Frequently Asked Questions
You will have many questions before you arrive in Calcutta. Here are a few popular ones.
Yes.
Afternoons are unscheduled and entirely yours. Wander a market, explore her streets, enjoy lunch at the hotel or find a café. Or rest. Find what feels good in that moment.
Evenings, we head out together into one of Calcutta’s many corners, her flower markets, the ancient ghats along the Ganges, and landmarks that are rich in story. Then we eat. Calcutta’s food is a world of its own. After dinner, transportation will be provided back to the hotel. Some nights, though, the city pulls you out further. You are welcome to explore on your own.
We have created a fully comprehensive experience designed around one thing, allowing you to just be. From the moment you land (whatever time you land!), you are welcomed. A personal greeting at the airport is just the beginning of the legendary Indian hospitality you will carry home with you.
Included in the Experience:
• Worry-free airport pickup
• All ground trsnsportation in Calcuta
• 8 nights of carefullly selected premium hotel accommodation
• Daily breakfast and dinner with your cohort
• Calcutta community organization visits
• Evening outings eacch night to explore Calcutta
The full Experience, worry-free airport pick up, hotel accommodations, daily breakfast and dinner, ground
transportation in Calcutta, your community experiences, your evening outings, and our coordination on the
Five people per cohort is intentional.
This experience is designed to be intimate. A larger group changes the dynamic, the conversations, the quiet moments, the way you move through a place. Keeping it small protects what makes this what it is.
Because of its intimate nature, spots fill quickly. We do add additional cohorts based on demand, so if your preferred dates are unavailable, it is worth reaching out. We also maintain a waitlist for last-minute cancellations. We understand people do sometimes have to step away, and those spots are offered immediately when they do.
We keep it simple, intentional, and personal.
Booking is simple, and intentionally so.
Step 1: A conversation.
Before anything else, we get on a call. This isn’t an interview — it’s a chance for you to ask every question you have, and for us to make sure this experience is the right fit for where you are right now. No pressure, no pitch, just an honest conversation. Schedule yours through the Schedule a Call link on this page.
Step 2: You’ll hear from us or Almost there.
You’ll hear back from us within a few days. We want to make sure you’re in the right cohort, at the right time.
Step 3: Lock In Your Spot
Securing your spot is simple — just a deposit, done entirely online. The remaining balance isn’t due until 60 days before your cohort begins.
Step 4: We have the rest.
Truly, that’s it! Don’t worry, we’ll stay in touch along the way. We’ll send a prep guide with everything you need to know, and we’ll check in as departure gets closer. Questions will come up, they always do. We’re here for every one of them. Pack your bag, get on the plane, and we’ll be waiting for you at the airport!
No. And that distinction matters.
Volunteer trips are built around output, hours logged, tasks completed, a measurable contribution you can point to. This is not that.
You are not going to Calcutta to fix anything. You are going to be present with people whose lives look nothing like yours and to let that presence do what it does. No deliverables. No performance. No cape.
The Human Kind Project was created by Jenna Sheplock, a pediatric nurse with over 22 years in the field. It is developed by her and supported by the wellness team of healthcare experts at Senior Healthcare Associates — a Medicare and Medicaid medical practice based in the Pacific Northwest.
Senior HCA works with patients and families navigating the hardest moments of acute geriatric healthcare. They have seen burnout in the field every day, for years — in the nurses, physicians, and allied health professionals working in the Assisted and Long-Term Care fields. The Human Kind Project grew out of that awareness.
The project is not a medical program. It is not affiliated with any of Senior HCA's professional or clinical services. It is a small, carefully managed travel experience — independently operated, and built by healthcare people, for healthcare people — and anyone else carrying the same weight.
Senior HCA provides the evidence-based guidance, the credibility, the encouragement, and the commitment that this is real, accountable, and here for the long term.
A vacation is rest and escape. You set the agenda, go where you want, and answer to no one. It’s personal, unstructured, and entirely about you.
A tour is transactional. A company takes you somewhere. You consume an experience designed for the masses. You’re a customer. Passive and interchangeable with the person next to you.
A cohort is transformational. You were selected. You belong to a specific group of specific people moving through something together with intention and structure. You’re not a customer, you’re a participant. And the experience changes because of who else is in the room.
The core distinction: a vacation is about you, a tour is about the destination, a cohort is about what happens between people when they show up for something that matters.
We could have built an experience in many beautiful places. However, this experience could only be built in Calcutta because of the extraordinary organizations that call her home. Most mornings, you'll spend time in environments that most people in the Western world will never encounter firsthand. Unimaginable.
Places like Mother Teresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying and New Light have a way of stripping away the noise, pressure, and performance that so many of us healthcare professionals carry every day. Again and again, participants from our test cycles tell us it is not the sightseeing, the food, or even the city itself that stays with them most. It is the people they meet in the sites we vist. Calcutta provides the setting. These organizations provide the encounter. Together, they create the conditions for something difficult to describe but impossible to forget.
Less than you think.
Comfortable, modest clothing. Calcutta is warm and humid, and the organizations we visit are traditional spaces, so shoulders and knees covered. Good walking shoes.
Once you’re enrolled, you’ll receive a full preparation guide covering visa requirements, what to pack, and everything practical you need to know before you land.
The only real preparation is this: come with an open mind, an open heart, and a willingness to be moved.
Expect stairs at the hotel and entering buildings. Many evening activities involve walking. Mornings are mostly spent sitting bedside, on chairs, on floors. You should be comfortable on your feet, managing steps, and walking for stretches at a time. If mobility is a concern, let us know on your first call and we’ll talk it through.
Emotionally: honest answer, yes, there will be moments. You will sit with people who are dying. You will meet children who have nothing and are somehow lighter than you. You will feel things you may not have words for. But this is not trauma tourism. The weight you carry out of those mornings is different from the weight you carry into a shift. It fills something rather than draining it.Most people describe the experience as challenging and better than they expected. Usually in the same breath.
Yes. Calcutta can have a reputation that doesn’t match the reality on the ground, particularly for visitors.
You will not be navigating any of this alone. Transportation is arranged. The neighborhoods you’ll move through are safe and walkable. You’ll be with a small group of people who are in it with you from day one.
That said, Calcutta is a real city, not a resort. It is alive and sometimes loud and occasionally chaotic in the way that only cities of that age and density can be. That is part of what makes it work. It is not dangerous. It is just real.
For more question of concerns, our team in Calcutta is availiable on What'sApp at +91 836 982 6560.
You are welcome to arrive earlier than the start date or to extend your stay to explore more of Calcutta your own! Let us know if you have any questions. We are are here to help!
It is worth noting that each cohort’s timeframe was created from personal experience. It was designed to expose you to real, unfiltered humanity — while protecting space each day to reflect and process what you are taking in. Too much, and it becomes overwhelming. Too little, and it feels superficial. That balance is intentional.
The absence of downtime is one of the quiet drivers of burnout. The time to pause, feel, and integrate what you are experiencing is intentional.. The days are structured to honor that.
No. You are not here to work. You are here to witness and experience. Your health care background is highly respected and welcomed in some places, but it is never required. If you are asked, a simple ‘not today’ is always enough. You may find that sitting with someone, holding a hand, listening to their story or simply being present is the most meaningful thing you do all week. This you your time to observe and reflect. Contemplate and be moved. Nothing more is required.
Yes.
You will need to apply for an eVisa (Electronic Visa). There will be a few options to choose from and you will apply under the Tourist visa. A Tourist eVisa is valid for 60 days from the date of arrival. There are many sites that may try to help expedite or assist you in this process. The official website can be found here https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html.
This information will be reviewed with you on your phone call with us. Please reach out to us with questions in the meantime!
Yes.
Pricing is built on single occupancy, your own room, every night, with no single supplement. If you’re traveling with a friend or partner and looking to share one room, reach out before you book: You can email us at support@humankindproject.in or message us on WhatsApp at +91 83698 26560.
Right, we have moved in to a more organized cohort structure from Jenna's orginal experience. The cohort structure allows us to create a highly personal and crafted experience. We no longer worry of attracting influencers or those seeking for this experience to exist as just a bullet point on their resumes. The new cohort structures creates an intimate experience that allows the sites do their work on you. Mother Teresa's center, the New Light center and a few of our other NGOs are unlike anything else on this planet. They are only found and can only be experienced here in Calcutta. That experience is what the evidence reports to be transformative. So yes, you will be among the firsts to experience a cohort unlike any other and that is why it is a selective and extraordinary opportunity.
Usually they are the same things.
- How comfortable they feel.
- How warm and generous the Indian community feels.
- How safe the experience feels.
- How much they enjoy the afternoons.
- How much humanity they encounter in places they expected only sadness.
- And how difficult it is to explain to friends and family when they get home.
More Questions?
Reach us directly in Calcutta
on Whatsapp at +91 836 982 6560
or email us at: support@humankindproject.in
This is not for everyone
That's by design.
If something here stayed with you — that's enough to start.
The first step is a short conversation. No pitch. No pressure.
Prefer to reach us directly?
Contact our Calcutta team on WhatsApp at +91 836 982 6560
This may be the thing you've been looking for without knowing what to call it.
The Core Distinction:
A vacation is about you, a tour is about the destination, a cohort is about what happens between people when they show up for something that matters.
October
Transition. Energy. Awakening.
November
Clarity. Celebration. Movement.
December
Stillness. Depth. Ease.
January
Felt. Contrast. Perspective.
February
Lightness. Openness. Renewal.
March
Heat. Energy. Endurance.