Berlin, “My City” – Sahel Anees, Outbound Participant

Berlin, “My City” – Sahel Anees, Outbound Participant

In September, I came to Berlin to kick-start a beautiful but immensely challenging journey of volunteering at Unionhilfswerk Fluchütlingsunterkunft, Lichtenberg. Two seasons and half a year later, I can safely say that Berlin is “My city”. It’s unreal how this city has grown into me. It amazes me how, in the midst of hustle and chaos, there is so much calmness and peacefulness here. Working at the Fluchütlingsunterkunft (Refugee Centre), every day is a learning experience. It gives me different…

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100th Monkey Program Pilot Phase 1, Pennalur Government Middle School – Sandhiya G, Coordinator, FSL-India

100th Monkey Program Pilot Phase 1, Pennalur Government Middle School – Sandhiya G, Coordinator, FSL-India

Pennalur Government Middle School in Kancheepuram district was chosen as one of the schools to conduct the Pilot Phase of 100th Monkey. Previously, FSL-India has worked with the school through our Long Term Volunteering (LTV) program and Hyundai’s Happy Move program. These interventions have resulted in the renovation of classrooms, construction of toilets, setting up kitchen gardens, tree plantation drives etc., to improve the school environment. I, Sandhiya facilitated the 100th Monkey Pilot phase sessions at Pennalur School for 7-8th…

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Farming, Volunteers and FSL-India 2017-18: Rahul Dayalu, Project Head, Shri Gurumahanteshwara – Sustainable Agriculture

Farming, Volunteers and FSL-India 2017-18: Rahul Dayalu, Project Head, Shri Gurumahanteshwara – Sustainable Agriculture

Our association with FSL-India has grown further in 2017 and 2018. FSL-India and their volunteers have already become an integral part of our project. The farm was new and mostly barren in 2016-2017. There was a lot of work that happened in that period, right from land preparation to the plantation of crops, putting fencing, building a farmhouse, installing our drip irrigation system, and so on. The village school management, teachers and students were not used to foreigners. I was…

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100th Monkey Pilot Phase 1 – Annai Rani Convent, Pondicherry

100th Monkey Pilot Phase 1 – Annai Rani Convent, Pondicherry

100th Monkey’s Pilot Phase 1 was conducted at Pondicherry’s Annai Rani Convent School. FSL-India’s Long Term Volunteering (LTV) program is currently functional in Annai Rani School. With the positive impact of LTV, they were happy to introduce 100th Monkey’s Pilot Phase 1 at their school. Yasothai, FSL-India’s coordinator, facilitated the 100th Monkey sessions here. The Pilot Phase commenced from January 2019. 43 students from 7th grade participated in each session. Every session was unique and designed using experiential education and…

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My Experience of attending the UNESCO WHV Workshop at France – Manjunath KM, Work Camp Area Coordinator, FSL-India

My Experience of attending the UNESCO WHV Workshop at France – Manjunath KM, Work Camp Area Coordinator, FSL-India

I had heard a lot about “UNESCO” from when I was young.  So, when I got a chance to attend the workshop at UNESCO Head Quarters at Paris, from 11th -15th March 2019, I felt really proud of myself, to be a part of FSL–India, which gave me this unique opportunity to attend the workshop. This workshop was mainly to strengthen the team leaders who are a part of the World Heritage Volunteers Work Camp. As a team leader, I…

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Orientation at CEL, Kundapur – April 2019

Orientation at CEL, Kundapur – April 2019

From 1st-5th April 2019, FSL-India hosted 6 Long-Term Volunteers from Germany and Spain. For this orientation, FSL-India organised different events for the exchange of ICL (Inter-Cultural Learning). The sessions conducted were an ‘Indian’ welcome, introduction to FSL-India, local language class, practical information, Indian lifestyle, safety and project information, volunteer’s role and responsibilities. It was observed that the participants were interested to know about Indian culture and practices. The volunteers actively participated in the orientation. Some feedback from our volunteers: Very…

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Summer Camp at FSL-India’s CEL

Summer Camp at FSL-India’s CEL

From 11th to 13th of April, FSL-India’s staff and volunteers conducted a summer camp at our Centre for Experiential Living, Shettrakatte with the support of the Social Work students from Milagres College, Kallianpur. On 11th April morning, FSL-India’s staff welcomed around 80 kids of different ages, and in the circle everybody played fun energiser games and shared their names with the group: a nice atmosphere was created. On the first day, the children got to explore all the projects run…

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The Best of East and West: Fedora Dipanjali, Outbound Participant

The Best of East and West: Fedora Dipanjali, Outbound Participant

It has been 7 months since I have returned to my home country from the Weltwaerts program, and I would be lying if I didn’t say it feels like just yesterday that I was packing my bags. I was a volunteer in Berlin, Germany for a year and worked with Lebenshilfe, a social organisation that assisted people with disabilities and helped them to be more involved in the community.  The opportunity to be able to live in another country, experience…

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Fridays for Future

Fridays for Future

Last August, there was a pretty yet unusual sight to see a 15 year old stand outside the Swedish Parliament with Hand Painted sign boards and self made fliers. That was Greta Thunberg protesting for a stronger Action on Climate Change. Greta Thunberg was reading about Climate Change since she was 10 years. She decided to call for action by herself against the economy and law systems responsible for lax attitude and actions towards Climate Change. Every Friday, Greta began…

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WC-829: Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh’s Winter Capital

WC-829: Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh’s Winter Capital

Dharamshala, a municipal corporation city in the Kangra valley, is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh. Apart from being the home of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama and a considerable Tibetan population, it has many beautiful tea gardens. Internationally known for Kangra green tea, Dharamshala produces a wide variety of teas including black tea, green tea, oolong tea and white tea. Masala chai and the popular Kashmiri Kahwa tea are also available here. In FSL-India’s Work Camp 829, we…

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