Paying to volunteer

Email communication with this organization is very quick and easy. Seeing the other NGO projects, sightseeing and attention to detail prepared schedules etc is all good. Everything described on the website was accurate apart from mentioning that the elephants are chained and living in unnatural conditions.

We were attracted to working with the elephants as we have a commitment to animal welfare issues and we wanted to work and make a contribution. However as people will know, elephants are highly intelligent and sociable mamals who have complex emotional relationships in the wild. Although I understand that many of the working elephants on this program have been rescued from circuses and this is laudable however they are CHAINED, not abe to relate to other elephants, in concrete stables of 3 or 4 and living a life of servitude for the profit of the owner running a tourist business at Amber Fort and Weddings.

One of the elephants was demonstrating depression and anxiety by swaying side to side for long periods of time. We tried to sooth her but there was little we could do with three of her feet chained to the concrete floor.

Our 'volunteering work' consisted of nothing more than joining in - a tourist experience. We felt we made little or no contribution to the welfare of the elephants. This may be a misunderstanding at best of what volunteering means but at worst feels exploitative and puts us in the position of condoning abuse.

The cost for two of us was 27,000 rupees a considerable amount of money in relation to the cost of living in India. Although a pie chart showing a breakdown of where these funds go was provided it didn't really adequately explain why things were so expensive for basic accommodation, food and transport.

I feel very conflicted as they are working hard and clearly the NGO programs working with children , the women's empowerment work is very important and making a difference but the elephant experience is morally hugely compromising. And with leading published tour books advising against the elephant rides at Amber Fort i question why this project should benefit from volunteers fees. I realise we live in a complex world and the challenges are many but to remain silent is to be complicit.