So when you are ready to open your heart for a different culture and to live in one of the most impressive countries of the world, come to India….

 

I am Franziska Greiser, a 23 year old volunteer from Berlin, Germany. I arrived in India in the beginning of March and will stay for one year. It is really crazy, how fast the time flies by – I already completed my 4^th month here!  In my opinion the first months are the most impressive one`s and they have the most effect on you. Everything is so different here and I was filled with wonder all the time. Now, I get used to many different things, but then suddenly it is unbelievable again – I am in India. I mean, I am really here!  Not as a tourist, I really live here. I had already so many different and exciting experiences that I could write a whole book about it, but at first I just want to tell you something about my projects.

 

I work as an English teacher at the Kukkarahalli High School. Regularly I teach grammar and spoken English for the 8^th and 9^th classes, sometimes also for the younger students. I tried to teach in an interactive way, but it is not that easy, because the children are not used to it. They just know the ex-cathedra teaching. They read, answer the questions and learn things by heart. But in my opinion most of the times, they do not understand – it is useless to learn a language, when you cannot use it in your future. When I tried to teach in an interactive way, there was some difficulty. On the one hand some students are very shy, because they are not used to be involved and do not know how to react. On the other hand, some students are very noisy because they are so excited to play a game, but do not understand the deeper meaning of it. The children have a poor family background and do not study at home/ get no educational support from the parents. But even when they are sometimes naughty, it is very nice to teach and to spend time with them. Maybe I can find a way to impart knowledge more effective after some time.

 

I want to start some other activities in the school. I had the idea to give swim- or yoga-classes or to create a school garden with them. Furthermore, I want to offer lectures for the teachers, to improve their English skills and to inform them about alternative ways of teaching. I am excited how things will go on as it is just my second month in school. In April and May were school holidays. For that reason I had the chance to join the Palliative-Care.

 

The staff of my project support patients in Mysore Taluk and Mysore urban, who are permanently bedridden (as a result of chronic disease or old age) or have incurable cancer. The team comprises of both paid staff and volunteers who specialize in social work, medicine and counseling.  The activities to date have included:

• Providing doorstep medical services through a team of dedicated medical and social work professionals
• Linking patients to various government social entitlements
• Providing food assistance for least fortunate families
• Counseling patients and families to assist them in accepting the patient’s diagnosis and prognosis

The aims of the projects are to prevent:

 

• suffering of bedridden patients
• complications of chronic patients
• incidence of chronic disease
  

I never worked in the medical sector before, so everything was new for me. In Germany I studied sports management and event marketing that is why I manly focused on fundraising and marketing. I did a lot of research to find potential sponsors and organize a fundraising event. I had some success – i.e. get the project now once a week a car for free, to visit the patients at home.

 

The project had no corporate design. In my opinion it is really important to have a logo and a website, where donators can get information. I acquired a German graphic designer, who offers his services for free. The new logo is already chosen, the website is still in progress.

 

Furthermore, I designed a newsletter. We had the idea to publish it once a month, to keep our donors and volunteers informed about the latest news. It is also good, that the donors know, what happens with the money, they gave. We got a lot of good feedback for the first one, but will publish it just quarterly.

 

Besides, we replaced contribution boxes in restaurants, museums and hotels in Mysore. The project is unfunded, so they are dependent on donation. We improved the collection of the boxes, so that they are a safe source of income for the project.

 

I also joined the team on field visits. It was really interesting to see, how they interact with the patients and I got a real impression of how important this project is. Sometimes I reached my personal limits – it is not easy to see poor people suffering from incurable diseases every day.

 

We also started an income generation project. The patients often feel guilty, because they cannot support their families with any income. Often the man is the main earner of the family. When he is bedridden and cannot work, the family has a financial problem. Besides, patients are bored from doing nothing and feel useless. So we started to collect free material (wood, brushes, glue, broken bangles) and gave it to the patients. They designed beautiful bangle-coasters, which we sell private and in a shop in Mysore. The distribution via online-websites is still in progress.

 

I hope that my short report gave you a feeling of how volunteering with FSL-India can be. Every day here is a challenge and I learnt a lot, especially about myself. The business works so different in India and sometimes it drives me crazy that the easiest things are so difficult here. I think India will train my patience. Shocking moments full of frustration and incomprehension take turns with moments full of joy and happiness. So when you are ready to open your heart for a different culture and to live in one of the most impressive countries of the world, come to India. But keep in mind: Always expect the unexpected!

 

Franziska Greiser

FSL-India Volunteer from Germany