Street Children Volunteer India

Volunteering in Jaipur for two weeks gave me new perspective on many levels. Living with a lovely family showed me how the culture lives and worships. I enjoyed their food and hospitality. Talking to different members of the family and hearing their views on daily life. The similarities and differences. I remember watching their version of America's Got Talent. Working in the orphanages teaching english and music to the boys was very rewarding and fun. I felt close to these kids after only spending a week with them. Sharing different kinds of music they had never heard before and teaching them about instruments they had never seen was exciting. The smiles from these kids lifted my heart and mind and I didn't want to leave.

My father and I had a truly amazing time with volunteering with children India and have so many unforgettable memories! I was travelling on my gap year and my father had some time off work!

The pick up from the airport was prompt and the Indian family who kindly took us into there home were so welcoming! They provided lovely vegetarian meals with and endless supply of chai tea which are great! The family also had Internet which was great to Skype people back home!

Teaching the street children in the school was a truly rewarding experience! The children were so excited and eager to learn from us! We taught a wide variety of subjects from English and maths to art, dance and singing! Neither of us had any experience of teaching in the past so we did a lot of improvising but the children were so great! I will always remember one little boy who loved to dance like Michael Jackson and his favourite thing to do was the moon walk!

We were provided with meals every day at the school and ate with the children.

To conclude we had a truly unforgettable time with volunteer with children India and would not change anything! If you want to experience the true India this is a great opportunity!

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think back to my time in India. I went with my mother 3 years ago now, when I was only 19 years old. I had been to India before, so I had an idea of what to expect. What I didn't expect, though, was how much more I could fall in love with this place and with every single person we met. We had looked around a lot before we went, to see who we would like to volunteer for. Sukret was the first person to answer the many emails we had sent out to various volunteer groups, and as soon as we had read it we were sold and never looked back. The organization of everything was impeccable! The family we stayed with are so unbelievably welcoming and will help you with anything you may need. The food is amazing, and their company is amazing. One thing that has to be said is that this is in no way an easy experience. Working with boys that have been through a lot of unthinkable things is hard to comprehend and very emotional. We soon realised that teaching them English and maths was not the most important part. Some of the boys had never had the opportunity to just be kids. Simply letting them play, making them smile and laugh, giving them cuddles and allowing them to be children was what a lot of them needed! Letting them learn through play was one of our many goals, and we couldn't have done it without the amazing help from Govind who translated for us and brought much joy to the boys as well.
The days can be long and hot, and after a day with the boys we could always look forward to a warm cup of Chai with Govind and our lovely tuctuc driver Totoram on our way home.
If you are there for a long time, Sukret and Govind have many ideas for things you can do over the weekends. They took us to a tiger safari, where we unfortunately did not see any tigers but still had such an adventure just getting there! Such great company:) India is a beautiful country that 'attacks' every single one of your senses - smells, noises, tastes and colours. Be prepared to be amazed! I would recommend this programme to anyone and everyone. I will never forgot this experience and truly hope to come again one day! We miss you all and think about you all the time. See you soon!

I spent one week working with children at this center through VWI in February of 2015. This program is my favorite program so far at VWI ( I have also done 2 weeks working with Elephants and 1 week working in the women's program.)
While I was there, there were about 7 boys at the center of ages ranging from 6 to 14.
The boys come from being rescued from child labor in factories throughout India. While I was there one little boy had just come from Bangalore. Sometimes these children are kidnapped and forced to work long hours for food. Other children were given up by their families due to extreme poverty and inability to feed and care for them.
It's an extremely sad situation, but when you see the transformation of the boys first hand from when they arrive, to after being at the center for a few days it is so worth it. The boys stay at this center until either the organization can find their families, or if it was their family that abandoned them, they find a permanent facility or foster home for them. So boys are always coming and going.
I feel like I have had the most impact in this program than any other volunteering I've done in any other country.
As a volunteer, you are picked up in the morning and head off to the center. Govind is usually the interpreter, and he's amazing with the boys! We usually started by playing some classroom games with the boys, like duck duck goose or the hokey pokey. Afterwards we'd go over English (this is a bit tricky as you are dealing with a wide range of ages and abilities.) Mostly you go over the alphabet, we would also have them name animals or objects that started with that letter in English. We'd also go over English names for colors, and have the boys find things in the room that were blue or green etc. We'd spend some time on math as well by just writing out problems on the board and helping them solve them.
After a few basic lessons, you can do some crafts or coloring with the boys.
It's a good idea to either purchase some things for crafts at the market or bring them with you from home.
I brought some washable paint, fabric markers, and workbooks/coloring books from the dollar store back home, as well as a soccer ball, some jump ropes and crayons.
This is a charity organization, so while supplies are provided for you, they are usually fairly used and beat up. The children loved the soccer ball, as their old ball had a leak and was pretty much a flat ball they would kick around. Anything you can bring is very helpful and greatly appreciated.
We also bought some things from a local market in Jaipur, some wooden stamps, dish soap to make bubbles, and plain t shirts for the boys to decorate.
One day we had them use the fabric markers and write their names on the plain shirts and then decorate them with stamps and drawings. It was huge hit. I don't think many of the boys had much if anything that was theirs alone.
Another day we made bubbles out of dish soap and play in the yard with them. We also did jump rope, colored, played soccer, and had a silly string fight.
After the boys play in the yard, they are served lunch. The man that makes lunch may pull you and have you help him prepare the food. This is pretty easy and kind of fun to do. Then you bring the boys into the bed room area pass out rice, dal, and chapati for them and supervise them while they eat. If there is time while you are waiting for your ride back to show up, the boys usually appreciate if you draw something on the board for them to copy and color.
This is a great program. The boys are amazing, and it's a wonderful feeling to be able to help a child who has just come out of a horrible situation have fun, grow, and learn. Please consider this program, even a week is so worth it!

As a seventeen-year-old Moroccan girl who had never set foot on India before and who had no idea what kind of journey she would embark in, I should say I will never regret my choice of volunteering with VWI. It was by far one of the most powerful and meaningful experiences of my life! My arrival pick up service was good. I came to Jaipur before the expected time because my flight from Delhi left earlier, but I only had to wait for 10 mins before getting picked up. The host family is a real joy to be with. I had a wonderful time with them, and I couldn't have asked for a better place to stay. While the accommodation was fairly comfortable, the food was IRREPROACHABLE! Indian mommy probably serves the best chais and chapatis in town! Transportation service is very efficient and the project staff members are so nice and sympathetic. I decided to volunteer with VWI because I wanted to volunteer with abused kids in India during my school’s winter break, so I did a google search for volunteer programs in India and VWI was honestly the best I could find, not only in terms of costs, but also and most importantly in terms of flexibility and variety of project offers . I would like to give 10 out of 10 to the Organization. I have had such a great time with VWI. The host family, the accommodation, the food, the transportation and my work at the center...everything was so perfect! I could hardly complain about anything. Also, I would like to add that the tons of hope and happiness that was transmitted to me every working day through the kids' genuine smiles are probably the memories I will cherish the most out of my volunteer experience. I am so thankful for everything. Thank you VWI!

My younger daughter, Tini and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend the month of April voulenteering for The working with Children Project, set up through the Voulenteering with india (VWI) Organization.
It was an amazing and humbling experience, which I will recommend for all those interested in getting to truly know India and in making a small difference.
Our main objective was to teach English, Maths and Art and Craft/life skills.
Teaching is a huge challenge given the difference in age range and the boys various degrees of education. Most did not speak a word of english either.
We were lucky to be 2 and found it useful to divide the boys into different groups in which we were able to adjust our teaching to better suit their needs.
We started our days with English, everyday repeating days of the week, which day is it today, yesterday, tomorrow. We worked with basic knowledge as the alfabet, colours, months, seasons, fruit, vegatables, parts of the body etc. We then connected these topics with the other subjects, which included drawing and colouring fruit and vegetables, give them a price, drawing money, setting up "stalls" where the boys had to be customers and merhants greeting eachother politely, buying and selling, working out change etc. We all really enjoyed this!
Some of the boys were really clever in maths solving all the work we could give them easily. Others had no experience at all and we worked on really basic numers and adding single figures. We played with dice and counted dots.
In Arts and Craft the skills were also very variable. We worked on simple shapes, put these together to make simple drawings. Sometimes we read stories which our intepreter translated to Hindi, then we made drawings on the blackboard connected to the story which the boys copied. We also drew typical scenes from the different seasons in our country, showed the pictures from Norway, which they had to copy, we talked about continents, countries and capital cities. We played board games and did jigsaws.
I will recomend to bring materials from home if at all possible. We managed to buy some materials in Jaipur, but found the supply was very limited. Paint, colours, scissors, rubbers, pencil sharpeners and definately items showing letters and numbers.- but also simple board games! Memory was a big winner! Anything suitable for indoor activity.
Most of all we tried to be there for the boys - tried to make them smile and laugh - praising their work and effort, trying to help and encourage them to take a step forward however small.
The VWI organization was faboulous! Sukret organized everything perfectly, all meetings and pick ups and trips were without fault, Govind our intepreter was soo sweet, both with us and the boys. Our driver Totoram was fantastic mastering the eratic traffic in Jaipur, and we soon deared to keep our eyes open! - He also knows the best place for strong sweet Chai where we all used to end up after work.
We were also pleased with our accomodation, a far cry from a luxury hotel, but all the same a safe and quite place that felt strangely like home!
VWI certainly made us feel comfortable and welcome! We also had a super week end away on safari with Sukret and Govind. Thank you Sukret, Govind (must get your mums receipe for that peneer dish!) and Totoram! - And thank you to Ramesh at Bal Basera and last but not the least our sweet, sweet boys !!

Recently I spent 3 weeks volunteering for The Working with Children Project, set up through the Volunteering with India (VWI) Organization. Overall the experience was amazing and worthwhile, highly recommended for those interested in travel and making a difference.
When volunteering for The Working with Children Project, the volunteer’s main objectives are teaching English and Math, although the work day also includes a dance time prior to lunch and arts and crafts/ life skills project in the afternoon. Teaching can prove difficult at times given the age range of the students and the various degrees of education. One suggestion when possible is to place the children into groups depending on education level and creating lessons for each level. Another suggestion is to bring materials from home if available or wanted, for example glue sticks, scissors, pencils, as classroom materials are limited.
Given the language barrier, teaching can be difficult although an English/ Hindi interpreter is assigned to the various volunteer sites. Despite this, remember that when volunteering you are having a small but very significant impact on the children in a very turbulent time in their life.
As for the VWI organization, enough praise cannot be given. Sukret, the site coordinators/ interpreters, and the organizations personal Tuk-tuk driver are all very accommodating, knowledgeable and personable. In relation to the cost of the program, the amount received is generous. Included is the guest house accommodations which is defiantly more than expected, 3 meals a day, transportation to and from volunteer sites and most local/ site-seeing in Jaipur. Volunteers are made to feel comfortable and welcomed, questions and concerns are promptly addressed and safety was not a concern. Overall I found this experience amazing, one which I hope to have again. Thank you Sukret and VWI!!!

Working in a friendly environment with kids that gave me a lot of energy, joy smiles, was the best way to get to know a different culture. Maybe language could be one difficulty but I was always surronded by people that spoke fluent English and that were happy to help me all the time