Experience:
Organisation:
Name: Jane
Hometown: London
Destination: India
Project type: Peer educator of sexual health and environmental issues
Organisation: Students Partnership Worldwide
What were your impressions of your destination?
India is a fantastic country, we flew in to Chennai in Tamil Nadu and were based in Vellore 2 - 3 hours from the coast. There is a lot of poverty and you can be a little overwhelmed by that initially, but people are very friendly and there is so much to see and do.
Was the work interesting and challenging?
SPW is no ordinary "gap year" experience, you really get involved with your local community through the schools, women's groups and village chiefs. All international volunteers are partnered with national and local volunteers in the village and together you form clubs with the school children to teach vital but interesting lessons using non-formal teaching methods.
SPW expects you to build your work around the needs of your community, and gives a lot of support and advice in how to do this and methods of finding out what is needed, but also allows you the freedom to really feel in control of the program and use yours and the national volunteers strengths. During my time in india in my village we held first aid lessons, sexual health sessions with doctors, arranged for doctors to come to schools to do health camps ie, checking teeth, eyes and general health of children. We built recycling units and built a kitchen garden to supplement the children's diet. We built a library and had a rally through our village talking about the importance of education and literacy for boys and girls. We had a local drama group come to do some plays on HIV & AIDS to show to the community at large. It was an amazing experience and at the end one of the national volunteers continues to work in the village for at least another 2 years, thus increasing the sustainabilty of the programme.
What was your accommodation like? Did you feel comfortable and welcome at all times?
We had a house rented for us in the village, which although small was clean. We were lucky to have electricity most of the time, although we only had water from 5-7am so we had to fill massive barrels to wash ourselves and do our washing up and clothes washing throughout the days, but it was more than what I had expected. We also had Anousia, our adoptive mother, who works with SPW to support her children at home, and so lived with us and cooked amazing food for us, allowing us to really experience local food at all times.
Were you happy with the organisation and the staff that were responsible for you during your stay?
SPW is a brilliant charity, they kept in contact with us and we felt really supported throughout our placement. We had 2 weeks training when we arrived in Vellore with our Tamil counterparts, this training ranged from language training to recycling tips and lessons on rural participatory appraisal. Since coming back to the UK I have still remained in contact with both the UK and Indian staff and of course our Indian counterparts.
Do you feel that you got value for money on the project?
Obviously you can go abroad and do a project for cheaper than with SPW but if you want to go to actually learn something about another community and way of life, to be truly integrated within a local community and to feel when you leave that you have made some differences then SPW is value for money. It is hard work and the programme in your village will only be as good as you make it. I personally felt my experience was worth every penny I paid, and when listening to how other people went and built a school somewhere but did not get to really integrate with people their own age from those communities I know that I chose the right charity to spend my time and money with.
Would you recommend the project to others?
Yes
