Personal Health and Safety

  1. The most important thing before you go out is to look after you own health. Looking after your health is more important than anything else. If you are ill you will not be able to help anyone else.
  2. The food provided in the home is basic. It is the same as the locals eat. It is important to eat these meals!
  3. If you do not eat the food provided at the home its very important to be eating something whether food brought from Kathmandu or the local “shop”.
  4. All volunteers should consider vitamin supplementation
  5. Drinking plenty of water is extremely important as it is easy to get dehydrated. The water is boiled in the home every day and is safe to drink. (The house mothers will tell you which water tank is for the volunteers.)
  6. Hand hygiene is important and will prevent spreading illness between volunteers.
  7. Basic hygiene, while goes out the window often, is important to your health and regular showers and washing of clothes will prevent you from getting sick.
  8. If you get sick, immediately alert someone in the group. Dioralyte is good for diarrhoea and the housemother can prepare special soup which will be easier to digest.
  9. Do not under any circumstance hide the fact that you are ill from others….(this has never turned out well in the past!!)
  10. If you have been unable to eat anything for more than three days, despite medication etc…this is serious and you should head to Kathmandu to receive proper health care.
  11. The Civec clinic while expensive is developed for tourists and is extremely good. If you are very sick this is the place to go. It is situated near the Indian embassy, (9771442-4111)
  12. Make sure to wear mosquito repellent, particularly in the evenings when eating and to sleep under the net. Long sleeves and trousers can help prevent getting bitten at these times. Avoid all perfumes and smelly body washes as these will attract the mosquito’s.
  13. The single most dangerous thing in Nepal is road accidents. Therefore be careful travelling and watch yourself crossing roads etc.. When taking the bus to Kathmandu always ensure that you are taking the “low road” bus.

 

Some other rules you should follow

  1. Volunteers in July and August should not swim in the river as the monsoon rain has arrived and it is extremely dangerous, volunteers in June are permitted to swim as long as they are not alone while doing so.
  2. Bikinis are fine for swimming but a long t-shirt, or shorts worn over it would be more culturally acceptable to the locals!!
  3. Drinking and smoking in the children’s home is prohibited. If you smoke do so outside of the home discreetly away from the children. A couple of the children in the home have background histories of alcoholism and violence within the family and therefore it is highly insensitive to be seen drinking by the children.
  4. The housemothers have a lot of people to prepare food for and therefore it is important to make sure that you are on time for the main meals, brunch is usually at 9.00am and dinner around 7:00pm, they will tell you when you arrive. After you arrive home from teaching there is normally a snack and tea prepared at the home you can go upstairs to collect.
  5. In general the children wake up between 6.00am and 7.00am. It is advisable to get up around this time as sleeping in very late does not make a good impression. However if your sick etc… looking after your own health first is the most important!
  6. It is important to keep your own bedroom clean and tidy. This sets a good example to the children
  7. Do not give money to any of the children or the staff.
  8. Drugs are not permitted.
  9. Being alone with a child in one of the private bedrooms is not allowed
  10. Striking, hitting or beating any child is not permitted and doing so will result in immediate termination of the volunteering placement.
  11.  Volunteers should submit their fieldwork reports and experience on completion of the volunteering period. These reports mean an awful lot to our Nepalese co-workers and out of respect please complete the forms.
  12. We cannot take responsibility for valuable possessions brought to the village. If brought please alert a member of staff and keep either up in the children’s home or locked in the bottom room of the volunteer home. We would advise all volunteers to leave all valuables back in the safe in Neels house!
  13. Do not give out to any member of staff. These staff members look after the children when you have gone home, and this will just serve to undermine their authority. If you have a problem approach the staff in a professional manner when the children are not around.
  14. Do not put toilet paper in the toilet as you will clog up the toilet and it is not a pleasant experience, please place it in the bin beside the home.
  15. Volunteers are expected to stay in the volunter’s home every night. If they have made other plans, the staff must be alerted to this
  16. Volunteers are not allowed to bring guests back to the home
  17. At all times volunteers must show respect and behave professionally in the children’s home, school placements and around the village. They are expected to create a good example and to look after their own health at all times.

 

We do not take any responsibility for anything that may happen out in Nepal. It is the volunteer’s own responsibility to look after themselves and their possessions, to provide their own insurance and to make the most out of the volunteering experience. We reserve the right to cancel any volunteer placement if deemed the volunteer is behaving in an unsuitable manner.

 

It’s not uncommon for people to feel slightly homesick when they first arrive/at some points throughout their stay! Nepali culture is miles away from what you’re are used to, and you’re with a group of people who you haven’t know for that long. But don’t get yourself worked up, it happens to the best of us but it’ll pass in no time! Give yourself time to adjust, after a couple of days you’ll be having so much fun that you’ll be surprised that you were homesick at all!! We guarantee it! :D