Volunteering in Jaipur, India: A Rewarding Adventure

As the summer was coming to a close last year, I decided to use my two weeks of hard-earned paid vacation to do something meaningful. I had heard about volunteering abroad and it sounded like the perfect way to travel and give back at the same time, so I began to search for volunteer organizations that had programs abroad. Originally I was planning to go to southern Italy to help refugees, but then I came across a program in India that struck me even more, which focused on treating children infected with HIV. On the 11th of November 2016, I got on a plane and travelled to India bravely alone, not telling anyone in my family except my sister in Oslo in order to keep them from getting worried. But of course, I informed them after I arrived, and surprisingly, I got their support.

My first flight went to Mumbai, from where I had a connection that would take me to my final destination of Jaipur. Even after that first flight landed, I looked at the architecture and already sensed the exotic culture that I had been expecting. When I finally arrived in Jaipur, it reminded me of the province that I come from in the Philippines. I was warmly welcomed by my project coordinator, Arpit Pareek, and from there checked into my hostel, Zostel Jaipur.

The first weekend started off with an orientation about the project at the office of Active Internations, where I met the project manager, Anirudh Shukla. The next day, I had a sightseeing tour which visited Jaipur’s famous landmarks like Amber Fort, Jal Mahal, Hawa Mahal, Chand Baori, and more.

Day after making the tourist round, at five o´clock before dawn, I heard drums played loudly not so far from the hostel. Out of curiosity, I woke up and asked the staff on duty about it. ”It´s normal, it´s part of Hindu temple rituals”, he uttered. Then I slept again. At seven o´clock I woke up, folded my mosquito net, took a hot shower, and then ate my breakfast downstairs. That day was my first day of volunteering, where the real work began. Arpit picked me up at 10 o´clock and together we took an Auto Rickshaw, also referred to by the locals as a ”tuktuk”. The urban vehicle reminded me of similar transportation we have in the Philippines called Motor Cab and Tricycle, which are small vehicles that allow you to quickly travel around the city for a really cheap price.

The tuktuk carried us to Aashray Care Home, which was the organization at which I would be volunteering. It was founded and directed by Sushila Marothiya, who came up with the idea when she was assisting an HIV-positive woman who was receiving no help or support from her own family. As Sushila noticed that this was a prevalent problem in Rajasthan due to the social stigma in rural villages, she founded the Positive Women’s Network Rajasthan. The organization helped HIV-positive women with medical referrals, access to government assistance, and more. When one of the women passed away, Sushila took the two sons she left behind into her own home and raised them like her own children. As a few years went by and more situations like this happened, she began to take more children into her home; however, it didn’t take long before she realized that this wasn’t sustainable for the long term. With the help of her husband Butteeram, a trained social worker, she founded with him the Aashray Care Home for HIV-infected children, as well as those children left behind by HIV-infected parents who had passed away.

During the days that followed, I got to know the children more. I helped them with their homework, played with them, and taught them how to practice proper hygiene and clean their rooms. With the assistance of Claire Boutry, a Belgian International Studies Master student, I then gave a lecture and video presentation about First Aid. During the presentation, we referenced the British Red Cross’ Baby and Child First Aid regimen. I discussed and showed videos of the simple skills to keep babies and children in good health and keep them safe when confronted with emergency situations like heavy bleeding, burns, or poisioning. I also received help from a 19-year-old student Aashray resident. He helped translate my English words into Hindi so that the children could understand. In addition, along with a fellow volunteer who worked as a pharmacist in Ireland, Anne Gaughan, I organized their medicine room. We did this by disposing of expired medications, correctly labeling and categorizing medicines, and refilling common medical supplies.

Aside from the rewarding volunteer work I did at the Aashray Care Home, on my free time I also ventured out to explore India with the many new people I met in the hostel where I stayed, Zostel Jaipur. We hung out together in the "Pink City" and shared our stories with each other. One of the people I met, Vinh Nguyen, was a 24-year-old guy from Vietnam who had travelled to 39 countries by land from France to Russia, the Middle East, and Asia. I also met Clara Ozean and Larissa Mayer, two German International Studies students who were living with an Indian host family in Delhi. Danni Shtraus, a 29-year-old lady from Pennsylvania, USA, had already travelled to 59 countries by working different kinds of jobs in the U.S. There was also Claire Brown, an avid traveller and PhD graduate, and Yang Lu, who was a Chinese entrepreneur. Besides foreigners, I also met some Indian locals, like Nadia and Subhadeep Ray Choudhury, two friendly, young Indian lawyers. There was also Sushmita Nettu, an Indian biological engineer, who happened to be celebrating her birthday that week and treated us to a birthday blast above the city, on the rooftop of one of the restaurants in Jaipur.

On the second weekend, I decided to travel solo to Delhi and Agra, which required me to write and sign a waiver for the organization. On Friday afternoon, I took a train headed to Delhi from Jaipur, on which I was quite surprised to be offered a four-course dinner. Upon my arrival in Delhi, I checked into Zostel Delhi. Again, I was greeted by a lovely and helpful staff, who let me stay even though they were fully booked, and also assisted me with my train tickets and organizing a guided tour for the next day.

The next day I decided to jump on a hop-on/hop-off guided tour around Delhi and New Delhi. There I met Ashwin Mohan and his family from Kerala, who had also been sightseeing that day. They were so welcoming and friendly that I was nearly adopted into their family. We took pictures together, and they even treated me to an Indian lunch.

I saw many sights that day, including the Sikh religious site known as ”Gurudwara Bangla Sahib”, that provides 10,000 meals per day for poor and hungry people. I also saw the India Gate, which is a 1920s triumphal arch and war memorial, and Qutb Minar, which is the tallest brick minaret in the world. I continued on to the 80-acre city park called Lodi Gardens, and the famous palatial sixteenth-century tomb, Humayun’s tomb. We also saw the Lotus Temple and the National Science Center. Our last stop was the iconic 1600s imperial residence and museum, The Red Fort. We also wanted to see the light, sound, and water show in Swaminarayan Akshardham, but unfortunately due to heavy traffic, we had to miss it.

The next morning, I departed on a big van on a guided tour to Agra with some Indian locals. The view of the plains from the van was almost eerie, but at the same time stunning, evenly distributed with what seemed to be one type of tree. When we arrived at the Taj Mahal, I was so overcome with awe that I was nearly in tears. All of the stories I had heard were true: it was simply heavenly. The ivory marble mausoleum and the story behind it was mesmerizing as it was explained by our enthusiastic guide, Raj Kumar Sharma. After leaving the Taj Mahal, we continued on to the Agra Fort and stopped at a tourist shop to buy some souvenirs. When the tour was over, I headed back to Agra Fort Railway Station where I boarded a train back to Jaipur.

India was an even better experience than I had anticipated. Not only did I get to witness and experience firsthand the background life that nobody hears about, I also learned a lot about the Indian culture from the native people that I met there. My new Indian acquaintances taught me about yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda, a traditional kind of Indian homeopathic healing. I got to try exotic Indian foods, see the charming textiles, look at the amazing architecture, and listen to the beautiful music and see the way that they dance to it. The staff at Zostel Jaipur let us experience the Bansuri (an Indian transverse flute), watch Bollywood movies, play Carrom (an Indian board game), try out Indian dance, learn some basic phrases, and cook Indian food. I cannot say enough positive things about the entire staff at Zostel Jaipur. They offered great hospitality and amazing assistance throughout my stay, like lending an ID to buy an Indian SIM card. They also provided tips to work around foreign currency exchange issues; there is a ban in India on 500 and 1,000 bills throughout the entire country, which caused long lines at every bank and ATM from dawn till dusk.

After my exhilerating weekend touring some northern Indian cities, I met the kids again on Monday, which would begin the last week of my volunteer work. I was happy to see that there were also some new volunteers from various countries like France, Brazil, and Portugal. The additional help came in quite handy, with more creative ideas and more hands to help with activities for the children and doing all of the organizing and teaching work that we had been working on for the past week.

This week we had the opportunity to visit the ongoing construction of the new house for the children, which had dorms, a kitchen, a large outside playing area, storage rooms, and enough space to fit much more children than the current care home in Jaipur. Kudos to the organizations and people from Japan, Austria and other countries who are constantly supporting this cause.

During this week I also learned from Sushila that they were short on weighted blankets, which to my surprise concerned her since the winter season was soon approaching. Prior to her telling me this, I was unaware that India had a winter season at all. At the time I had no knoweldge about formal ways to ask people for donations, so I reached out to my friends back in Norway for help. To my gratification, they actually responded positively. I had initially only planned to buy 40 weighted blankets, but I received more money than I had originally anticipated. With the extra funds, I asked Sushila to help me organize a medical mission for the children with the help of pediatrician Ravi Kant. There was even more money left over to buy some more medical supplies and other necessities for the house.

Ever since Arpit and I had been commuting on the subway in Jaipur, I noticed that the sky was full of kites being flown by children above the buildings or in the park, which reminded me of the logo I created for my website. I immediately asked Arpit to help me buy a bunch of kites for the kids in Aashray, just in time for the preparation before the annual Kite Festival which occurs in India every January. The children were ecstatic upon receiving the kites, and immediately brought them to the rooftop of their house. The older boys taught the younger kids how to tie the rope and send their kites up into the sky.

The French volunteers Josée and Corinne offered another activity for the children as well, teaching them how to make bracelets using nylon threads. This was especially useful since the Aashray foundation could add it to their repertoire of handicrafts that they sold at fundraisers. It was also a useful aid in teaching the children how to sew clothes. At the end of the day, the children played a card game of Uno and then went to bed.

On the last day, the kids and staff of the care home put together a farewell party for Claire, Anne and I. Anne prepared ice cream float for the children, and Franco brought a cake. The ceremony began with Claire and I seated in chairs in the center of the room. Suddenly, the staff put a ”Tilak” (red vermilion paste) topped with a few grains of rice on our heads and the children threw red flower petals at us, which is an Indian tradition for special occassions including weddings and farewell parties, and is also a symbol for giving thanks. Afterwards, the music got louder and everyone danced, with the young boys and girls having learned and prepared a special dance for the occasion. Before leaving, Anne and I treated Sushila, her husband, and her youngest child to an evening trip to thank them for their hard work and kindness to both the children and to the volunteers. We went to Choki Dhani, a Rajasthani Cultural Resort, to enjoy our last night in India and spend the last few hours with our new friends.

The next day, the adventure was finally at an end; I ventured into the Pink City one last time to buy some Indian teas and spices at a local market to bring back home. That same evening, on the 25th of November, I flew back to Oslo, Norway, carrying with me the great memories in India that I will cherish for a lifetime.

#compassion #courage #charity