Volunteer in Goa under 30 yrs

Why Go?

• Opportunity to Make A Difference
• Experience another culture
• Pre departure information and in-country orientation
• Providing Project Continuity
• Quality Volunteering Experience
• Project Guarantee
• Safety and Support

Overview

The Goa volunteer program is a relatively new addition to the growing network of work opportunities in India offered by our partner in India. After establishing the project sites in Himalayas and the desert state of Rajasthan, a new program on Goa's sun kissed beaches was a natural geographic extension.

Being offered with a new structure for ensuring a variety of volunteer work, travel and recreation possibilities, the Goa program is guaranteed to suit a large number of people that would like to make a contribution to socially deprived areas while enjoying the famous beaches of this popular destination.

Despite the apparent benefits of large scale tourism, Goa remains a stark reminder of many social issues like poor education infrastructure, HIV/AIDS that still face the Indian society in general. The small scale social intervention that was started in the year 2006 has been well received by the various institutions and hence in 2007, the operation in Goa is going to expand its outreach to other institutions that have been actively seeking a cooperation with our program setup.

Program Location

The state of Goa is India's most well known beach destination. This former Portuguese colony with its many fabulous beaches offers a distinct cultural experience with is on music, food and climate.

The volunteer home base in Goa is situated 2kms from Colva beach in southern Goa. The 30 km long beach is known for its palm trees and silvery sand and is one of the best yet less explored regions. Bike hire is available to volunteers for 50 INDR per day (approx $1.50 AUD) and those with international licenses may hire scooters to get around.

Colva is the oldest, largest and the most spectacular of south Goa beaches. It lies about 6 Kms to the west of Margao. The beach consists of about 25kms of the finest white sand and is lined along its shore by coconut palms extending to Bogmalo in the north and Cabo de Rama in the south along south Goa's coastline. In the colonial days it used to be the retreat for Margao's high society, who would come to Colva for their "Mundanca" or change of air. Today, reminiscent of this age, are the beautiful houses or villas that dot the village.

Volunteering Options:

In year 2008, the activities in the Volunteer Goa program would be distributed as per the duration of stay of the volunteers. This is because of some types of work requiring a more sustained volunteer presence than the others. This observation has been made by us with our initial experience in Goa since March 2006. Broadly speaking the work division will look as follows:

Activities possible for participants staying shorter than 8 weeks:

• Child care work
• Special education camps and bridge courses to children of immigrant and slum dwelling families
• Computer education to the children for a variety of population segments which may include orphanages, groups of local women and adolescent girls.

Please note that exact segment of the population to be targeted at various times of the year are communicated to our partners periodically, as we finalize our plan for social involvement in the various project areas.

Additional activities for participants staying 8 weeks or longer:

Note: 8 week participants can also take up all the activities available to 4 week participants:

• Teaching in schools
• Working in the ASRO HIV home
• Working in the school for mentally challenged.

Inclusions:

• Visa assistance
• Pickup at the Mumbai airport with 1 night arrival accommodation at our Mumbai hotel.
• All transfers by dedicated or public transport required by the program including:
  • During orientation program
  • Local sightseeing wherever applicable
  • All excursions included in the programme
  • Local transport to project locations in Goa
  • All train journeys included in the programme (start and end of program)
• Orientation and special lectures at our partners Goa Camp for 2 days including a 'Bollywood' film show and talks on various subjects of relevance to volunteers.
• 2 day course at an "Ashram" for learning yoga and meditation.
• 2 day adventure program including trekking through an unexplored area, climbing hills and rocks. This adventure / cultural tour also includes one or more nights stay in an Indian Village. *
• Multi-share accommodation in Goa
• Dedicated transport during the working days for local use throughout the program.
• All meals during the Program
• Dedicated on-site assistance of an English-speaking translator for the first 4 weeks of the program (including the days of orientation program) **
• All material required for various activities during the volunteer work like color pencils, paper and activities.
• Assistance in setting up local support for the volunteers activities in coordination with the local NGO's
• Extensive pre-departure information, port-arrival printed material, regular training and support from our Indian partners for preparing the volunteers for your experience.

* Note: The adventure program will not be a continuous trek but would include a mix of hiking, visiting villages en route and practicing of adventure techniques like rappling, valley crossing etc. Participants must possess reasonable fitness.

Note: It is advisable for participants to bring their own sleeping bags for the Goa program , as has been expressed as a necessity by some of our volunteers. You would however, be provided with clean sleeping bags to participants as a part of the adventure trek.

** Note: In case of availability of a local English-speaking person at the project site (like teacher or doctor), the same may be engaged instead of an in-house translator.

* Note: The program starts on every 4th Monday (with some exceptions) where volunteers are expected to use flights that arrive between 10AM on Monday to 10AM on Tuesday.

* Note: This program is recommended for participants aged under 30 years of age.

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Program Costs 2008

Prices valid 01 January 2008 - 31st December 2008

Prices
	Price Per Person (AUD)	Price Per Day (AUD)
Volunteering in Goa
Goa
4 Week Program	$2,607	$93
6 Week Program	$3,545	$84
8 Week Program	$4,043	$72
10 Week Program	$4,981	$71

Departure Dates 2008

Goa 2008
4 Week Program	8 Week Program
January 14 - February 10	January 14 - March 9
February 11 - March 9	February 11 - April 6
March 10 - April 6	March 10 - May 4
April 7 - May 4	April 7 - June 1
May 5 - June 1	May 5 - June 29
June 2 - June 29	June 2 - July 27
June 30 - July 27	June 30 - August 24
July 28 - August 24	July 28 - September 21
August 25 - September 21	August 25 - October 19
September 22 - October 19	September 22 - November 16
October 20 - November 16	October 20 - December 14
November 17 - December 14	November 17 - January 11 2009
December 15 - January 11 2009	December 15 - February 8 2009
January 14 - February 10	January 14 - March 9

• The program starts on every 4th Monday (with some exceptions) where volunteers are expected to use flights that arrive between 10AM on Monday to 10AM on Tuesday
• In case that a participant has to arrive outside these times, extra airport transfer and hotel nights may need to be booked, requiring additional charges.
• At the end of the program (4 week or 8 week) , volunteers arrive back in Mumbai for their flight our latest by 3 pm on a Sunday(Day 28 or Day 56) .
• It is therefore advisable that the return flight be booked for the volunteers between 7 pm of Sunday or sometime on Monday. Accommodation for the night between Sunday (Day 28 or 56) and Monday (Day 29 or 57) is included in the program.
• We strongly recommend that arrival flights after 10 AM on Day 2 ( Tuesday) and departure flights before midnight on Sunday ( Day 28 or Day 56) not be used as these can cause significant disturbances to the program schedule and are likely to cause additional expenses.
• Volunteer will be provided drop to the airport until 10 AM on the day after the last night of the program. Volunteers wishing to arrange a transfer after this time will have to make arrangements on their own.

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