volunteer placement and haven't found many the only one I could find is www.volunteerinindia.com . I am bit curious about them as I haven't heard much about them anywhere. They have a volunteer in Ladakh program whihc seems very nice and affordable.

Has anyone even used them? any suggestion and past experience with them will be greatly appreciated

Are there any more organization offering volunteering opportunities in Ladakh ?

Also I wanted to ask
1) what would be the weather like in Ladakh in summers?
2) Is Ladakh as safe place to spend 8 weeks in. I have checked it is very close to pakistan border.
3) What is the best time to be in Ladakh?

Any suggestion about travelling ins this part of the world will be very helpful?
michelle_y is offline  
Old May 23rd, 2008, 05:15 AM
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Interesting article on Ladakh here: tinyurl.com/6g7ahx

Suggest heading to the library/bookstore and reading some guidebooks. Aso, spend some time over at www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa - there will likely be volunteer info on the Gap Year forum, and there are lots of Ladakh posts on the India forum.
thursdaysd is offline  
Old May 27th, 2008, 01:46 AM
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Hi Michelle

I have been associated with an organisation which conducts Volunteer programmes in India - mostly in Mcleodganj / Dharamshala area of Himachal Pradesh.

Their name is BRIDGES and their website is www.bridgesweb.org

--Now about Ladakh.
It is a spectacular place and you shall see some of the most awesome mountainscapes there. Highest mountain passes and roads, monasteries, high altitude lakes, remote areas Like Nubra, Zanskar etc

The best time to visit Ladakh is from May to September. October onward it gets to be slightly chilly.

Weather in Ladakh is un-predictable - but normally it is hot during the daytime - and gets cool or cold during the night. But in case of any weather disturbances in higher mountains - the weather turns bad even in summers.

It is a very safe place to spend 8 weeks. Please do not confuse it with Kashmir valley where some disturbances happen on and off. Ladakah is a safe heaven - where most of the people are Buddhists and thus are very peace loving and calm.

I personally do not know Volunteerindia.com - but shall try to find out if any one else does Volunteer programmes in the area.

Take care
holikurry is offline  
Old May 27th, 2008, 05:35 AM
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I travel to India a lot, have only been to Ladahk once (agree it is beautiful and quite untouristed). Don’t worry about being proximity to the Pakistan border, neither you nor Pakistanis are allowed to get near to it, you need a special permit to go into regions near the border. Ladakh does not have any of the disturbances associated with Pakistan (which are internal political issues), Nepal or even the Indian state of Jammu/Kashmir.

You should have or get all the requisite vaccinations, you would need to start inoculations for Hepatitis B shortly, as therse require a series of inoculations a few weeks apart. You should check into that right away. You should have updates for Tetanus and for all the childhood diseases, Polio, which is still a bit of a problem in parts of India. This is not to scare you, but just to be prudent. I don’t think India poses significant health risks for a normal healthy adult who practices good hygenie. And of course, you can get Hepatitis anyway (people get it in the US as well), but it is not a disease you want to mess with, neither is Polio of course. You can look into whether you want to start Malaria prophylaxis, you may not want or need it in Ladahk; however those are the monsoon months (Ladahk gets little rain due to the “shadow effect” of the mountains), but if you will be traveling in other parts of India before or after, you may want to have Malaria protection for other parts of India. The cdc.org website is pretty useful. For weather see weatherbase.com and look at India, and then Leh, the capital of the state.

I do not know anything about the organization you mentioned. I agree that the Lonely Planet website would be a good source, they also have an excellent book on volunteering which you might want to get, the organization you are interested in may be listed there; it also offers lots of other options and advice. I would also check with the embassy in Dehli of the country of which you are a citizen, you could even e-mail them to ask if they have heard of the organization or are aware of any complaints; if you are a US citizen, the US Embassy in Delhi is at http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/

As a start, to the best of my knowledge, the organization should be sponsoring you for an employment visa; if they have not mentioned this to you, or if they expect you to come in and work on a tourist visa, that would tell me something about them. Technically, you are not allowed to do ANY kind of work, even unpaid volunteer work, on a tourist visa. You also have to have the work visa before you come to India, you cannot come in on a tourist visa and change it later (well you can, but you have to return to your home country to do it, what a pain that would be). So, if the organization has not mentioned the visa issue, that would be a clue as to their bona fides, IMO; esp. if this is a volunteer vacation, i.e. you are paying for your lodging, etc. This may just be a money-making operation for the “volunteer” organization. For information on Indian visas, see http://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/. The reason you would want an employment visa, besides being technically required, is that it would enable you to get “local” prices for things like hotels and airfare, where savings can be substantial. I may be wrong and it may be possible to do volunteer work on a tourist visa, but my understanding is that this is not the case. While it is very unlikely you would run into trouble with the authorities for doing volunteer work on a tourist visa (unless it were politically sensitive work like converting Harijans to Christiianity where local authorities might use it as an excuse to deport you), it would tell me something about the group if they do not sponsor their voluneers correctly.

For some other sources for volunteering, I have had English friends who volunteered through Oxfam, which is a very well-regarded worldwide-relief agency, take a look at Oxfam International at http://www.oxfam.org. They have short-term assignments.
Also try the links below:
United Nations Volunteer Program at http://www.unv.org/
Habitat for Humanity at http://www.habitat.org/ap/housing_need.aspx
and for India specifically see http://www.habitat.org/ap/build/ap/94.aspx
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Old May 27th, 2008, 05:51 AM
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Hi Michelle

That was good advise from Cicerone too.

However Ladakh is no different from other places in terms of standard precautions - vaccinations etc. It always helps to have the proper vaccinations - and I think most of the people now are already protected with Hepatatis B and Tetenus etc.

The only special deal about Ladakh is that since it is at a high elevation - one must be reasonably fit (as any tour to that place involves a little bit of walking and roughing it out). Some people do have a problem adjusting to the high elevation - but some after some rest on the first day and a tablet of plain Aspirin sets them right.

For some of the Volunteer work where you pay for your stay and arrangements but at the same time do some volunteer work as a part of your itinerary - No special visa is required and you can easily travel on a normal tourist Visa for that.

Only if you are earning money from your volunteer work - you need a Work Visa.

When are you planning to travel to Ladakh anyway..? The period is important to knwo - to find out if any reliable programme exists during that time.


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