Affordable Volunteer Opportunities Abroad
Africa, Latin America, Asia

Volunteers in this program will be working with orphaned children, living with HIV. Nikki’s Place / Agape Home is the name of the orphanage. The orphanage serves a total of 64 children and is located amongst the rice paddies, roughly 20 minutes outside Chiang Mai. Our volunteers are responsible for organizing and building new sports (volleyball, soccer, kickball, etc.), games, music, computer, English as a second language and art programs. Although the children are living with HIV, they are very active, energetic and are ready to play. Considering these are completely new programs at this orphanage, volunteers serving after you will build upon the successes you have achieved during your service. Volunteers will work in coordination with a few fulltime foreign and Thai staff. Nikki’s Place / Agape Home is a Christian based organization, which functions with Christian principles. It’s not mandatory for volunteers to be Christian, however, the orphanage staff asks that volunteers respect Christianity and the Christian principles in which the orphanage was founded and functions under.

Serving as a volunteer in this project is not only important to the children who live at the orphanage, but incredibly rewarding for the volunteers who are lucky enough to come and share this experience with them. The children are sweet, loving and fun, like children anywhere else. Although these children are living with the burden of HIV, most people wouldn’t be able to notice, considering their love of life and the energy and excitement they posses.

NOTE: A police clearance record is required in order to participate in this project. Please be sure that you can obtain a record prior to your project start date.

Minimum Program Length: 2 weeks
Start Date: 1st and 3rd Monday of every month
Arrival Date: 3 days prior to your Start Date (Friday)
Minimum Age: 20 years old
Volunteer Gender: Male and Female

Accommodation:
Volunteers are placed in a single, or shared apartment with other volunteers (depending upon availability). If you have a specific request, or prefer a private accommodation, please state your preferences in the application form. Based on the location of your placement and your accommodation, you might have to commute daily by public transportation or bicycle.

Food:
Volunteers will be responsible for their own food. There are many cheap local food vendors near the orphanage. Often times the orphanage will assist in arranging meals, but volunteers are asked to pay for their food. Volunteers staying in a shared apartment are responsible for their own food (when not at the orphanage). Special diet requirements or restrictions can easily be accommodated.

Pick-up Info:
A Volunteer Visions representative will be waiting for you at your arrival point and guide you to your accommodation and project location.

Project Schedule:
Volunteers will work six days a week (Saturday - Thursday). Fridays are a deserved day off to catch up on some rest. During week days, while school is in session, volunteers work with the children, supervising and teaching the above activities roughly three hours a day in the late afternoon, with preparation for English lessons and other activities being completed during mid-day when the children are in school. On weekends that the children are not on an excursion, volunteers will be asked to take part in the above activities during the middle of the day.

Suggested Donations
The orphanage has a fund used for the purchasing new play equipment, musical instruments and other things that will assist in the development of the volunteer project. Children’s chewable vitamins aren’t available in Thailand and are in need at the orphanage. Educational toys for younger children, specifically ones designed for children of the age of 18 months to 4 years old would be well used. Puzzles, blocks, learning and interactive games for children are also in request.

Your role as a volunteer is not only to make the children’s lives at the orphanage more enjoyable but to educate them through music, sports, computer and English education and art. You will pick one, or more, of the above activities and with direction from the full time staff, organize lessons or games with the children to enjoy and take part in after they return from a day of school or on the weekends.

Aside from organizing activities, the orphanage staff asks that volunteers spend individual time with the children, giving hugs, attention and love. Volunteers are additionally asked to be flexible, for often times last minute changes or events come up which may disrupt a volunteer initiated or planned activity.

Suggested Skills and Interests

Suggested Language Level

Volunteers are not expected to know how to speak to Thai, but will definitely have the opportunity to pick some up from the children and some of the staff during their service. The director of the orphanage and many of the workers originally come from native English speaking countries. Therefore linguistic difficulties will not be a problem. As is stated above, a proficiency in written and spoken English is a necessity for this program. If interested in studying Thai before, during, or after your service, Volunteer Visions will be happy to arrange either private or small group language lessons with a certified Thai as a second language teacher here in Chiang Mai.

All our volunteers are placed within the northern city of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a lovely city, surrounded by mountains and fertile rice paddies. Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second largest city with a population of roughly 700,000. The city is considered the cultural and physical capital of (what used to be) the northern Thai (Lanna) kingdom. Chiang Mai is the home of an international airport, restaurants of almost every cuisine, unbelievable shopping, seven universities and world class hospitals.

Local Activities and Excursions

Besides temple gazing at Chiang Mai’s more than 300 Buddhist temples (wat); there are many different optional activities that volunteers are encouraged to take part in during breaks or after completion of their volunteer service to increase their travel experience and knowledge of Thailand. All courses and activities use English as the medium of communication. If a volunteer is interested in taking part in one of the activities listed below, make note of this in your volunteer application so arrangements can be made prior to arrival.

Thai cooking courses

All courses consist of a student to instructor ratio of nine to one, or less. The course programs allow for at least five different traditional Thai dishes made per lesson. All courses are located in Chiang Mai. Courses are six hours long and consist of a local market tour by the instructors to purchase the ingredients for the course. Volunteer Visions will organize an optional Thai cooking course for an additional fee of:

• One day course: $35.00
• Two day course: $62.00

Thai Massage Courses

The owner of the massage school is a very kind woman who appreciates the service our volunteers do in Thailand. For that reason she has gives our volunteers discounted prices, which are listed below.

The one day courses are offered on Saturdays and can be studied on weekends or holidays during volunteer service. Volunteer Visions will organize an optional after service, or during service weekend massage course for an additional program fee of:

• $45.00 – Basics of Thai body massage- 1 day (6 hours total).
• $42.00 – Traditional Thai Body Balancing Exercise- 1 day (6 hours total).

The longer 2-10 day massage courses can be studied during a holiday (3 day) weekend or after the volunteer has completed their volunteer service. Volunteer Visions will organize an optional after service massage course for volunteers for an additional program fee of:

• $80.00 – Foot massage- 2 days (12 hours total).
• $70.00 – Oil massage- 2 days (12 hours total).
• $110.00 - Thai massage- 3 days (18 hours total).
• $140.00 – Thai massage- 10 days (60 hours total).

* Please note that the Thai massage school that offers our volunteers the discounted prices listed above is closed on Sundays.

* After a day of service, Volunteer Visions will be happy to point volunteers in the right direction to where they can receive an incredible one hour Thai massage for roughly six dollars!

Jungle Treks

Jungle treks allow volunteers, especially those who have service sites in a city, to experience more of Thailand’s nature. There are a few different jungle treks to choose from. All treks are all-inclusive (including food and lodging) for the time the volunteer is on the trek. Most treks include stops in remote hill tribe villages, rafts and elephant training areas. Volunteer Visions will organize an optional jungle trek, after service, for an additional program fee of:

• $40.00 - 2 days/1 night
• $55.00 – 3 days/2 nights

Please note that occasionally, due to weather, holidays, timing of service programs and secondary activities, some activities maybe canceled, or unavailable at the time a volunteer would like to participate. If this occurs a full refund of the additional program fee will be given to the volunteer before they complete their volunteer experience, or the activity will be rescheduled for another time when the volunteer is able to participate.