FSL India Blog

In the month of December Get-Together for Long Term Volunteers in Kundapur zone was held at St. Joseph Community Hall Anagalli. The two-day program was held on 15th and 16th December 2011. There were 17 volunteers and 4 staff FSL India who participated in the get together.

On the first day after lunch, volunteers participated in activities such as project portrait and collage. Then there followed the one-to- one talk by the volunteers with the respective coordinators. All the volunteers participated in the mood-chart activity on 16th Morning.

Volunteers participated in the LTV Get-Together are those who are associated with projects such as Sea Turtle Conservation, Eco Tourism, Tent School, Teaching Projects, Orphan Children Teaching, Special Children Teaching and Environment Education. Charts were given to volunteers for performing the activity of project portrait. Newspaper and books were given to the volunteers and they were asked to prepare the collage. After the Collage, the volunteers were asked to share with other members of the group. Following is the detail of volunteers and the countries they represent:

Sweden-2 Slovakia- 1 Hong Kong-1 Germany- 5 Denmark- 5 France-2 Netherland-1

LTV Get Together for the month of December for the volunteers of Bangalore zone was organised at Indian Institute of Training on post-Development, Chettikuppam Village, Villupuram District Tamil Nadu on 15th and 16th December 2011. The objectives the Get-together are:

• To create a platform for volunteers to share their experience, project work, progress result in a group
• To find solution to the problems encountered
• To share the best practices of voluntary service
• To have one-to-one talk with coordinator
• To get motivation for future work in the projects

Program evaluation, group games, experience sharing and one-to-one talk with coordinators were the major activities of the two-day program.

During the session on projects, volunteers shared the activities that they had done, the progress made, challenges encountered and the results achieved. There was a session on Communication. In this activity the volunteers were divided into 7 groups. Each group consisting of one viewer, communicator and artist. Each group was given with a pre-drawn picture where the viewer would see it. The viewer would orally explain the picture to communicator who in turn would explain by sign language.

This exercise was facilitated with a view to making the volunteers understand that they are working in a team with people from different countries and different culture, language and background. It is always a challenge to share ones idea to other. Therefore, volunteers need to know different ways of communicating while working in a team.

Volunteers also had one-to one talk with the respective coordinators and discussed on the challenges they encounter in the projects. Some of them are:

• Difficulty in making rain water harvest system at school
• Challenges in teaching English to the children
• Practicing spoken English with the children
• Difficulty in teaching children with disability
• Difficulty in finding work in the project
• Feeling of loneliness because there is no other volunteer.
• Difficulty in communicating in Local language

Volunteers also had lots of fun games during the get together and enjoyed every bit of moment. Altogether 20 volunteers and 5 staff from FSL India participated in the program.

LTV get together is a regular monthly event in the Long Term Volunteering program facilitated by FSL India. The international volunteers placed in various projects, gather once a month to share their experience and learning with one another. One of the principal factors of placing international volunteers and project assignments through voluntary service is to give an international dimension to development interventions in India. In this backdrop monthly get together facilitates a process whereby the volunteers express their views and learn by sharing with one another.

The one-day get together for the month of October was organized on 17th November 2011. It was organised at Break Through in Bangalore, a national level organisation which is pioneer in conducting corporate and management training. All together 17 volunteers representing countries such as Germany, Netherlands, France, Sweden, Korea, Austria and Denmark participated in the monthly get together. Six staff from FSL India also participated.

The one-day event was facilitated by Break Through training team with lots of simulation and fun games. The volunteers while participating in the sessions enjoyed every bit of moment. Sessions were conducted with lots of fun and frolic. Practically every session was conducted with a simulation game. After an activity or game was over, the volunteers were engaged in collective deliberation, analysis and application of learning back at project was the process adopted to facilitate get together exercise. Input and feedback from the facilitators, opinion sharing and specific learning outcome that could be applied back at work formed the basis of the one-day program. Simulation game such as name juggling, man-bear-gun, bottle and rag, low-rope walk and spotting, robot race, trolley walk, blindfold and search were organised and analysed its practical application for personal and professional enrichment. Systematic planning and coordination, team work, risk analysis and conflict management, needs identification and prioritisations were the major learning outcomes of the activity based sessions conducted by Break Through team.

The volunteers had the opportunity to meet and interact with each other. They could share their experience gained in the project. It was also an occasion to receive and give feedback on the projects that the volunteers are associated with. As the volunteers work on a range of education, health, socio-cultural and economic development and environmental issues; they made a brief assessment of the progress, challenges encountered, and the changes brought about in the project. One-to-one talk with coordinators were also organised for the volunteers.

LTV get together is a regular event facilitated by FSL India for the international volunteers. Once a month the international volunteers gather together to share their experience, success stories and learn from one another.

The two-day LTV get together was organised on 13^th and 14the October at Turtle Bay Beach Resort, Kundapur.  Volunteers participated in the LTV GTG are the those who are associated with projects such as Sea Turtle conservation, Eco Tourism, Tent School, Teaching projects, Medical project, Environment education and rain water harvesting projects. All together 20 volunteers placed in Mysore, Bangalore, Udupi and Mangalore zones participated in the get together. The event was facilitated by four coordinators of FSL India.

One of the primary objectives of organising get together is to give an opportunity to international volunteers to share the experience and success stories with one another and in the process learn from one another. This also becomes an occasion to identify common issues and find out solutions collectively. The volunteers were given different shapes of pre-cut cards and were asked to write down their experiences and later asked to share with other members of the group.

The international volunteers also had one-to-one talk with the coordinators and discussed about the project work, host family, inter-cultural learning experience and travel details. Beach game was also organised for the volunteers. With lots of fun and frolic varieties of games were conducted.  Indeed it was also a moment to get and give feedback and make the assessment the progress and results achieved. The volunteers also made assessment of the living experience in the host families.

The magnitude of our social problems will require that all citizens and institutions make a commitment to volunteering as a way of life and as a primary opportunity to create needed change…says George Romne.

Monthly get together is a regular feature in the Long Term Volunteering programme facilitated by FSL India. The volunteers are placed on various projects at various locations. Once a month the international volunteers gather together to share their experience, success stories and learning vis-a-vis what they planned to implement and bring about changes in the lives of the target community.

One of the underlying principles of engaging the international youth mass on various projects through voluntary service is to give an international dimension to development interventions and the changes that emanate from the collective actions. Get together indeed facilitates a process whereby the international volunteers learn through sharing with one another. Get together normally spans for two days. It is organised in batches for the international volunteers.

The get together for the month of September 2011 was organized at a Beach Resort at Koteshwara (about 7 kilo metres away from Kundapur) on 15th and 16th September. Although eleven volunteers associated with different project at different location were invited, due to unavoidable circumstances, only six volunteers representing countries such as France, Japan, Austria, Slovakia and Sweden participated in the monthly get together. Three staff from FSL India also participated in the get together were part of the learning process.

The primary objective of organising get together is indeed multi-dimensional. During the two-day sessions, the volunteers had the opportunity to meet with each other. They could share their experiences among each other. It was also an occasion to get and give feedback on their projects. They made assessment of living experience in the host family. As the volunteers work on a range of issues such as education, health, socio-cultural and economic development and environmental issues; they made an assessment on the progress, changes brought about and challenges encountered. Indeed this process created a platform for dialogue and continuous learning.

One of the interesting events took place during the get together is project and host family portrait which the volunteers made through the graphical presentation as shown in the picture above. This was done so as to understand both positive aspects and the challenges encountered. The graphical analysis greatly varied from volunteer to volunteer. However, it was a learning experience and everybody expressed a spirit of enthusiasm of being part of the volunteering experience. Simulation games, sharing of experience, one-to-one talk with coordinator; were also organised for the volunteers.

The August month’s LTV Get together was held at Turtle Bay Beach Resort at Trasi on 11th and 12th. There were 6 staffs and 8 volunteers has participated from Bangalore, Udupi, North Karnataka and Mangalore Zones. During this one day event, a cultural theater was organized to see the Cultural Experience of our participants along with games, beach walk and 1-1 talk with coordinators.

The first Quarterly Evaluation for BMZ participants held in Turtle Bay Beach Resort on 20 to 22nd June 2011. 3 participants from IISE and Nittur Aided school has participated along with 3 FSL-India coordinators. It was a small group, but all of them actively participated. Here session were conducted on project and hosting evaluation, travel map, motivation now and for the future and evening activities like beach walk, games, etc. were held.

Monsoon get together was held at Turtle bay beach resort on 16th and 17th June. It was well mixed international group with volunteers from Portugal, Italy, Israel, Austria, France, Denmark, Germany and with Indian staffs Along beach walk, games and 1-1 talk, a debate was held on various topics and lot of discussion too.

Place: Silver Sand Beach Resort, Malpe

Date: 12th - 13th May

May month get together was held at a beautiful private beach resort at Malpe. The group was very active with 5 staff and 18 volunteers from different projects. The participants were from Bangalore(2 vols), Mangalore (5 vols), North Karnataka (6 vols), Hunsur (2 vols), Udupi(1 vol) and 2 vols from Kundapur.

Date: 14th to 15th April                                                             Place: Turtle Bay Beach Resort, Trasi

‘Summer get-together’ organized at ‘Turtle bay’ beach resort with 14 volunteers and 5 staffs..

What was there? again group activities, evaluation, fun, 1-1 talks and beach volleyball and other games.