FSL India Blog

FSL India is hosting the 3^rd Global LMTV (Long/ Middle Term Voluntary Service) Conference in Bangalore. The program is scheduled for 10^th to 14^th February 2012. The program is jointly organised by FSL India, Network for Voluntary Development in Asia (NVDA), Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS-UNESCO) and Alliance. Altogether 27 participants from 18 IVS (International Voluntary Service) organisations from Asia and Europe would participate and deliberate on various aspects of prompting youth mobility and volunteering service. The objective of the program is to improve qualities of LMTV projects, share know-how and experiences, develop standards and action plans, establish common systems, tools and methodologies to promote Long/Mid Term volunteers exchange across the world and develop new partnership promote international volunteerism.

FSL India being an international youth voluntary organization is celebrating its 10th Anniversary which coincides with the 10^th year Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers 2011. We are privileged to host the GLMTV conference in this special year. The management and staff of FSL India welcome the delegates of the 3^rd Global LMTV Conference.

In early January 2012, twelve volunteers from seven countries arrived at FSL India for long-term voluntary service. As part of the inter-cultural learning, FSL India organised a week-long orientation for the new volunteers at FSL India Guest House, Kundapur between 2^nd to 7^thJanuary 2012. The orientation sessions were facilitated by the LTV program team of FSL India. Volunteers were welcomed by FSL India team with garlands of Jasmine, and vermilion tilak marks on the forehead followed by Aarathi.

Different sessions were scheduled to give input on a range of topics. Sessions were conducted with both theoretical input and inter-cultural experience. Introduction to FSL India and its works, Indian Philosophy and life, roles and responsibilities of the volunteers, setting up aims and objectives and conflict management were the major topics dealt with. Volunteers shared with participants about their country and people. During the evening hour sessions were organised to introduce the volunteers on Indian culture. Volunteers also interacted with the Indian host family to know the Indian way of leaving, shared experience of previous volunteers and the intercultural experience. Volunteers also learnt a little bit of Kannada language.

In this batch volunteers opted to be placed in in different theme-based projects. Therefore, the facilitators introduced the volunteers their preferred project and organised filed exposures on Street children teaching, Women empowerment, Special Learning, Ethnic Tribes Teaching, Sea Turtle Conservation, Environment Education, Slum Development, Orphan children Teaching, Regular Teaching. Volunteers actively participated in the orientation. On the last day of the orientation an excursion was organised. The following table highlights the details of volunteers:

Ching Nga Chan from China

Britt Mari Bjorktund from Finland

Eveliene Marjin De Wilde from Netherlands

Alice Pernet from France

Anabel Kuebler from Germany

Erwan Gauthe from France

Cynthia Cochet from Switzerland

Anna Lena Neidmann from Germany

Manuela Genta from Italy

Marie Hernandez from France

Ferraguti Camille from France

Eddie Gastrein from France

The project is already over. I feel still a bit sad to be all alone again in this big country. Everybody went different places, to move on, sometimes in a new destination, sometimes to go back home.

In the last week of the project we finished painting the school. We finished a beautiful nature, vegetables and fruits wall with colourful and nice drawings of a carrot, a strawberry, a banana and many more. And also on other side of wall we made nice pictures of the numbers and the alphabet. It made the children laugh and everybody felt good about it. We also tried to finish the garden, but we couldn’t buy the banana plants, because the store was closed. The fence is ready now for the next FSL India Work Camp volunteers, who will have to finish planting the banana trees. I hope that will work out.

Of course we played and sang with the children. I saw one of the books where the children learn from. It was very special to see, because there were portions which I didn’t even understand. But it was interesting to know that children could understand. They are very smart! At the end some children sang for us and they danced. It was very beautiful. We all felt so sad to leave this nice place. But we are happy at least these children will not be forgotten. And they enjoyed our candies and cookies.

In addition to the work, we have done so many nice things. We went again to the neighbours, who were so nice to us. I even played a game of table tennis and on the last Thursday we went for shopping and later we went to a nice restaurant for a nice meal and a few drinks. And of course we went swimming again in ‘our own’ bath. Thanks also to Noorulla who was a great host for us.

I cannot say how much I have loved en enjoyed doing this project. I’m very happy that I have changed my plans, because I was not supposed to be here at all. I wanted to go earlier to Indonesia, which I will do now this Thursday. I will never forget the wonderful friends in this project: Ariane and Thomas from France, Justin, Stella and Tae Jin from South Korea, Laurance and Mylene from Canada, Erin from Canada and Prinson and Dinesh our top leaders. Thank you all again! Feeling a bit lonely but with a full heart of memories I will go on in my life. I will never forget this. Thanks to FSL India.

Karel the Dutchman

Here is a new story about my Work camp right now. Hotmail does not always work here. It is very hard to write stories from here.

What a wonderful camp until now! The first week passed so quickly. Our group is very special. We have 3 Koreans, 3 Canadians, 2 French and me the Dutchman. Everybody is very friendly and the atmosphere is super. Our FSL India leaders are Mr. Dinesh and Mr. Prinson. They are very funny and top leaders! Our accommodation is nice too or even better. We are staying in a fitness and swimming pool center. Great! Of course we jumped in the water ourselves! We have nice beds and the food although not always on time, is very good too.

And then of course our work - we are working in an orphanage - Baby Sarah’s Home. Here 60 children who are mentally and physically disabled and 50 normal children are living. We play with them and we try to teach them small things such as the alphabet and counting from 1 to 10. We also work in the outside. There we prepare new banana garden. We already made the fence, which is almost finished and we cleaned everything. Next we will start with planting the trees. We also work in a small school next of the orphanage. We are making funny drawings on the walls. Mylene and I are busy with making a new brochure for the center. This is a nice small job to do. On 23^rd January after singing with the children, we did a presentation about our work. Together with a first aid lesson by Mylene and Laurence we made a presentation for a group of 120 girls who were there as a guests. They are learning to become teachers. It was a very good afternoon again.

And meanwhile we are having so much fun. We went to a party of the neighbours, where all the girls could wear a real Sarree! They looked very beautiful. We had a great meal there too. We visited the city of course and we went to Auroville and fell very special about it. We are doing a lot of funny play’s here and of course we had our country presentations. Everybody loved my Stroopwafels a typical Dutch Cooky. Indeed I am enjoying a super camp organised by FSL India. I’m already sad this camp will end on Saturday. Then I will write you all again to tell my last experiences. Now I will go back and have a nice meal again.

Karel van den Berg

FSL India Volunteer from Netherlands

Miss Lilian Ava Zeitelhack from Germany and Mr. Sean Gilhooly from London are the two long term volunteers of FSL India. The duo volunteers are placed in a teaching project at Milinda Vidya Samsthe in Koppa town of Periyapatna Taluk in Mysore district. While Lilian has been teaching English to the children, Sean Gilhooly is assigned to teach them Art and Music. Besides both the volunteers are also teaching Geography, History and Moral Science to children. About 500 school children are immensely benefitted from the duo’s 5 to 6 hours of teaching service every day.

As soon as they arrived in early August 2011, FSL India assigned them with teaching projects. First they started teaching the children with disability. Later due to the need they were placed in Milinda Vidya Samsthe. Their popularity as committed and dedicated volunteers and teachers grew rapidly among the staff and students of Milinda School. They taught basic English and Grammar through alternative teaching techniques with singing and dancing as one of the tools.

On 15^th January 2012, Times of India (Sunday Times) one of the leading National Dailies made a good coverage about their service. Mr. R. Uday Kumar, the news reporter of Times of India interviewed and interacted with the FSL India volunteers. Responding to Uday Kumar’s queries, Lilian Ava, essentially a student of Psychology stated that, “the students are very cooperative. As they can’t speak English in the beginning, it was a bit difficult, but later they picked up the language”. She further added that “Now, the children are able to understand English without any problem”.

What is so important to note here is that the duo’s vision for the children. “We want children to think on their own, be confident and to ask questions. No answer or question is wrong as long as one really tries to learn something” – this is the message of Lilian that really impressed the news reporter of Times of India to make a special coverage and appreciate their commitment and dedicated service.

Lilian Ava and Sean Gilhooly further inform the news reporter that “it is been learning experience for us as the children and community people teach us about the cultural and traditional values of India”. The duo command respect of the children and staff of Milinda Vidya Samsthe for their committed service.

FSL India deems the appreciation of Times of India to Lilian Ava and Sean Gilhooly as a living testimony which will go on the record to encourage other volunteers. What is important to note here is that the recognition of media is only one of the instances. There are hundreds of FSL India volunteers placed in various projects all across India and are involved in providing commendable service to the poor and needy which are yet to hit the headlines of electronic and print media like Times of India.

Date: 4th Aug 2011 to 28th Aug 2011
Work Camp Code: FSL-SPL 145
Location: Dharamsala
Name: Jihae LEE

India has always been my dream country. A place that exotic, fantastic, and unlike the rest of the world. I wanted to see the prayer in river Ganga. I also wanted to feel the love of a great man toward his wife in Taj Mahal. Last but not least, I wanted to eat real curry with Nan.

However, when I arrived at the Indira Gandhi Airport, I began to worry about everything. The weather was very hot and humid. The airport, which should be the most clean and high-tech place, was not like that. I went to the hotel with no air-condition and no proper chair taxi. On the way to hotel, I was afraid because it was 11 p.m. There were many people on the street with nearly naked body. Hunting-dogs were searching for food, and the road condition was worst ever. Next day, I bought a bus ticket to the meeting point at double price, which took 12 hours from Delhi without toilet! I arrived at the meeting point at 4:30 a.m. Again I was afraid of the dark-unknown city. I stood there in the heavy rain for 2hours with my 2 luggage.

Seven hours after my arrival, I met my team leader and teammates. Now, my Work Camp begins. I loved my 19 teammates. Everybody was so outgoing and kind. At first two Dutch were not nice at all. Racism!! Well, 3 days later, I could see their changes. We began to talk about our countries and that helped us understand and fix our prejudices. Our team re-constructed the local school near our accommodation. We did mural painting, built the wall around school, and fix the fence. Working was very much a fun because we could talk a lot during the work and I could leave some mark in India by painting the walls. However, I hoped that, I would work more than I did. Because of the rain, we could not finish our work. That was my one of the reason, why I join this Work Camp.

I liked the country presentation during the daily meeting. I could learn a lot from their presentation and that helped me rethink about other culture. I was very much impressed to learn about each country’s real situation.

I had very close relationship with entire village community which was the greatest part. At first, I was afraid of Indians. I tried my best to ignore them. Later, I realized that I was wrong. People treat me the same way I treat them. After a week, they greeted all the time, helped me get a taxi and free laundry service.

It was a great time to look back myself. Through meditation, I learnt how to endure things and how to think carefully before deciding on anything. I also learned not to judge other people by their appearances. I thank so much to the Work Camp, FSL India and my school to provide such a valuable time. I could learn life lesson and appreciate the beauty of Indian culture including Taj Mahal.

-Jihae LEE

FSL India has been implementing CSR projects, titled Happy Move Global Youth Volunteers and Model Village (MVP) in Tamil Nadu. FSL India is currently hosing 8th Happy Move Global Youth Camp for South Korean Volunteers. The program is intended to serve the communities of Sriperumbudur and Kanchipuram districts. This program is being supported by Hyundai Motors Company (HMC) as part of corporate social responsibility so as to establish closer ties with the local communities.

Under the ‘Happy Move Global Youth Volunteers’ program, HMC, South Korea sends a total of 250 volunteers to FSL India. In addition they also send 20 Korean doctors and specialists. These Korean volunteers organise medical camps, health awareness campaign, education and renovation work in schools and villages.

The first batch of 8th Happy Move Global Youth Camp started on 19th January 2012 in Chennai and will continue until 31st January 2012. Altogether 88 Korean volunteers, 19 Hyundai Graduate Engineer Trainees (Indian participants), 9 nurses and 9 FSL India facilitators are participating in this camp. Totally 125 volunteers are currently partaking in this global event. FSL India team in Chennai under the leadership of Mr. Arun B. the Program manager is organising and coordinating this event.

The program started with a formal inauguration and welcome followed by orientation and team building exercise at Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI). From 21st January the volunteers will be engaged in education and renovation activities in 4 villages around Hyundai Motor India and conduct medical camp in fifteen villages in Sriperumbudur block of Kancheepuram District.

On behalf of the management and staff, Mr. Rakesh S. Soans the President and Mr. Rohan D’Souza the Director of FSL India extend hearty welcome to the volunteers.

Tent Schools are the initiatives of FSL India under Home Based Project (HBP). Many families migrate to Kundapur in search of livelihood. These families setup tents as their temporary homes. The children who move with their parents end up missing education. FSL India started Tent Schools in and around Kundapur to provide basic education to the children. The project aims to educate these children and motivate them to join regular school.

Tent Schools are effectively functioning with international long term volunteers. Recently one of the leading German Newspaper featured news article on Tent Schools. FSL India team along with long term volunteers conducted parents meeting at Navayuga tent school with a view to interacting with the families living in the tents and discussed on issues regarding their health and hygiene.

The place where the meeting was conducted is now kept clean and tidy. This improvement is due to the awareness created by the volunteers and FSL India staff. People have also cleansed the water tank as a result of the awareness created on health and hygiene. Earlier they never used to feel the importance of cleanliness. Following are some of the changes brought about as an impact of the health education imparted by the Long Term Volunteers and the staff of FSL India.

• People are washing their clothes and take initiatives to keep their surrounding clean.
• The parents taken interest to send their children to Tent School clean and neatly dressed.
• Children also get into the habit of washing their hands before and after taking food and take bath regularly.

Totally 15 families along with children participated in the meeting. Volunteers such as Miss Meret, Miss Maria and HBP team of FSL India Mr. Manjunath, Miss Shalini and Miss Manjula facilitated the meeting and educated the parents and children on health and hygiene.

“In our country, we just turn on a tap and water is available. We don’t really worry about it going dry - says Jacob, the environmental engineer from Germany

“Water is a precious resource. However, in cities like Bangalore, water is squandered without a second thought. Johan Saelens, Jacob Benisch and Antoin Borjnon, three FSL India volunteers did their bit to set right the imbalance by setting up a Rain Water Harvesting system in a Hebbal school. While and Jacob are from Germany and Antoin is from France and like most of Europe, they don’t really have problems and water shortage is an alien concept to them

These three young volunteers of FSL India set up a rain water harvesting system in a government school near Bytarayanapura by mobilising almost an amount Rs. 15,000. Their trip across rural Karnataka made them feel how dire the situation is. The trio whose ages range from 19 to 24 years are high school/college students who are with FSL India for field service and inter-cultural learning. Jacob is an environmental engineer, Antoin a telecommunications engineer and Johan is just the high school student.

They are placed at Rain Water Concepts and Water Literacy Foundation, a Bangalore-based NGO. It was a new concept for them. But what they had not realised how important rain water harvesting was in a country like India where the demand for the life-giving liquid was more than the supply. In France and Germany, people just turn on a tap and water is available. People don’t really worry about it going dry. It was only when they came to India that they did realise how dire is the situation. They were surprised that in rural Karnataka, people walk long distances to fetch drinking water even in this day and age. Still amount of water is being wasted in Bangalore.

After the trip to drought-ridden Gadag district in North Karnataka, they decided to do something to stop the waste of water around them. Therefore, they chose the government school near Bytarayanapura in Hebbal. The school has 525 children and used about 300 litres of water daily. Initially they had no proper method of disposing the used or grey water. This used to flood the roads and it was an unhygienic mess. There is no Cauvery water supply in this part of town and people rely on bore-well water. B Sumithra, the school principal says, that when these three came up with the idea of rain water harvesting in the school, it was a great relief.

These FSL India volunteers came up with three-fold strategic solutions. They set up roof rain water harvesting, grey water harvesting which led to underground recharging and open catchment harvesting. The entire roof became a catchment area for the children to use for their water requirements including bathrooms and for washing vessels. The grey water that came out of the bathrooms is used to charge the groundwater after intense filtration. They also created a method to ensure drain system so as to prevent roads from flooding. The entire cost was about Rs 36,000.

People who supplied the raw material gave at a cost reasonably low price. They did not want to ask anybody for help and wanted to do this by themselves. There is no water shortage for them in their country. But no one ever knows how bad the situation can get around the world. Water is a precious resource it needs to be conserved. This is the lesson one has to learn from these young volunteer.

“Change your mind” was the title and topic of a skit which the International volunteers and staff of the homebased ecoclub project of FSL India performed during an ecoclub meeting in Kundapur. The meeting was organised by the Flora and Fauna Club Kundapur and attended by about 200 students from the 8th to 10th standards of Kundapura High Schools. The children got a lot of information about the wildlife in the Western Ghats.The main character of the play was a very selfish person who didn’t care about anything but himself. Without hesistating he polluted the environment and didn’t care for the living species. But his mind completely changed when he got to know about the consequences of climate change. He nearly died through a natural catastrophe and he only survived because he was rescued by some dolphins. The skit could show the children that the changing climate is a universal problem which concerns all of us and therefore needs urgent attention.

We can already see the consequenses of the Climate Change such as more climatic catastrophes. Even if the governments and big companies have the power to diminish the emissions of greenhouse gases, everyone should be aware of this. The main character completely changed his mind. We hope that the responsible persons all over the world will also change their minds.

Among the public it is very important to create awareness even through small events like the Eco-club meeting. Every participant and the audience had at least a lot of fun joining this event. International volunteers of FSL India such as Caro, Lisa, Venus, Arther, Morten, Mia, Maria, and the staff members such as Basavraj, Steffi, Manjula, Manjunath, and Shalini participated in skit. As a token of appreciation, Dr. Malli, the organizer presented a memento to the volunteers and staff of FSL India.