SOMEONE ELSE

So I just wanted to share this with you quickly.
This is a first-hand account of somebody else's Raleigh ICS experience in India; what they did, how they did it and how they continued their work.
It's given me a buzz about it, and will hopefully explain a bit better than I can what I'll be doing..
Annie - ICS volunteer

Annie joined Raleigh’s International Citizen Service (ICS) as a volunteer in South India to work on a project promoting sustainable livelihoods in rural communities, as well as raising awareness around women’s issues and health awareness. Annie was inspired by the women she met in India and decided to focus on women’s issues for her Action at Home project.

Annie was a UK volunteer in India, in Spring 2013.

 

“I volunteered with Raleigh ICS in the South Indian villages of Attapaddy, Odamandai and Segatti. We worked with Raleigh’s long-term project partner MYRADA, which works with marginalised farmers, women, youth and disadvantaged community members.
The villages are based in a rural, mountainous environment surrounded by dense forest and there are high levels of illiteracy among the adult population. These remote communities are highly dependent on agriculture as a means of income.
The UK volunteers and Indian volunteers worked together to carry out many activities such as research, awareness raising, and developing resources and infrastructures for the community.
The aim of the construction phase of the project was to help to maximise the potential profits farmers could make to benefit their families and their community, building sustainable means of making the most of natural resources, including the building of cow sheds and vermi compost tanks. Vermicompost is a farming technique which uses worms to create nutrient organic fertilizer. We raised awareness around the use of these components with the wider villages as we felt they were long-term farming solutions which were kind to the environment and would also improve crop yields.
I think the aspect of our project which caused the greatest, long-term impact were the awareness raising activities we undertook. We talked about relevant issues such as the importance of education, child labour and various health issues, and our most successful campaign focused on maternal and child health.
Building on the responses collected from our research in the community, we designed a targeted campaign which raised awareness of the value of Vitamin A, iodine and iron in the diet of expectant and breastfeeding mothers, and using oral rehydration solution (ORS) in treating children with diarrhoea. The response was very positive. One lady told us ‘When my children aren’t at home, I don’t cook vegetables and that is when I have the most problems with my eyesight. Now I understand why.’
After witnessing a positive response educating women in the village of Attapaddy, we extended our campaign to include women in many of the surrounding villages. Overall, the campaign ran in 8 villages and reached 162 women.
It was really great to start seeing positive changes in the village such as children who started proactively brushing their teeth regularly.
I feel the ICS placement has opened my eyes in various ways. Firstly living in a remote village, I have learnt about a way of life very different from my own; having to spend the first hour of every morning collecting water, watching cows plough the crops, getting involved in villagers daily conversations, family structures and their various religious undertakings and festivals.
Secondly, the relationship between UK volunteers and the local volunteers has been a learning curve and a great way of bringing people from different cultural backgrounds together and learning to live and work alongside each other, despite different ideas on the ways thing are done.
Thirdly, my idea of development has heightened through the training I received, but also living directly with the village and understanding different ways to improve lives in a sustainable manner.
Since the programme I have developed a greater tolerance and patience regarding working in a group, and a greater awareness of the negotiation and open-mindedness that is needed in order to co-operate and work together as a team in order to try and gain the best outcome.
It has been a huge learning curve of personal development as well as understanding development in an international setting. It has inspired me to learn more about Indian society and potentially to look to do more charity work.
One of my greatest moments from my ICS experience was, after having given an awareness lesson at a school outside our village, a woman was looking over the school wall with a beautiful, friendly smile. We greeted her and swapped names and smiles. She then invited us to have tea at her house. We sat and spoke in broken language, but she was so warm and giving that we were able to understand each other without words; her excitement to see us and our gratitude for the tea. Most importantly the welcome into a stranger’s home, which highlights the universal act of kindness and openness that can act as a bridge between people from different countries and languages.
For my Action at Home project I decided to raise awareness of an issue and to involve others in taking action. I decided to focus on women’s issues, in particular violence against women.
Whilst I was in India I feel I was witness to certain perceptions of gender and issues regarding gender inequality and also women’s space in society. It made me think about my own society and the treatment of women in the UK.
Although women may be to some extent more “free” in this society, there are still mass inequalities here that are apparent in everyday, such as unequal pay in the workplace. I therefore decided to organize a flashmob in connection with the campaign One Billion Rising – a campaign to raise awareness about violence against women worldwide. My ICS experience has inspired me to focus more on women’s issues and understand the inequalities that are present in today’s world.
I am currently volunteering with vulnerable asylum seekers in my community. I am also raising money to go back to India and find some more voluntary work out there that is connected to women and girl’s empowerment."








Women's rights is something very close to my heart, having been raised in a single parent family by a strong mother and having grown up around strong female role models. I hope to work on gender equality issues during my stay and Annie's story has given me more hope that I can make a difference!
Please donate towards Raleigh & ICS and my trip to India at http://www.JustGiving.com/BambiRaleigh



L8rz h8rz xo