Orientation week 

On September 1st 2024 our journey began and we took our flight to Mangalore, where we were welcomed by a member of FSL India. We took a bus to the Center of Experimental living (CEL) and stopped on the way for breakfast. We all really enjoyed our first Indian meal: Masala Dosa and Poori. At CEL we had a great week where we learned a lot of helpful things about India and its culture as well as our projects. We also visited the city Kundapura together, watched a Bollywood movie, cooked German and French dinner and played many card games in the evenings. After the week was over we were sad to leave the other volunteers but also very excited to meet our host families and get to know our projects. 

First few weeks at the project 

Our project is a government primary school (1st-7th standard) with 120 students and 6 teachers. We are giving Spoken English classes in addition to the regular English classes to improve the students’ verbal English as well as encouraging cultural exchange. During the first few weeks we weren’t advised to teach but to observe the classes of the other teachers to understand the school system better. Sometimes we also played games with the students if a teacher was absent.. After about three weeks there was one week of exams in which we couldn’t do much besides observing. But if a class was free we got the opportunity to do some activities and games with them 

Winter camp 

After the exams were over, two weeks of holidays followed, for which we were sent to Varanashi Farms. There we had many different tasks such as weeding, composting, arecanut picking, composting or seed packing. On the first weekend a friend of the Varanashi farm LTVs took us to see a Tiger dance festival and a food fest as well as saree shopping for the wedding we were invited to go to the following weekend. The reason for the school holidays was the Dasara festival which we celebrated together with all volunteers in Mysore. We really enjoyed our first time experiencing an Indian wedding, especially the good food and dancing. 

Also, we learned a lot about the different wedding rituals and got to know many very nice and inspiring people. 

Back at the project and our host families 

Back in school we started to give regular classes in which we did different English learning activities as well as games. We tried to find ways to improve the students’ English skills while still keeping it fun and interesting for them with exercises like a relay in which the students collected different cards to build sentences. Sometimes we struggled with keeping the students, especially the younger ones, quiet but with time and increasing Kannada (local language) skills it got better and easier. Also we got to participate in a throwball match and see badminton, cricket and rangoli competitions. After school we normally have a free afternoon. Followed by the evening where we often spend time together with our host sisters/-nieces as we live next to each other and our host families are related. They also show us different cultural aspects like experiencing Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Deepa, Tulsi Puja and a wedding. On the weekends we mostly meet up with other volunteers and go on trips with them. 

Written by Cara Jo and Marie