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

Thurs 24th Dec
You’ll notice that I’m missing a few days – wont go in to detail but suffice to say I haven’t been very well – nothing serious – and everyone has been very helpful and the staff at Thai Mueang hospital were great.

Fri 25th Dec
Happy Christmas! Back to school as feeling much better – how else would I want to spend Christmas Day but teaching! Had a lovely lunch, pork noodle soup, my favourite and something that I have every day. I must have been wished a Merry Christmas at least 100 times and the students knew a little bit of Jingle Bells and so we had a sing song.
I went to the beach just so I could say “I went to the beach on Christmas Day”! It was lovely and peaceful with hazy sunshine – but I can’t complain as there is snow in England and Germany. Just Anders and I having dinner as Net was busy at school, quiet meal, then I went home and Net was there with a young German volunteer, Christin from Baluga school. She stayed the night as we are all going to Phuket tomorrow.

Sat 26th Dec
Net picked us up at 08.00 and off we went to Phuket, her cousin and a friend were with us and once we arrived, we split up as we had different things to do. Christin and I went shopping, eating, booked in to the Crystal hotel. We did more shopping and then met up with Fon – my English teacher from school – with her husband Nae and son, Noney. We went to look at the sunset from a very popular place, Phrom Thep Cape. It was lovely but unfortunately cloudy and so not the greatest sunset but a lovely idea all the same. We all went to dinner and arranged to meet the next day.

Sun 27th Dec
Following an unusual American breakfast – we went to meet Andoo at the market, did some more shopping and waited for Fon. We went to Kata Karon beach and then to Patong beach for lunch. It was wonderful sitting there people watching and what amazing people. All foreigners – the only Thais on the beach were those working. I was fascinated by the ‘Lady-boys’. It’s quite difficult to tell with some of them, some of course are very obvious but others not so. Fantastic legs – no cellulite there! Apparently I have to be in Patong at night-time to really see them at their best, can’t wait. Christin and I caught the bus back to Thai Mueang and met Anders, Net and some of their friends at a restaurant on the beach, we had dinner then back to the house. Christin and I sat and chatted and talked girlie stuff, it was great.

Mon 28th Dec
I took two classes for Fon this morning as she was in a meeting. Went well and I back-tracked a little and was pleasantly surprised when the students remembered a fair amount of the work. We had a good time and I think they enjoyed themselves. Strange to think of students enjoying themselves in class but you have to understand that the Thai way is totally different to ours. Some students turn up 20 – 30 minutes late for class – but that’s okay, they were having breakfast! Some would ask to be excused – to nip to the toilets for a quick ciggie! Right – can you imagine this in the UK!
I went to the beach again but only for a little while and then back home to catch up on my blog. Met Anders and Net for dinner – had pork noodle soup! I’m going to look like a noodle soon! Back home to watch a film then bed. It’s absolutely pouring tonight but I guess I shouldn’t complain as it’s still about 28 degrees and its 20.30!