My oh Mumbai!

Bollywood
On India's south-west coast lies Mumbai, the city I had dreaded the though before even landing in the country. With a population of 16 million and 55% of which live in slums despite it being the financial capital India, Mumbai in my mind was going to be a challenge. I had envisaged it to be rather like Delhi: a heaving mass of people, insane traffic, cows, dust, beggars, decrepid buildings and a lot of hassle multiplied by 100 times...even as we were pulling up into Central station at 4am I felt a sense of anxiety as I looked out into the monsoon rain and saw nothing but darkness, rubbish and rats. Turning up and relying on sleeping in the rest rooms was not very realistic and of course as soon as we asked where we could find them we were lead to two taxi's and the promise of a cheap room for the remaining 6 of us. Well two additional mattresses on the floor later, our first few hours were somewhat hazy. When I awoke absolutely ravenous I stepped out to see the road lined with dirt and street kids alongside many sweet shops, interesting.

It took some time for us to work out where we were in the city, Dongri – not on the map to be exact. Colaba was the place to be, where the main hub for tourists is situated and of course the location which the famous 'Shantaram' is based. I grew excited by the thought that we may heading out of the Muslim area and into a livelier environment. What a pleasant surprise it was once we picked our hostel down a pretty quiet street next to the coast, I started to take in all of the impressive architecture, nice cafes/restaurants and a general travellers-vibe. Everyone seemed to be friendly and there was not even much hassle as we walked through Colaba market! I had a good feeling about the next few days here, with so much to see and many avenues for entertainment and/or chilling it was turning out to be the respite we needed. A quick browse in the Lonely Planet steered our minds to visiting Baganga Tank, a hidden traffic-free sacred place at the southern tip of Mumbai. We explored the precinct of temples, tiny streets and pilgrim's rest-houses, what a tranquil place perfect for sitting and dreaming.

The following day we took a trip to Elephanta Island, a one hour boat journey which was a rather rocky ride at times but upon arrival I could see why it was worth the wet. The sculpted cave-temples were beautifully scattered and the first one containing a huge Sadhashiva depicting Shiva as the destroyer, creator and preserver of the universe was impressive.

Another sight worth seeing was Haji Ali's Mosque I had read about in Shantaram and decided one early morning to catch the bus there. When I heard it described as a floating shrine, I realised the extent to which it reached out into the Arabian Sea. Along the causeway filled with pilgrims, the waves crashed and were followed by excited shrieks.

After sitting peacefully and watching the devotions in the women's only section, I headed back to go on to Mahalaxmi Temple which I had spotted. Little did I know that the boy shouting out on the causeway was a warning...too late the wave hit and I lost balance slipping to the side and almost finding myself along with several Indians out to sea. Oh my goodness, the second we stabilised ourselves everyone ran as fast as possible to avoid the next wave phew! Walking around utterly drenched but smiling I made a friend along the way to the colourful, busy temple. The nice young man bought me a flower to offer Laxmi the goddess of money and we had a little chat/photo exchange. Sometimes you can tell when someone is going to bother you or not and my instincts told me that he was a genuine person interested in learning about my culture.

Other highlights included Mani Bavhan (Gandhi's home), Jehangir Art Gallery, Chowpatty Beach and Leopold's Cafe for the atmosphere and where I sadly sat and read Shantaram which freaked me out as the chapter I was on talked about the inhumane treatment in the prison which is just opposite. But I have to say the ultimate Bombay experience after watching a Bollywood film, was being an extra in one!!! I owe it to my counterpart who was so sweet and let me take the opportunity in her place and I really enjoyed the whole affair. From having hair and make-up done to sitting around watching everyone get ready, seeing the set piece together and finally being called to appear in various clips for a party scene mainly at the front sidelines dancing and admiring the men who jumped around in true Bollywood style. It was a long 12hr day, but a once in a lifetime experience and I realised how much I love Mumbai.

IVC Work

Pre-Orientation
Playing tourist was short-lived when began a few days after our arrival. It is a strange concept to get my head around that the role of an IVC exists on working hours defined by ourselves and the office is currently the dining table although this will change once on the move escorting the keen volunteers to their placements and conducting various partner and volunteer assessments, updating medical emergency plans and completing reports to go back to the UK as part of the monitoring and evaluation aspect of DiA's India volunteer programme.

Currently it's all been about planning, arranging meetings to discuss venues and visits, communicating with partners, establishing contact with the volunteers, brainstorming workshop ideas, creating language lesson plans all I preparation for the Orientation week designed to train the prospective summer global citizens for life in India. As IVC's we will live, breath and sleep Orientation week and once it is over it does not stop there with the constant movement from one placement to the next until the second set of five month volunteers arrive which for us means round two of all of the above!

So after almost a full week's concentration, brainstorming and a successful meeting, much progress has been made. The orientation week is shaping up and it looks as if our prospective volunteers will gain a lot out of the workshops, activities, talks and visits we have prepared for them. Cultural awareness and managing expectations are key in encouraging realistic ideas and goals thus hopefully ensuring more fulfilling experiences for all involved from the partner and volunteer perspective.

Just one meeting held with the Director of an amazing organisation called Sharana, gave a great insight into the role of NGO's in India and the extent of outreach activities, social work as well as micro-finance schemes which aim to benefit physically abused and neglected women. We met some wonderful girls who were previously in terrible abusive situations within their families and with the help of the organisation have been given the chance to rebuild their lives by being trained to bake and sell their goods through an outlet which brought them income. The girls were remarkable, everything done with smiles on their beautiful faces and positivity was expressed through their body language. Bless them.

I am so intrigued to meet the 8 individuals who will be counting on us entirely to orientate, train and support them over the course of the programme. It should be an interesting time getting to know their characters, hopes, fears and reasons for choosing this experience over the many other voluntary opportunities there are available Internationally. This will be a special time of their lives that they are going to undergo and I am very happy to be a part of that, as a distant observer watching them grow as well as learning about different organisations, gaining more in-depth knowledge about the various cultures in India and how the voluntary sector fits into society.

Two weeks on and all our plans for the different organisational visits and language teachers are confirmed as well as the content of our workshops which I think we have tailored well according to the travel/voluntary experience our volunteers claim to have. It has been pretty straightforward aside from a few peculiar meetings in the street with a very manic Hindi teacher and trying to track down a Father of an Ashram which takes care of HIV/AIDS patients...but succeeded in the end as always these things come together and someone will know somebody else who can get hold of the person you are looking for! I love this role, so varied so far and we have not even left Pondicherry.

Now everything just needs to roll during Orientation and fingers crossed there will be no issues with the volunteer placements which I must say am quite jealous of some of them as they sound so exciting I really wouldn't mind volunteering myself. Perhaps I will have the opportunity with some of them after our job here with our volunteers is done 6 months down the line...

Orientation Week
Suffice to say that the much anticipated and intense week, from the volunteer arrivals to drop-off's went remarkably well. The mission began with meeting them inside the main bus station which I was tasked to do whilst my counterpart lined up the auto's ready for a swift exit. I had a nerve-wrecking moment when I realised how big the station was and couldn't spot the group for what seemed like far too long before I finally saw their white heads and was greeted with a beaming smile from whom later turned out to be one of the leaders of the pack. I totally forgot how scarily fast and carelessly the buses moved inside the station and realised when I turned to check behind me that a few were running around avoiding the big clanky vehicles. Anyway after the inevitable series of rows with our drivers we got them checked in at the Hotel which which was run by the Ashram, a clean, safe place complete with a 10.30pm curfew to keep everyone in order (also preventing us from unnecessary IVC worry). Following some rest-time, we treated the exhausted group to an Indian meal at our favourite local which turned out well despite them piling on additional sides throughout which hadn't been ordered, everyone chatted and got excited about the week ahead before going to bed.

The first official day was not as daunting as I had expected and the most significant sessions about what to expect from us as their Coordinators as well as Cultural Awareness and dealing with shock seemed do go down well without any qualms.

Day 2, 3 and 4 consisted of a series of visits to some DiA partners such as Sharana Village and Volontariat as well as a fascinating talk at Arul Ashram for HIV/AIDS sufferers.

For further details of DiA's partner organisations see links below:
http://www.sharana.org/
http://www.arul.ashram.free.fr/
http://www.volontariat-inde.org/

We also covered sessions surrounding expectations which is so important to address from an early stage and without scaring the volunteers which can be quite difficult but it is to ensure that everyone enters their placements with open-minds and realistic goals with a level of flexibility. It makes one think about what volunteering is all about and what makes a good placement. These days are so many organisations who do not care so much about the quality of their candidates but whether they can pay for the experience and usually extortionate amounts. The good thing about DiA is that being totally non-profit, the amount required from each volunteer for the two month placements is relatively small and most goes to the partners themselves to cover accommodation and food etc. Nonetheless bearing in mind that they have raised an amount it is only natural that there will be some hopes for what they will gain out of the India Placement Scheme. We tried our best to provide introductory language workshops and aside from one teacher being too much hassle for what it was worth and not showing up on the day, the classes went ok and provided a platform for the volunteers to go away and learn more! The OW was as much a learning experience for me as it was for everyone else, I enjoyed facilitating discussions on sensitive issues relevent to India and the role of NGO's as well as encouraging more playful activities including a Scavenger Hunt and Bollywood dance class which were very popular indeed.

By the end, my body had decided that it was time to stop and luckily all we had left to do after the evaluation was a mammoth train journey. I am very grateful for all of the constructive comments we received, none of which were negative towards the way we delivered aspects of the orientation. Overall it looks as if the same formula would be appropriate to use for the second group in September depending on the availability of our key speakers. So, in the end we left two of the girls behind in the cherished Pondicherry flat and made it to Mumbai after much reading, eating and dozing on the good old sleeper train. Arriving at 4am without any accommodation due to all of them being full-up was not the best situation but as always anything is possible and in no time the six of us were packed into a room of four! Hours later, the next two girls moved on to catch their second train to Udaipur whilst we escorted our remaining boys to St Gonsalo's an orphanage a local train ride away from Mumbai and that was that...farewell to the volunteers until the visits start soon.


On the move...

From Pondy to Bombay, Udaipur and back to Bombay, the IVC rounds are in full swing and yet to be completed by a return to Pondy before reaching the final destination – Pune. In terms of time management, I became quite accustomed to this in my previous job. Project plans, meeting preps, to-do lists, diary management along with the rest that came in handy as an Events Coordinator. Planning routes and fitting in everything that needs to be done within each place however is somewhat more interesting. Working out the journey times from one to the next, settling in for a day and then proceeding with the the logistics of how and when the Medical Emergency Plans (MEP's), Risk Assessments and Volunteer reports will take place within the allocated time before the next booked train out to another town, with two more volunteers and an equally impressive NGO to learn about. In this job, once you make a plan you really have to stick to it.

Unfortunately since arriving in Udaipur, the significant amount of time to spare has not been used so productively. The main factor being illness, one of the things about moving around in short bursts is the change of food and climate, because each state varies profoundly. My yoga teacher today confirmed that in Rajasthan and particularly Udaipur, the most amount of spices and oil is used in all of the food. Well, to be honest the thick layers of Ghee in every dish was pretty evident and had been the focus of the problem being my stomach. From day 1 here things weren't right, I managed to develop a fever and subsequent cold on the overnight train at the same time as a pain building up inside my abdomen. The few days to follow were pretty terrible, too weak to walk, too blocked up to think and too scared to eat...a disastrous combination which of course has now resulted in my shocking physical transformation, resembling the time when I had suffered with amoebic dysentery.

Despite this drawback, we met with our first pair of volunteers who are doing research projects for a brilliant organisation called Seva Mandir which focuses on empowerment of women (see description for further details). I realised why this is another great part of the job, in just over two weeks since their Orientation you can see how much the volunteers have developed in terms of confidence, knowledge of Indian Culture and the work which they are involved in. Assessments aside, when you see their faces alive with new experiences and stories to match, it emphasises how valuable a programme like this can and should be. Luckily they both get along and have had no problems, mentally or physically despite one of them feeling terribly homesick right at the beginning and the other having a traumatic experience involving a rat in a bed which they both dealt with very bravely, I feel proud of them! By supplementing the work that is already being carried out, adding capacity to an organisation and learning new skills is beneficial to both the Indian partners and the volunteers. Sustainable volunteering and development education are at the heart of DiA. Now we can see for ourselves, as IVC's watching everyone grow even more into fine young Global Citizens.

The second set based in a special orphanage of 80 boys called St Gonsalo's - a 1hr local train and bus ride from Mumbai, blew me away as we saw them teaching their respective classes in smart shirts and looking very professional indeed. It seemed that the staff at St Gonsalo's Ashram were all besotted with the DiA boys and were finding ways to convince them to stay which was really touching. It was brought to our attention that in order for the work done by the volunteers to be more sustainable, placements for 5 months would be much more ideal. Nonetheless it was clear the impact the volunteers were having on the lives of so many and so directly that of all the DiA placements this one is particularly unique. Whatever the reasons for why the children became orphans and the fact that it used to be a catholic run place have no bearing on the reasons why this programme should not help similar organisations. Despite living in a bit of a rural bubble, the volunteers are fully immersed into Indian culture, eating local food and communicating with people from different ages and backgrounds on a daily basis. The children learn various subjects which may not have been taught due to lack of teachers and the existing teachers also pick up on different methods of class delivery. Furthermore the caretaker is one of the most dedicated men I have seen, looking after the good of the orphanage and every single one of those kids for their futures to be brighter in the long-run.

From Mumbai we headed on to Pondicherry, back to the peaceful place we started in and the beloved DiA flat complete with two more volunteers to share some time with! It was a lovely week, strolling along the coastline was a novelty once again and we realised how much more intense the heat was there. Being able to walk everywhere really makes a difference . I sorted out some plans for the forthcoming 5 month volunteer's Orientation Week and also took a trip back to Auroville where I was invited to an interview for a Monitoring and Evaluation internship with Auroville Village Action Group which I am very interested in doing next year once the role with DiA terminates.

It was also good to learn more about what the girls are up to in their placements. Sharana were preparing for their 10 year anniversary event due to take place over 3 days the following week, which understandably seemed to consume much of the staff's time including our volunteer's who would otherwise have been teaching English to a key member of one of the village centres we had previously visited as well as doing after school sessions at the office. At Volontariat it became apparent that they had decided to assign our volunteer to be the English 'Professor' and give one-to-one tuition to several staff in the organisation. These were certainly unexpected roles but nonethless the girls have dealt with their work very patiently and positively, realising that this will of course be adding capacity to the organisations and be a valuable learning experience for them too. A couple of dinners at Mr Bean's and some smiley exchanges with our neighbours later, it was time to head on to the final destination of our volunteer visits - Pune.

My expectations of Pune were quite high, imagining it to be a vibrant, modern and cosmopolitan city. It was very built-up, mainly consisiting of wealthy residential areas and commercial stores. The prices of hostels reflected this and we decided to stay at the volunteer accommodation, the Deep Griha Cultural Centre which turned out to be the best option, run by some wonderful women and including home-cooked food daily. DGS as an organisation itself is very active especially in the area of HIV/AIDS awareness-raising. With a rolling register of volunteers and so many inititiatives, campaigns and groups to be part of I really got a sense of the outreach which DGS acheives in the slums of Pune and beyond.