New Tourist Visa Rules in India making Volunteering Easier

Tourists and volunteers visiting India and hoping to pop over the border to Nepal or any other neighbouring country no longer need to wait two months to re-enter the country. After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, India tightened its visa rules to stop people with multiple re-entry visas from leaving India and returning soon after. The aim behind this rule was to better police the movement of people in and out of India, primarily due to the Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 160 people. The preparations for the attacks, carried out by 10 Pakistani gunmen, were made by David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman.

Ordinary tourists and volunteers with multiple-entry visas were also affected by this new rule. Initially, the rules were only supposed to apply to tourists with 5- or 10-year multiple reentry visas, but tourists with three- or six-months visas found it increasingly hard to re-enter the country. 

Over the past four years, concerns have been raised from the tourist industry as to the fall of number of tourists in the country. This led the Government to reconsider its strict visa policies and we are pleased to hear that it will be much easier for us all to go to India from now on!

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/12/04/india-eases-tourist-visa-rules/

Seasonal Greetings from Nepal

Our partnership school, the Vajrayana School in Kathmandu, sends their Seasonal Greetings and Best Wishes to all of us here in Europe who have somehow helped them over the past years! 

See the beautiful photos below and please keep in mind that they welcome volunteers all year around, without placement fees naturally.... Volunteers can teach English to Tibetan refugee kids, Buddhist Monks and adults in exile from Tibet now resident in Kathmandu.  

For more information, please see their website below or get in touch with Tiija at tiija.rinta@gmail.com

http://www.vajrayanaschool.org.np/

Change of Management Team at Ugandan Placement Site

The volunteers who have been to our Ugandan partnership placement site might like to know that there has been some changes to the core management team. The previous key manager, Emmanuel Norman Nakhokho, has left the project and her younger sister, Joy Nakhokho, is now primarily running the project with the help of her parents.

Emmanuel did a great job for the project over the years, with differences of opinion leading to his departure. Joy will no doubt carry on with the great work - she holds a degree in social development and has many years of experience from working in the field.

At the same time, a long-standing Dutch funder and partner for the project has been forced to cease funding activities to the project. As we all know, many European countries have been hit by recession and so obtaining funding from European countries has become increasingly hard. Therefore, the funder feels that they need to focus on helping their country fellows in Europe for now and, hopefully in the future, they can go back into assisting those in developing countries.

Many grateful thanks go out to the Dutch funder for all the efforts and developments provided by them over the past years! We wish you all the best in the future!

Blog of Partnership Organization in Nepal

To keep up to date with what is going on at our partnership organization in Nepal, you can regularly check their blogspot. This is the link to their blog that is updated regularly:

http://blognamasteong.wordpress.com/

Suitable Times for the Year for Placements

Volunteer East often gets asked about the suitable times of the year for heading out to volunteering placement sites. In terms of suitability for work being carried out at different placements, any time of the year is fine. There is always work for volunteers to get their hands on, only that the tasks at hand may vary depending on when you head over.

At the placement in Uganda, the school is shut for a month from late November till the beginning of January as the children go on their summer holidays (yes, they are on the Equator and so celebrate Christmas when it is summer!) and for about 3 weeks in August for a rainy season break. However, even during the holiday times, there are other tasks to be done, such as looking after the orphans who always live at the school. During school terms time, you can get more involved with teaching the running of the school. In terms of weather, the dry season is from October till March and then a rainier season is from June till August. But any time of the year is lovely and warm, with degrees reaching 25.

At the placement sites in Nepal and India, any time of the year is perfectly fine for volunteering. At the Nepali orphanages, the children are always there and in need of help. Also, the Indian partnership organization runs throughout the year and always welcomes volunteers. The monsoon season starts roughly in July and can carry on till October. Otherwise, the weather is dry and ideal for travelling.

In Pakistan, the seasons are the same as in Nepal and India, with the monsoon hitting the country during the summer months. Since the majority of people are Muslim, there is no long Christmas break, but things are quiet around Eid and also during Ramadan people tend to work shorter hours. At the placement sites, they welcome volunteers any time, as there is always something to do and volunteers can still do work even if all the staff are not present at all times.

For more information on the opportunities for volunteering in each country, please contact Tiija at tiija.rinta@gmail.com   

New Placement Sites in Thailand

Volunteer East has recently linked with a couple of organizations in Thailand.

The first one is called the New Life Foundation, which is an international recovery community in Norther Thailand. People from all over the world travel to this community when they need a tranquil place for recovering from addiction problems, depression, stress, burn out and the like. The aim of the foundation is to foster inner growth and to enable people to see the meaning of life. This is done through daily practices of meditation and yoga, group discussions, work in the nature and other purifying practices. They are always looking for volunteers to come and help run the community. Tasks range from gardening to teaching yoga. Placement fees are low and your help is much valued. Accommodation is in beautiful and comfortable single rooms.  

The second one is Friends for Asia. This organization offers a range of volunteering opportunities across Thailand, ranging from working on an elephant camp to writing for a magazine. There is many opportunities to work with children, as well as Buddhist monks. Placement fees are low and accommodation is in comfortable guest houses.  

For more specific information on each organization, please see their websites below. If you are interested in volunteering for either place, you can get in touch with the directly, or you can contact Tiija at tiija.rinta@gmail.com


The website of Friends for Asia:
http://www.volunteerthailand.org/

The website of Newlife Foundation:
http://www.newlifefoundationthailand.org/

Travel Vaccines during Placements

Before volunteers head over to their placements abroad, they need to take precautions as to the vaccinations and preventative medication that needs to be taken in preparation to their time abroad. Volunteer East always reminds volunteers of this and guides them to the right sources of information.

The first port of call should be your GP or nurse. They can advice you on the current recommendations in respective countries and make needed arrangements for you to have all vaccines and medications done in time. For generic information, the website called Netdoctor is useful (www.netdoctors.co.uk).

If you are travelling to Africa, a must is to have a yellow fever vaccination. It is a legal requirement and you may be refused to fly back to Europe if you have not had one done. The vaccine lasts in your blood stream for 10 years and will protect you against the disease during this time. Another must is anti-malaria tablets. These should be taken before the trip, during it and for some weeks afterwards. They will help you not to catch malaria, which is common in all the placement site countries.

There is no point in taking risks - you may think that it is unlikely that you will catch an illness when on your placement. However, you never know - you are in a new environment with new bacteria and viruses lurking around, with wild life just on your door step, so it is better to be careful than sorry!

For more information on yellow fever:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/yellowfever.htm

For more information on malaria:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/malaria_disease.htm

Volunteer Planet - free and low cost volunteering opportunities

Volunteer Planet is a website that advertises free and low-cost volunteering placements across the globe. They have links with several NGOs, ranging from schools to construction work, in placement sites on every single continent. All you need to do is to use their effective search engine found on their website and start looking for a placement for yourself!

Here is their excellent website:

http://www.volunteer-planet.com/

Linking with Migrant Mum project

Volunteer East has had the pleasure to be a part of a Migrant Mum project in London. The project portrays migrant mums/ mums-to-be living in London through text and photos. They also advertise the organizations involved in the project and so now their website has a beautiful link and information about Volunteer East. The Migrant Mum project also intends to turn itself into a book, and other sources, which will be great publicity for Volunteer East.

For more information on the project, please see:

http://migrantmumlondon.tumblr.com/Links

National newspapers in placement countries

Volunteer East often gets asked which newspapers or online news headlines volunteers can follow in respective countries in order to stay up to date with what is going on in the placement country as well as in the wider world.

Below you can find links to the national newspapers of each placement country - they update their newsfeed regularly and can be counted on for a less-biased view on what is going on in their countries:

* Nepal = http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/nepalnewsmain.php

* India = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

* Pakistan = http://www.nation.com.pk/

* Uganda = http://www.newvision.co.ug/