Becky is our Volunteer Co-ordinator for the team of volunteers heading to India on July 19th, last year Becky spent four weeks volunteering in a primary school in India, find out more about her experience and recommendations below! I’m currently a sociology student in my second year at Manchester Metropolitan University. I love photography and art, […]
Tag Archives | culture
Volunteer Case Study: Excerpts from a Diary
Ola Smuklerz is a student at Manchester Metropolitan University and she spent four weeks this summer in Kerala, India volunteering in a school in a Muslim community just south of Trivandrum. Ola has put together a collection of excerpts from her diary that reflect on her experience, from meeting her host family full of nerves […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part Three: Host Family
Meeting your host family can seem like a very daunting part of your project, in her third instalment of ‘India: A volunteers guide from start to finish’ Becky describes her worries and how living with a host family was one of the best parts of her trip. Read her post below to put your worries […]
Volunteer Case Study: Making A Small But Measureable Difference
Alison Leighton, a volunteer from Edinburgh University, volunteered with VESL in Kerala, India this summer for six weeks, here she describes getting over her initial nerves and the amazing experience of living with a host family. On 12th July 2013 I left the UK to teach English in a small village near Trivandrum in Kerala, […]
Volunteer Case Study: Every Day Brings New Experiences
“The children are so loving and are so keen to learn English. When you really make a breakthrough it reminds you why you are our here and gives you the confidence that you are making a difference.” Emma & Becca, Thailand 2013
Travel Tip: Learning basic Malayalam
Heading to Kerala and a bit worried about not being able to speak the language? Ever heard of Malayalam? Don’t worry we are here to help! Knowing some Hindi is not going to get you very far in remote fishing villages in Kerala, so knowing a bit of Malayalam can be very helpful! Malayalam is one […]
Festivals in Kerala
When you think of India a lot of people thing of the bright, vibrant, loud festivals that occur across the country throughout the year. Each state has different festivals so here we have bought you some of the famous Keralan festivals so you can see what is on when you’re out there! (more…)
Video Diary: Thailand Rural School Project
Andrew Durrant and Sandeep Rajgopal volunteered in a rural hill tribe school this summer. The school they volunteered at made a thank you video for them, check it out to get an idea of what it would be like to volunteer in Thailand! (more…)
Volunteer Diary: Don’t Think: ACT!
“If you are thinking about volunteering with VESL my message would be don’t think – act! You are guaranteed an incredibly rewarding experience you will never forget. The schools here in Sri Lanka desperately need more volunteers to help improve their English speaking and listening, and your efforts will be more than appreciated. Come and […]
Travelling Tip: Toilets
Kath McGuire has recent an excellent and insightful post about how to use toilets in Asia. Most recently Kath spent the summer in Thailand as the Country Coordinator for our Summer volunteers and found that a lot of volunteers were worried about using squat toilets. Kath has travelled and lived in India, Sri Lanka and […]
Video Diary: Life in Thailand
Jodie Thackray volunteered with VESL in Thailand in Summer 2012, here she has put together an excellent video of her time there, from teaching in school to eating crickets! Jodie recently graduated from MMU and is a freelance film-maker, photographer and artist – check out her website. Thailand 2012 VESL from Jodie Thackray on Vimeo. […]
Dealing with reverse culture shock…
What is reverse culture shock? If you have volunteered with VESL for a long period of time you may find the shock of coming back to the UK bigger than the initial culture shock in your host community. Reverse culture shock can be harder to deal with as it is unexpected and can occur even […]
Video Diary: Thailand
Nedyalko Dervenkov volunteered with VESL in Thailand this summer and put together the following video for his leaving ceremony at school, check it out to get a taste of what it would be like to volunteer in Thailand. Attend one of our Information and Selection events to find out more about volunteering in Thailand and […]
Volunteer Diary: First Day
Katie Desmond and Stacey Smail are two volunteers from Edge Hill University who volunteered in Thailand for six weeks, here they reflect on what happened on their first day at their project and how welcoming the host community were to them. On the first day of school we got shown around by our two host […]
