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 has been working on the MPAT survey (a survey created by IFAD) helping our cluster measure the levels of poverty in the migrant community of…
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 order to be successful here at Educare. At home, I live in the comfort of a city that maintains a pretty constant 20- 28 degrees,…
Living and working in Gajner has its perks and its challenges, especially when you are used to a big city like Toronto where you have unlimited space and privacy, and work and home life are completely separate. When working with EduCARE, it’s important to think of yourself as a role model and a leader in the community, because you are. The moment you are accepted as an intern with EduCARE you are representing the organization, its values and helping develop…
Traveling to a new country is always a different experience, but when coming to a developing country to live in a rural village and work in community development is an entirely new experience. I have previously lived in India for around 2 years, so I thought I new a lot about the culture and values and what to expect when once again I was set to live here. Unlike my previous experiences, this time I was coming to India to do an…
India is an amazing place with diverse environments and dialects and a peculiar and strong culture. A lot of the aspects of the Indian life may barely show to the tourists passing by, but living and working several months in a rural location will definitely pull you inside the reality of the Indian world. Sometimes you may have to cope with behaviors that can appear senseless to the eye of a foreigner. Even more, your actions will be observed and…
I came to the Bikaner cluster to improve the way they manage waste in the village of Gajner. When I arrived I saw garbage everywhere; trash in the street, in the river and people throwing waste at their feet without consciousness. At first I had plenty of ideas but I soon learned that in this community, time is necessary. People work with you when they know and trust you. Especially as foreigners, we really have to integrate ourselves with the…
This is a love story. A love story that started on a cold February day in Naddi. First minutes of my internship. I just arrived in the place. My first time in India, and everything is new and exciting. The weather is grey and cloudy, but who cares I am in my new home for the next seven months. There is something familiar in the white peaks in can see between the clouds. Even the air reminds me of my…
Living and working in Gajner, a small Rajasthani village, has been amazing so far for me. It is a complex, incredible and intense experience. The surroundings can be a little startling at first, so being prepared can help you overcome the cultural shocks and quicken your adjustment. Here’s a list of ideas to begin your preparation. Build relationships : Here, in Gajner, each person lives with their heart on their sleeve. They are very kind and warm and will quickly…
Working in unprivileged contexts has always been a challenge to me for many different reasons: The sense of guilt for have been luckier than these people (that is also the guilty of being born in the “wealthy West”); The doubts and thoughts about which are the real needs of the people and which is the real utility of my work and my presence there; With every concern about dealing with a different culture, there is also the fear of being…
Our Rajasthan cluster projects are in the Bikaner arid desert region focusing on community empowerment, education and environment conservation leading to sustainable development.
Before even arriving in India, I had many problems with getting my Indian visa. At this stage, I thought “Is it that India does not want me or what? ” But finally, after all I journeyed to Paris, excited to begin a beautiful day of long transport – meaning three aircraft, a taxi and a little walking. I think I am someone who has already traveled a little bit, and saw many things. Yet when I arrived in Naddi, I knew that I had…
For every beautiful thing I can say about India and my experience here I can also say an ugly thing. It has been such a whirl wind experience, from having people in Delhi over-charge me simply because I was a foreigner, to having a complete stranger with very little English hand over his phone to me to make a phone call. In every situation there are ups and downs. I don’t know what it is about India or if it’s…
Before coming to India, everyone told us about culture shock, everyone was worried how we would manage differences in behaviors, food, weather, work environment… We did not read 1000 books about India before coming, we did not speak with 100 Indian people or past EduCARE interns and yet we did not really experience any hard culture shock. How is that possible? We believe that the most important thing to avoid culture shock is to prepare your mind. You must know…
Before coming for a 6-month internship in India, you have a lot of preconceptions, fears and questions, and one of the biggest ones includes: what are the toilets like in India? What you usually hear in Western countries is that Indians use squat toilets and don’t have toilet paper. But sometimes you hear worst, like I did: that they practice open defecation.Then I arrived in India. Indeed I had to deal with the squat toilet, but in lots of restaurants,…
Time flies, six months have passed very quickly and now I find myself at the end of my stay in India. It’s been an experience full of amazing people and challenges hidden where least expected. It’s been six months of working on alternative energy project – a solar water heater. During this time I have experienced many ups and downs and I even doubted if I would be able to see the result of my work. Three days ago I…
I interned for a grassroots NGO, EduCARE India, in rural Punjab, India for three months. EduCARE India’s vision is to promote pathways to intellectual freedom, social justice, community welfare, economic liberty, and sustainable development for individuals, families and social groups working to achieve their rationalized life dreams. Read more – http://giveyourgap.org/2012/02/23/caryn-oppenheim-educare-india/
When the Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai for going to school last year, the world was finally forced to pay attention to the girls’ education crisis. Globally, 66 million girls don’t attend primary school. And the reasons they stay home invariably relate to gender and socio-economic disparities, like high tuition fees, lack of safe transportation, and housework responsibilities. Documentaries like Girl Rising and Half the Sky have further brought global gender inequality into people’s living rooms. But what do girls, especially…
Recently, the interns involved in the Biogas Workshop held in Himachal Pradesh were treated to an extra day of field visits related to renewable energy in Punjab. The biomass plant visit was among the many highlights of this extended workshop. Located near Nakoda, the Green Planet Energy Ltd Biomass Plant produces 7,000 kilowatts of energy per hour (KWh). Assuming the average house utilizes 3 KWh, this one plant produces enough energy to power 2,333 homes every hour. All of this…
Last week in Naddi, we took over Fun Club (the after school program) in Sheney to teach the kids about what it means to be healthy and making healthy choices. The kids were all enthusiastic as we brainstormed what it meant to be healthy, but they were even more excited when we brainstormed unhealthy things, yelling out their favorite foods – ice cream, lollipops, chocolate! Eventually, we had the kids thinking beyond food and we began to talk about how…
Education leads to empowerment; it is more so true for the children in the rural Migrants communities. On the outskirts of Janauri village lies a small migrant camp that has all to often been overlooked by the Indian society. The cast system does not only limit access to basic provisions but also stifles children’s opportunities to dream to strive for a better way of life. Many children here are unable to comprehend that they can improve their lives, as they do…
The arrival of waste disposal bins to the hill village would not make anyone else as happy as it has made this Australian 21-year-old volunteer-intern. Arrived on July, Morgan Mcintosh did not previously had any ideas on which project to establish in the village. And although she herself confesses not being “a very environmental person at all”, waste management problems in the area caught her attention immediately. The local hills are green seen from afar during the monsoon season, but…