Volunteer at Baan Unrak Children's Home & School in Thailand

  Thailand

Rural Areas

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months, 7-12 months, 1-2 years and over 2 years
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks

Description: Baan Unrak Children's Home was founded in 1991 when Didi Ananda Devamala (a yogic nun), volunteering in Sangklaburi on an agricultural project, was given a child with nowhere else to go. Fifteen years later, we have over 110 children for whom we are responsible and we support several abandoned mothers.

Baan Unrak Primary School, located in among trees and beside a lake, is a private school for children in grades 1 through 6. In addition, there is a nursery school and a kindergarten for children ages 2 to 6. Dozens of children from the local community have enrolled in our school in addition to the children from the home.

Baan Unrak is located in Sangkhlaburi, in the Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand. It's a remote area, near the rainforest, where tourists like to ride elephants and have trips into the jungle. Because of its peacefulness, and beautiful environment (mountains, lakes and waterfalls), the local tourist industry is expanding. However, Sangkhlaburi is also ravaged by poverty and disease. In 1988, the government built a dam on the lake to bring electricity to Bangkok. This caused flooding so the local community faced relocation and lost their jobs.

Qualifications: We need talented female volunteers or couples who would like to come spend time with our children. The volunteer should have a love for children and good character through which to act as a role example for the children. Volunteers help with childcare, fundraising, teaching (English, Art, Crafts, etc), and gardening.

Cost in US$: Please inquire! Reasonable, but in local currency.

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to World Wide Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Thailand Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post Services Include:

• Alumni Network

KIDS Worldwide's Mission Statement: Kids Worldwide seeks to improve the quality of life for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. We provide nurturing care and educational programmes based upon the universal concepts of Neo-Humanism, which are tailored to the needs of the children in our projects. We run orphanages as well as provide services to already established orphanages and childrens' projects (such as struggling primary schools and kindergartens) through our volunteer outreach programs. Our volunteer programs are notable in that we only request a small donation for food and accommodation that is paid directly to the project itself when the volunteer arrives. There is no administration fee requested to sign up through the program as we have volunteers doing all the web design and co-ordination for free. We ask that each volunteer give US $350 for their first month's food and accomodation and $100 thereafter. That is all - compare this to other volunteering sites on the internet!