Fieldwork Blogs

Expansion of Medical and Healthcare Outreach initiatives through 2020

‘Grassroots Innovation’ and ‘Waste is Resource’

When I first arrived in Naddi after resigning from my comfortable sales job at a tech giant in Mumbai, I had limited knowledge about the development sector and the catastrophic environmental challenges daunting our planet. The radical decision to leave a prosperous career in advertising technology and join Educare as an intern was fueled by

On the Move – Chemical to Renewable Engineering

On the move – Chemical to Renewable Engineering Making a portable solar light   After studying Chemical Engineering in UK, I got interested in renewable energies. I came across the internship opportunities offered abroad in India by EduCARE India NGO in micro-scale renewable / alternative energy projects in EduCARE India. I spend the month of

Steps towards a sustainable future

(towards-a-sustainable-future-swash-project–educare-india-intern-steps) Just a short walk away from the main square in the village of Naddi lives a small community that we refer to as the “Shanney community”. It consists of eight families, about 40 people and although they are only a short distance away from the main village they tend to live their daily lives

The EDUCARE life!!

To give you all a bit of a back story to myself my name is Ethan Donovan and my mother Rachael Donovan moved to India to work with EduCARE in 2011. I have been a part of and known EduCARE for a long time now and watched the organisation develop and grow. But only this

Falling in love with India

Did the time fly or did it crawl? I honestly can’t tell. The last six months have not always been easy. I’ve cursed India, I’ve loved India, but in the end I’m leaving EduCARE feeling pretty good. I didn’t always embrace this experience, but about half way through my internship my attitude started to change

An experience in India

Being part of EduCARE weaves some sort of spell – It constantly requires you to grow and change. Unexpectedly, several things have left a lasting impression on me. In no particular order: Cows, dogs, birds, spiders, leeches and slugs. Enough said. Girl’s Club While working on the field for a grassroots organisation in particular, it

Feeling free and alive, a feeling of belonging to nature.

Gajner has got a treasure, a treasure that not a lot of people take care about. It is unique, huge, beautiful, amazing. I am talking about the desert and the wildlife sanctuary. My experience in the dessert started during my first week as an EduCARE intern in Gajner. Léa Monin, the SWASH coordinator when I

Lessons learned from EduCARE India Internship

Even after 1.5 years of EduCARE India Internship, I have laughed, cried, been thoroughly stressed, and also overjoyed many times in what feels like a blink of an eye throughout my internship in India. Now that it is time for me to move on, reflecting on what I have learned has showed me that I

EduCARE India –the good, the bad, and the disgusting

Seven months ago I remember saying to a fellow intern, “wow, time is going by so slow,” and he responded, “wait until you start working.” He was right. The past few months in Educare have flown by and it has been an amazing experience. For someone like myself who didn’t join Educare as an internship

Coordinators Retreat in Rajasthan

The retreats for Coordinators were developed during 2015 as an opportunity for the management team to come together and talk about changes that might have come about in the organisation, what they want to change, issues they face, their job roles, etc. This was the third Coordinators retreat of the year, but it was my

Community Cook off!

After 2 months of intense nutrition work with the community, the cooking competition in Chenni successfully finished one part of the project, opening the door for more workshops and raising of awareness amongst the girls and women. Everything started months ago when, after one more dinner with a family, I could not walk home because

Protesting in Harike

During the whole time I have spent in India or any country, I have never experienced anything like what recently occurred in a rural town of Punjab. It was the biggest and most extreme protest I had ever seen. It all started because someone had ripped pages out of a holy book. People started protesting

Colourful and exciting India

If there is one thing to know about India, it’s that they love a good festival and celebrating in style. Luckily, we got to experience every first hand and on a quite a personal level. We started small and by the second day, it turned into one of the most intriguing events in my life

Trekking to Triund

I have a tradition of sipping a freshly brewed coffee on the brisk mornings of a hike to take in the sun rising over the beautiful view in front of me. However, after a cold and unexpected trek to Indrahar pass with Mr. B, Rachael, Daikin, Jakob and fellow interns, all I needed to wake

Camel safari in Thar desert

One of the nicest aspects of volunteering in EduCARE’s Gajner office is the seemingly unlimited options for travel on the weekends. Situated in a central location in Rajasthan, Gajner has access to more interesting places than imaginable. A short overnight train or bus can bring you to the blue city of Jodhpur, the white city

Leaving Dal Lake

September 30th, 2015 is a day that we, the Naddi interns, won’t forget. Everything had to be removed from the office/intern house of Dal Lake on this day, after months of waiting for the new houses to be built. There, some facilities are still not available and the shower room has apparently no wall to

An amazing trek for my holidays

“I’m not going to make it, I’m not going to make it,” I kept thinking to myself as I focused on my feet while trekking uphill. I didn’t want to look up because I knew it would be hours of uphill until we reached the pass. In fact, there was so much uphill I couldn’t

Burning to leave

I have been in EduCARE long enough to see two dozen interns come in my life and leave it. Most likely forever. No hard feelings there, just a cold fact. The life of every EduCARE intern flows more or less the same course: confusion, understanding, hard work, leaving party. In between, the glances at the

Coming full circle

Sitting on the rooftop of the Gajner intern house, I hear religious melodies travel across the desert’s horizon by speaker. The horn of a passing train blows in the distance, as below, the engine of a tuk tuk shakes in anticipation of its next customer. Looking up, the moon illuminates a slowly dimming sky. Looking

Garmi Garmi, dealing with the heat of Punjab

Before I arrived in India at the beginning of June 2015, the news at home was displaying stories on a near daily basis about the insane heat waves across India. The south was experiencing temperatures nearing 50’C, Delhi was a toasty 44’C (112’F for my fellow Americans), countless photos of people guzzling water crossed my

The monster in my stomach

First of all, I’m not pregnant. Gajner is not one of those places where young people go and parents are scared their girls will come back with a baby in the belly. No sex, drugs and rock n’ roll around, trust me. Still, somehow a monster came to live in my stomach when I arrived

Why an EduCARE India internship won’t be what you expect; and why that’s ok

I find myself at the end of a six-month internship with EduCARE India. As I was saying my final goodbyes, finishing up the last monthly report and making travel arrangement, the Project Director, Mr B, asked me if this internship met my expectations. And I had to say no. Not at all. Any undergrad, recent

Only in India

My intern flatmate Lea and I sat upon the marble wall fencing in the Birla Mandir from its gorgeously kept gardens below, looking out at the busy streets of Jaipur. Nightfall in big cities is always such a rush; I’ve almost forgotten the feeling after being in the village for so long. The streets are

My international family

I am here above my past, above negative people, I am here in search of new learning, some good friends and exposure, I am here to serve people, understand myself & to deal with my fears, I am here to make a change, I am here to listen to every word so I can make

Living in Beautiful and Messy India

While working on my project at EduCARE, I’ve found that many days are emotionally draining and challenging due to my interactions with the local culture. Yesterday was definitely no exception. I’m based in Gajner, a little village in Rajasthan, and my project is to implement a waste management system. I only started two months ago,

Cluster Coordinator Retreat

Over the past 6-months, EduCARE India has seen a lot of development and improvement, and many incredible interns to help lead the way. Job roles have been given more clarity, more resources and tools have become available to interns and overall it has really strengthened the team dynamic across all clusters, from Himachal to Rajasthan.

Working in India: you reckon yourself flexible enough?

 “It happens, it will happen again. It’s complex, it’s India.” ~Mr B Hai, my name is Bruno. One of my strengths is that I’m flexible: I easily adapt to new environments, I am able to blend into unfamiliar cultures and lay contact with people unknown.” At least.. that is how I used to reflect upon

Coping with Chaos

This past week, the Bikaner cluster had to say a tearful goodbye to a wonderful intern who has been staying with us over the past four months, Lachlan Alexander. A spunky Australian with a wonderful personality, great beard, mind full of creative ideas and wisdom and a huge heart. While Lachlan has been here, he

Learning to adapt

  Living in India comes with many challenges; I am constantly being pushed outside of my comfort zone and forced to adapt. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines adapt as changing your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation. I think the ability to adapt is the most important characteristic in