One month ago we arrived here in India. In the first week we had our orientation week here in the training center.

All the other volunteers from Germany were staying with us, after the week they travelled through the country to their projects. We were lucky that we already knew our workplace and the staff since the first day! This is why we had a relaxed start in our voluntery service.

Now we are in the fourth weekworking in the SAP-K (Sustainable Agriculture Project Kundapur). As first we learned what our project is about. The idea is to establish a system which can provide itself in belongings as especially food, water and energy. On the one hand our task is to take care of all the facilities like the compost,kitchen garden, plantations and trenches. On the other hand we also educate the community by going e.g. into schools and talking about environment. A thing what we really enjoy is that nearly everyday new people come to the training center like new volunteers (for work camps or for long term) or people from the community who want to have a look.

A normal workday could look like this: In the morning we need to repair a trench. You might not know what this is… a trench is a three-feet deep hole in a half-moon shape. It harvests rainwater, and helps to keep the goundwater on a certain level. In addition to that, it prevents soil erosion. To repair it, you have to remove the weed and to dig again if necessary. At 11am and 4pm we drink our well deserved tea (here we call it Chai!). That break gives us the chance to interact with locals.

In the afternoon we normally have a more-mental work, for example prepare powerpoint slides about the pollution problems. Last Monday, for example, we gave a session in a school nearby about this topic

Our voluntary program provides us with some nice opportunities like bollywood dance, kannada class and cultural events.So far we are very happy to work here, especially we are enjoying the atmosphere in the team.

We are looking forward to the next month, we’ll keep you up to date!