Nepal
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Namaste and welcome!
We invite travelers to come and experience Nepal in a mountain farming community. Saping, which is a 4 hour bus ride from Kathmandu. It is located in a picturesque area of Nepal with scenic mountain views and rice-terraces. If you want to escape the busyness and noise of the city and immerse yourself in a peaceful village. This place is for you!
Currently, The School which had previously received no financial support from the Government and instead relied solely on donations for improvements and volunteers for teaching. It has now merged with another government school in the area due to the current situation.
However, our school has now transitioned into the Learning Centre and is still a great place for students to come to learn a variety of subjects before and after school. Our library is one of the children's favourite places to come to learn English and also play games. Volunteers like you will help continue this. For those that want a more hands on teaching experience there are also opportunities for volunteers to teach at the local school nearby.
Along with teaching. Volunteers are more than happy to try their hand at farm work and working on handyman tasks around the school.
We also run a guesthouse and a brand new cafe in Dhulikhel which is only a couple of hours from Kathmandu. Volunteers are most welcome to help in day to day operations of the guest house and also experience working in a happening new cafe.
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Volunteers will get a real insight into traditional rural Nepalese life by staying with us. Saping is quite remote, a little like stepping back in time 100 years. This is a traditional farming area; women have to walk up to an hour to get water from a well, and the village only got electricity around 7 years ago...so you will get to experience an authentic side of Nepal. We'll warmly welcome you into our culture.
The Learning Centre -
We're primarily looking for volunteer teachers, however our volunteers can also do some farming, maintenance work, artwork, guesthouse operations or cafe help if they want to.
Our volunteers teach the standard curriculum of English, maths, health, social studies and science - usually to grade 4 and up. You can also teach art, music, sport, child rights, first-aid, yoga or any other type of educational project you're interested in.
If you're a qualified teacher, you'd be welcome to work on improving our English curriculum, and also to work with our Nepali teachers at the local government school to help them improve their standard of teaching.
We often have a little bit of maintenance, painting and construction tasks, so we'd welcome someone with basic building skills. You do have to be fairly self-directed to do this, and to be able to come up with little projects yourself.
We're also open to any other ideas volunteers might have, so if you have a project in mind, please just email us! (We would welcome long-term volunteers who wanted to get more involved in the running of the learning centre and volunteer program etc...the sky is the limit!)
Volunteers generally work around 4 to 5 hours a day from Sunday to Thursday, and 1 hour on a Friday. If you would like to have Friday off so you can take 2 full days to go exploring, that can be organized as long as you let us know in advance.
Guest House and Cafe - Dhulikhel
If teaching is not for you, or you would like to try your hand at hospitality and tourism operations before or after teaching. This might just be the place for you. We also run a small guest house (7 rooms) in Dhulikhel which is only a couple of hours from Kathmandu. Volunteers are most welcome to help with reception duties or housekeeping duties. The most exciting place to be right now is our brand new cafe. Our funky cafe is the place to be before or after your day's adventures. It's modern and groovy with a great selection of food and beverages. Those wanting to help with cafe operations or want a bit of work experience. Feel free to let us know.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Japanese: Fluent
Nepali: Fluent
This host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
We have three bedrooms on the first floor of the learning centre. You'll have a private room, a foam mattress, and the area is quiet at night.
We have mosquito nets for the beds (if needed), a couple of rechargeable lights, and there's electricity in the rooms. However, (as with all of Nepal!) There is no heating available during the Winter and there are power cuts from time to time. We have plenty of blankets and some sleeping bags. There is solar hot water for showers and a newly built kitchen in the school with a stove, fridge and freezer. There is a lovely little terrace with great mountain views to take in before you start or finish your day. One of the best features is our fireplace with a built- in pizza oven at the top. A great place to unwind and get cosy and also enjoy making scrumptious pizzas.
We can provide the ingredients for cooking Nepalese food of dahl baht Vegetables, rice, flour, noodles, pasta, lentils, tea, coffee, biscuits and other local products like potatoes, tomatoes, onions etc. If you have any dietary requirements please let us know. Volunteers are most welcome to buy their own ingredients from the local shops or towns.
The bathroom is shared with volunteers. It is basic, and has a squat toilet. We don't have Wifi, but you can put a local SIM card in your phone to use the internet if you want to.
There's a small store about a 15 minute walk from the learning centre which sells basic items like phone recharge, biscuits and soap, but any other bigger shops and markets are 1.5 hours walk away in the town of Dhologhat.
Please do expect to experience some culture shock, even if you've already been hiking in other areas of Nepal. Traditional Nepalese life moves slowly and has a strong emphasis on tradition rather than change. Saping offers volunteers a break from the fast pace of modern life, but can also be frustrating for volunteers to adapt to a slower way of living. Educational, organizational, and hygiene standards are generally low anywhere you go in rural Nepal, and Saping is no exception!
So, we ask that our volunteers be prepared for living in a rural village. The volunteers that cope best are adventurous, self-sufficient and easy-going. There will be cultural challenges that arise, but we're also extremely friendly and welcoming!
Uttam (the learning centre director) doesn't speak English as his first language. So it's helpful if you write in simple sentences and if you're as exact as possible in the dates you'd like to stay. It may take 2 or 3 days for him to answer your mail.
How to get to us:
From Kathmandu to Saping takes around 3 hours on a bus plus a 2 hour guided walk up a steep mountain. In the dry months (from October to late June), it's possible to get a bus up the mountain, and then just do 1 hour of walking on flat ground.
We also run a guesthouse and cafe in Dhulikhel (which is on the way to Saping from Kathmandu) so volunteers usually go to the guesthouse first and then we take you to Saping from there. You catch a bus from Ratna buspark in Kathmandu to Dhulikhel (1.5 hours) to our guesthouse, then the next day we will take you on a 1.5 hour bus ride to Dhologhat and a 2 hour guided walk up to Saping. (Or a 2.5 hour bus ride and one hour walk in the dry months).
Our volunteers also use our guesthouse in Dhulikhel as a base; they sometimes go there on weekends to use the Wifi, washing machine and to hike around the local area.
Because we provide free education to children (through the support of overseas donors), we ask our volunteers to pay US $6 a day to cover food and electricity.
We really look forward to welcoming volunteers into both our village and culture, and we appreciate all that our volunteers do to help our children and community.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
This host can provide space for campervans.
More than two
Maximum 4-5 hours, 5 days a week
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