tmvolunteers.org

Skeptical Volunteers in my Inbox

Sometimes I get an email from someone who is skeptical about the legitimacy about Thai Mueang Volunteers, nothing wrong with a bit of skepticism, but with the amount of volunteers who have already been here… could we have made it all up!?
Read about our former volunteer experiences here.

Other Volunteer Organizations
I am sure you have had a look at other organizations besides Thai Mueang Volunteers, so let me ask you a question or two…

• How much are they charging compared to TMV?

• Do they help you obtain a non-immigrant ‘O’ visa which is required by law to work as a volunteer in the Kingdom of Thailand?

• Do they show you photos and video of where you are going to live?

• Teaching English – Do you have to prepare lesson plans and work as a volunteer teacher, or do you just have to show up and play a few games and sing a couple of songs?

• How about support with the volunteer work you are going to do, or is it just all up to you?

Many of these big organizations are not even located here in Thailand, they have hired Thai people to pick up the volunteers upon arrival and take them to their placement. They tell people on their websites that they can volunteer in Thailand on a tourist visa, a blatant lie, they ask of you to do a criminal act even before you arrive in Thailand.

Personally I have had volunteers from another organization turning up at my doorstep, crying their eyes out, and they just wanted to leave Thailand and go home. These poor people who came to Thailand believing that they came to do their best helping the children in Thailand improve their English abilities, and then experienced being left alone in a foreign country without any support from the organization they trusted… Of course we tried our best to help these unfortunate volunteers, and I received a death threat from the organization involved, yes, I still have a copy of the email and so does the chief of police in Thai Mueang.

Through a quick search on Google I found this story from an unhappy volunteer, and she is not the only one. Try having a look at what is required to volunteer in Thailand, do a search on Google and find some official government websites that tell you exactly what visa is required. Try ‘volunteer visa for Thailand’.

Thai Mueang Volunteers is here to support the schools in our program with English speaking volunteers from around the world.
We have meetings and dinner with our volunteers every day.
We teach our volunteers to create lesson plans so they are well prepared for teaching.
We support our volunteers in getting a non-immigrant ‘O’ visa before leaving for Thailand.

Are you ready to volunteer as a volunteer English teacher? – For more information about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers go to our contact page and insert your name and email and we will get back to you within seconds.

Have a great day, and spread love and kindness whenever possible.

Anders

Volunteering in Thailand just got cheaper
Sign up to volunteer in Thailand with Thai Mueang Volunteers for 450 Euro for one month. Sound too good to be true? Well, there you have it, volunteering just got cheaper.

Due to the financial situation world wide, and also because of few inquiries for this summer we have decided to take action.
We have decided to reduce the price of the registration fee from 150 to 50 Euro so the total price for volunteering in Thai Mueang for one month is now 450 Euro, less than 600 USD.

We had kept the prices since we started in 2007 as we believe that they are very reasonable, but we’ve had quite a few emails from especially students, who mentioned the price as they need to pay for the flight as well, so here you have it. If you find a cheaper volunteer organization in Thailand than TMV, please let me know and I will setup a link to them, both from here and from our links page.

In 2009/10 We have seen many organizations shooting up on the web, organizing volunteer placements for more than 1000 USD/month, some even more than 2000, and they don’t provide an invitation letter for their volunteers to bring to the Royal Thai consulate/Embassy in their home country so they can obtain the correct visa.

Volunteer Visa
A non-immigrant ‘O’ visa is required to work as a volunteer in the Kingdom of Thailand. I have tried to contact some of these organizations asking them why they tell people that they can come and volunteer on a tourist visa when it is against the law, and I have been ignored completely. I won’t mention any names here but some are quite big organizations.
Just be careful on what they want to make you believe and travel safely.
Have a look at this link “volunteer visa for thailand” and read about what is required.

Contact Thai Mueang Volunteers
If you want to learn more about volunteering in Thailand and about Thai Mueang Volunteers go to our ‘contact us‘ page and insert your name and email in the form and we will get back to you within seconds.

Have a great day and spread love and kindness wherever you are.

Smiles
Anders

21st Jan – 30th Jan 2010

These are my last few days in Thai Muang. I have no teaching as I wanted a week off to sit back, chill and relax before heading back to freezing UK! There were a few things that I wanted to do. I went to the Thai Muang Turtle Sanctuary and they had turtles of all different sizes, amazing coral and giant sea clams, wonderful stuff. I went to Phuket to say goodbye to Andoo and buy a few last minute presents. I asked Tin is he could arrange some snorkelling for me and yes it’s all set for Friday morning.

Thursday night went out with Anders and Net to George and Veronicas as a going away supper. Very enjoyable and they bought me a lovely present, thank you both xx

Tin and I went snorkelling with Mud, the fisherman, although not terribly successful as apparently the water was too high but we did sail around the coastline and swim. It is the most beautiful unspoilt beach that I’ve ever seen and I would hate to see it turned in to another Patong beach. Where all you’ll see is sunbed after sunbed after sunbed!

I am just getting ready to go out for the last night. I’m off to school tomorrow morning to say goodbye to everyone and then Tin has kindly offered to take me to the airport.
I am not looking forward to getting back to the very cold weather in the UK but I’m sure I’ll get acclimatised quickly!
This is Laney signing off – good luck and enjoy those who come to help out in Thai Muang. You wont regret it! 30.01.10