Summer Volunteer Program in India

As a mature volunteer visiting over my summer teaching break, I found it an amazing, yet highly supported experience.
I was made so welcome in this small village. Vicki and Bindu, our hosts on the ground, cooked vegan home grown food and let me watch their cookery secrets.
The combination of teaching ladies in the morning and a walk home for a home cooked lunch, before a longer session teaching the children. Both women and children were such a pleasure to teach.
In addition to teaching, the extra activities on the mini break, such as trekking and visiting city sites is an excellent combination.
The volunteer house has a great verandah for sitting outdoors communally during breaks and the evening.

I had the most amazing time in India with ispiice! I helped teach women how to use computers and volunteered with childcare. I look back on my time with Varun and his team so fondly. They were so kind to us and ensured we had the best time possible. The volunteering was so rewarding and it was also great to travel around Himachal Pradesh and Northern India on the weekends. I was there for eight weeks and in that time we visited the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Macleod Ganj and we went hiking in the Himalayas. India was such a colourful country and the people so friendly. Definitely up there with the best two months of my life and I’m so grateful to Varun and the ispiice team for making it happen.

When I retired I planned to travel and iSpiice based near Dharamshala fitted nicely with my plans to see India and volunteer on overseas projects.

I was met in Delhi by the director of the organisation and after a short tour of the city we left for our overnight journey on a coach to the Himalayas, waking early in the morning to the unforgettable sight of the white capped range of mountains while we twisted our way ever higher to our destination.

We then took a taxi to our accommodation on a large farm to rest and relax for a couple of days before our placings. I worked with pre school children in the mornings, primary school children in the early afternoon and young married women before our evening meal. Everyone was pleased to see us and we were made to feel ‘at home’.

Evenings and weekends were spent exploring the spectacular sights of India with a guide. You may like to read my blog http://margaretpillinginindia.blogspot.com for a complete itinerary of events which will give you a taste of the wonderful people and places in this sub tropical valley in Himachel Pradesh.

It was an adventure of a lifetime, remember it’s not just for the young in their ‘year out’, we have so much to offer in experience, qualifications and dare I say maturity. I made so many friends, young and old and left a piece of my heart in India.

Volunteering at ispiice is a wonderful and satisfying way to give something of your time and effort to your community. I have been volunteering at ispiice once a week for over six months and I really enjoy it. You quickly feel like you're part of a family and I'm sure that's one of the main reasons that people keep on volunteering for years and years--some for decades!It truly is a special place. Just check it out yourself - it's the best place to volunteer.

iSpiice provides very important (and unfortunately - necessary) services to children who have been neglected or abused. I volunteered last year with a group from Dharamshala. Staffs of ispiice are very supporting and friendly too. I donated a box of school supplies and some other stuff they needed. I have to say, this place is a first rate facility. I love to go again.No child should have to endure pain, neglect, or suffering. I'm grateful ispiice and varun.

Others have commented eloquently regarding the quality care and affordability at ispiice. I want to express my gratefulness about for the way we were treated during our first experience at ispiice.The staff, volunteers and varun helped us find our way and make a plan.They were caring and compassionate as well as knowledgeable. They never treated us like we are from different country's' citizens. The place is awesome, having lots of fun, the staff have huge hearts to make up for it.

I am so glad I came!I usually do not like to talk about the good one does, but in this case, its more-so for the fact that others can join in and help them out when the need arises. If a teenager has to do volunteer hours this is the perfect opportunity to do so. What's great is after you work a lot of people meet up afterwards for drinks or food. So, you really get a chance to make some friends.

I volunteered here for several years here and it is an excellent place. I would tell anyone who is thinking about volunteering here to do it because I really found myself looking forward to the days I would come in and tutor. Any time I had a question about anything the wonderful Varun Verma was there to help and guide me.I really felt that I was a part of something special because reading has always been so important to me.