I taught English in an orphanage in Cambodia for two months one summer in college. I'm not a natural teacher so I felt pretty incompetent, but I loved those kids so much! However, the experience of being in a foreign country by myself, living with a missionary family I didn't know, was really hard. For the first time in my life I was surrounded by people that didn't love me. All my issues with depression and past trauma decided to come out on this trip and when I wasn't at the orphanage I just isolated myself and became extremely depressed, wishing I could get help, but knowing I couldn't until I got home to America.
Anyways, my advice is to do it! You will love the volunteering part if you already love animals. But being in a foreign country alone with no one to help you is terrifying. I was confident going into the trip that I would be fine, but any unhealthy thoughts or behaviors get magnified when you're alone, especially when you're alone in an unfamiliar place going through culture shock. My advice would be to take a friend. Or join a group of like minded people and travel with them. Even if you don't know the people in the group, you'll likely bond over your love for animals and the culture of India, then you can travel with them too. Just navigating the transportation alone is a daunting task in a foreign country so it helps to have people with you. Maybe study a few words in the dialect spoken where you want to go. By the end of my two months, I knew just enough Khmer to confidently leave the house, and tell the Tuk Tuk drivers where to bring me.
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