Lara and Olivia spent three months volunteering in India in September 2013, they have written a great blog post to help give you an insight into what it is like volunteering in India. When has anything ever been life changing, amazing or outrageously fun with out being challenging, scary and a little bit painful? …Our […]
Tag Archives | kerala
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: One Day I Will Be Back
“It has been hard work. It has made me cry with laughter, cry with frustration and sometimes just cry. I’ve been, annoyed and scared (the driving!). It has been hilariously funny, unbelievable sad, humbling, very hot, very humid, very sweaty and very wet. The food, mostly fabulous, sometimes dodgy. The toilets, ever a challenge, the […]
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: Arriving in India
Pauline volunteered with VESL in September last year for six weeks in Kerala, India. Pauline has very kindly written up parts of her diary to share with other people who are interested in volunteering with VESL, or who are already going overseas to India and want to get more of an idea about what it’s […]
A Review of 2013
2013 has been a busy year here at VESL, we sent our highest ever number of volunteers overseas and we are continuing to see an increase in demand for our volunteers to teach English in the countries we work in. So we feel that it is about time that we updated you in a bit more […]
2014 Project Dates
We have officially started recruiting for our 2014 projects in Thailand and India! So if you’ve been following all the excellent blogs written by our volunteers this summer and want to get involved with the great work we do in rural schools teaching English, check out the dates below for our 2014 projects: Thailand* *January […]
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 Five: Weekends
Becky’s fifth and final instalment covering her trip to India touches on travelling, whether at weekends or before/after your project, Kerala (and the rest of India!) has some amazing places that you can visit! Remember if you have missed her other posts, you can start from part one by clicking here! If you go travelling […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part 4: Teaching & The School Environment
“I would definitely encourage anybody to take part in this volunteering project. It has been an amazing experience and I have learnt so much from it. It feels so good to be a part of something that gives to communities that have very little, but appreciate every little thing they have and are always smiling. […]
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 […]
INDIA: A VOLUNTEERS GUIDE FROM START TO FINISH: PART TWO: PACKING
Today is day two of Becky’s ‘India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish’ and today she talks about packing and lists five essential things that she found very useful on her trip. If you missed Becky’s post yesterday, you can check it out here. Remember to come back tomorrow for the next instalment where […]
India: A Volunteers Guide From Start To Finish: Part One: Fundraising
Becky McMullin has recently returned from a four week project in Kerala, India where she was volunteering in a primary school in coastal village near Trivandrum. Becky has written a great series of posts which we will be bringing you over the next four days about her experiences including fundraising, packing, meeting her host family, […]
New Project in India!
We are excited to announce a new project in India that we will be running next April – June in Kerala. This project is working alongside VESS, our partner NGO in Kerala, to provide English lessons in the school holidays for students moving into higher education as well as running a Literacy Programme for younger […]
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, […]
Travel Advice: Books to Read About India
Doing some reading before you go overseas helps to give you a real sense of what the culture like in your destination country will be like, this is especially true for India where there is a plethora of books out there to help you get a real idea of what Indian culture is like. We […]
