Urban Volunteering vs. Rural Volunteering - My experience!!!

Hi there!!!

iVolunteer in partnership with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) had organised a Study tour for 6 Srilankan participants (from NGO’s working in areas of disabilities) on National Volunteering/Community volunteering followed by a Volunteer management workshop which was open for all and we had around 25 participants for the same. I got a wonderful opportunity to lead this project. I had a great knowledgable learning through this. Thought to share my experience with you all…

After the project got decided I gave a previsit to APD’s rural NGO in Kamathampalli in Chintamani taluk (Kolar) I was amazed by the wonderful work that is being done in rural India. Past 2 and half years I have been working closely on urban projects and this was my first Rural project.

Just to brief about place we visited in rural area:

Rural APD supports 5000 disabled people from 250 villages with 42 staff members and support from peer groups and parents of special children, through seven programmes viz.:

People organisation group/Advocacy programme
CBR – Community based rehabilitation
ICDS – Deaf Education
Motivation – Spinal Cord injury + Wheel chair project (tie up with a Srilankan NGO named Motivation)
Training and Employment – Career guidance and placement
Mental Health
Fund raising

We started our study tour by visiting an Urban NGO (Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled) where we got to know in brief about the organisation and various volunteering opportunities. This was follwed by the rural visit where we visited organisations, did school visits, home visits and also attended meetings. There is soooo much of work being done at both places, so much of difference between how we work here in cities and over there in rural India. They have specific dates fixed for specific meetings (like parents meeting, TDF- Taluk Disability Federation meeting etc etc) every month and they follow it up every month without any change in plan. We got a chance to be part of few of them as the dates coincided with our visit there. Got a chance to see how they are trying to bring awareness amongst the general public by doing home to home visit and follow ups. Also trying to resolve the problems of ground level by having Panachayat meeting then TDF meetings and if nt resoved at this stage having DDF ( District Disability Federation meeting) by actually inviting the concerned Government officials for their meetings. They work towards resolving problems as a group, Eg.: there was a case where the disabled gets Rs 125 as PF every month but the post man used to give them in hand Rs 100/- only reason being balance he needs for his travel. After discussing the same in meetings they approached the post master where again the problem wasn’t taken care of. Imagine 5,000 disabled in a village going through this problem, finally they put an article in paper and brought awareness to others as well and today everything is working well with actual money in their handJ Other case where a a disabled student wasn’t getting admission in college because he couldn’t climb the starecases and his class was on first floor. Finally after follow up and with frequent requests to principal, today he is pursuing his further studies, with class being shifted to ground floor.

I was surprised to notice the way people Volunteer here and there is totally different, here we come out of our own willingness to bring a change without any expectations in return like eg. Providing reader’s service to visually challenged in our free time, but there we see parents of affected children coming ahead to volunteer, because they have seen the change in their child. Villagers feel good about the work but when it comes to volunteering you see only the relatives and family of beneficiaries and no one else. Training is given on severe disabilities, physiotheraphy, awareness building etc to all parents and also beneficiaries who in turn they go and volunteer. Simple little techniques on how to best utilise the available resources and make a 100% disabled child to reduce his/her disability is what I have actually observed there. Eg.: You may see how this fully challenged girl is now able to walk using the simple bamboo and wooden pillars:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268404435483777714

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268404460122284050

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268404912652809938

I have seen how well inclusiveness has been working there. During home visits, volunteers bring awareness on inclusiveness and making special kids join the government school.

Check these examples of physically challenged, visually impaired and hearing impaired child being part of schools:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268401779128188274

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268402730168302674

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#5268401075720137842

And along with this child other kids learn basic sign language to communicate with him. They are given sign language class once in a week on every Friday.

Lots to share, lots of things going on, lots is being done, lots can be done… Even we can go there from cities for atleast few days and train them in spoken English and awareness building, because an outsider coming from urban area will have more impact, so my mail has also given you a volunteering opportunityJ At iVolunteer we have rural project called iVolunteer India Fellow Professional, if you are willing to be part of it by using your qualifications and skills you may email to professional@ivolunteer.in. I here by conclude my email with the wonderful snaps links which you may enjoy viewing:

Pre visit:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/RuralAPD#

Study tour:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerVSOStudyTourRuralvisit#

Volunteer management workshop:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/InternationalVolunteerManagementWorkshop#

Special Thanks to VSO for partnering with us for this project and to each and every staff member of Association of people with disability (APD) and Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled for making this study tour a suceess full of learning and fun for everyone.

Thanks and enjoy maadi!!!

Best Regards, Prarthana Prarthana UnkalkarHead - iVolunteer Centres
iVolunteer -- Your skills can change lives.www.iVolunteer.in

“We need a massive number of volunteers to change the fortune of our country!”

No. 384, 6th Cross, 18th ‘E’ Main,
6th Block, Koramangala,
Bangalore - 560 095
Tel: +91-080-41466568
Cell: +91-99803 50180