Get started early. At least six months in advance of your scheduled departure date you should begin working out the details of your volunteer experience. Choose a few organizations you are interested in and begin to establish communication with them. You can email (always the fastest), call or write depending on the capabilities of the organization.
If the organization you plan to work with is a Nepali NGO, establishing communication may be challenging however email facilities are available in most places within the Kathmandu Valley. Cyber cafes are common in Kathmandu and are available in the rest of the valley. Cost of emailing is inexpensive with an hour costing less than $US0.50 per hour.
Most Nepali NGOs have a phone number you can call. Although this is expensive and sometimes it is hard to get the right person on the line, you can save time by emailing. Don’t forget to calculate the time difference from your country to Nepal.
The telephone country code for Nepal is 977 and the city code for the Kathmandu Valley is 1. For numbers outside the Kathmandu Valley, you will need to use a city code other than 1.
Also, sometimes when calling Nepal you can hear an echo of the person who is speaking on the phone. This echo makes it difficult to communicate because you feel as though you and the other person on the line are talking on top of each other. After a few tries or a few minutes on the phone, however, you should get used to it and will learn to leave a pause before and after you speak.
