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STAYING ON |
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Volunteering, studying or working while in Nepal can add a
satisfying focus to your trip, and deepen your understanding of another
way of life.
Unfortunately, the Nepalese government doesn't make it easy to stay on
legitimately, the main obstacle being that you can't stay longer than
four months in any calendar year on a tourist visa without special
permission (though that means you can stay up to eight months if your
trip straddles two calendar years). To stay longer, you generally have
to get a non-tourist visa through a recognized work or study programme
before entering the country.
On a tourist visa
If you feel you've received a lot from Nepal, volunteering is a good way
to give something back. The Himalayan Explorers Club ( www.hec.org)
publishes an excellent Nepal Volunteer Handbook that gives information
on more than fifty programmes and opportunities. The club also runs its
own volunteer programme for teachers in the Khumbu region. Other
overseas organizations worth contacting include Educate the Children,
which takes volunteers for three-month teaching stints ( ETCithaca@aol.com),
and Volunteer Nepal ( www.web1.pipemedia.net/nepal/), another teaching
programme of two to six months' duration.
You can volunteer on a less formal basis at the old people's hospices in
Pashupatinath and Chabahil run by Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity,
who welcome walk-in help on a day-to-day basis. Tulsi Meher Ashram, a
training centre for destitute women located out beyond the international
airport, can use people with design experience or creative handicraft
ideas - contact them through Mahaguthi outlets in Kathmandu or Patan.
The Kathmandu Environmental Education Project, Himalayan Explorers Club
and Himalayan Rescue Association offices in Kathmandu can always use
volunteers.
People with medical qualifications are always needed. The Himalayan
Rescue Association accepts four doctors each autumn and spring to staff
its high-altitude aid posts; the waiting list is two or three years
long, but it can't hurt to write ( HRA@aidpost.mos.com.np; GPO Box 495,
Kathmandu, Nepal). The Banepa Hospital welcomes foreign doctors on
temporary placement, and no doubt other hospitals would gladly accept
help.
It's against the rules to work on a tourist visa, but plenty of people
do - notably as trekking and rafting guides . However, you'd have to
have made several trips to Nepal, or already be experienced and well
connected in the adventure-travel business, to find work as a guide.
Guides are usually hired on a freelance basis, so the work is only
seasonal, and immigration restrictions make it hard for non-Nepalis to
make a career out of it. Qualified masseurs and yoga/meditation
instructors may be able to find work in Kathmandu or Pokhara.
If you just want an open-ended arrangement for a few weeks or so,
teaching English is a good way to become a temporary local. Language
schools in Kathmandu and Pokhara take people on with no previous
experience, although the pay is negligible.
A few language schools in Kathmandu offer intensive courses in Nepali,
Newari or Tibetan. There are also opportunities to study yoga and
Tibetan Buddhism
Staying longer
Postings with the Peace Corps, VSO and other national voluntary agencies
abound, providing you've got the relevant skills and the determination
to stay two or more years. People with experience in education, health,
nutrition, agriculture, forestry and other areas are preferred. Such
organizations don't instigate their own projects, but place volunteers
in existing projects where technical help is needed. Many other aid
agencies (such as Action Aid, Save the Children, CARE and Oxfam) operate
in Nepal and occasionally take on specialists.
If you can persuade the Finance Ministry that you've got a good business
idea that will help Nepal's development, and you have a Nepali business
partner, you may qualify for a business visa . They generally expect you
to invest at least $50,000 start-up capital.
Several American universities run study programmes in Nepal. The
University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of South Asian Studies places
students in Nepal for a full year. The School for International Training
(tel 800/336-1616) in Brattleboro, Vermont, has its own campus in
Kathmandu. The Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, runs a
thirteen-week course on Tibetan Buddhism each autumn at Boudha. Other
programmes are out there - check at www.studyabroad.com.
The only known way to get a non-tourist visa after you've already
arrived in Nepal is to study at Tribhuwan University's Campus of
International Languages in Kathmandu. One-year courses in Nepali,
Tibetan, Sanskrit and Newari begin in July. Classes run for two hours a
day, five days a week, and a year's tuition costs $525. Apply no later
than June with a letter of recommendation from your embassy or
university to: Campus Chief, Campus of International Languages,
Exhibition Road, Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu, Nepal (tel 226713). The
university will sort out your visa
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