Project Profile : 3 month community project.
This project is one of our mid/long-term community projects in India. The project is located within a rural area of north-eastern Andhra Pradesh, north of the Godavari River. Volunteers in our community projects help local NGOs and educational charities working in rural village communities as well as teaching English in local schools. This particular NGO works within Disaster Management - educating rural villages in how to prepare themselves and conduct first aid etc.
(other NGOs in our community projects range from orphanages or schools helping rescued child labour back into education to NGOs delivering health science and nutrition info to remote village communities.)
A few notes from a volunteer...
"We spent the first couple of weeks getting to know the NGO as an organization as well as its people working in the field and in the office in Rajahmundry. Our little house in the village has got two rooms and a kitchen and we share it with our host, a girl called Kumari. She cooks and stays with us during the day to help us when language fails, she has some English and we are hoping to help her improve her communication skills before we leave. Weekends at the Prasads' house are a break from village life and we try to help out as much as we can in the office, our English comes in use when the NGO is writing reports to their support organizations.
The NGO field workers took us to several different villages where we conducted introductory classes to children of varying ages, gathered together spontaneously or for the purpose of Disaster Management instruction. These sessions gave us a good opportunity to assess the children's level of English.
We have established a good relationship with teachers and community organisers and there is a big interest in our participation. This also means that we can fit more teaching into our days.
Our aim is to teach in schools for blocks of two weeks, our impression from visits made is that there is strong interest from both children and teachers and we have the support of the field workers.
Regarding our accommodation, food, host and other friends we are very well looked after. Our little house has become a place where NGO field workers and neighbours come to meet in the evenings and this is certainly adding to our experience here. Our host helps us with our cooking and when language fails, in return we try to help her improve her English."
Anna-Kristina Larsson, VESL Volunteer 2007 - (currently on project).