Village Xperience

For those seeking an authentic India living experience, the Amaidi village house is it. The house is the basic one room cement block (w/ alcove) where many villagers live with their entire families. The difference is you have the whole place to yourself until about 6:30 AM when Jessy, the tenant, comes home to prepare breakfast and lunch for the children. So lucky you, no alarm clock needed. The reason you have the whole place at night is that, as most of you know, Indian families sleep with their extended families in rooms just like this one, and Jessy is Camille’s sister in law and sleeps at Camille’shouse.  So you are literally trading places with her when you access the guest house facilities during the day –very efficient!! One disadvantage, NO TOILET, although for a guy, it can be quite advantageous as you can really become one with nature.  Actually, as mentioned, you have access to the guest house which is literally across thestreet, so no problem. Anything else??  Yes, you may have little visitor friends at night. But then again, it becomes hard to tell what is happening inside verses outside the house. However you are pretty well cordoned off in a little alcove, soagain, no problem. My little friends and I came to a mutual understanding -I would pretend that they were outside, and they would pretend I was sleeping. No, all kidding aside, it is a truly authentic and fun experience. If you are working with villagers or children of the village, than it kind of makes sense to live in the village and this is a safe entree into village life. Am I enjoying it?  Absolutely, I’m having the time of my life and learning how little I actually need to be happy.   

Cheers to that! 

Brian Gallo 

Filed under: Home stay, Village life

Dairy project in Sathankullam

Vannakam!

My name is Durk Haringsma, I am an Agricultural student, studying dairy farming at Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein (http://www.vanhall-larenstein.nl) in the Netherlands. I have been working as a trainee on a dairy farm project for AMAIDI’s partner organization AID India. I made a report for establishing a dairy farm in Sathankulam. AID India hasn’t got a source of income at the moment which makes the organization dependent on funds, foundations and donations. That’s why AID India wants to start a dairy farm on their land to gain some profit. I have assessed the needs, costs and I have also made a management plan for running the dairy farm. When we have engaged the needed funds, AID India can start the project. Working for an NGO in India is a great experience and I have learned a lot during my stay in Sathankulam. I have not only learned about a totally different way of dairy farming, but I also got involved in Human Rights and Micro Credit Programmes and I have experienced much of the Indian culture. I think my internship was a 2 way process, in which both AID India and me gained profit. The hospitality of the AID India team is great and it was a great pleasure to work with them. The 19 weeks I worked there passed on in no time, and I feel sad that I have to leave them after this great time. I want to thank AMAIDI for bringing me in contact with this organization, the great guidance and the pleasant stay in their guesthouse and home stay. 

For more info: durkharingsma@hotmail.com 

Filed under: Agriculture projects, AID India, international volunteers, projects, volunteering in India

AMAIDI’s weblog (new!)

Welcome to AMAIDI’s new weblog!

You’re invited to share your views here on various topics connected with volunteering and internships in India. My name is Camille van Neer, I’m the founder/director of AMAIDI Volunteering in India. A dialogue can only enrich all of us when it is held in an open and fair manner, with respect for everyone’s integrity. 

I am sure you share this view.    

Thank you.

Filed under: Introduction, AMAIDI Volunteering in India, new weblog, sharing views, topics

Donating to projects

More and more volunteers, once here or already planned before departure, want to donate money to support the projects they’re working in. Or guests at AMAIDI Guesthouse decide to make an ‘on the spot’ donation.

If one makes a ‘one time donation’ (school-uniforms, books, cycle, a goat), that’s that and on returning home a photograph of the happy receiver sits quietly in ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’, awaiting praise and joy on arrival.

But what to do if a motivated and kind-hearted volunteer wants to contribute to the construction of a community kitchen? This calls for ‘process engagement’ with all the hurdles to success that come with it, especially in the area of communication and monitoring from afar.

I personally advise volunteers to either:

a) make a one-time donation and taste the pleasure of seeing the result of it while still here; and/or:
b) engage in contact with a reliable NGO that operates in the area where the receiver lives.

The problem with option b) is that reliable NGOs tend to be too busy with their ‘own’ projects, whereas NGOs that do have time, might not be reliable enough. A prisoner’s dilemma?

I do believe that donating money to support a project can do good, but one has to think carefully before giving and – once decided – one has to make sure that agreed arrangements are kept after one has gone home. AMAIDI, at present, has a rol as advisor and is in no way involved in the implementation process.

Filed under: charity, donating, finance, international volunteers, reliability

Volunteers, Projects & Tamil music

From Feb 15 till March 4, in the surroundings of Auroville, Puducherry and Cuddalore, 15 Dutch students in the age-group between 17 and 30, all members of CC4U, will participate in various projects, hosted by the Indian NGO ‘Bless’ and join/give workshops & events centered around ‘music’ in South-India.

Through The JoHo Company in the Netherlands, CC4U – aspiring to integrate the different cultures that exist within Dutch society – wants to have a ‘live’ experience of youth-culture and grass-roots development in India.

http://www.cc4u.nl/
http://www.joho.nl/
http://www.bless.org.in/
http://www.auroville.org/

CC4U’s members – and all who sympathise with their undertaking – are warmly invited to comment!

Cheers!

Filed under: Bless, CC4U, culture, exchange program, international volunteers, JoHo, music, projects, sending organization, understanding, Auroville, Bless NGO, CC4U, exchange program, JoHo, music

Volunteers & Tsunami

Here you can find stories of volunteers who helped in the aftermath of the December 2004 Tsunami that his South-East Asia:

http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/news-views/special-focus-how-volunteers-helped-tsunami-survivors.html

Filed under: international volunteers, needs, tsunami

Volunteerism & Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

“Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require the ingenuity, solidarity and creativity of millions of ordinary people through voluntary action. Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people worldwide. Six billion people have something to contribute to these efforts.” (…)

“Whether expressed as volunteer service, mutual aid and self-help, campaigning or other forms of voluntary participation, the willingness and ability of citizens to give freely of their time out of a sense of solidarity will have a major influence on the extent to which the MDGs are attained and sustained.”

(courtesy http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/mdgs.html)

Question:
Do YOU think you could contribute to the MDGs as a volunteer?

Filed under: choice, international volunteers, Millennium Development Goals (MDG), needs, poverty, solidarity

‘Voluntourism’

Found the next statement on a blog:

“Voluntourism”, the international development charity points out, is a growing market in which increasing numbers of school leavers are paying commercial companies for the privilege of working for nothing in some of the world’s poorest communities. In return, they get a good line for the resume, a clutch of traveller’s tales and a warm feeling created by the sense of doing something worthwhile while getting a key “life experience”.

What do YOU think?

Filed under: article, charity, choice, donating, holiday & volunteering, projects, solidarity, understanding, volun-tourism

Young Volunteers as Vehicles of Change

For every foreign volunteer in India, there are about 1000 local Indian volunteers. Fighting – shoulder to shoulder with their fellow countrymen – private and collective evils like poverty, pollution, corruption, discrimination etc.

There’s a world to learn from our local brothers and sisters:

http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/news-views/volunteer-stories/doc/young-volunteers-as-vehicles.html

Filed under: article, international volunteers, needs, projects

Managing Far Away Volunteers?

Its the sending agency’s nightmare: a volunteer writing home that things are nog going well at all, blaming the agency that has send him/her for the disaster. How to prevent such a thing from happening? Except the fact that – statistically spoken such an event HAS to happen once in a long while just to keep up the statistics – there ARE tips and tricks that can help preventing the nightmare from happening too often.

I came across an article where you can find just that:

Check out: http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/resources/how-to-guides/manage-volunteers/doc/technology-and-long-distance.html

Happy reading you all!

Filed under: article, control, international volunteers, management, projects, reliability