Volunteering in Southern India

There are phrases that people use to attempt to encapsulate India, such as ‘colourful India‘ or ‘India’s rich tapestry of life‘, but these really don’t do it justice.   India is so many things that it’s hard to tie down to one phrase.  India has a habit of being different things to different people.  It’s not easy to reconcile the hustle and bustle of a mega-city with the slow, down-to-earth pace of day-to-day life in rural towns and villages.  Each state is so distinct from the next, with its own language and cultural and culinary identify, that it’s no wonder it’s impossible to define.

What is certain is that India is a country of striking beauty and of breathtaking extremes.  It is a country that has to be experienced to be believed…  and that will be an experience you won’t forget!

The Andhra Pradesh Programme

India is unique…  as a result our approach to working in India differs from the programmes we run in Sri Lanka and Thailand.  Our aim was to seek out like-minded local NGOs to work with who could provide us links into local communities and local schools.  With the aid of our in-country co-ordinator, Bharavi Kokilagadda, we established links with a number of non-government schools, orphanages, child hospices and a number of small NGOs who’s focus was community development.

These projects proved to be a versatile mix and volunteers were soon able to run English lessons within orphanage schools and local linking schools in addition to providing support for the host NGO and its activities within community development.  Our relationship with these projects has continued to develop and we’re try to place volunteers with an educational focus and development interest.  The orphanage and hospice projects require a level of pastoral care and also offer opportunities to use a volunteers artistic / craft based skills too.

The Kerala Programme

In 2010 we were able to developed a new programme in Kerala.  We established a crucial tie with a local NGO (VeSSS) after working with their director Mr Johnson Jament on a number of global citizenship projects in the UK.  We successfully ran pilot projects within a number of primary and secondary schools for children from local economically challenged fishing communities.  Our volunteers have also be able to support VeSSS by helping to run English workshops for young adults and school leavers from local communities.  The pilot programme was deemed successful by both hosts and volunteers and were looking forward to developing things further with requests for volunteers from a number of other neighouring schools.

Kerala School Projects

Schools in India can be quite large and understaffed so the work our volunteers are able to do is greatly appreciated.  The school runs from 9-5 or 9-3 depending on the school but that encapsulates free-periods that can be used for planning and resource prep.  Most schools work Mon-Fri, some have a half day on Saturdays.  Our volunteers are also able to run English workshops for you adults on a Saturday with the support of our host NGO.  Our volunteers are placed within homestay placements, living with a host family from the local community.

Kerala and around

The region is an amazing pocket of India and quite distinct from the rest of India.  With its vast coastal stretches it has a great mix of working beaches and tourist bays.  Traditional community fishing is still practiced along the working beaches with great nets hauled in from the shoreline. The tourist areas are carefully and tastefully managed, preserving beautiful beaches and lagoons.  Kerala is home to a number of inland national forrests too and these are lush, tropical nature reserves.  Kerala also has a great number of temples and the transport links up and down the coast make it easily accessible.

Visa restrictions

It is only possible for us to run 3 – 5 month projects in India due to the restrictions on visa length.  Volunteers gain a ‘6 month multiple entry visa‘, however, this runs from the ‘date of issue‘ and not the ‘date of entry‘.  Volunteers therefore leave their visa application until 2-4 weeks prior to departure in order to give them the maximum time available within India. In practice this means it is not possible get more than 5 months at a project.  Please note – we do not run projects in India for durations less than 3 months.