Yoga in God’s own country

Team Leaders: Rahul and Raghavan

Kerala, known more often as ‘God’s own country’, is famous for its beautiful backwaters and lush greenery. Volunteers to the camp divide their day between activities at the Marine Special School in the mornings and yoga and ayurveda classes in the evenings. Intercultural learning includes a visit to the Muthappan Temple, followed by a visit to a school that teaches Kalaripayattu, an ancient Indian martial art form. In this camp, volunteers also witnessed the famous ‘Theyyam’ dance performance by local artistes. The volunteers were also taken to watch a toddy tapper at work. Toddy or kallu is an alcoholic beverage in Kerala derived from palm or coconut trees.

Tibetan culture in the Himalayan foothills

Team leaders to the camps: Deepak, Sandesh (Environment camp), Dinesh (Construction)

Currently the home of the Dalai Lama, Dharamsala, located in the State of Himachal Pradesh, is rich in cultural heritage and natural beauty. This June, two work camps were held in this quaint city, centred on the themes of environment and construction.

Volunteers to the camp actively participated in school wall painting and cleaning school grounds. In the construction work camp, they helped in levelling the school grounds so that children could play safely. We also teamed up with our local NGO partner to clean a field in the locality.  In addition to this, voluntees worked to teach basic English, health and hygiene to children at the Naddi Government School. Up to 98 children participated in these activities.

Intercultural learning included spending time interacting with Tibetan monks, cooking Tibetan food and visiting the Dalai Lama Temple and Tibetan children’s village.

Volunteering in Goa

Team leaders: Joy and Vinoth

A former Portuguese colony, Goa is, in many ways, a melting pot that provides a unique intercultural learning experience. Volunteers to the camp in June worked with close to 60 orphaned children, teaching them Basic English, Mathematics and Science. They also organized games, wall painting and educational drawing sessions.

Teaching tribal children in  Darjeeling                                                                                                             

Team leader: Manjunath

Darjeeling tea, grown in the Himalayan foothills, is world renowned. The scenic region is also home to some of India’s unique tribal communities and is, in fact, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Volunteers to the program worked with children from tribal communities of the area, taking Basic English and Science classes. They also organized games and activities for the children.

The rural side of an IT city: Maralakuntae

Team leader: Bharathi

The volunteers worked in a government school in Bangalore Rural, with a total of about 120 children, teaching them about environmental topics such as pollution, nature protection, Basic English among others. An interesting intercultural experience was the debate on the Indian marriage system that took place with college students.

They also visited a local family as well as a local farm to gain a better understanding of Indian agriculture. As a part of their intercultural learning, volunteers indulged in a South Indian food cooking session and were invited to an Indian marriage. Although they were busy doing all of these activities they had just enough spare time at the end of their stay, to have a pleasant site seeing excursion to a Hindu temple, Mysore palace and zoo.