I have a friend in the U.S. who has started a "humanitourism" organization, and she has asked if I have any ideas about places in Thailand for a group to come. Here is what she is looking for:

I am open to anything, but the main criteria is a project that is either unrecognized or under-served, people that need assistance and aren't getting it elsewhere. Group size of volunteers would be 6-12 people. The adventure part should be near the project, since the idea is for people to connect with the area they are serving, but that can be anywhere and we would build the adventure around the project.

They would need to have the volunteer project be for about a week, and then have a week for an outdoor adventure or trek.

Does anyone have any ideas of any organizations that might need help for this amount of time from 6-12 people?

Thanks!

This is related to the Ladies forum in what way?

Well, it's mostly women who would be doing the volunteering. And I wasn't sure where else to post it. Just thought women might have some good ideas. I didn't mean to offend anyone!

No offense, just was making sure it was aimed at the ladies

Some people pay to be placed in volunteer jobs, which I don't really understand but there may be some benefit to doing that. The only problem that I see is that many places want people that are more long term (usually want a month long commitment) but with as many people as you have going on the trip, that may help some places be more flexible.

One famous place is in a temple school in Ayutthaya, Wat Sai Mai. A friend of mine used to go on weekends and enjoyed it, but found a few people that paid to volunteer that didn't have the cheeriest of attitudes about the place. I didn't find great info doing a quick search, but I found this:

http://www. volunteerabroad.com/listingsp3.cfm/listing/44701

(links broken by a space)

I've been to Phya Thai Babies Home in Northaburi, just outside Bangkok and found their facilities to be clean and a good place for the children. The babies are desperately in need of attention as they're not enough adults for them to play with. There is a boy's orphanage across the street as well.

http:// ouraussiechinababy.blogspot.com/2007/04/phyathai-babies-home.html

I don't know much about volunteer work with the elephants here, but I do know this place in Ayutthaya was visited by Komar and Melamid, two Russian artists looking to teach elephants to paint. They rejected a few elephant sanctuaries in Thailand because they did not treat the animals well, but accepted this place:

http://www. planetedu.com/listings/volunteer/3464/x/x/Thai:2:11:d

You may have to do a more thorough search to find out how to contact these places directly. If you know that you want to volunteer at a specific place, there shouldn't be a reason to pay a fee to a third party for placement. Most of these places would probably appreciate that fee in the form of donations anyway.

On edit: Found this in the Bangkok Post about the orphanage and more volunteer opportunities: http://www. bangkokpost.com/outlookwecare/28Aug2001_out75.html

Edited June 22, 200818 yr by alaina

is that the only orphanage in bangkok, does anyone know? i seem to remember visiting another one once but can't find any info on it. phayathai babies home is too far out of the city for me.