Ruth Achterwinter is a long-term volunteer from Germany. She has been volunteering at the Rural Education and Development Society since August 2013. Following is an account of her perspective on India and the work that she does. “It may seem strange to you, but I have lived here for 9 months and I still can’t decide how to feel about India. On the one hand, it twirls you up, bounces you around, spits you…
Konrad Zimare, a long-term volunteer from Germany has been volunteering at Baby Sarah’s Home in Pondicherry since September 2013. Baby Sarah’s Home is a home for diversely abled children. Following is a testimonial from Konrad about his experiences as a volunteer. “Is it an honour or a pleasure, a challenge or maybe a lucky coincidence to have the chance to work as a volunteer in Baby Sarah’s Home? I do…
Amely Burgstaller has been volunteering at a tribal school since August 2013. She teaches English, Arts and Sports, amongst others. Following is a testimonial she sent to us regarding a school field trip she arranged for her students to Mysore. “In December, I started fund raising in Germany. Finally I was happy about the big amount of money donated by friends and relatives. Because of that, a trip with my school to Mysore was possible. In…
Most of our long-term volunteers (LTV) live with Indian families during their time here. Often times, we hear experiences and feedback from our volunteers. This is our first ever testimony from a host family. Mrs. Kavya M.S. has been hosting LTVs since 2012 and has welcome 11 since then. She is well known in her community for doing charity work. She was born in 1978 in the Coorg district of Karnataka. She has two daughters; Amrutha Nayak…
On the 16th of May, three long-term volunteers (LTV), along with one FSL-India staff member met in the historic town of Hampi, Karanataka for a monthly get-together (GTG). Everyone had a chance to visit the historic monuments and temples, as well as have one-on-one talks with their coordinator.
Every year, all FSL-India staff members come together for an annual staff meet. From the 20th of May to the 22nd of May, staff members from all offices; Bangalore, Kundapura, Mysore, Chennai and Pondicherry met at Fireflies Ashram, just outside Bangalore city. Facilitating all the excitement was a team of three from Educators Collective. The staff annual meet is a chance for the FSL-India family to get-together, meet new staff members, reflect on our…
On the 15th of May, three long-term volunteers (LTV) and four FSL-India staff members came together in Bangalore for their monthly get-together (GTG). This GTG, all participants took children from Sparsha Trust (an NGO that provides shelter and education for under-privileged children) to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. There, they all played games and attended the “Sky Theater” programme about Mars. Besides the activities with the children, volunteers and…
From the 5th of May to the 9th of May, FSL-India hosted yet another orientation for newly arrived long-term volunteers (LTV). This month saw three international LTVs from France who will go on to work as a teacher, in water and sanitation, and at a rehabilitation project. Facilitating the orientation session was a team of ten FSL-India staff who carried out activities and sessions on expectations and fears, Indian pedagogy, language classes, roles…
From the 3rd of March to the 23rd of March, we had two volunteers from the United States participate in a Construction/Environment/Tibetan Culture themed workcamp in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Even though it was a small group, our two team leaders aided the two international volunteers to achieve satisfaction and fulfilment that they sought through volunteerism.They actively took part in various activities including painting a school wall and black board, and educational drawing at Dharamkot Government…
A second workcamp (WC) took place in Kundapura, Karnataka in the month of February. Its theme was Education/Environment/Renovation/Children. Attending this WC were seven international volunteers, one national volunteer and two WC team leaders. Volunteers worked at a government school and constructed hand washing sinks, painted two classrooms and taught students basic English, Maths, sports and environmental issues such as pollution and conservation. Over a 100 children benefited from the activities of this WC. …