How You Can Get Involved

We are always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to spend time in Manthali. Over the years, we have hosted  many volunteers from around the world. Some stay for just a few days, while others stay for a few months. Many volunteers say that it is a rewarding experience to understand true Nepali culture. Also, if you are interested in bringing your older children (12+) on your volunteer experience, we would encourage it.

If you are interested in volunteering, please send a short paragraph about yourself and why you might be interested in volunteering. Please send your inquires to smartketi@gmail.com. We will get in touch with you to discuss your potential experience and help you with every step of the way. There is no cost to volunteer. You would be responsible just for travel to Manthali, and food and lodging. Just to get an approximation, travel to Manthali from Kathmandu is around $10 USD and basic food and lodging is $6/day.

In the past, we have asked volunteers to come up with a small "project" that they might hope to accomplish while in Manthali. Some examples of past projects:

• a volunteer, an art teacher, drew and painted a mural of the world on the wall of the smartlibrary. Many students, who had never painted before, really enjoyed helping to paint
• a group of volunteers taught school children English songs (i.e. Bingo, Old MacDonald, etc.). They wrote down the words into a "Songbook" so students could continue practicing their English
• a volunteer, who was into computers, spent time at the local hospital. He thought that it would be helpful to have things labelled and donated signs to help with patient flow (ie. pharmacy, lab, etc.) 
• a volunteer, who was interested in videography, made a short documentary about a young girl's dreams
• a volunteer, who was an IT specialist, spent time teaching computer classes and began to do web-based learning curriculum
• a volunteer brought traditional board games (Scrabble, Bananagrams) and taught students how to play. She then donated these games to the library.  

We believe that every volunteer has something to offer. We are open to every potential project idea and would like to support your interests. Here are a few potential ideas that might be beneficial to Manthali:

• if you are into baking, if you might be willing to teach the smartketis at the smartbakery a few recipes. If you were interested, perhaps even make a recipe booklet to donate to the smartbakery.
• if you were into sports, if you would be able to organize donation of team jerseys from your local community so that children might have a chance to experience being on a team. If you had any expertise, spending a few sessions coaching or organizing a game.
• if you were interested in spending time at the school, you could direct a play, spelling contest, talent show or introduce a bookclub discussion.
• if you were into photography or videography, you could spend time with a local villager and document his/her life