In the month of October the LTV orientation has been held in FSL India’s head office for five days from 6^th to 10^th Octtober’2014, in Bangalore. FSL India has received 9 short Term Volunteers from 5 different parts of countries (Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, and Japan).

On the first day of orientation we welcomed our new batch of volunteers with great excitement. This new group of volunteers showed lot of enthusiasm in knowing our culture, our lifestyle and our food habits.

During the orientation the each day evening we have organized different events for the exchange of ICL (Inter Cultural Learning). First day evening was all the volunteers had chance to have Henna, then they had another chance to present and speak about their country in a project called “Sparsha” which is working for orphan children in Bangalore.And also both volunteers and coordinators got time to get to know each other in FSL guest house where all volunteer and staffs slept together. The entire team enjoyed a lot by exchanging ICL with each other like performing dance, singing songs and wearing and exchanging traditional clothes etc..,

Sessions have been conducted in the orientation: Indian Welcome, self-introduction, Schedule introduction, FSL Introduction, Expectation and Fears, Practical information – Travel system, washing clothes, dishes, Henna, Knowing India and Social Concerns – bureaucracy, working style of govt. and public sector, Project introduction, Indian pedagogy, Letter to yourself, Preparation for activities in project, Country presentation, Language class (Kanada and Tamil), Documentation, Reporting, Project Administration, Yoga, Cultural Program, Understanding Peace-reflect on Peace, draw picture, Volunteerism – Roles and Responsibility, do’s and don’ts guidelines, tourist v/s volunteers, India and Indian life style, Safety – Health, women safety, travel guidelines, accidents, theft, rape, emergency reactions, Hosting procedures/ Host Family tea party, International cooking, Hindu philosophy, Horse’s mouth, Final Talk/Review Expectations & Fears Comments. g the orientation the each day evening we have organized different events for the exchange of ICL (Inter Cultural Learning). First day evening was all the volunteers had chance to have Henna, then they had another chance to present and speak about their country in a project called “Sparsha” which is working for orphan children in Bangalore.

Some of the comments expressed by our volunteers:

• Excellent both between other volunteers and the Fsl staff .then was lots of fun and getting to know Fsl staff in relaxed atmosphere as well as in session meant that asking question was easier.
• I have learned important things I didn’t know before also like this I already met really nice people with whom I will stay in contact for the beginning it was good to be with others Europeans/ foreigners because like that the culture shock wasn’t too hard and I didn’t felt alone.
• Everybody brought the pace of each day was just nice not too much information. The atmosphere was always pleasant and the content was not too teaching.
• These are the sessions need to be kept in the orientation Indian culture, yoga henna welcome ceremony, international cooking, documentation/ reporting / project introduction.