THE BASE

Base is where you will live, eat, and play during your time on the program! It is communal living at its finest. Some call it rustic, others call it home. Base is usually co-ed bunk-style dorm rooms with assorted common areas for eating and relaxing.

You’ll live together, work together, and eat together with your fellow volunteers — moments of privacy are rare.

ACCOMODATIONS & FACILITIES

The base is located about 5 to 10 minutes walking distance away from the construction site. The base property consists of two parts, the main 3 story building and then open land adjacent to the main building. The main building has 11 rooms that will serve as co-ed bunk-style dorm rooms along with base support rooms. The outside area has enough space for tents set up.

Sleeping arrangements: We offer free accommodation for all residential volunteers. Volunteers and staff will get assigned bunk beds in mixed dormitory rooms. Bunk beds will not have any bedding or mattresses provided, so you must bring your own air mattress or sleeping pad, a sleeping bag or blanket, and a pillow.

These can be purchased locally upon your arrival in Kathmandu or Hetauda. Some bedding may also be left behind from previous volunteers, but we can’t guarantee it, please reach out to our Volunteer Relations Coordinator before your trip to find out what we have available during your stay.

One of our bunk rooms

Our tent area

Bathroom facilities: Showers and toilets will be separate from the main building but within the perimeters of the base.

As with many of our international programs, showers will be done via the bucket shower method. Bucket showers are a convenient way of showering when circumstances dictate that traditional plumbing is unavailable. The shower process entails watering yourself with water ladled from a bucket, lathering soaping, and rinsing again with ladled water.

We will also have dry toilets so toilet paper and any sanitary items must be disposed of in provided bins.

We don’t provide separate bathroom facilities for women and men.

Bucket showers

Shower from the inside

Dry toilets

Kitchen Facilities: The kitchen at our base will be equipped with basic cooking equipment such as pots, frying pans, basic utensils, cutlery, plates, cups, glasses, etc. It will be available for you to use in the morning so that you can prepare your breakfast. You can also use it on your days off and in the evening if you wish to prepare your own dinner instead of the one provided.

We will have a designated storage space where you can keep your food, but we ask that all food be stored in sealed containers. We highly recommend bringing a sharpie/marker to mark your items. We do not anticipate having a refrigerator or freezer at the base for public use, so please don’t bring anything that needs to be stored at a low temperature.

Communal area: We will have a dedicated common space at the base where you will be able to spend time with other volunteers, attend daily meetings, eat your meals, and participate in events. We will also have a designated well-being space for anyone who wants to spend time in a more quiet environment. Please note that consumption of alcohol, loud behavior, and loud music are not allowed in the well-being space.

Please feel free to bring along some board games, footballs, volleyballs, or any other kind of entertainment. We encourage you to consider bringing indoor activities for those times when we need to keep inside.

We will have a designated smoking area. Please note that smoking or vaping outside of these designated areas is not allowed.

Laundry: Laundry will be able to be done by hand washing, and we will provide lines to dry clothing. There are no machine washing services on the base. AHAH will wash work shirts for volunteers and staff and will provide fresh shirts for everyone each day as needed.

A laundry person from the local community may be available on the base who could wash your clothes for a certain amount of money. However, you must wash socks and underwear yourself as it is culturally inappropriate for Nepalis to do so.

Base TOUR VIDEO

ELECTRICITY AND INTERNET

WiFi will not be available on base so please plan on purchasing a local SIM card with your own data packages prior to your arrival - make sure your phone is unlocked. This is best done at the airport in Kathmandu. The recommended company is NTC, which allows you to top up data plans using an app. The NTC (Nepal Telecom) is the only provider that has coverage at the base/work site. Please do not buy any other data package and if you are going to use an e-sim ensure it is using NTC.

If you cannot get an e-sim using NTC and cannot put a new sim card in your phone, consider bringing an old/spare phone that you can use with a Nepali sim card.

You should get your SIM card at the airport when you arrive as it can be hard to find NTC plans in Thamel. The NTC shop is the second SIM card shop you will see as you are exiting departures. Please don't buy a SIM card from the Ncell shop as it will not work here.

There will be power sockets in the rooms available to charge your electronics. However, we can not guarantee there will be a socket close to your bed. We recommend bringing portable battery packs for additional power.

Staff can provide a laptop or phone if you need to contact a family member. If you regularly need a computer or phone for personal use we recommend bringing your own.

In Nepal, the power plugs and sockets are of type C, D, and M. The standard voltage is 230 V and the standard frequency is 50 Hz.

FOOD

We provide three meals a day, six days per week. There will be no meal provided on your day off - Saturday.

Breakfast: Oats, Peanut Butter, Jam, Bread, Eggs, Tea and Coffee
Lunch: Traditional Nepali food - Dal Bhat.
Dinner: We will have a menu, which will rotate on a weekly basis

There will be no meal provided on your day off, so staff and volunteers need to budget accordingly to prepare their own meals, or pay local shops for meals. Vegetarian diets can be accommodated but vegans and those with specific dietary requirements will need to supplement what we can provide with items they bring or source and purchase themselves. Most meals will be traditional Nepali foods like rice, lentils, vegetables, and salads. You will be able to store personal food items on the shelves but there may not be any refrigerated personal space.

Tip related to food: When you say less spicy at the restaurants, they understand it as less masaledaar (i.e. less spices like turmeric, coriander, jeera, etc.) so the food will still be hot (Chilli spice). So, if you want your food to be less spicy, you should say less Chilli and then you will have less spice in your food.

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