Community Service Opportunities

The health camp set up in the village, waiting for it to begin.


In the village with the chickens (hens).


A tent in the village. One of the many styles of housing available.


Kids checking out our parade!


In the village: all the "white hats" are the volunteers. ISB is in the far distance.


Krissy, holding a broom, with a few other volunteers (we had plenty of time for photos!).

On Saturday, the ISB community at large was given the opportunity to volunteer with a local NGO (www.premalayam.com) to provide a health camp and sanitation drive in a local "village". Several of us exchange students signed up, not really sure what we would be getting ourselves into. It looked well-organized on the school's side, and we received a proper map with all the instructions and phone numbers we would need for getting ourselves there. Three of us actually showed up at the main gate at 7 am on Saturday morning: me, Stephanie and Brannan. I thought more would join us, but it turned out it was just us. I was really hoping to get some coffee before we went, but we just went there straight away. Fine with me, since the cold weather was more than enough to keep me awake on the drive there. The village we went to was no more than 5 km away from school, so I'm glad it was just a quick ride there.
When we arrived, we signed a ledger (ledgers are common here...they are used for everything!) and received a greeting and a hat with the organization's name. A few introductions were made amongst a small group of volunteers. We waited around for something to do. We ended up being taken on a tour of the village, which turned out to be a lot like a parade with drummers and singing. Stephanie and I just followed along. Eventually we were given latex medical exam gloves and a small mask. We thought the clean up work was about to begin, but the point was to demonstrate that we were willing to work along-side the residents while they cleaned. I think the lesson for the day was "Give a man a fish, and he'll fish for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever." All good, but still we didn't have any work to do ourselves. Hmmm...the parade continued on. I felt like a celebrity being followed by the papparazzi, but honestly, I don't know who enjoyed the spectacle more: me observing the villagers or the villagers observing me!
Now the parade is over and we've ended up at the food tent. We were told breakfast and lunch would be provided. Breakfast was good: I had some flavored rice (also containing some nuts/seeds, I think) and my new favorite coconut chutney, a fiery hot, cold dressing to put on things at breakfast. Yummy. I enjoyed it, but really hoped not to get sick! You never know...but the food looked fresh (so far so good, by the way).
After breakfasting, we went back to the health camp area and because the government doctors hadn't arrived yet (3 hours late) we were all starting to get a bit restless. The villagers seemed to be losing patience, and we still hadn't actually done anything. It was now getting hotter and having only 6 hours of sleep and no caffeine, I wasn't sure I'd make it until 3:30, when we were supposed to wrap up. The three of us voted to go back to campus, having felt really good about ourselves just to make the effort and observe and get close to a real Indian community (we feel like we're in a fishbowl on campus sometimes). We said our goodbyes and gave back our hats and went back to our fishbowl.
Overall, I feel like the conditions weren't great, but they weren't the worst I've seen either. There was a small store in the village. There were toilets. There wasn't any proper sewage removal...hence the sanitation drive. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to get my hands too dirty. I'm not germaphobic, but this is real yucky stuff here. I wasn't sure I wanted to take any unnecessary health risks, so I stayed back a bit more than I could have. I probably would have been fine, but you never know. It was nice though not to be plagued by bugs of any sort. The organization of the event started off well, but because the government doctors and the medications arrived late, things sort of seemed to disintegrate. There was a small media presence there, which one of the key organizers said was the first coverage in 4 years of volunteering. Brannan even provided a small interview, who knows where that will end up.
I'm glad I went and I certainly feel privileged to have been welcomed so warmly by those putting on the event, even though they probably had no idea what to do with us either.
Enjoy a few pictures from my experience.