Photo Journalism in Nepal

Project At A Glance

Location: Kathmandu Start/End point: Kathmandu Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 20-30 hours per week Food: Local meals (3 times a day) Room: Host family or homebase Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

IFRE’s Nepal photo journalism project is a phenomenal opportunity for budding photo journalist to enhance their skills, add to their resume/CV and visit a wonderful country. Volunteer photo journalists act under the supervision of an experienced professional and learn tricks of the trade while gaining a wide variety of knowledge and experience. This project can also be an internship position if the volunteer is interested in dedicating more time, resources and a final detailed report at the end of the project.

Volunteer photo journalists will click their way through Nepal’s fascinating festivals and cultural events, meeting friendly people and seeing magnificent landscapes and sceneries along the way. Volunteers will capture unique pagoda shaped Hindu temples on film and also snap images of huge Buddhist stupas, views of the spectacular Kathmandu Valley, and join celebrations during festivals and cultural happenings. The goal is accurate pictorial documentation of Nepal’s vibrant customs and activities. This experience will broaden minds and enhance photo journalism skills.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

The aim (beyond pictorial documentation of Nepal) of the project is to cultivate strong and open-minded photo journalists in our volunteers. For that, we offer the guidance of an experienced professional, who works for a respected local newspaper. Volunteers will review and agree on a schedule and travel to all sites with this supervisor, usually on a motorcycle, which is a perfect transport to navigate the maze of Kathmandu’s traffic. Note: cameras are not provided.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Volunteers must know how to operate a camera and understand the concept of modern photo journalism. Volunteers must enjoy a fast-paced atmosphere, be comfortable taking direction and be quick on their feet.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations, meals and supervision for volunteers throughout their stay in Nepal. Most volunteers placed in Kathmandu projects stay at our home base – a permanent home set aside for international volunteers and manned with a local staff. Our safe and secure Kathmandu home base is located in a beautiful area of Kalanki, nearly 5 km away from Thamel, a popular tourist hub of Nepal. Most of our volunteers’ projects are located within 2-5 miles of the home base. Therefore, volunteers can simply walk to their projects or take a local taxi or bus. Most necessary services for travelers are located within 2 km of the home base: internet cafés, restaurants and grocery stores. Our home base is located in the heart of city and provides easy access to volunteer to all parts of Kathmandu. It is a perfect situation for volunteers to live safely and comfortably while making many new friends and sharing experiences every day. In the evening volunteers return to the home base, to relax, eat dinner, explore local areas or share the day’s experiences with fellow volunteers and staff. Our home base provides a same-gender shared room and shared bathroom with running hot water and a “western” style toilet. Volunteers will have the ability to do laundry at the home base.

Volunteers receive three prepared meals per day. Our cooks prepare breakfasts, lunches and dinners of Nepali foods (similar to Indian food, including wheat bread, rice, curry, dahl, chapatti and pickles) for volunteers. If volunteers will be out of the house during lunch hour, they can request a lunch "to go”. If traditional Nepali fare does not appeal to volunteers, they are welcome to buy personal food and prepare it.

Occasionally, depending on volunteer traffic, available projects or distance to a volunteer’s assigned project, we may also place our volunteers with carefully pre-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are experienced with hosting international volunteers. They have strong interest in our volunteers’ safety and well-being and demonstrate this with caution and care. In most host family situations, volunteers will share a room with another volunteer of the same gender. Another viable option is an at-orphanage stay. Many orphanages in Kathmandu have special rooms set aside to house international volunteers. Volunteers who have stayed with a host family or at an orphanage describe an enriched experience because of having done so. Once you have applied for program placement, you will find the specific details of your accommodations in your personal placement documents for your project.

IFRE maintains two offices in Kathmandu and Chitwan to supervise and assist volunteers. However, volunteers working in Pokhara will stay in touch with Kathmandu office by telephone or email and will receive staff visits as often as possible, usually every two weeks.