Udyan Orphanage had very good accommodation and facilities for their volunteers. The toilet and showers were cleaned every day and there was always hot water for showers. The food was exceptional and a clean well for drinking water. The support was ok, however it took a few days to be able to talk to the manager and be told what I can do to help. I was able to do the everyday things like help dress the children, take them to school, help in the kitchen, pick the children up from school, play with them in the afternoon etc. I was asked by the managers what I would like to really help with and I advised them that I would like to teach English every day for maybe 45 minutes to the young ones during the week. They said this was fine, however did not help me in any way to make this happen by saying to the children to get together at a certain time every day (with the language barrier this would be difficult for me to organize). Udyan has a very well organized timetable for their children so I understand this can sometimes be hard to get time for the volunteers – but I think if they have volunteers who really want to have an impact on the children by teaching them things, then they need to have an hour or 2 a day that is for the volunteers to organize things. I know this was felt by many of the volunteers who were there.

My one last comment is there was 9 volunteers there at the same time, which I feel is too many. There was allot of spare time for us and I know many really wanted to be able to do more and nothing was offered.

Overall though, they were friendly, really well organized for the children and the children were very happy. It was an amazing experience and I plan to come back again and hopefully have more of an impact with the children by teaching English and Yoga.