Individual Volunteers (2 weeks - 3months)

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Before you continue, please click to read this link first - it give you the basics.

We accept hundreds of volunteers throughout the year, and many of our jobs will broaden your experience of the world.
We are very happy to accept volunteers from 2 weeks up to 3 months, although we do recommend a minimum of a month so that you can fully experience everything - staying for 2 weeks, while still worthwhile, is just enough time to get settled in before you have to leave. The vast majority of these volunteers have expressed their wish to have stayed longer.

The main purpose of the volunteer work in Chiang Rai is to strengthen and support the local culture and communities. Volunteers need to be flexible at the time of their placement to be involved in the tasks that are taking place at the time they are there to volunteer – although volunteers come in on a particular programme, there are various common tasks which involve all volunteers and staff, from the directors to the cleaner. Everyone is considered equally important, is equally valued and respected, and expected to do their fair share.

All the jobs required to be done by volunteers directly, or indirectly, help The Mirror Foundation to continue its vital work. It may not always be apparent why or how this is the case, so volunteers are encouraged to ask questions as much as possible (on all subjects, not just the work). But in essence, anything that a volunteer can do to help the staff, whether it’s teaching, building water tank systems, cleaning the office, or washing the dogs, will be gratefully received – a volunteer taking the time to do something that a staff member would otherwise have to do, means that that person can concentrate on the job in hand. Volunteering is about helping others, putting your needs and desires second to the work necessary.

Volunteer work opportunities

• We operate a placement system, so potential volunteers need to apply to join either the Teaching English, or Outdoor Work, placement. If the placements are full at the time a volunteer wishes to join us, they will need to change to the other placement (if this is not full as well), or alter dates to fit.
• Volunteers must sign up for a minimum of two weeks.
• Volunteers cannot change their programme after they have chosen it.
• Volunteers must be over 18 years of age at the beginning of the program and have at least a high school education. Those teaching English must also be either native English speakers, or have a standard good enough to be understood by children who are learning English as a third or fourth language – oral and written.
• Volunteers signing up for two or three months will get extra benefits and opportunities that those staying for shorter periods will not enjoy - this includes extra homestay experiences, and the chance to join another project and work on programmes not open to other volunteers.

Teaching English
In the Northern areas of Thailand, such as Chiang Rai, many of the local people have not been fortunate enough to have access to any type of formal education, most commonly those without Thai citizenship – some are required to work in the fields with their families, others are too poor to be able to afford the travelling costs, resources or uniforms. Free education is not automatic for stateless children. For those able to go to school, resources are at a premium, staff are hardpressed, and the free education will end for many, before those with citizenship would be able to graduate. There is a real need for volunteers to assist in the education of not only young children, but also adults from surrounding hill tribes and local villages. These lessons and activities take place in a variety of venues, with a range of ages and abilities, and minimum of resources.

The volunteer work schedule can vary from year to year, and term to term, as villages become accessible after the rains have finished, or a new school asks for volunteers to come to teach. Currently, the schedule includes helping at three different childcare centres, two schools, a special needs school, a hospital, a temple, a vocational college, as well as lessons for local Hilltribe tour guides, staff, local children each week (approximately 36 working hours a week during the daytime, plus at least another 10-20 hours per week in the evenings for extra-curricular teaching). The area around Chiang Rai is home to thousands of Hilltribe people, so schools are a mixture of many ethnic groups, including Thai, Akha, Lahu, Karen, Mien, Lisu as well as other tribes. The childcare centres are located in Hill Tribe villages and serve a vital role of preparing the Hill Tribe kids for government schooling which is conducted in Thai language, not the children’s native tongue. The role of the volunteers is to assist the teachers in taking care of the kids and conduct activities that will help the kids develop. In addition to this, volunteers also help at a special school for mentally disabled at least twice per month.

N.B. Volunteers DO NOT need to be a qualified or experienced teacher – there is training on how to teach using the methods employed by not only the foundation, but the majority of schools as well.

Outdoor Work
The Outdoor Work placement is for those who are happy to get their hands dirty, who like physical labour, and the sense of achievement felt when a job is completed. Because there are three distinct seasons (hot, rainy, cold), sometimes the weather is such that outdoor work is not possible. This is overcome with research into methods of agricultural production which could be applied in this area, project presentations to villagers, promotional work, and such other work that can be carried out protected from the elements. In no particular order, here is an example of work completed previously:

• Building water tanks
• Extending waterpipe systems
• Building check dams
• Building school classrooms
• Painting school classrooms
• Developing the agricultural project
• Helping in the vegetable garden
• Working on developing a plantation
• Road repairs
• Repair and maintenance of homes of elderly villagers
• Building new houses, or toilets for elderly villagers
• Building the new staff office
• Making bricks
• Cleaning
• Washing the dogs

Some work will be scheduled, and as such, will be expected to be done on a regular basis – daily watering of vegetables, for instance. Other jobs will appear as and when they arrive. Often, work is carried out at short notice, so it is difficult, if not impossible, to give volunteers an accurate itinerary of their stay.
Volunteers coming in on the two placements will be involved in anything and everything that is required to be done within these areas.

For Teaching English, volunteers will get together as a group and discuss who will slot into which teaching job. These scheduling meetings normally take place once a week, so that everything is organised and ready to begin on the following Tuesday morning. The staff are happy to stand back and let the volunteers organise this themselves - it not only helps to ensure a largely consensual distribution of work, it also develops the volunteers as they go through their stay.

The Outdoor Work team is overseen by dedicated staff members, but a degree of organization and responsibility will be delegated to volunteers in the team. For this placement, jobs are much more ad hoc although some work will be regularly assigned, such as caring for the vegetable garden.
In addition to the work in the individual placements, there are various common tasks which all volunteers are expected to help with:

• Every weekday morning, at 8.30am, all volunteers and staff are required to attend the daily meeting. This is mandatory for all, unless they are sick or on duty elsewhere.
• At least once a week, usually from 4-5pm, there is ‘Action Time’. This is one hour a week when all staff and volunteers put other work aside and come together to work on a job together, which is usually to do with maintenance around the foundation. Previous tasks have included: repairing the dirt road, building a platform for a Buddhist spirit house, concreting a path to volunteer quarters, sweeping leaves and scrubbing pathways. From the directors to the cleaner, all staff and volunteers are involved. This is a mandatory exercise.
• Also, usually after the morning meeting once a week, everybody spends fifteen minutes picking up litter from the grounds.
• Volunteers are expected to keep their rooms clean and tidy – this can be organised between yourselves.

Work at The Mirror Foundation can crop up at any time of the day and night, opportunities occur, and problems arise. If asked to help, volunteers could be involved in many other tasks – from firefighting in the hills to helping villages hit by flash floods.

Please contact us about details (note: some projects require longer term commitment than one or two weeks). Volunteer work runs from Tuesday 8.30am to Saturday 5pm, with the Sunday and Monday off. This gives you the opportunity to sightsee the area independently if you wish.

Personal Requirements

• We need people who are able to follow our rules.
• We need people to be physically healthy and capable of helping us and taking care of themselves.
• People that are open to learning about and living within other cultures and can live politely and with consideration in a group situation.
• Also people who are relaxed and happy and have good sense of humour are more fun to travel with.
• Fluency in English or Thai (A good knowledge of English is very important when teaching, otherwise it confuses Thai students trying to learn the language).
• Who can stand hot weather.
• Who understand this is a job of work.

What to bring(*required items)

• 2 photocopies of your passport*. We must have a copy of the information page, AND a copy of the visa page. Please do not rely on us photocopying them for you - make sure you have copies when you arrive.
• hat
• work gloves* (indoor volunteers also get involved in manual work sometimes)
• smart clothes (for teaching at local schools, temple and hospital)
• working clothes (outdoor work - some jobs are dirtier than others)
• wet weather clothes for rainy season (approx June-October)
• shoes and flip flops (comfortable walking shoes for trekking, flip flops for every day)
• towels* (not provided)
• underwear*
• sun protection
• sleeping bag* (bedding is provided at the foundation, but village homestays sometimes don't have extra bedding for guests - it costs money to buy, so unless a family is used to having people staying, they are unlikely to have spare)
• flashlight/torch*
• toiletry items*
• medicines, plasters, bite lotions, repellents
• laptop (we have wifi internet access, so it takes some strain off the existing 3 volunteer computers, which are not always working)

All of these items, except the passport copies, are readily available to buy in Chiang Rai, so if you have enough time before starting, you can spend a couple of hours shopping in town - it will save on the weight you have to carry here... But remember that if we pick you up from the airport, we will be heading straight to the foundation, so there will be no chance to buy for possibly up to 5 days.

Also, items that are not marked as *required are mainly suggestions to make your life more comfortable. We would be very appreciative if you can donate any goods such as non-used stationery, toys, instruments, old clothes, digital cameras and laptops (if you have any of them). Either new, or in good condition and clean, which are used in projects or passed on to villagers.

(note: You cannot wear clothes like hot pants, camisole and bikinis as it can be VERY offensive to Thai people. Also, please do not bring playing cards - gambling is illegal and cardplaying is seen as gambling, whether money is involved or not)

Cost
Click here for information about costs

Included: breakfast, lunch, evening meals from Tues to Sat; accommodation at the foundation; pickup; work related transportation; elephant ride; homestay (varies according to schedule); volunteering support; and volunteering arrangement. (note: Meals for Sundays and Mondays are not included).


BEFORE PAYING YOUR DEPOSIT, PLEASE CONTACT US FIRST TO ARRANGE YOUR STAY, AS DEPOSITS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

Please click here to pay your deposit via Paypal


Other information
Please review the Terms and Conditions of Service before applying.

Please read all the information carefully before applying. While we appreciate greatly all offers of help, we cannot afford to spare the time to look after volunteers to the detriment of our projects. Staff at Mirror are very helpful, extremely friendly and approachable, but very very busy. They will go out of their way to help you, so please do not abuse the privilege. The lives of many people depend on our work, which means that volunteers need to be proactive, resourceful, sociable and generally able to help themselves.

For more information , please email moo@bannok.com