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Volunteer Care Projects with Children Overseas in Sri Lanka

Volunteer with children

Sri Lanka is an enchanting and beautiful place to spend time volunteering with orphans and disadvantaged children. Located in Southern Asia, off the tip of India, Sri Lanka is a country of great beauty whose people are still coming to terms with the devastation of the tsunami in late 2004. There is a real need for assistance on fundamentally basic levels, which is why the Care work our Sri Lanka volunteers provide is so important.

We do not require you to have previous experience when you volunteer on a Care project in Sri Lanka, provided you have a passion and commitment to the job and to the people you are trying to help. Whether you are on a gap year or coming to development work as an older volunteer on a career break or even during your retirement, you will have a role to play and your contribution will be valued.

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Volunteering with Special Education and Orphanage work with Projects Abroad

Based in many small towns along the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, from Negombo to Galle, and in the pretty hill town of Kandy, care work in Sri Lanka is a full and rich experience offering an enormous variety of choice.

All the work here involves a great deal of commitment; working with orphans and mentally or physically disabled children can be challenging, but very fulfilling.

Conditions are often basic and the staff heavily overworked, so the support of the volunteers is always greatly appreciated. Please let us know if you have any specific preferences of where you wish to work.

Care volunteers in some locations can also choose to help in Tsunami Relief camps from 3pm to 5pm each afternoon. Volunteers help with homework and organize games and sports activities for the children.

Volunteer ProfileRocio IrisarriRocio Irisarri
Change is complicated, too complicated for it to happen in one month. But I tried to make a difference in those children’s lives because they deserve it. They are the sons of hunger and poverty with little opportunities in life. Thanks to projects like these, their future has more possibility of changing. Big and small gestures can make change possible. Thank you Sri Lanka for everything. Read more...

Volunteering Abroad with Children on a Care Project in Sri Lanka

Most children at the orphanages and care centers still attend school in the mornings, sometimes at the same site, or at a school nearby. Volunteers therefore often help with basic education for a few hours in the mornings, usually teaching conversational English in government schools. Some volunteers also work with very young children during this time, helping four years olds learn the alphabet or doing coloring and art activities, for example. In the afternoons volunteers assist in numerous areas with the children, from helping with homework to organizing and playing sports and games, or reading to a child individually.

Children

Some of the orphanages where we work are home to children with severe disabilities and volunteers are needed to help feed, wash, dress and do physical exercises with these children. These placements are not for everyone; one volunteer described her placement as 'shocking but the most rewarding month of my life'. Volunteers here are greatly needed but it won't all be fun and games.

We also have a placement at a boy's home, where volunteers can help with laundry, cooking and work on the site's farm in the mornings, then playing, teaching and helping in the home's computer room, where they have nine personal computers and just one over-worked member of staff, in the afternoons! If you have a particular interest in this project you may also like to consider volunteering on our IT Projects in Sri Lanka placement.

English at most of the placements is basic, but the enthusiasm of both the staff and children ensures that you will be able to make yourself understood. Our Projects Abroad staff and the supervisor at your placement will always be on hand to ensure you make the most of your time in Sri Lanka.

When you apply for a Care placement in Sri Lanka, you will be contacted to discuss the various options and find the best placement for you. We try to take advantage of all of our individual volunteers’ talents and skills, putting you to work where you are needed the most.

This project is available for less than a month if you don't have time to join us for a month or more. This project has been selected by our local colleagues as being suitable for shorter durations for both the host community and the volunteer. Although you will gain valuable cultural insight and work intensely within the local community please be aware that you may not be able to make the same impact as someone participating for a longer period.