Mixed Blessings

I volunteered at a children's home in a village that lies in the Kathmandu Valley. I was there for the months of October and November. 24 children ages 10 years to 18 years reside in the home. The children and the house manager speak English. The children are a delight and their functioning speaks to the high level of care delivered to them over the many years they've been in the care of the charity. . I keep a travel blog. My entries about Nepal describes the activities I undertook with the children and other aspects of my stay can be found there --. annewlindsay.com TRAVEL DIARIES. I use the opportunity this site provides for a review of Global Volunteer Network.

The most unfortunate part of my experience was with the administrators of the children's home both westerners who now live in Kathmandu. The stated role of one of these staff was to provide 'volunteer support' and the stated role of the other was 'fund-raising'. Both visited the home and provided a case-management service for the children. I won't go into much detail about this other than to say that during my stay, I, and another volunteer questioned, not only the level of volunteer support delivered, but also how well the children's basic needs -- ie for food and clothing, supplies for hygiene, medical care, were met. My fellow volunteer, a forth year medical student, photographed the children's height and weight charts also their footwear (because of the state of disrepair). My attempt to communicate my concerns to one of the Nepal based staff was brushed off. Upon my return to Scotland I took up the concern with GVN. Three months later I await a response that leaves me feeling reassured that the standard of basic care provided to the children has improved or will improve. (I'm speaking of basic, basic, basic -- eg more lentils, more eggs, maybe feminine hygiene products for some of the girls). Through my church I was able to bring on board a nurse/academic and a pediatrician, both with substantial experience in foreign aid work and with the effects of poor nutrition on the growth and development of children. More recently a dietitian has joined with us in an effort to help GVN understand the issues, and the importance of taking this kind of feedback seriously. I feel sad that the hours spent analyzing the data (professional people volunteering hours of time) has not been suitably acknowledged by GVN, indeed I regret to say that the GVN staff respond with some defensiveness. I fear our concerns will be brushed under the rug.

I paid a large volunteer program fee to GVN believing that my money would help impoverished children and local communities. It saddens me that this apparently is not so. I still don't know how volunteer program fees are put to use.

I'm not prepared to write GVN off at this point. I'm hoping (three months into the process!) that our concerns for the children's well-being will be addressed sooner rather than later.

I do not wish to discourage people from volunteering. I found the work with the children and the staff at the home enormously rewarding and I loved being in Nepal and experiencing life in the village.