Nepal: Travel to Teach in the Himalayas.
As T2T Celebrates it's fourth birthday we also finish the second phase of our development by starting programs in Nepal.
Working in Nepal has been a goal of T2T from the very beginning. The beauty of the country and the obvious needs of it's population has made us to want to work there but until now the political situation has kept us away. Since the situation has stabilized in the last year, it's now entirely possible to send volunteers there.
T2T has recently partnered with a wonderful Nepali organization that does a lot of great work in this stunningly beautiful but devastatingly poor country. We will work in four locations; Katmandu, Chitwan (the Terai region), Pokhara (the Annapurna region), and Langtang (the Himalyan region). Volunteers can work in a variety of different fields including social work, informal and formal English teaching and education, and health and sanitation. Volunteering in Nepal is not for the faint of heart but it will undoubtedly be an unforgettable and amazing experience for everyone involved.
Travel to Teach is Four Years Old!
On the first of March 2003 Patrick Marlow, a forest fire fighter from Oregon, USA, arrived in Nongkhai.
Pat was our first volunteer read Pats story
So T2T is four years old and it's a healthy youngster! The development of our organisation over these four years have been amazing in many ways. So many people have wanted to stay on and work with us. We have more than doubled the amount of volunteers we have received every year. On average we have added two countries each year; starting with two programs in two locations we now have over 50 programs (places or organizations we help) in 25 locations.
In the future we hope to concentrate our resources on building schools and teaching in them. In Thailand we will be teaching Hill Tribe children and Burmese refugees in the northern area around Chiang Mai.
What about development in the rest of the world?
Schools are needed practically everywhere and education is one of the most precious things one can give. We would like to work in French speaking areas and also to develop programs and build schools in Africa. So perhaps Senegal, Cameroon and/or Ghana will be next on the list.
Volunteering Programs for the Over 50
We have found that many people over the age of 50 would like to volunteer and would love the experience one gets from staying a place and actually being a part society there, but so many volunteer programs are set up for the very young traveler.
T2T wants to experiment with a program catering to the need of more mature people. Combining our existing programs with slightly better and more private accommodation and more "ready made" adventures.
One of the small cultural adventures that can fill a week or a weekend is a silk program in Laos. Take a look at the mini-gallery!
Other add-ons, that we are developing together with our Thai interns, are traditional Thai Handicraft, Thai dancing and Isan Survivors.
Laos Silk Production Mini-Gallery
Internship Programs
Jim, Fhun and Kie are our Thai Interns
Together with Mooy they will help us develop and run the 50+ programs and possibly other Cultural tourism projects in and around Nongkhai.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is very interested in development of cultural tourism and will help promoting our programs abroad.
Please mail your comments on this newsletter to Travel to Teach.