Volunteering To Help Rokpa Overseas

Latest Opportunities

There may be new TEFL placements for 2007 - all in Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures of China.

Placements include:

• Volunteer teaching to orphan children and young people in Qinghai Province

• Paid teaching at a middle school in Gansu Province

• Volunteer teaching at a monk's college in Sichuan Province

See below for details of how to apply for any of these positions.

Taking out supplies

If you are planning to travel to Tibet or Nepal and would like to offer your help we would ask you to please let us know in plenty of time. You might be able to help us by taking out clothes, medicines or books that we or our supporters have collected.

Helping in Nepal

The Rokpa Soup Kitchen serves about 800 meals a day during the winter, giving people fresh Tibetan bread and hot milk tea for breakfast and a nutritious meal of rice, lentils and curried vegetables for lunch. Basic and emergency treatment is offered in the Soup Kitchen.

Medical

Patients whose illnesses are more serious (those with tuberculosis, leprosy and AIDS) are referred to hospitals, the cost of treatment being met by Rokpa. All this work is done by volunteers, both western and local.

If you are interested in helping serve the needs of the destitute in Boudha, near Kathmandu, please contact the Rokpa office for further details or email charity@RokpaUK.org.

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Helping in Tibet

Teaching English in the Tibetan Homelands

Rokpa can provide placements for volunteer English teachers in the town of Jyeku, also known as Yushu, in Qinghai Province, at Yushu Tibetan Orphans’ School, and occasionally elsewhere.

Yushu is a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and close to the borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province. It is a small and rapidly developing town, 12 - 24 hours by bus from Xining, which has an airport with daily flights to and from Beijing (around 2 hours).

Volunteer teachers will be expected to teach on average 18 hours per week, teaching classes ranging in size from 25 to over 50 pupils aged from 5 to 20.

All applicants must:

• Have a teaching qualification (minimum is a 4-week course to Teach English as a Foreign Language)
• Have had teaching experience
• Be prepared to teach for at least six months, usually from March
• Pay their own travel expenses to and from the project (this can cost up to £800 from the UK)
• Be aware of Rokpa’s aims and principles

Rokpa will:

• Provide food, accommodation, contacts and detailed information to successful candidates

Preference is given to those who are over 25 or who have had previous experience of working in a developing country.

To inquire:
Please send a brief message saying why you are interested, along with your CV to the volunteer coordinator at edinburgh@rokpa.org

We aim to reply within 14 days.