As a HORAC volunteer, your role in the house is to act as a big brother/ big sister. You are an addition to the house, rather than a substitute for the current house staff. Your priority as a volunteer is to put the children’s needs and interest first.Volunteers start their days early in the morning to help the children finish their homework, serve Dal Bhat (rice, a lentil sauce and curried vegetables), get ready for school and lastly, walk the chidren to school.

The children are in school from roughly 9:30am to 4:00pm Sunday to Friday. This time each day is your free time, so you can manage it as you prefer; however, optimizing it well for the overall program is preferred. It is time without the children that you have the chance to organize activities for the evening, as well as Saturday’s activities. An organized activity will be more enjoyable for you and the children.

Around 3:45 pm, volunteers walk to pick up children from their school. Dropping them off and picking them up each day provides a sense of love and care. Once you are at home, you can help the children get settled into their afternoon, eat Dal Bhat together, work on homework, play games, or have an organized evening activity planned. In addition to supporting the social interaction through group activities and play, we want to emphasize our strong focus on study and education here in HORAC. For consistency purposes, we have a set schedule that children smoothly follow. Following afternoon activities, children dedicate time to their studies before partaking in group prayer. Volunteers finish their afternoon duties by helping serve dinner, then eating with the children. 

VOLUNTEER SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Many volunteers come with specific skill sets and look to use their experience and skills towards projects or ideas they have in mind. If volunteers have larger projects or activities in mind to do with children, it is encouraged that they contact the office in advance to coordinate. We encourage volunteers to be proactive, enthusiastic and reliable about the projects they plan to do.

SATURDAY ACTIVITIES

Saturday is the children’s holiday (day off) and volunteer’s chance to spend a full day with the children. We try to make this into a special day! During free time during the week, volunteers will work towards a Saturday activity that will aim to include all children, abilities, and interests. Some past examples of Saturday activities include: dance competitions, sports days, carnivals, art workshops, walks around the Taudaha Lake and temple visits. 

MANAGING YOUR TIME

Volunteer’s health and well-being is very important to us! It is recommended that volunteers take at least one day off each week, other than Saturday, to rest, recover, and get ready for the rest of the week interacting with the children. We ask that volunteers prioritze their well-being during their off time for the purpose of spending time at HORAC when children are home.

CODE OF CONDUCT

HORAC Code of Conduct sets out eight principles that aim to encourage responsible, responsive volunteers. The eight principles outlined in code of conduct include: money, dress, professionalism, consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, photography, personal information, relationships amongst staff and boundaries with the children.

CHILD PROTECTION

Child safety is paramount to this organization and we aim to protect the children in every aspect of their time here. For this reason, it is important that volunteers in contact with the children are familiar and abide by our policies.

VOLUNTEER'S INPUT

If volunteers have any ideas, suggestions, problems, advices, etc., we encourage them to contact the office administration directly.

WORKING IN THE NEPALI CULTURE

One of the most exciting aspects of this volunteer program is the opportunity it affords the volunteer to work in a new culture. Many Nepali people and systems will work very differently than what the volunteers are used to in their home country. It is important volunteers adopt the role of learner and guest, rather than assuming that their way of doing things is correct or better.

Having an understanding of the culture you are working in will help you understand why the people of that culture do things the way they do; therefore, making the exchange of ideas and experiences much more rewarding. Upon arrival, volunteers are given an introduction on the Nepali culture and what behavior is expected of our volunteers. We are open to answering any questions you may have about the Nepali culture and customs.