Aparna Garg (2009)

 This summer I was presented with a unique opportunity to volunteer in India through the Yuva for Sewa internship program. Looking for an adventure and motivated to do something for the country I consider my punya bhoomi, I decided to spend a couple months volunteering in Bangalore. Though I initially had doubts as to whether I would be able to handle the linguistic and cultural challenges, I have thoroughly enjoyed my volunteer experience and consider myself fortunate that I was given this opportunity.

My exposure to India has increased manifold this summer. As an American-born Indian, I’ve visited India with my family before, but most of my previous trips have been limited to sightseeing and shopping. I’ve always experienced India from a visitor’s perspective. Traveling around in air-conditioned cars and staying at nice hotels might have provided for some great family vacations, but they did not allow me to experience the other side of India. This mysterious other side sometimes rose to the surface in the form of begging children surrounding us on the streets or glimpses of cardboard houses along the side of the road. But it always ended with us handing over a few rupees and looking the other way, going on with our lives.

In my past visits I was in India without really being in India. To understand a country it’s necessary to explore all its different facets, interact with all types of people, and live in all sorts of environments. The Yuva for Sewa experience gave me an opportunity to immerse myself in a new lifestyle and discover a side of India that I was not exposed to before. Although I’ve learned an incredible amount, my biggest learning is that I have barely begun to scratch the surface of India’s beautiful complexities.

For my internship, I’ve been working with a Bangalore-based organization called Youth for Seva (www.youthforseva.org). My project is to document the impact of the various slum development projects taken up by different NGOs in Bangalore. As part of this project I’ve had the opportunity to interact with volunteers who work at these projects as well as the people from the slums whom these organizations are serving. The first time I visited a slum I was distressed by the painful, insecure living conditions: the homes are tiny (usually just 10×10 feet and often made of scrap cloth or tents), it is cramped and polluted, and the “roads” are often just narrow and uneven dirt paths. However, I quickly realized that if I want to really understand life in slums I would have to move beyond just the physical aspects and really get to know the people who live in these places.

While interacting with people in slums, I began to experience the joy of hospitality. The very first time I visited a slum, I was just walking through with another volunteer and we were stopped by a young boy about eight years old. He was eating a mango and after talking with us for a few moments, he repeatedly offered us his mango and invited us to his home for tea. I noticed this same hospitable attitude wherever we went. Most families I visited, no matter how short our visit and no matter how modest their financial circumstances, would not let us leave without at least a cup of tea. Another interesting thing I noticed was that for the most part, the people I talked to in slums seemed pretty satisfied with what they have; ironically, they do not seem any less happy than other families I know who have every luxury in the world except for the time to enjoy them.

That being said, people living in slums live in some of the most miserable conditions in the city. There are many challenges standing in the way of slum development, including lack of education, illiteracy, disease, lack of hygiene, alcoholism, etc. But it is inspiring to see how thousands of volunteers are working truly selflessly to tackle these challenges. The organizations I am documenting run projects such as free tutoring classes for children in government schools, medical camps, health clinics, self-help groups, adult education, women empowerment, etc. It is amazing to see the positive impact that they have had in the past years. If their work continues to grow as it has, the future of Bangalore’s slums looks much brighter.

Being in India is definitely different in some ways, whether it’s dodging around the crazy traffic (Bangalore drivers make New York City drivers seem polite and peaceful), figuring out the bus system, or trying to understand an entirely new language. But this experience has also taught me that India is really not as foreign or distant as many Indian-Americans, or even first generation Indians, may perceive. Living in India for the past couple of months made me realize that this country is also my home and I have a place here.
Link to Aparna’s blog with YFS experiences: http://yfsbangalore.blogspot.com

 Apu Kaushik (2009)
 

Though this summer began with ambivalent uncertainty, it ends with contented fulfillment. Since I was given the extraordinary opportunity to dedicate the entirety of my summer volunteering in both India and Guyana, I was decidedly excited but a tad apprehensive about, well, everything: could I handle the doubtless myriad issues that daily life in foreign places would entail? As my project mostly involved teaching children English (in India) and Vedic Math (in Guyana), I was also anxious about how it would be—would there be communication issues? Would I be able to deal with them, to reach them? Would they like me?

I was extremely privileged to commence my sewa experience at the Maitreyi Gurukula in the village of Moorkaje (located in the south Indian state of Karnataka). The Maitreyi Gurukula is a free boarding school, funded by the Ajaya Trust, for exceptional girls between the ages of 8 and 16 of rural or impoverished background—brilliant and talented girls who would otherwise never receive the opportunity to realize their potential. Many of these girls would have been married off at a young age simply because their families could not afford to keep them, let alone give them the education their talents merit. The purpose of the school is to educate these girls so, not only can they go back and educate others in their villages, but they can properly educate and bring up their children with Satvic values—a sort of intellectual trickle-down. By giving these girls a holistic and well-rounded education, it is ensured that not only is an individual being helped but the next generation has a greater chance of being raised in a strongly moral household and with ethical values.

It is simultaneously heart-warming and wrenching to see them. Though a delight to watch them flourish in the wholesome and intellectual environment in which they clearly belong, it is beyond heartbreaking to imagine how many such children are languishing in surroundings undeserving of their ability. I am immeasurably lucky my project teaching English allowed me the opportunity to interact with these girls on a very familiar level.
The very first thing I noticed about everyone—not just the students—at the Gurukula were their profound contentment, unfaltering joie de vivre, and absolute graciousness. Despite being afforded but the barest minimum of luxuries, they are utterly satisfied with their lot. They are uprooted from their native villages and families at the age of 8, schooled in a wholly different language (the medium of instruction is Sanskrit; they are taught upon arrival and become fluent in usually a year or two), wake up at 4:30 in the morning, and—in addition to classes—daily clean the buildings, tend to the gardens and do all the required upkeep themselves. The Mathrushris (the teachers) are all absolutely wonderful women for whom my respect knows no bounds. As their title suggests, they are all extremely nurturing, caring and devoted; these brave ladies have literally dedicated their whole lives to improving the world by beginning at the foundation of society: caring for the wellbeing of less fortunate children.
My weeks at the Gurukula were among the most fulfilling and inspiring of my life. Seeing the simplicity of these girls, how happy they were even though they woke up at the crack of dawn every morning, swept and mopped the whole school, had three pairs of clothing (two for everyday wear and one for special occasions), washed their clothes everyday by hand on a stone, slept on straw mats atop the concrete floors in their classrooms with all their possessions placed in one square foot’s space on a communal rack—this was indescribably inspirational to me! I experienced a complete paradigm shift.

It is commonly thought that people lacking material luxury are unhappy, but it seems to be the very opposite to me. Too often people look to material goods for fulfillment and validation. The means become the end, and people attach their identity to transient things; they become their statuses, their possessions. And since things are ephemeral, they find no fulfillment or joy in their lives. Those who do not have the crutch of material comfort find their value and happiness in the internal, the intangible, and that which can never be taken from them.
My experience in Guyana was markedly different. At the Gurukula, I was more of a friend to the girls, and treated as a respected peer rather than as an authority figure, but my role in Guyana was decidedly that of a teacher. Teaching math is far different from teaching English. At the Gurukula, my English classes were mostly teaching conversational English and improving pronunciation, resulting in an informal and casual atmosphere where I learned as much (if not more) from the students than they from me. I had no challenges teaching because the girls didn’t require any disciplining: there was nothing for me to control or to do besides presenting the coursework, which the girls dutifully followed.

At the Saraswati Vidya Niketan School—a Hindu school involved with the HSS organization in Cornelia Ida, Guyana which serves to educate Guyanese Hindu children (who are fifth or sixth generation Indians) on Hindu values, and to experientially teach them their cultural heritage —I did a lot more teaching and a lot less conversing. I learned to control a classroom of noisy adolescents who are but a few years younger than I (asking nicely, speaking sternly, yelling a bit, and issuing ultimatums of extra homework—in that order), and how to command authority. Whereas at the Gurukula, all my classes consisted of between twelve to twenty extremely respectful girls who viewed being educated as a high honor and privilege and firmly practiced acharya devo bava (treating the teacher as god), at SVN, I had classes of thirty normal kids. Of course, it was a mixed bag. Some classes were a real pleasure to teach: one of my classes asked me if I could come teach them every day (I taught five grades, each twice a week) and if I could keep teaching through the next period as well, and the youngest class was so unabashedly enthusiastic, sweet and eager that they would beg me for homework and further practice! Only one class (the eldest students) was unruly. The rest were more than manageable. In Guyana I learned to deal with the disciplining aspect and leadership that is part and parcel of teaching.

Both of my projects were deeply satisfying, albeit in completely different ways. I loved almost everything about both of the countries I had the honor to visit. Though I suppose my original trepidation was not baseless, I fortunately experienced no insurmountable difficulties. Sure there were cultural differences and quite a bit of miscommunication (the supreme irony that I had no problem communicating in my second language, Kannada, but I could not for the life of me discern what was being said to me in English-speaking Guyana) but even that which was originally unpleasant became wonderful. I would not change a single detail of my experiences during this internship.

Dwijavanthi Kumar (2008)

For my 'Yuva for Sewa' fellowship, I chose Youth for Seva NGO in Bangalore, India hoping for an experience to broaden my perspective, to apply all the knowledge I’ve learned, and of course to affect positive changes in people’s lives. I chose Bangalore because I’m already familiar with the language and culture and therefore I could affect more direct change. After arriving in Bangalore in September, I helped initiate several health-related projects. One of my aims was to implement a volunteering system in Kidwai Cancer Institute to facilitate a framework for the willing volunteers in the society as well as to help hospital staff and administration. Though it was difficult to work within the bureaucracy, it turned out be a great success. Working with the children diagnosed with cancer and enabling others to come teach them on a weekly basis was extremely fulfilling. I also interviewed low-income patients on how they mobilize funds for their cancer treatment. I hope to submit the survey report as a grant proposal to the state government. I also worked with mobile clinics both in Bangalore and in remote Tribal areas and supplemented health education to the medical care. I met a diverse group of people and worked with motivated and skilled volunteers. My experiences cannot be summed up in just words alone. It was a phenomenal experience that I would recommend to everyone.  

Katelyn (2008)

PROJECT NELE:

While volunteering with YFS, I was closely associated with two of the Nele’s which were Narendra Nele and Nivedita Nele. Narendra Nele was a home for 40 boys while Nivedita Nele was a home for 28 girls. I spent many afternoons at both Narenda and Nivedita Nele interacting with the children, playing games and teaching English. In addition, I spent time with translators documenting previous life stories and the positive impact that project NELE and the staff at the shelters had on the children who had been living at either Narenda or Nivedita Nele for over three years. 

PROJECT SATHI:

SATHI is a Non Governmental Organization that works to help reunite runaway children living on railway platforms with their families. SATHI provides food, shelter, clothing and counseling for these children at their open shelters. While in Bangalore, I worked closely with SATHI. Three mornings out of the week I went to the SATHI open shelter in Bangalore and brought art and craft projects, games, simple English reading material and worksheets for the children and taught them a variety of short songs and dances.

I really enjoyed volunteering at SATHI and interacting with the runaway boys. It was always an exciting and interesting experience going to SATHI because I would never know how many boys would be there and if there would be any of the same boys at the shelter from the previous day. However, no matter which boys were there, I always found that they loved to do art projects and learn simple English. 

KIDWAI MEMORIAL INSTITUE OF ONCOLOGY

Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology is a government cancer hospital that caters to the needs of cancer patients from Karnataka and neighbouring states. The majority of the patients are very poor and fall below poverty line. Three or four mornings a week, myself and another full time volunteer from America, Dwijuvante, would go to Kidwai hospital. While at Kidwai we were involved in three different projects: 1) Surveying breast cancer patients to determine if they were receiving government aid and how they rated the quality of the hospital services. 2) Interacting and creating English, Math, and Art lessons for children undergoing treatment for cancer. 3) Recruiting over forty local volunteers for various projects on a weekly basis at Kidwai Hospital.

SNEHA SEVA TRUST

Sneha Seva Trust operates out of an old run down three story building in the Timber Yard Layout in Bangalore where free after school education and health care is provided for the underprivileged families living in the bordering slum area.

During my internship with YFS, myself and another full time volunteer spent every afternoon Monday through Saturday conducting after school tutoring for children attending a nearby government school from first to tenth standard. I specifically taught and tutored four groups of children for forty- five minutes each in English and Math everyday. Our purpose and aim was to help improve the standard of education and give these underprivileged children the support and guidance they needed to succeed academically.
 

In addition to the everyday tutoring activities, myself and a group of YFS volunteers created a week of special competitions and celebrated Divali with the children who attended tuition regularly. We created a week long competition consisting of Rongoli, dance, singing, drawing, pick and speak, musical chairs and trivia competitions. The week of competitions was a great success and all the children had a fantastic time participating. On the last day we had all the children invite their parents and relatives and we put on a slide show of pictures and videos from the various competitions and presented the children with their prizes and awards. 

Shikta (2008)

During the summer of 2008, I was presented with a two-month internship opportunity in Bangalore, India. The internship was facilitated by Sewa International, in cooperation with Hindu Seva Pratishthana (HSP), a local NGO. There were multiple factors that motivated me to set off on this venture. One, in particular, was my strong desire to dedicate a couple of months to social work. For the past couple of years, I had been observing and realizing that we, as humans, have spiritually regressed to become very selfish individuals. We are on a constant and fierce battle with each other to be materialistically superior. And, in the process, we hardly have any time left for fortifying our moral standards. Consequently, reserving time for others would be an impossible task. For this very reason, I decided to embark on this quest and become a volunteer. Apart from that, this internship has given me a chance to explore a part of the world where I had not yet been and submerge myself in a culture that is drastically different from my own. I chose to volunteer in India because the projects that were offered were relevant to my field of study and the structure of the program appealed to me. Moreover, I chose Bangalore because I am a complete stranger to the local vernacular; and adjusting to a new lifestyle topped with linguistic differences would provide me further challenges. Seeing life through the eyes of the less fortunate has definitely enriched my existence. It was a little shocking to know how happy people can be with so little. During the course of this month, I have met a lot of prominent personalities, who gave up their flourishing careers to become full time volunteers and live mediocre lives. I was perplexed to see why people would give up comfort to serve humanity; and the common answer to my query was that living for others fetches more satisfaction to the soul than living for oneself. Furthermore, I have had the occasion of experiencing India’s rich culture. One in particular is the level of hospitality that everyone exhibits. I have also been introduced to a new and beautiful language – Kannada. And most of all, this internship has not only provided me a platform to serve others; it has also been a medium through which I can evaluate my strengths and weaknesses.

Sunit Patel (2007)

Suneeti Gupta (2007)

Sangola was an unforgettable experience. I went there to do a project the summer after first year of medical school. I was looking for exposure to the medical community and medical issues in India. Sangola's project provided me with that opportunity. My project was a survey based project with three parts to it. My first part was to interview reproductive age women about reasons they were giving birth at home versus at the hospital. This part involved actually going into these women's houses which was eye opening in itself to experience bits and pieces of local culture through other people's homes. My second part of the project was to interview artisan and understand their occupational hazards and propose some solutions. The third part of the project was to work with a local pediatrician and understand what was bringing in infants into the hospital so sick that they needed to be hospitalized for at least a day. I then proceeded to make pamphlets to help parents treat their children at home so they are not coming in as sick. Working on so many aspects of healthcare really underscored the need that is present in India. Moreover, my work there allowed Mata Balak, the organization I was working with to buy a van and provide healthcare to pregnant women in remote places.
 

Mathavi (2007)