Volunteer Programs in Thailand | Best Volunteer Projects

This was my first time traveling so far away from home by myself. I was really nervous at first but once I arrived I lost my nervous feeling.The other volunteers staying in the house were so inviting and tons of fun to be around. During the first weekend we learned about the Thai culture and went on tours of the city. After that we started our volunteering program (mine was the Children's Home) and it was amazing! I couldn't have picked a better program for myself. The children were so happy to have new people to play with and warmed up to us really quickly. They sang and danced for us and we taught them new games to play. On our free time we were able to do all of the tourist activities you would want to do as well as travel to other cities and see more of Thailand than just Chiang Mai. One afternoon we went to an old quarry that was turned into a lake they called the Grand Canyon. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen and we spent all afternoon swimming and enjoying the amazing weather. It was an experience of a life time and I would do it all over again if I could!

I was so nervous about coming because I was by myself and it was my first time travelling so far away. Turns out I had nothing to be nervous about. I had the best month of my life and I feel like I truly found myself. I definitely caught the travelling bug as we were able to do so much as well as volunteering, like touring Bangkok, visiting temple ruins, national park tour and a weekend trip to Cambodia (which was something we did ourselves but all the tour guides encouraged and helped us through the whole thing.) I also loved that we had so much variety volunteering from teaching in Bangkok to childcare in Surin to looking after the most beautiful elephants at the elephant village! I had the best tour guide there ever was. She really took care of us like a mother and she truly became a dear friend. I would 100% reccomend this program, Making dreams come true and meeting and making friends with people all over the world. The best month of my life!

I did the Thailand summer program for one month. It was one of the most rewarding experience one could have. I recommend everyone to join this program or any other program provided by Volunteering Solutions. Thailand was my third time with Volunteering Solutions, so I knew for a 100% sure everything would be perfect and it sure was. When I arrived at the airport I was immediately met with pick-up and given information on what would happen in the coming days. I had probably one the best guides during my stay in Thailand. Our guide was always there for us and made sure we were taken care of.
What I loved most about the summer program is that they integrate childcare in Surin and Bangkok, plus the elephant village for a week. So you really do get the best of everything. Everyone should volunteer at least once in their lifetime, and I highly recommend they do this through Volunteering Solutions.

I'm Hussein from Egypt I joined last summer the medical volunteering program in Surin, Thailand. At first, before areiving in Thailand I felt nervous because it was my first time to travel all alone and have an internship, however, the minute I arrived I was more than welcomed by the staff and other volunteers. I enjoyed the accomdation with other volunteers to get to know eachother more and enjoyed the volunteering program itself as we used to work in a hospital and gain experience. For me, it was such a great experience because as a dental student I got to do procedures that I've never really practiced in my country, thus it was so beneficial. The staff organized everything for us including tours on weekends like the national park. I enjoyed every single thing in my 2 weeks stay and most importantly I enjoyed getting in contact with volunteers from all around the world. Thai people were amazing and so welcoming. I highly recommend students who stidy medicine, nursing or dentistry to apply for that program because it will enhance your academic level and also will give you the opportunity to make new friends and learn more about new cultures. I believe people have to joing such programs in order to get out of their comfort zones and experience new challanges that will definitely change their lives.

I spent a month of my 2015 summer in the elephant conservation village in Surin, Thailand. It was a experience like no other and I highly recommend it to anybody who is willing to work in the heat. Most of the work we did were in one way shape or form in benefit of the elephants, but there were also a lot of communal tasks that I volunteered for, so I can feel as much immersion as possible on my trip. I wanted to feel like a part of the villager. One story in particular that I was honored to be apart of was a ritual to wish all of the bad spirits out of the house for a new family that moved into the neighborhood.

This was a spiritual experience like none I have ever experienced before. The ritual took place on the second floor of the house of the new owners and everybody who had a gift for the home owners and their family were invited to take part of the ritual on the second floor. A lady was kind enough to give me her gift to present to the home owners. Once on the second floor the first thing I noticed was a maybe a village monk sitting in the center of the room facing a pillar, on the other side of this pillar was the home owners and their family kneeling facing the monk. Everyone who had a welcoming gift laid them in the center of the room around the owners then went to the sit down so that we created a circle around the monk/priest and the home owners and their family.

Once everybody has seated each person received a pile of leaves in which were used to throw at one another about half way through the ritual. Before the ceremony began the monk enclosed the circle with twine that each person held onto with their hands pointed towards the center of the circle. After that the ceremony began. It was about twenty minutes in time total, and about half way through the monk began to throw holy water around the room making sure to wet everyone in the room and reach every corner of the room.

Once he began that we started to throw the leaves around the room and yelling in joy, we repeated this cycle about five times. Towards the end of the ceremony the monks wife passed around protection bracelets to everyone in the room in which we tied money to as a donation then created a line to tie to the new owners of the home. And that marked the end of the ceremony. Those who wished to stay, participated in a lunch in the same room with the home owners.

When I went to the water riding one not very big male he started playing with others screaming with his trunk inside the ears of the other just for fun. So all of the sudden I was among many elephants that decided to join to play, all screaming in the ears of each others and spraying water.

The Thailand summer program 2015 was honestly the best travel experience I have ever done so far in my life. It had the right balance of volunteering and being able to explore the land of smiles. Compared to other volunteering programs I felt that you got the best of both worlds, being able to volunteer with the awesome elephants and the fun to play with kids, and also being able to explore Thailand on your own. Being as this was my first time doing any volunteering I felt it was perfect because we got to sleep in different types of accommodations, such as hotels and hostels in peoples houses, so you get to have a nice sleep and experience how the Thai people sleep. I was lucky because I came with my best friend, but if you are coming by yourself don't worry cause the tour guides are always there for you and the people that you meet from different parts of the world make you learn so much that you could never have learnt if you stay at home. Everyone is friendly there even the locals. If you go there with a positive attitude then you will love your trip and love the people around you. Don't look at the negatives of a country cause every country has there good and bad points. The food was so nice there as well and the best part is your not forced to eat Thai food, so if you feel like you can't hack their food they have loads of western food places such as McDonalds. (P.S their Burger King is better than the UK's). All in all I loved my experience and hopefully next year I will be do more volunteering work cause I learnt, being stuck at home your eyes are closed to seeing how wonderful the world truly is.

This trip was truly an amazing experience ,one that am I greatful for. In the space of 3 weeks this programme enabled me to do things I could only dream of doing and provided me with the opportunity to meet people from all around the world ,some of who I am proud to call friends for life. Most importantly this trip inspired me to pursue an adventurous life ,one that could be achieved by travelling and exploring the world around me, so thank you VolSol!