Program Reviews

A fantastic experience: I lived 3 weeks with an Indian family sharing food and habits of the day; in the afternoon I went to school where I had to teach English to the women of the project, but it was much more ... An exchange of teachings, emotions, smiles and laughter who have made me the student and their teachers, but of life !!!
I could do trip to Agra, Delhi, Faithpursikri, Abhaneri, Sikandra, Udaipur e Pushkar, with fantastic guides, for a really Indian experience.
I loved living with all the person I meet, but mostly with the women of the program, the teachers, the family, the coordinators and the person in charge of the association. I will definitely come back, next year, to the women, the teacher and the family that hosted me, because they all became my second family.
I miss already you 😍
Namasté

I have thoroughly enjoyed my 3 weeks volunteering with elephants! From my experience, each elephant is truly loved, respected and cared for by their mahouts. I think it is very easy (for Westerners especially) to judge and condemn the use of elephants for tourist rides, but after working closely with both the elephants and their mahouts, I encourage people to be more open-minded.
The actual work consists of waking early (arriving around 5.30am) where you begin by cleaning the area, washing the elephants, and feeding them bananas and chapattis. It’s hard work, but it gives you a real hands-on taster of what it’s like to look after these amazing animals, and the mahouts appreciate the help. The elephants all have very different personalities - some naughtier than others!
I always had a VWI coordinator with me too so if I had any questions, he was able to translate which helped a lot as the mahouts don’t speak much English.
I have felt welcomed, supported and valued during my time here. I would definitely recommend any of the VWI programmes for anyone keen to have a taste of the ‘real’ India!

We volunteered to join two projects with VWI and started at Elephant village. Upon arrival in Jaipur me and my husband were picked up from the airport late at night by the coordinator and immediately felt welcomed and taken care of. We received an itinerary which explained everything in great detail and was very helpful for us to understand what the elephant project involved. We were collected every morning on time at 5am. The coordinator for the elephant village was super flexible -if we woke up late it was never a problem. He met us as the sun started to rise with a big smile making everything joyful from the beginning . The work was much easier than we initially thought. The elephant huts were cleaned every morning followed by elephant showers and then feeding time. The elephants are working animals, this at first made us feel a little uncomfortable. But as the days went by and after learning more about the government scheme for families and elephants. The elephants are always very gentle and calm, and we soon realised that they were very well taken care of by their owners (mahout). We felt overwhelmed by their kindness and care- the mahouts who have very little demonstrated such patience and love for their individual elephants.. and so it was clear to us that this was a positive environment for them all.

I was able to work with the elephants for a week in Jaipur and in that time got hands-on experience with the elephants everyday! A typical morning would consist of cleaning out the elephants area followed by washing them with water and brushing them down. We were able to get to know the people who looked after them everyday and formed lovely friendships with them, which made the experience even better. The elephants were all so friendly, which meant we were able to constantly feed them treats such as bananas, which was such an incredible experience. The people working there made you feel very safe around the elephants, which increased my confidence when around the elephants. During the two afternoons we got to spend with the elephants, we were able to make chapati for them from scratch which was such a unique experience. During this time we also got to know the elephants better as well as feeding them more sugar cane. Overall it was such a unique experience and very fun! I would recommend it to anyone who likes animals and wants to be hands-on with these amazing creatures!

Working with the students at the boys school was truly one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Their respect, creativity, and enthusiasm was something that I will never forget! I loved playing theatre games with them, teaching English (for the first time), and performing "Where the Wild Things Are" on my last day! :) Discovering all of the markets, rooftop dining experiences, and temples was so much fun as well.

We were also fortunate enough to stumble across the Uhmaid Mahal hotel which was absolutely breath-taking. All of the staff treated us so well and it felt like our home away from home at the end of each day.

Jaipur is truly a city in which a person needs all of their five senses to take in. I would definitely recommend this city to others and hope to return myself one day.

I volunteered with Elephants Program for a week because I wanted to discover those magnificent animals and to be in immersion into indian daily life, and I am fully satisfied. It's an unforgettable experience. The guesthouse family is lovely and always available to help you or happy to have conversations with you. The team members I met, Sukret, Rohid and Shekhear, were perfect. Everything was properly organized and booked. They take good care of me and, as a lonely traveler, I never felt alone. My experience with elephants was precious and mahouts' life is so interesting to discover. Elephants are so sensitive and intelligent animal and it is a great opportunity to discover it by myself.
Big thanks to the Prity Guesthouse family and to VWI team !
I definitely recommend this program.

India is such a special place, revealing the best and worst aspects of humanity and human life. Certainly for me, India constantly provokes a personal question about ones values and strength of conviction. Can you put your money where your mouth is? Can you walk the walk?

Volunteering in India is one of the most moving and rewarding experiences I have had in my life. The volunteering programmes offered by Volunteering with India (VWI) are safe and robust. There are many diverse opportunities here to make a difference, however big or small.

The organisation was created with the pure and sincere intention of making a difference to those in need. VWI has offered countless opportunities for those in need to receive from those who are fortunate enough to be able to give.

Volunteering experiences are made much more special by a generous and earnest welcome into the heart of the culture and the city of Jaipur, the community; the people and their families. Volunteers are looked after well, but most importantly included into a family and community for a true and real experience of India. An unforgettable experience - one I hope to repeat many times again.

The arrival pick up service was wonderful; one of the program coordinator was waiting right at the exit gate of Jaipur Airport with a huge “ Volunteering With India “ sign and a smile . Accomodation has been lovely. The host family is so sweet and welcoming. Truly felt a part of the family. They were always there to help with anything. Very Kind + warm family. The transportation service was very reliable and always on time. Shekhar and Totoram the taxi men have a smile always and so kind. I love all the staff members. They instantly made me feel comfortable and go above and beyond to help. I was a bit nervous to teach but Rohit ( program coordinator ) was great in translating English to Hindi; Sukret was always a message away if I had any questions ! I decided to volunteer with VWI because I have founded this program in good prices, locations and values. Wanted to go with a local operated organization also. I would rate this program 10 out of 10. Can’t recommend this program enough. This experience will impact my life in the best way for many years to come. I wanted to give back to the women + children but I feel I have received so much from this program. Everyday I was treated with respect, kindness, compassion and generosity. Everyone I had the pleasure of working will stay in my heart forever. I am going to miss seeing their smiley faces everyday, but I will return next year and every year 100%.. Jaipur was the best city to explore with so much culture and various activities. It’s been an experience of a lifetime. Thank you VWI !!

I spent three weeks with my friends volunteering with VWI in Jaipur, India. We spent our time teaching english classes in a school, we work for 2 weeks with the street children program and 1 week with women program. Overall, it was an amazing experience and offered a truly unique insight into Indian culture. VWI links up with grass-roots projects in India and the staff involved in our project were very supportive. From the beginning, we felt safe and at home with our Indian host family, and the staff were in regular contact with us and dealt with any issues we had straight away.
One of my favourite aspects of the program was living with an Indian family. Every day my host mother make nice chai (team for me ) which was so great to charge up my body.Being totally immersed into family life and getting to know the students in our classes proved to be the best introduction to Indian culture. We learnt so much more in those three weeks about India than in the other 5 weeks we spent backpacking around Rajasthan.
The school experience was very enlightening, and although we would have appreciated some more information about what learning materials to bring with us, we really enjoyed it. The volunteer experience will only improve as the school program and curriculum better develops. For most of the children, we were involved in the only 'formal' education they would receive in their life, and that was quite confronting at times.
If nothing else, my time in India reminded me of the important things in life. As actions speak louder than words, the best review I can give VWI would be to say that we enjoyed our time in India so much that we are looking at going back to India and helping the school further!

Being on the program in India was absolutely amazing. It was a truly cathartic experience, and working with the other volunteers was so much fun! The children at the orphanage were so wonderful and I really loved spending time with them.
Everything was great. We were treated to three meals a day and a room to ourselves.
Spending time with the boys was the best part! But I also go to see the sights, travel India style (busses and autos), and I got to experience this wonderful colored powder that dyes your skin for 4 days. Lol. I had tons of fun every day.___
Volunteering With India does a great job of taking care of their volunteers and answering questions. Thank you so much for all of your help and communication. This is a great program.