Teenagers of age group 14-16 from Spain, France and Chile had exposure to sustainable agriculture, waste management system, interaction with schoolchildren and inter-cultural learning at Bangalore and Kundapur from 27^th June to 18^th July 2017.

During the first week, the group of 14 teens visited major Indian religious places like temple, church and mosque. The volunteers also visited the famous botanical garden of Lalbagh at Bangalore and learned about South Indian plants. Later, the teens had activities in an orphan school, drew educational drawings on the wall and also played games with the children. At the end of the week, the volunteers travelled to Kundapur.

At Kundapur, the teenagers worked in the sustainable agriculture project at CEL (Center for Experiential Living). The teens were actively involved in digging trenches, planted medicinal plants, engaged in nursery management activity, visited a farmer’s paddy farm and cultivated paddy along with the farmer. They also visited rubber and cashewnut factories to learn about the process, agriculture research centre to learn about sustainable agriculture and Agumbe rain forest to learn about forest bio-diversity.

The volunteers also visited different temples to learn about Indian culture and gods. In the 2^nd week, they stayed with Indian families to learn more about local culture. They conducted 4 days’ sessions at Siddivinayaka residential school regarding waste management systems. During the school session, the teenagers also learned local games from the students like lagori, chinnidandu, and chennemane stone games. They organized a rally from the school to Hattiangady Panchayat to hand over a memorandum to implement solid waste management system at the local Panchayat.

Totally, in these 3 weeks, the teenagers had a wonderful experience during the camp. They interacted with children, host family members, farmers, local youth, FSL-India staff to get more information about India and Indian culture.

Each member thanked FSL-India and their local partners for giving this wonderful opportunity to them. The teen camp team leader – Beatriz A Roca, FSL-India team leader – Gajendra, Siddivinayaka school contact person – Pradeep and Suchitra Nayak worked with the camp.