Hi there! My name is Tim. I am living in an Indian host family in Mysore, India for more than eight months now. As a volunteer, I work for the NGO called CREDIT-I (Centre for Rural Education Development and Innovative Technologies – India).

The main aim of my organization is to help the people living in rural areas by supporting their development and try to help improve their standard of living. Therefore, we organize several programs e.g. Road Safety program, HIV/Aids awareness program, Entrepreneurship Development program etc. Those programs mostly take place in colleges and schools of rural areas, to increase the students‘ knowledge in important issues like HIV which is, by the way, a big problem in India due to the lack of knowledge. As part of our Road Safety program, we already had some street role plays in the very city of Mysore, which was great fun! Moreover, we try to empower women by supporting them with micro financing, to offer them opportunities for financial independence.

Besides the programs which are normally about twice a month (except women microfinancing), my work mainly consists of teaching English in the Higher Primary Govt. School of our small partner village, Malara Colony.

The first time, taking lessons was extremely exhausting. But step by step, after some weeks, I got into the flow of teaching. Without knowing the students‘ mother tongue in some situations, it is really hard to explain their task to them, but luckily, we anyhow solved the misunderstandings (nevertheless,  it took its time). Teaching without any former experience, in a foreign country, with a different education system, will sometimes bring you to the verge of despair, but after some weeks, you‘ll learn how to teach the children without being too rigorous, neither too lax, automatically. I think that one of the most important things is to also let the children have fun during the lessons, because this is the way you will keep them motivated and they keep on going with learning. So sometimes, we also danced or sang a song in English when I took class. My students, as well as me, always had fun with the dancing part and everyday I was in school, they asked me, when we will dance again…

Less than 3 months before the end of my program, I can say that the experiences in this fascinating country influenced me for the rest of my lifetime!! I learned a lot about the country, the Indian people and their culture, but also, a lot about myself. I am so thankful to everyone who made this year happen to me! I had, and am still having a great time and I can recommend to everybody to do such a year of volunteering abroad – it will broaden your horizon!