Volunteer Holidays in India

India is such a rich and vibrant land full of heritage and quaint customs and traditions, that it draws me back every time I am thinking of a holiday. With a very limited source of income I normally opt for volunteer holidays in India or access for offers on volunteer trips for college students. Summer is really a very cheap time to take a holiday in that country provided you can stand the tropical heat. I don’t mind that as I am quite selective while doing volunteer holidays in India. Last year I did Agra and this year I headed for Jaipur.  My itinerary with the NGO or NPO as we call it here is simple. I will do volunteer work from early morning to around 5 p.m. and thereafter be on my own. It gives me 2-3 hours of daylight to explore and indulge in sight seeing at a time when the heat and outside temperatures are a bit more bearable. 

This time I homed on to a wonderful NGO dealing with street children and since the schools were closed for summer, I could spend loads of time with the young imps in the hostels. I taught them Basic English conversation and for the fun breaks we did some great work and murals on the dormitory walls and their dining area. It was 15 days of pure fun and if any one reading this is really interested in enjoying a volunteer holiday in India, I suggest you click on www.shaping-lives.org. That’s the site which got me this NGO and the children and people there were all praise for the work Shaping Lives does for them. In fact, it was through that Foundation that I could also get hold of a good home stay opportunity in close proximity. So guys, if you are planning volunteer trips as a college student. I suggest you check this website out.

Responsible and Interactive Tourism in India

Responsible tourism in India opened new avenues for me even as I browsed multiple options of contributing my art skills to a needy organization during my holiday in India. Most websites channelised me into art galleries when I fed in my interest area but the one linked to Interactive Tourism, put me onto a new Foundation called Shaping Lives. It claimed to create bridges between travelers and reliable researched NGOs. It spoke of Responsible Tours in India linked to smiling children. I liked the option of assisting special children afflicted with various mental and physical disorders in expressing suppressed desires through painting. In fact I was pleasantly surprised to read that these paintings were purchased by the tour operator which had raised this unique Foundation, as gifting ideas for their premium clients and the children were treated like VVIPs when invited to gift it themselves. 

Simply out of the world …. I knew then and there that if I was to do any responsible tour in India, it had to be through these wonderful and caring people. I was not disappointed and my memories are full of the joy on each special friend I made as I helped them complete their ‘expressions’ through art. I think I went their to seek peace for my soul but have left my heart behind. Must save …so that I can go back soon ……..

Volunteer Trip To India

Hi, I am Thomas and I just did 15 days in India. The weather was hot but did it matter to me ??? ..not at all, …. because I had planned this holiday focusing Volunteer Trip to India. It’s a habit for me to devote at least 40% of holiday time to working with less privileged children. I browsed India Volunteer Tourism, looking for an option which allowed my mornings free for sightseeing and social work during the hot desert afternoons of Jaipur. It was a tall order, something like a customised volunteering scheme.

I matched and counter-matched with Volunteer Tours India and found some lovely event write-ups on Shaping Lives of visits in an NGO which worked with children from local slums in afternoon classes. They also gave contact details to assist me in my volunteer effort and suggested low budget home stay options should I be interested. That for me was simply WOW! … I hooked on and my holiday at Jaipur became memorable. I enjoyed the free mornings and looked forward to being with the lovely children every afternoon. Taught them English and basic maths, and learnt some exciting local dance steps from them. I have planned on a fundraising for the NGO back home and I really must suggest that any and everyone at least have a look at this website whenever they have wish to do Volunteer Tours India. You won’t regret it.

Tomas,

Student, California

Socially Responsible Tours in India

When two of my friends returned from India, they said ‘Julian, it was beautiful but the NGO we visited was so disorganized and we had a bad experience’. That got me thinking overtime as I had planned on good quality time with an animal NGO. Immediately sat and searched socially responsible tourism in India. All the sites offered the moon, but there was one run by a premium Indian travel operator, which caught my eye. The corporate social responsibility tour they promised looked authentic. I ran a check and found that they were associated with various grass root level NGOs across tourist destinations in India through their very own Foundation named Shaping Lives.

This socially responsible tour in India gave me options of not just animal care in Jaipur and Agra but miscellaneous other options. The travel website of Le Passage to India eventually also helped me to find a local agent in my city and would you believe it, the NGO location, time and contacts were inbuilt into my itinerary before I flew in for the holiday. Needless to say, it was a marvelous experience and the time spent with the animal NGO was the icing to the cake. Got to work with canines and birds … esp camels. I am ecstatic and going back for more. That is the essence of good  socially responsible tourism in India and I have become its marketing agent within my friends circle, I loved it so much.

Le Passage Travel Foundation “Shaping Lives” celebrates its second anniversary on 01 Jun 2012

Le Passage Travel Foundation will celebrate its second anniversary on 01 Jun 2012. Popularly known as Shaping Lives and with its own exclusive website www.shaping-lives.org it is the brain child of Le Passage to India, one of the top DMCs in India. Shaping Lives is a one of its kind philanthropic venture not run by any other travel company in India. Its basic intent was to create bridges of happiness between the inbound traveler and well researched, reliable, grass root level NGOs in tourist destinations across India. The aim was to create social visit and volunteer opportunities as its contribution towards responsible tourism.

As a pioneer in this field, our intent was also to motivate other DMCs in our industry to create such Foundations and invest in social, cultural and economic sustenance of the local communities on the tourist sector. Looking back at the two years gone by, it gives me, as the GM-CSR, immense pleasure to recall the events and visits initiated by Shaping Lives.

The thrill of a Flight of Fantasy (air travel) by less privileged and special children, the squeals of laughter at an Elephant polo match, the pride in the eyes of special children as they presented their own paintings to admiring foreign guests or just plain Holi (festival of colors) celebrations by Shaping Lives with our NGOs are a few memories which make my eyes sparkle. Some of the happiness and love that our clients took away from various interactions with children, aged homeless, animals, philanthropic institutional visits are documented ….the ones in their hearts will last them a lifetime. Take a look at our site. Come!...contact me at anil@lpti.in. Join the bandwagon of smiles and fun while you holiday in India with Le Passage to India as an inbound traveler or an Indian tourist via our business unit TUI India. Shaping Lives will add ‘soul’ to your joyous sojourn.