Antonia Hauser, one of our long-term volunteers from Germany, volunteered for four months at the Paramedical Educational Trust in Tamil Nadu. The organisation believes in “Health for the Rural Mass in India.” Antonia conducted awareness programmes for community members on the topics of health and hygiene and taught school children English and environmental studies. Following is her reflection of her stay in India. 

      “When I planned my trip to India, I was talking to many people, reading and hearing a lot of different opinions and trying to figure out how it will be. I was very eager to get information, how the country, the culture, the people would be, especially from volunteers that already returned, but every time it was not satisfying and I felt like I did not get enough information.

 

Now, after finishing my voluntary service and looking back to this experience, I can at least understand why no one was able to give me an exact answer to all my questions: India is just too big, too different, and too difficult to wrap it into some sentences. I see myself like a white sheet that got colored and cut from India and all the things I experienced here. And it is not my duty to analyze this sheet. I will just keep it very safely in my mind and look at it whenever I feel.

      As a resume, I have to say it was not the work only that defined my stay. it was much more: living in an Indian family and getting to know their culture, but also experience love and care, even if we will only have some short time together; learning to cook various Indian dishes and waking up with the smell of fresh cut flowers and the voices of vegetable selling farmers on the streets; talking to people in the bus, on the cycle, at the market without knowing any Tamil sentence, but still understanding their interest and happiness to have you here; making new friends all over the world and traveling together to make the experience “India”; be annoyed but also feel very alive while roaming through the Indian cities and watch the people on the streets. And also giving – knowledge, love, interest, information, work, time, a listening ear and many, many smiles.

     

 

   

 I learned various things here: from simple Tamil words and reading to work in an NGO, fundraising and starting new programs. From cooking Indian to going by the bus, taking care of yourself in the Indian traffic and how to behave in this culture. I learned about myself, how and what I can do; I learned to wear sari and lungi and about people’s feelings, thoughts and the old traditions in India. All in all it was not only an experience for me, but also for my host family, my friends and my family at home.

     

     I am happy that nobody tried to tell me exactly how India would be. I think it is just not possible and any attempts will make it more difficult for the other. And this way I had the chance to fill the sheet “India” on my own. It has some dark spots and maybe cuts – but I love it and I am sure I will look at it many times and even maybe repaint it in some years. I am very happy that I made the decision to come and work here, but like any other thing: you should come and see it in your own…”