India Volunteer Programs from $18/day | Most Affordable & Trusted

I was based in Northern India and taught young Buddhist monks English. I never imagined that I would learn so much from these wonderful boys. While at times it was very challenging and I had students at all different levels of English; I could not have imagined a better placement. I was truly accepted as part of the community and taken in as family. I have forever been changed by this experience and will always hold it close to my heart.

I spent three weeks with friends volunteering with IVHQ in India. We spent our time teaching english classes in a slum school, with two morning classes of young children and an afternoon class of older girls. Overall, it was an amazing experience and offered a truly unique insight into Indian culture

IVHQ 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. 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 three 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 IVHQ 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!

Overall I had an amazing experience in India, but there were times where I felt ripped off by the people in charge of my project. If you are interested in volunteering in Faridabad I would strongly advise you to steer clear of a man named Dr. Bandou. The money that you give him does not go where it is supposed to go and I am not the first volunteer to experience this. The money that you give him goes to him and not to help the families or community like it is said to go. Every person that knows him knows that he is a very sneaky man. India is amazing but this program would be much more profitable without this man. I am very young and I was told I was going to a girls hostel for three weeks. Without telling me, he placed me and another volunteer in a host family and took us to a school the next day where all of the teachers did not know why we were there. They kept asking us why we had come and how long we would be staying. I cleared everything up and we taken to the right placement only after I spoke up. At the end of my project, I asked him if he could provide for me to take me to the airport. My flight was in the middle of the night so it would not have been safe for me to travel alone on the metro. He refused and said that I could either pay more or that I could find my own way. I am 18 and maybe Im wrong but I dont think that girls my age should be traveling at night alone. The organization should provide transportation to and from the airport. I was picked up from the airport so I see no problem in being dropped off at the airport. Just a friendly warning to stay away from the wrong people. India was amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat, but I will only go back if my volunteering has nothing to do with Dr. Bandou.

This volunteering project provided volunteers with an undeniably good insight into Indian culture. I think living with a local family anywhere in the world is always a beneficial experience for both family and volunteer. This was the case for me living with a middle class Indian family in the industrial city Faridabad, near Delhi. But apart from the rewarding exchange of knowledge with a local family, the other main component of choosing to volunteer is the volunteer work. In this area I think organisations like IVHQ have to do more in depth research into the benefits of projects they are offering for the local community. In my case, I was working at a private hospital not far from my family's home. This hospital did not have much going on for volunteers to get involved in. There were less than 10 patients, and the hospital was running well with plenty of competent staff who did not need our help. With this volunteer company, volunteers do not need any qualifications to be allowed to watch surgery. So I was able to watch many operations and enhance my own knowledge of medicine. But when there wasn't any surgery, I found I was really lacking in anything to do to help, and passed the time talking to the technicians and drinking plentiful cups chai. We were able to request to IVHQ co-ordinators to be placed in other hospitals to get some variety in our work, but it would have been nice for them to have had other options already researched for us. And it was almost impossible for us to work in the public hospitals because of the huge amounts of paperwork for the organisation to complete. Bureaucracy in India... Ultimately, although I was able to watch various operations, the reality is until volunteers have a medical or nursing degree they are kind of more of a hindrance to local workers than a help. Organisations need also to be better adept in placing unskilled volunteers in hospitals that are more in need of help, even our basic help. In India I do not imagine this is that unachievable. I compare this program to one I completed with another company in Cusco, Peru. There I felt really valued as a volunteer and could really be of some help whether it be washing instruments, folding bandages or helping in basic medical work. But after saying all this, I remember that IVHQ is extremely cheap compared to other organisations, and perhaps that is why it is not as organised as others. I would recommend it for the price, but I think the medical community ultimately did not benefit from this project.

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.

I had the opportunity to teach at a slum school in Faridabad, India. It was an amazing exxperience. I stayed with a host family and maily ate vegetarian food. We walked to the school every morning, and taught until about 1:00 p.m. We were able to travel to nearby sites during holidays and weekends.