Childcare Volunteer in India - Dharamsala

Typical volunteer activities under the childcare volunteering program in India include;

• Ensuring attendance by the children of the area to these centers.
• Keeping the parents informed about the activities their children are doing at the centre.
• Help, prepare and, serve nutritious meals for the children every day with the help of a local worker.
• Create a fun, colorful, “Play Way” environment for the children through games, stories and other  creative  activities.
• Decorating and painting the day care center with charts, colors , papers to make it look attractive
• Encouraging more children to join these centers.

Volunteers are welcome to bring any resources which can be useful for them and help them in their volunteer work with the children. The day care centers do not have adequate materials and supplies and any supplies that you can bring would be welcome.

Volunteers joining the childcare program in India are required to follow a basic routine on a daily basis. This covers everything from meals to volunteer work and back. It must be noted that every placement functions at a different pace and on separate time-lines making the schedule slightly differ at times. A generic daily schedule for volunteers is as follows;

• Sunday : Arrival in Palampur
• Monday : Orientation + neighbourhood familiarization tour. Orientation session will
• be conducted by the local coordinator, covering topic areas; such as safety, culture, language, places to visit, behaviour, food, and other suggestion over things to do in Palampur-Dharamsala.
• Tue to Fri : Volunteer work
• Breakfast - 08:30 am onwards
• Working hours at the placement - 09:00 am to 01:00 pm
• Lunch - 1:00 pm onwards (volunteers are free to utilize their time as they wish post lunch)
• Dinner - 06:00 pm onwards

The same volunteer work schedule continues from the second week onwards
Weekends : Free to explore the city

Note: Please note, the schedule may vary depending on the particular project the volunteer is participating in.

We do not compromise on your living standards and tour arrangements. From arranging airport pickups to taking care of your volunteer placement, to putting you at the right volunteer house and helping you take up weekend travel, we help you plan and execute everything in a structured way.

Airport Transfer
Volunteers are picked up from Gaggal Airport in Dharamsala by a member of the local coordinating team. The airport is served with daily direct flights from Delhi. For those participants choosing to travel from Delhi to Palampur by bus, they will be picked up from the bus station and transferred to the volunteer home base.

Accommodation 

You would be provided accommodation in our volunteer home base in Palampur. The accommodation offers spectacular views of the Himalayan mountains and provides a safe living environment for the participants. At the house, we provide same gender sharing dorm style rooms with attached western style toilets, lockers, TV, hot water, internet and a large common area for the volunteers to enjoy their free time. The volunteer house has a huge front and backyard with beautiful gardens where the volunteers can relax and even play outdoor games and activities such as badminton with other participants during the free time.

Orientation

An orientation and briefing session will be provided by our staff in Palampur. We cover areas like culture, safety, locations, transportation etc. Volunteers also have the option to start their program by joining the 1 week Language & Culture Orientation week in Delhi.

Meals

The volunteer homebase in Palampur has full time cooking staff for preparing fresh meals for the volunteers. Volunteers are provided with three meals a day for six days a week. A sample of the meals you can expect are below:
Breakfast - Parantha, Bread, Tea (chai), Jam, Butter, Porridge etc.
Lunch/ Dinner - Dal (lentils), vegetable, rice, roti (Indian bread), pickle, yogurt may be provided along with some sort of curry.

During Your Free Time 

Volunteers can go and explore the market in Palampur and take long pleasant walks. The area in and around Palampur is very safe and volunteers generally prefer to walk down the nearby locations. You can also visit the beautiful tea gardens, temples and Tashi Jong monastery which is located in Palampur. Volunteers are also given a tour of the Palampur market, Tea Garden and Tea Factory and a Yoga class once a week.