Where we work
VESL always works with people from rural communities, where we feel the need is greatest. We also feel it is important to work in areas that have not received overseas volunteers from other organisations in the recent past. Each year we try to establish new projects as well as continue to foster the relationships we have built with our existing projects. New projects are only established after consulation with Government Educational Departments, local charities and host communities.
Under no circumstances will a project take work away from people in the local community.
Sri Lanka
VESL started sending volunteers to Sri Lanka in 2003. Since then it has sent volunteers to projects in the North, East, Southern, Central, Western and Uva provinces. It has worked in Singhalese, Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities.
During the last year our activities in Sri Lanka have been restricted to the Central, Southern and Uva provinces as the current situation within the country has made it extremely difficult to work in our projects in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Battacaloa.
The safety of our volunteers is of utmost importance to us. We would never allow volunteers to go to a project that we were not confident was safe. VESL always makes sure we have the latest information from the FCO and our Programme Managers, in-country coordinators and resident representatives all monitor the situation on a daily basis.
India
The Indian programme was set up in 2007. We have been building relations with a number of local NGOs and charities that work with disadvantaged children in Andhra Pradesh and we believe that VESL volunteers could be of real benifit in these areas. Our projects are currently located within Andhra Pradesh on India's South East coast.
Thailand
VESL has been working alongside the Thai education department to identify needy rural schools in the Chiang Rai Province. These projects include schools situated on the Mekong River in the famous Golden Triangle and ene school actually has views into Burma and Laos across the valley! The area is famous for its fantastic scenery, hill tribes and history. Volunteers will be based at local schools, running teaching programmes and English language clubs for the local children (many are from the hill tribes) and the local community.
VESL is already looking to the possibility of running additional volunteer projects in the Surin province in rural schools close to Cambodia so watch this space for more news.