life, by me

Saturday, June 22, 2013 | Posted by Hazel

So, I'm in India!  I've been here nearly 2 weeks now and it already feels like I have been here for ages.  The majority of my time so far has been spent learning all about how the project will work, some team building and more recently, visiting and learning about the village I will be living and working in for the remainder of the project. 

Firstly however, the weather is not necessarily as I had anticipated.  It is the beginning of the monsoon season over here which seemed to have escaped me when I was getting ready for my trip.  Basically it rains at some point during each day.  It's still warm but just wet - and the rain can get pretty heavy.  Luckily I packed my raincoat so I'm prepped for the weather.  The village that we are going to be working in, Kokkal, is in the Nilgiri mountains, and it's also pretty cold.  So I think the tan I was hoping for maybe a distant dream...

I have been paired with Remya, my Indian team leader partner.  We will both be taking 12 volunteers (a mix of UK and Indian 18-24 year olds) to live in Kokkal, a primitive tribal village in the South of India.  I am really excited about the village.  We went to visit it this week to find out more about it and do some risk assessments at the location.

Remya and myself visiting Kokkal, our village

The people in the village are part of the Kota tribe.  There are 7 villages in the area where the Kota tribe people live.  They live by strict rituals and traditions that their ancestors have followed for many years.  The Kota people believe they were created from the sweat of Shiva, one of the Hindu Gods.  They believe Shiva's sweat created 7 men and 7 women, who then set up the 7 villages which they now live in. 

One of the big rituals they follow is that all women must leave the family home during the time of menstruation.  They believe that menstruation is evil and dirty so separate the women during their monthly period.  They have a special 'Mense' house on the edge of the village where they live for 2 - 3 days at the beginning of their period each month. 

The Mense House

The Mense house they currently use is not really fit for purpose.  There isn't enough room to house all the women comfortably, and there are no toilet facilities.  They do everything they need to do in the one room in the building and openly defecate (go to the toilet outside) in the area surrounding the house.  The main bulk of our project when we are living in the village will be to demolish the existing Mense house and construct a new one for the women to use.  The women have no problem with the traditions and rituals which they follow, and it's not our role to change the way they live, but just to help them to live more comfortably.

Next week the volunteers arrive.  Up until now it has just been the 12 UK leaders and 12 Indian leaders that have been living at the field base near Mysore.  6 of the groups (including mine) will start this week and the other 6 groups will start the following week as there isn't enough room for us all at field base once all the volunteers arrive (12 volunteers per team).

Today is a day off, the first full day we have had off since we have been here - it has been pretty busy, but I am now feeling much more prepared for the project, although we still have some more training this weekend before the volunteers arrive.

Here are some photos of the last couple of weeks...

You don't go far down a road without having to give way to a herd of goats, cows or sheep

A colourful house in a local village

Myself at Mysore Palace (an Indian family also has this picture somewhere to show their family a token white person they met)

Spices, lentils and chillis at Mysore market

My poor attempt at chai pouring in Mysore

Ooty

And some photos from Kokkal, the village we will be working in...

Having chai at one of the villagers houses when we arrived

Local women weighing in their tea so they can get payment for it

Cavin and his mum showing us our accommodation

When one of the villagers said he would bring us a heater for our room, I hadn't anticipated he would build a fire in our bedroom...I loved it

Kokkal, the view from our accommodation

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Saturday, June 08, 2013 | Posted by Hazel

You'd think I'd have it down by now.  I've done it enough times, carried enough bags where I've wished I had less - yet, every time it makes me SO mad.  Packing.  I'm currently mid-packing, with clothes and toiletries strewn across the room.  I know when I actually put my mind to it, it will take me about 5 minutes to shove it all in! #firstworldproblems

Anyway, all this 'preparation' means that tomorrow I leave, destination = India!  Even though I am 24 hours away from being on a plane, I don't feel as though I am actually going.  I think my busy few weeks leading up until this point have meant I don't feel as though I have necessarily 'prepared' my head for what I am about to embark upon.

One of my friends sent me an article this week about India which was quite an interesting read. www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22772391  

I'm pretty excited about finding the weirdest street side service I can, might even get my hair cut; it's been a while.  I love the pictures with the different colours, the people, the different culture, the spicy foods.  I'm looking forward to all the new experiences I am about to have and things I am about to discover.

So, tomorrow marks the beginning of my next adventure - 12 weeks living and working in Southern India, leading a team of volunteers to undertake some community development projects within a rural community (location to be determined upon arrival).  

I know it's going to be a challenge.  The first 2 weeks are going to be packed full of training and learning all about the projects.  My brain will probably hurt and be crammed full of new information, but I am 'totes' looking forward to it and cannot wait! Upon arrival I will be travelling from Bangalore to Mysore, where the Raleigh International office is based.  Here we will meet the 12 Indian team leaders and the Raleigh staff, and the team building will begin.  Once we are paired up with the in country leaders we'll know the villages that we will be working in, in either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. 

Tomorrow I am reunited with the other team leaders at Heathrow and off we fly...

I don't know what the internet availability will be like when I am there, but I will endeavour to update my blog if I can.

Here goes my Indian summer...

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