Work with Special Needs Children's Program

Project at a Glance Location: Xi'an Arrival point : Xi'an International Airport Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Chinese food (3 times a day) Room: Home base Date: First and Third Monday of each month.

Project Summary

Many parents in China cannot afford special education or focused care for their child with a physical or mental disability. China’s children with special needs include physical challenges to mental, emotional and behavioral obstacles. Some community centers exist that offer programs for these special needs children in China during the day, as they cannot attend mainstream schools. Manpower is desperately needed and the centers are understaffed. Volunteers assist with the daily center operations, such as serving meals and cleaning. Important life skills need to be taught and entertainment needs to be arranged (like playing games) for the children. However, the most valuable thing volunteers can offer is love and support of these children, in spite of their special needs and challenges.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

No specific skills or qualifications are required to work with special needs children. However, patience and kindness is important when working with children who are emotionally and/or behaviorally challenged.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Volunteers in China who work in a special needs children project will help facilitate day-to-day activities of the center, like assisting at meal times and cleaning. Free time activities need to be organized: games, songs and crafts. Volunteers also offer guidance with crucial life skills and possibly teaching English to older children. Finally, the most valuable thing volunteers can offer is their love and support of these special children.

Room/Food/Supervision

We offer a “home base” in Xi’an, China. Our home base is located in a beautiful area of Xi’an city. This area /community is very safe, clean and accessible to local transport. Residing within this community are many business families, high ranked government officials and people with a high social status. It’s near to the supermarket and the shopping mall and you can easily walk to the local bus station if you choose to go into town. The nearby internet café, restaurant, police station and supermarket are just 1-3 km away. Our home base accommodations offer volunteers a wonderful place to rest and relax after a day’s work or weekend travel. This is the ideal setting for individuals looking for a “home away from home” and the perfect arrangement for sharing your daily experiences with fellow volunteers, or local staff.

Dependent on the season and flow of volunteers, you may be placed with a local host family or with the family of our in-country coordinator. Our host family homes provide similar amenities as our home base, but you will also have your own room. Staying with a host family offers a valuable chance to learn more about Chinese people and their culture. When selecting home base or host families, we were primarily focused on the safety and comfort of our volunteers. In all China volunteer projects, breakfast, lunch and dinner is provided throughout the duration of the project. We offer 3 meals a day of local cuisine (Chinese food). Typically, volunteers eat breakfast and dinner at the home base and have lunch at their project. We offer fresh, nutritious and safe local foods to our volunteers to eat. We also work extremely hard to maintain our facilities in a positive condition.

Most of our volunteer projects in china are within 5-30 minutes away our home base in local bus. China has very strong and reliable system of local bus so you will be traveling to/from in local bus each day. Volunteers at our Panda Conservation project will stay at a modest economy hotel, close to the Conservation Center. We have a strong partnership with this hotel and they treat our international volunteers with kind respect and offer a very safe environment. Internet is available at this hotel. Breakfast - lunch - dinner is provided at a nearby restaurant, which offers very delicious Chinese food. In China, our in-country staff provides highly effective field support. Whether you stay in our home base or with a host family, our coordinators visit you regularly (even day or within 2-7 days) to ensure a successful and happy volunteer experience