“If you have come to help me because you feel called to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, please stay and let’s work together.”

- Lilla Watson

Volunteering is often times a life changing experience – it has been for the people who work to make VEC Project happen. VEC Project has several ways people can volunteer to help us, all of which are important in different ways and require different sets of skills. VEC coordinates volunteers and will help prepare you to come to Nepal to volunteer. All our volunteers are placed in schools or a nunnery in Helambu region. The villages ‘ altitudes are between 1.500 and 2.800 meters above sea level.

VEC places volunteer teachers in several schools throughout the region. Many people don’t think of themselves as teachers and wonder what they have to offer. However, as a foreigners we often overlook the high quality education we received and how much that can benefit the students at the school. Creative teaching methods, interactive teaching styles, arts & crafts, and alternative learning techniques are often things we take for granted because they were part of our education from a young age. The Nepali school needs the energy and creativity international volunteers bring to classrooms. Children love learning about volunteers’ home countries, doing crafts and playing games with volunteers, and simply interacting with volunteers. It’s a great way for them to learn English and other subjects as well! Longer-term volunteers have also helped by teaching English to some of the staff and villagers who have wanted to learn.

VEC Project health camps are carried out when volunteers with medical experience are available to accompany them. The region suffers from a chronic lack of medical care and many people have to walk days to get to the nearest clinic. We have a small medical clinic at the school for medical volunteers and for volunteers with more experience can organize health camps where they travel to different villages and see whoever needs medical treatment. Wilderness first responders, EMTs, and a whole range of people with medical experience are encouraged to apply as often basic knowledge of medicine and treatment is very helpful to people; however, VEC Project cannot provide any medical training so it is important to have experience.

VEC Project International also welcomes volunteers who will play an important role in formulating, monitoring, and evaluating projects. Research volunteers in the past have recorded oral histories of village elders and in the future, may conduct surveys on the receptiveness to economic development projects, such as micro-credit, in the area. Research topics are conducted with the approval and coordination of VEC Project and School staff in the field, and the volunteer will receive due recognition for the work they contribute.