Volunteering

VOLUNTEERING WITH HELPING HANDS

Volunteers make up a very important part of the Helping Hands team. The main task that volunteers usually perform is teaching English in partnership with our Cambodian teachers. Volunteers also help out with computer training for our staff as well as holding English classes for our staff. Occasionally volunteers are called upon to help out with other tasks such as helping to create and teach lessons on health and hygiene and other life skills. Occasionally, if a volunteer has specific skills (such as medical) they may be called upon to utilise those skills.

As we are such a small organisation we only a accept a maximum of 3 volunteers at at time and we have a minimum time period of three weeks.

Activities we tend not do ask volunteers to do and why.... We tend to avoid "hands on" activities such as building projects. The reason for this is quite simple - the villagers are more than capable of doing these things for themselves - they just don't have the resources (which is where we come in). For example, the village itself has many "people" resources for building projects. They have gained even greater knowledge and pride from involvement in such Helping Hands projects to date. For instance, the school was built by them with help from us for funding and supply of materials but only a little outside guidance in the building stage. It is "their project".

This approach is all about:

- Giving a hand up, not a hand out.

- Building ownership and community pride, and ensuring better valuing and upkeep of projects once they are complete.

- Building skills and confidence, and so enabling more to be done with less external support.

- Giving people more control over their lives, so that they feel empowered rather than feeling they are receiving charity.

- Building up their dignity

If you are interested in volunteering with Helping Hands Cambodia please email Deborah to request a volunteer application form (email address at the bottom of this page).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT VOLUNTEERING WITH HELPING HANDS CAMBODIA

As a volunteer you may be asked to be flexible in terms of your duties if support is needed to complete a task/tasks outside what may have been agreed as your regular volunteering duties.

You will be expected to pay for the cost of getting yourself to and from the school. (We do not have our own vehicle.) You will be paying your motorbike driver directly (the normal cost is $7.50 usd). This money goes directly to the driver and is the standard amount a Cambodian would pay. If you are going out to the school repeatedly for a lengthy period of time you may be able to negotiate a weekly rate with your driver.

Volunteers are expected to cover all of their own expenses, including transport and accommodation.

Warning! The road conditions are bad! It is a 45 minute ride from Siem Reap to the village on the back of a motorbike. The road is very bumpy and rough. You may get caught in storms, have to walk through mud, push the motorbike through mud, drive through clouds of red dust, etc. Helping Hands will not be liable if you get injured. It is expected that you have your own travel insurance.

We are unable to allow volunteers to hand out gifts, candy, clothing, money, etc to the children or villagers. We anticipate and expect that our volunteers will naturally treat people as equals and not recipients of charity, and remind them to maintain the sense of a partnership rather than offering hand-outs (which creates beggars). We are very strict about this and ask you not to bring candy, small toys, etc.

Bring a good sun screen, insect repellent, a hat and a raincoat. In the dry season you may find a cotton face mask or scarf useful to keep the dust at bay and in the wet season you should wear shoes that you don’t mind getting wet as it may be necessary to walk through water and mud.

Dengue fever is a problem in Cambodia . It is caused by mosquitoes that bite during the daylight hours so it is important to protect yourself with insect repellent. (Anti malaria medicine does not help with dengue fever.)

We ask you to be conscious that an increasing number of people are visiting the school and village, and accordingly respect the villager’s privacy and private space. For this reason it is a good idea to focus, when taking photo's, on photographing activities of relevance to the Helping Hands projects. The children love to see themselves in photographs and we have a couple of photo albums in our school library. We appreciate volunteers printing up some of their photos to put into the album.

In line with our Child and Vulnerable Persons Protection Policy no visitor or volunteer is permitted to visit the school unless they are accompanied by Helping Hands staff.

Staying overnight at the village or Helping Hands’ school is not an option for a number of reasons. The main two being: 1. The personal safety of the visitor cannot be guaranteed, and 2. to ensure the safety of our children (in line with our Child Protection Policy).

Before you are accepted to volunteer with Helping Hands Cambodia we will require you to provide personal and professional references and we also advise you that background checks are carried out.

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Phone (in Cambodia): 092 442 669 (outside Cambodia) 855 92 442 669

Email: grovesphotography@yahoo.com.au

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Helping Hands Cambodia is a registered in the Kingdom of Cambodia as a Non-Government Organisation.