My name is Sophie. I’m a volunteer from Germany and I live in Tamil Nadu since the last 10 months. I’m working in the NGO Servo Trust, which is a Women Empowerment Project from FSL-India. Servo Trust is working together with the Forest Department of this district, in the Tamil Nadu Bio-Diversity Green Project. It’s an environment program financed by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)  and the government of Tamil Nadu, with the aim of afforestation.

Every year, many hundred thousands of trees are planted in Tamil Nadu through this project. This was my main work here, where I made the best experiences. We raised awareness for the importance of trees and our environment in small villages through Public Rural Awareness meetings (the PRA’s) and Cultural Street Programs. In the PRA-meetings we conducted speeches and drew illustrations. At the end, I helped transporting and planting the trees. Furthermore, we collected data for the micro plan book from the government, and connected with farmers who want to participate in this project to get free trees.

After a few months, I started to conduct English studies in the evenings for the children in my village. I really enjoy working with the children, and now everybody in my village knows my name and it’s funny when even kids I’ve never seen before call me ‘Sophie Sister’. Since a few weeks, we also draw sometimes together, to support the creativity of the children.

Sometimes we work together with another NGO, which is working with Tribal caste people. Together, we conducted some Education Awareness Programs and Summer Camps for children from the Tribal caste. This was one of my favorite parts of this work, even though we didn’t make this regularly. I really enjoyed spending time with these children, and seeing how talented they are, and how these camps motivated them and empowered their self-confidence.

Servo Trust is also raising Awareness on Children’s Rights in schools, or for the law in villages. In these programs, I also participated and assisted. Now, we started a new nursery nearby my home, where we raise seedlings of fruit trees to support our environment, and provide the local people with fruits. During the TBGP, I met many local people from the villages and we travelled almost the whole day, where I saw many places. Many people invited me to eat in their homes. This great hospitality was a new experience for me.

The chief of this organisation is, at the same time, my host mother. I live in a small village surrounded by beautiful rice fields, and the people are really lovely and friendly here. I have spent the first 5 months on the weekends in this village because I love it here so much. Everywhere are cute animals and children who want to play with me. Everybody is treating me like a family member and I really feel like I have a second home now, 2 mothers and many more siblings, aunties, uncles and grandmothers/fathers. I will be really sad when I have to leave to go back to Germany, but I’ll definitely come back many times!

Through my host family and books, I learned Tamil and the English studies with children were also a help for me to learn many words. Now, I can speak a little bit Tamil. Sometimes, it’s funny because even though I don’t understand what they are speaking, I know what they are telling.

In my village are people who believe in Hinduism and Christianity. I got to know many interesting Hindu festivals and traditions, and I visited many temples. I really love Indian food and the variety of colours. Especially the coloured houses and the clothes are so beautiful. I was also able to paint the wall from my home blue. It was a lot of fun.

On my 20th birthday, I visited an Indian church for the first time. It was a really nice and funny experience, because it was different to a church ceremony in Germany. We sang many songs and everybody was so motivated, and there were way more young people participating than in my country.

I also travelled to North India and Kerala, which was such a nice experience because I saw how different it is from place to place in India. I was really surprised. But one thing was the same. The helping mind and the openness and friendliness of the people I met.

I will never forget these enriching experiences I made here.