THE BASE

The 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. The 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

Our base is located about 5 to 7 minutes walking distance away from the school site.

Sleeping arrangements: We offer free accommodation for all residential volunteers in an RCC building consisting of 10 rooms. 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.

Additionally, we will have some tent spaces available, if you wish to bring your own tent. If so, please, inform the Volunteer Relations Coordinator so we can reserve you a spot.

PLEASE NOTE: During the COVID-19 pandemic we used to provide bedding, but we are no longer able to do it. You are responsible for bringing your own bedding (blanket, pillow, mattress), so please buy it in a local area before coming to the base. After the first month of the start of the program, there might be some mattresses/bedding left behind from departed volunteers, however, we cannot guarantee that. Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator a few days before arriving at the base to ask if there are any available.

An example of a bunk room

Our tent village

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 (fill up a bucket with water and use a small pitcher to wash off all the sweat and dirt from the site!). We will also have dry toilets so toilet paper and any sanitary items need to be disposed of in provided bins.

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

Bucket showers

Inside of a shower quarter

Dry toilets

Communal space: We 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.

Kitchen facilities: The kitchen will be equipped with basic cooking equipment such as pots, frying pans, utensils, cutlery, plates, cups, 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 is stored in sealed containers. We highly recommend bringing a marker to sign your items. We don't have a refrigerator or freezer at the base for use, so please don’t bring anything that needs to be stored at a low temperature.

BASE 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 or in Thamel. The recommended companies are NTC and NCELL. Both allow data plans to be topped up using an app and are the preferred choice of cell phone carriers in the area.

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. Laptops and phones will also be available to anyone in isolation. 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.

Laundry

Laundry is 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 your socks and underwear yourself as it is culturally inappropriate for Nepalis to do so.

The team is working to provide additional pictures about the space, so please be sure to check back in for updates!

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