This project is available in Chiang Mai.
It’s hard to think of a worthier cause than supporting underprivileged children. By enlisting in this project, you’ll join forces with one of the most important advocates for child welfare in Northern Thailand. Over the course of your assignment, you’ll measure your success in smiles, laughter and successfully planned activities. Or you can take the long view – work carried out today contributes directly to reshaped futures.
Children’s Home Volunteer Project Video
Volunteering in Thailand – A Day in the Life
Our volunteers collaborate with multiple homes for children in the Chiang Mai area. These organizations are administrated by families, looking to help the lives of underprivileged boys and girls. The number of children at each home varies between 15 – 50.
Volunteer Tasks
As a Friends for Asia volunteer, you’ll be working with children who range from four to eighteen-year-olds. There’s no single narrative running through the children’s home sites. Some of the children are orphans, whereas most of the kids are living near the city, due to poverty, and their family’s physical location. Most of the children are from at-risk ethnic minority villages, that do not have access to education, or basic sanitation; others are refugees of the turmoil in Myanmar.
Most volunteers’ core responsibility is spending time with the kids, teaching them English, and playing English games, but there’s ample opportunity to diversify your workload. This is a full-on community with a host of peripheral needs. In fact, some of our volunteers devote their entire project to maintenance tasks like painting, tending grounds or fixing appliances. In short, a desire to work with underprivileged children is not a prerequisite for enrollment in this project.
Making a Difference by Volunteering in Thailand
Your contribution resonates on two levels. First, there is a genuine need for on-the-ground assistance with daily tasks. The families that look over the children work long hours, and the facility simply doesn’t have the resources to hire as many employees as are needed.
By helping with childcare and routine tasks like cleaning up, painting and grounds keeping, volunteers ensure that the full time staff have time to fulfill their duties or even take an overdue day off when appropriate.
That translates into better quality of life for the children even after you’ve returned home. Offsetting the task load of these overworked care givers frees them up to spend more quality time with the children. Even the shortest two-week project paves the way to healthier relationships between the kids and those who care for them.
The games and activities you plan can be just as formative. Volunteers are encouraged to organize games and activities, contributing to engaging experiences that the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.
Volunteer Stories
“The kids’ faces and the sound of their laughter will stick with me forever.” – Katie Chapman, Auckland, New Zealand
“There was always a baby or toddler who needed some special attention and the cuddles were a delight. The longer you volunteer there the more responsibility you can take in caring for the children.” – Jo Alcock, Auckland, New Zealand
To view all the Volunteer Stories in the Children’s Home Volunteer Project, Click Here.
Volunteer Project Fees
Participation in the Children’s Home Volunteer Project starts at a minimum of two weeks at $799. Each additional week is $119.
Volunteer Project Fee Includes
- Comprehensive Pre-Departure Information
- Visa paperwork (for projects over 8 weeks)
- FFA Volunteer Insurance
- Airport pick up
- Accommodation during orientation and entire project time
- Breakfast every morning
- Lunch every work day
- 2 day Orientation (including half day city tour, cultural dinner and show)
- Onsite Coordinator
- 24 hour emergency assistance
- Written record of service completion (for volunteers that successfully complete their project).
Volunteer Fee Does Not Include
- Travel to/from Home and Chiang Mai (airfare, train tickets, etc.)
- Thailand visa costs (if applicable)
- International Medical Insurance
- Cost of criminal police background check (required for this project)
- Cost of transportation to and from Project site and and accommodation (roughly $2 per day)
- Lunches on weekends.
- Dinner
Apply Now to Volunteer for this Project – Free to Apply
