The camp theme focused on Construction/ Environment/ Tibetan Culture/ Kids. There were a total of 21 volunteers with 2 from the Czech Republic, 10 French, 1 German, 3 Italian, 1 Russian, 1 Spanish, 2 Belgian and 1 Korean.

The main objective was to give exposure to school activities, Tibetan culture and construction of school playground with a temporary wall and educational drawings at Middle Primary School, Talnoo Naddi, Dharamshala. Meanwhile, the volunteers learned about Tibetan culture, kids’ activities and some basics of construction of a retaining wall, with educational drawings and other cultural aspects of India. They also took part in activities at the school which involved plastic and educational drawing.

When FSL-India’s President visited Talnoo Naddi School in 2013, the school management requested the construction of a playground. The school is situated on a mountain and cannot afford to construct a playground or a retaining wall for the safety of their children. The wall is a safety requirement to protect the children and the school building against landslides. FSL-India initiated the construction of the playground this year, and the work camp volunteers started work on the retaining wall, to ensure the children will be safe while at play. We are working towards completing the playground construction this year, so that the children will have a safe and good area in which to play.

On the first day, the volunteers attended the orientation and had a general idea about their camp and the Indian environment. The Camp Leaders – Dinesha and Gautam -described the program schedule of the camp. The volunteers participated in many activities at the school playground, construction, renovation work and Tibetan culture. In the school, the volunteers did educational drawings based on the school text book and environment themes.

During the work:

The volunteers conducted a drawing competition and games for the schoolchildren and distributed prizes for the same. They collaborated with Waste Warriors organization for ‘Clean-up Bhagsu Waterfalls and Trails’  and awareness program during the clean-up project. Through cultural visits like Tibetan Community visit and Indian family visit, the volunteers came to know about the Tibetan lifestyle in India, Indian family system and gained exposure on Tibetan and Indian culture. FSL-India conducted the activities in the local schools. Totally 64 children, 6 school staff, local people of Talnoo Naddi village and SCDC members got benefited from our Work Camp.

On the last day, the Head Teacher of Talnoo Naddi thanked FSL-India and all the volunteers for their tremendous effort in the 2 weeks of the camp.