Volunteering in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a truly beautiful island and a fantastic country to volunteer in. For an island of its size it is packed full of things to see and do; it has countless ancient monuments, breathtaking views and stunning beaches as well as fascinating cultural festivals, wildlife reserves, game parks and even an tropical rainforest reserve!

What volunteers take most from living and working in Sri Lanka is an opportunity to experience life with the wonderful Sri Lankan people and learn about their culture and way of life.

Volunteers return to the UK with huge enthusiasm for the country, having gained new-found curry making skills, a unique insight into Buddhism and a great many new life-long friendships along the way!

Backround

VESL started sending volunteers to Sri Lanka in 2003.  A lull in the civil war at that time opened up access to many regions that had been off limits for the best part of two decades and in that inaugural year we were privileged to be able to work within Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities across the South, Central, East, North East and Jaffna Peninsula.  It was an amazing experience that laid the foundations for all that has developed for VESL since.

Thankfully Sri Lanka has been going through a transition into peace and things look very positive for the future development of the country.  After break in 2010, VESL returned to gain new M.O.U. [Memorandum of Understanding - an official agreement] with the Sri Lanka Education Ministry which secured a continued focus on rural primary schools in Sabaragamuwa Provice (previously Ratnapura & Kegalla districts) in Central Sri Lanka.  We’re looking forward to being able to develop the projects we have in the region with both short and longer term volunteer opportunities available.

Highlights

From stepping off the plane you know you’re in Sri Lanka.  The Sri Lankan people are amazingly welcoming and are always full of smiles.  Even in the remote villages you get an instant warm welcome from everyone.  The costal regions have some of the most breathtaking beaches in the world and the tourist trade is beginning to return now that peace has been established.

Sri Lanka has a number of world heritage sites with fantastically preserved ruins, pagodas and temples.  The interior also has some incredible views as you wind through the lush green hill-country.  There a fantastic train ride into the hills from Colombo to Kandy and on towards Ella – who knew so many shades of green existed!

Their is so much wildlife there too – from tiny geckos and praying mantis to hugh monitor lizards, purple faced langur monkeys and wild elephants…  There is something new to see round every bend in the road.

A real highlight of Sri Lanka is the fantastic food too…  with so much variety and fresh produce it is just a truly wonderful culinary experience.

Some of the must see bits of Sri Lanka would be :

Kandy and it’s temple of the Tooth / rich archeological sites of the North / Sygiria / Anaradnapura / lush green rainforests of central regions / waterfalls around Ella and Haputela / wildlife elephants / flying foxes / monkeys / leopards / palm tree lined white sand beaches of the South

There’s just too much to list!

Visa restrictions & project length

We need to gain a very specific visa to allow volunteers to work in schools within Sri Lanka and the process of gaining this visa can take away where between 2-3 months.  As a result we try to ask those interested in a Sri Lankan project to apply as early as possible!

Visas can run from 4 weeks to 12 months and our projects can match that.  We can have some flexibility in start dates, however, we do try to aim for term start dates if it’s a long term project – this gives us a set of key start dates in January, May/June and September.  Our short term projects run from late June/early July.