Volunteer!

VOLUNTEERING AT KEVIN ROHAN MEMORIAL ECO FOUNDATION – CLICK LINK FOR PRINTABLE INFORMATION

Welcome to the volunteer page!
KRMEF is located in a small village in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal, and is dedicated to striving towards a healthy, sustainable, vibrant and inclusive village model.

The Foundation is only 2 years old, but has already had volunteers from 21 countries, who have helped shape this project and the community it supports. Volunteers stay here anywhere from 1 week to 6 months and help in daily tasks, work on current projects and are also free to take up their own initiatives. For those interested in volunteering with this foundation, we have provided practical details as well as an insight to what it is like as a KRMEF volunteer.

Where is KEMEF and how to I get there?
KRMEF is in the Kathmandu Valley, 7kms South of the city, right at the bottom of beautiful green hills, and with a view of the our village Kahare. There is public transport coming directly to Kahare: The bus leaves from Ratna park bus stand – take the DAKSHINKALI bus, route number 22 direct to Kahare. There is also taxi options from the city.

What are the work hours and what work do volunteers do?
In Nepal people start at 10am, and finish at 5pm. Here at the foundation we do the same, and take an hour for lunch at 1pm. The day off in the week is Saturday, where most Nepali people go to temple, and meet with family. Volunteers are free to explore the valley, the temples and the city.

The new community centre (made from natural building methods) is mostly complete. The remaining work is carpentry; building windows and door (the chairs, tables and bookshelves are complete) lead by a local Nepali carpenter. There will be other natural building projects coming up in the future. There are always numerous garden and outdoor jobs, weeding, planting etc.

There are all together 10 local women (both here and in the village) who work with jewellery and craft for sale, making cloth bags, bead necklaces and earring’s as well as working with soap nuts (black seeds that are used in the jewelley).

One job that happens daily is the making of briquettes, which is a made from shredded paper sawdust and cow manure which get presses and hung to dry for an alternative fuel source.

There is often work in the office for administration, funding and proposal writing, etc. Volunteers are also welcome to initiate creative and practical projects with the help of the team, which will support the ongoing project.

What are the facilities?
Volunteers have the whole first floor in the house. There are 3 large rooms, dining and lounge, and a big (western) bathroom. There is also another house next door with rooms if the house fill. Three wonderful meals are provided each day (except Saturday, the Nepali holiday) where volunteers do their own cooking.

Learning Nepali – A number of people working here have good conversational English, but some local workers have little. Volunteers here have the opportunity of having short language classes each morning to be able to get some understanding of the language (or at least some useful words).

Upcoming events at KRMEF
In October ’11 the architect Bill Hutchings from Helicon Works Architecture from the USA will be arriving to work on a ‘natural building’ project in another village in the valley, in conjunction with KRMEF. In November, Hans Mulder from New Zealand is arriving to do a number of Biodynamics seminars, hosted by KRMEF. The other big project to kick off this year is the restoration of a building that will be an orphanage and day kindergarten for those mothers who need to work during the day.

*What are the costs? (and exchange rate)
To live in Nepal is very cheap. The current exchange rates are:
1USD : 73NRP or 1EUR : 104NRP or 1GBP : 120NRP

When living and working at the foundation you will be given accommodation and food, and to contribute to the running of the project volunteers are asked to gift on their departure, ($10 a day for college students, $40 a day for adults, $300/$1200 a month or as close as you can manage) though volunteers who cant afford to pay are still welcome, and can be in conversation with Krishna on other ways to help promote and support the on going work.

Contact for this initiative:
Krishna Gurung is the contact person for this project (krisgrg30@gmail.com). He is the founder of KRMEF, in 2008 when is son Kevin passed away. Now there are 29 people, both family and locals (including workers from the leprosarium) plus volunteers from all over the world working and helping on different initiatives. Even so, it is a small project, just taking its first small steps, so you feel very much part of a team, or extended family.