Phase Two: The Five-Month Volunteers

New Arrivals!

It is amazing how time passes here, at points it felt asif things were dragging in the beginning but then suddenly the time for farewells with the wonderful two-month volunteers came about.  It dawned on me what a quick turnover it is between the two groups and before I knew it the next bunch of five-month volunteers were due to arrive.  Luckily plans for the Oreintation Week fell into place smoothly using the contactsand similar format to the previous schedule.  This was a relief as I was entering the 'second phase' alone without my previous counterpart who decided to withdraw from the programme.

So, without further ado I cracked on and was set to roll in anticipation for the nine new Global Citizens! I was slightly nervous waiting on their arrival date but in fact Ineed not have worried as I received a call from one of them to tell me they had already checked-in to the hostel!! I was very impressed and at the same time felt a bit useless...Still independence was a good sign.  I cycled over to be met by their spritely faces, which I also had not expected after I learnt they had planned a day-trip straight from their flight before coming to Pondy.  They were going to be just fine.

The welcome meal at my favourite local Salt & Pepper went down welland I walked back home feeling confident that the training ahead with this group would be interesting.  Despite most of them having extensively travelled before and many in India, discussion-wise the volunteers seemed very engaged in most sessions and the organisational visits definitely proved thought provoking for them all.  At points when energy levels dropped I decided to let the group dictate when they felt they wanted to move some sessions. I think an important part of the IVC role is about gauging when to be flexible and involve the volunteers in decision-making.  After all it is about them and for them that I am here, therefore I had noproblems with relaxing the schedule a bit as long as they got what they needed outof the week.

One thing I found a bit difficult was having little time to interact with the group on a social level olutside of sessions, unfortunately once the workshops/visits were over there was no rest for me as I had tomake sure everything was ready and re-confirm arrangements for the following day.  Nonetheless there were a couple of occassions I managed to join them all for dinner which they even treated me to one night!  This is another aspect of the role which requires the ability tomaintain a professional relationship with them but alsoget to know everyone personally.  To be honest I am the sort of person wholikes to relate to people on a level without hierarchalk boundaries, just being open and approachable is what I find works well with most especially when amongst the same age group.

Once the intense week was over, the last day in Pondy was rather chaotic.  Having recommended Auroville to the group, I was glad they chose to spend their few hours left there before the upheaval to get everyone to their placements.  I on the other hand spent it whizzing around my beloved Ladybird for the last time but en route for my daily dose of cafe frappe, I was struck by a mental motorcyclist who knocked me off my bike causing me to land flat in the road.  Rather startled I looked around to see the mad man driving off, I was speechless and shaky but thankfully somebody came to help me prop up Ladybird.  At somepoint I realised that my toe was throbbing and as I tried to walk I felt the sharp pain...familiar feeling of a broken bone.  My lovely volunteers made aware of the slight mis-hap offered their sympathy.  At least we were sat on a train for two days but even getting to that stage was a challenge!

The journey:

Auto - Bus station: flat tyre requiring all to lift vehicle.
Bus - Chennai: Hub cap falls off causing repeated explosive sounds and stoppages for the men to look.
Train - Mumbai: Fine although very early arrival.
Arrival in Mumbai: Headed to dingy Dongri, first hotel no room leading to argument. Second place extortionate but after much haggling the deal was done and the four Udaipur volunteers were able to sleep :)

We spent a pleasant day in the city, strolling around Colaba until the time came to put the remaining lot on their bus...

Taxi - hotel: so much traffic, beginning to panic.
Hotel - station: Cutting it fine and when we got there disaster struck, it was the wrong station!!!
Adrenalin kicked in, bus company luckily called to see where we were and so I pleaded all the way for them to wait.  In the end we screeched up, I practically threw myself at the bus and hugged the volunteers goodbye.  Off they went, what a relief.

Volunteer Visits
Inevitably I found myself feeling relieved upon arrival once again in Pondy, it is that familiarity which I have grown to appreciate. Since being back in the flat, this time with the new five-month girls I have done some nice little activities. I decided that as part of their assessments I would go in with each of them to their placements and observe their routines. Despite having already been to Angalakuppam (Sharana Village) and Volontariat, this proved to be an effective way of realling putting into context what the placements entail and what the volunteers are experiencing during the programme.

In the village community centre run by women as part of an empowerment project facilitated by Sharana, the activities consist of helping in the creche with Tamil and English rhymes followed by some basic language teaching. The children are so well behaved and I quickly learnt not to judge gender by dress, rather androgenously there were many boys with flowers in their hair and girls in masculine clothes. He hours left were used to teach English to two of the staff there who are perfectly capable of running the project independently but want to feel more confident in their spoken English before doing so.

At Volontariat it was decided I would assist in their creche first thing in the morning which was quite a task. Feeding and drying numerous little ones was not something I am accustomed to but found it enjoyable for an hour and can see why volunteers like it. It did not seem appropriate to sit in on any of the one-to-one English tuition lessons that followed so off I went reflect on the beach nearby. I will try to do this for all my volunteers in their various organisation (DGS and Seva Mandir), it is also a good way for me to feel more involved whilst I visit rather than just sitting on the fence.

Aside from cooking, film-watching and occassionally eating out we were lucky enough to see the celebrations for Gandhi's birthday by the beach one evening which was an interesting cultural experience and most recently we observed some Puja's during our visit to some of the local temples. There is also a music night happening just in good time before I depart for Hampi, where the landscape is very rocky.

It has been quite a while since I posted anything related to work, perhaps the time of year is partly a reason with so many festivals including Diwali – festival of light and the biggest celebration in India. From Hampi I made my way to Pune where once again I stayed in the DGS volunteer accommodation which was rather full when I arrived. The timing of my visit seemed to be during a bit of a trough in terms of the volunteer's workload and aside from going into the office, there was not as much action to observe although plans for the upcoming World AIDS Day actvities were being put into place which the 3 DiA volunteers were very keen to help coordinate. I experienced more of the social side that comes with living in a big, modern and affluent city such as Pune which was a novelty but one which quickly wore thin. I was ready to move on to a more 'authentic' part of the country for the final visit to Udaipur.