Homestay Cultural exchange
Home Stay and Cultural exchange (Cultural immersion)
Home stays and cultural exchange programs is a fantastic way to get more out of a trip to Nepal and can be arranged in most areas of Nepal with our 25 Host families. Participants will be placed with a Nepali family in a small rural village for the duration of their stay. This provides the volunteers with an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the depth of all aspects of Nepali culture, lifestyle, language, food and people. Volunteers should remember that this is a cultural exchange and that an effort to offer some knowledge of their own home culture and customs to the family with whom they stay is appreciated. The best time to come is between August and December, the time when most large local festivals take place resulting in an overall more exciting experience.
During their stay, volunteers will attend 1 to 2 hours of language lessons in the morning and in the afternoon. They will also have the opportunity to visit and help out at the local school. Home stay programs are best organized from January to December which is the time when most large local festivals take place. This makes for an overall more exciting experience for the volunteer. Nepali culture is distinctively friendly and open and participants are made to feel as though they are part of the family.
Requirements: No specific Requirements needed.
Duration: 1 week to as long as you want.
Initial date: Any day you want because all our volunteer programs and activities runs throughout the year.
Volunteering in Nepal itinerary
Check out our rough sample itinerary of our volunteer program. Your program itinerary might be varying with programs but this will be the basic things you will receive while involving in our volunteer programs with Friendship Society Nepal (FSN). Please learn more about your training that you will receive before you start your volunteer program in Nepal.
Day One:- Airport pick up, welcome dinner, official form fill up, introduction of Thamel and sightseeing and back to hotel / accommodation house.
Day Two: - Language, orientation and cultural class, sightseeing of various holy places in Kathmandu
Day Three: - Language class, sightseeing of Durbar square and other places, info night and packing for placement for next day
Day Four: - Take you to the tourist bus station to go to placement, local staff our staff will be pick you up to your host family from the bus stop and welcome dinner with host family
Day Five to Day Twelve: - Initiate your volunteer work till you program date (All basic accommodation facilities meals, guidelines are available from host family)
Day Thirteen: - Back to Kathmandu by assistance of our staff or host family member.
Day Fourteen: - Review writing, few official work like handling volunteer appreciation certificate, photo sharing and final good bye dinner.
Day Fifteen:- Free day to explore Kathmandu or other places if you are not flying back on 15th day. If you are flying then we will assist you for airport.
This is just a sample of basic starter itinerary of our services/training. Once you choose any of our programs, we will give you your exact program itinerary design according to your desire, once you will be in our office. You will be doing lot more activities beyond the above sample itinerary. We can only decide your exact volunteer programs itinerary once you finalize your program, your exact arrival date and duration you will be doing your volunteer work with us.
Our Volunteer Program Fee
Our program fees in USD(Dollar)
1 week $190
2 week $289
3 week $389
4 week $485
5 week $580
6 week $670
7 week $760
8 week $850
Additional weeks $90
For Medical placements, Eco volunteering placements and Monastery placement, you have to pay $90 extra.
Everest and Langtang volunteer program $190 extra due to high expensive travel expenses and other arrangements.
There is not any hidden cost or any registration fee. Just pay for your program and get what we have promised. You can pay us in cash and you can pay once you will arrive in Nepal or if you want to pay by bank transfer just ask for our bank details.
Learn more about where your money goes and things that are included and excluded in your program fee.
If you want to do any other travelling and adventurous activities like trekking, rafting, canoeing, bungee jumping, jungle safari and more including volunteering, please let us know, we will sort it out in lowest price. For more adventure programs and trekking please click here and get 5% discount on above activities.
Add some extra adventure
2 days 3 nights package program in Royal Chitwan national park (Sauraha) with accommodation and sight-seen including elephant safari just by paying extra $95 in your program fee.
3 days 4 night package program in Pokhara including sight seen, boating and eco village tour with accommodation, just pay $175.
Why paid volunteering and what you are paying for?
WHY PAID VOLUNTEERING AND WHAT IS INCLUDED IN YOUR PROGRAM FEE?
We don't charge any extra money specially for volunteering project except hospitals and monastery placements, almost all our volunteering projects or programs are absolutely free of cost. Basically, we only charge small amount money as service charge to maintain our volunteer's activities like secure lodging, meals, promotional materials, staffs maintenance and other related stuffs like scholarships, donation to orphanages, libraries, health posts, schools and other social organizations and local clubs.
The fees you will be paying for us will be spend on following activities,
Airport pickup and drop
Language and cultural orientation training
Sightseeing in Kathmandu
Specialized training for your chosen program
Land Transportation to and from village placement
Accommodation during training period in Kathmandu
Accommodation and meals with your host family during the placement
24 hours Volunteer supervision and office administration
Legal Service/Tax
Scholarship and sponsorship for orphanage children and deprived children
Donation to various charity organizations, orphanages, schools, health posts etc.
What you will be responsible for?
You will be responsible for your flight tickets to Nepal and visa fees are follows:
US $25 - 15 days multiple entry tourist visa fees
US $40 - 30 days multiple entry tourist visa fees
US $100 - per month thereafter, for a maximum of 5 months of stay ( For more information in Nepali Government official site click here)
Any time you spend in Nepal outside the duration of your training and placement and any trips or activities you arrange in your spare time you will have to pay for yourself, although we can help you to plan these.
Program fees don't include:
Visa/Visa extension fee
Meals during the training in Kathmandu
Traveling and other expenses out of the placement during weekends
Air Tickets (Domestic/International)
Insurance
Laundry service
Bar Bills
Telephone Calls
(The program fees should be paid either in local currency, US dollar or in Euros upon arrival in Kathmandu.
we suggest everyone to pay fees(cash) at FVO office rather than other sources for security reason )
Cancellation policy:
1 to 4 weeks placements is non refundable
50% Refund- Before starting program
No refund once you start your volunteer placement and not transferable
Fundraising & Donations
The goodwill to volunteer in Nepal is a great first step. On this page you can find hints, tips and resources to help raise your volunteer fees or for extra money to fund a particular project
We firmly believe our volunteer fees offer exceptional value for money, so that as many people as possible can volunteer in Nepal. Below we have pulled together some basic fundraising guidelines that can be used to help raise money for your volunteer fee, or to raise extra money to fund a particular project.
Should I bring extra money or supplies from home?
Many of our volunteers bring money with them and some also bring clothes and other items. When choosing what to bring though, please remember how cheap things are in Nepal: a pair of socks is around $1, a full badminton set $5, and warm winter clothes around $15. A small amount of money can go a long way here.
To get an idea of what you can do, read about two volunteers’ donations here: Donating more than just time
Simple ideas for raising money:
Give yourself plenty of time so you can collect money and develop good ideas
Be clear on your placement so you can explain to people exactly what you are doing and why it is worthwhile
Make it easy for people to donate money online; Just Giving and Click and Pledge are both good websites
Contact EVERYONE you can think of. No matter how small the donation, it is all put to good use
Past volunteer’s ideas:
Run a Marathon or sponsored 10k: Click here to find a marathon near you
Long distance cycling trips: inspiration from Adventure Cycling
Write a column for a newspaper about your experiences
Sponsored neighborhood car washes
At a wedding or anniversary ask guests to give money instead of gifts
Shave your hair off!
Possible ideas for schools, universities and companies:
Many groups raise money at home for a particular project they will be working on in Nepal. Raising money for a new project, and then being a part of building it is both rewarding and satisfying. Many groups hold events to raise the required funds such as concerts, plays or sports tournaments, at which they tell people about VSN and the work they will be doing.
Why not try:
A sponsored school event such as a play or concert
Renting out a bar for all your friends and charging a small entrance fee to raise funds
Hosting a pub quiz with occasional questions about Nepal
5-a-side Football tournaments
‘Battle of the bands’
To help you present Friendship Society Nepal (FSN) and our work in the best way possible, you can use these resources below. The posters can be printed or adapted to feature your school or company logos and event details.
Recruitment Poster: suitable for schools, universities, organizations
Leaflet: general information for potential volunteers
Personalized:
Volunteer Recruitment Poster:
Fundraising Poster:
Donation reminder business cards:
PowerPoint presentation about FSN and the work we do: Orphanage/ Child Care
Volunteering in an Orphanage in Nepal gives children desperately needed love and hope
