INDIA – Teaching and Animal charity

Art project with the children from the Street Children Project

India –  Volunteer in this amazing country!  Expect big grinning smiles, warm welcomes, crazy driving, cows everywhere (including railways platforms and walking down motorways), delicious food, bright colours….. You can volunteer in:

• Pre-school
• Primary school
• Middle school
• Home for destitute and orphaned boys
• Street children project
• Disabled children
• Animal charity providing veterinary care to cows, donkeys and dogs

Making crowns with the children at one of the primary schools

These volunteer placements in India are suitable for:

•  Gap Year
•  Summer Holidays
•  Uni Holidays
•  Post Uni
•  Families
•  Mature volunteers  
•  Older volunteers
  

  Playing a game of scrabble helps make learning English fun and easy

                                               

Volunteers can make up their days by combining volunteering in the different projects like teaching in a primary school in the morning and visiting the street children project in the afternoon.

Pre-schools (day care centres)

Volunteering in a pre-school “day care centre”

These nurseries take children from 2 to 6 years old and activities that you can do with the children are: playing with them, introducing them to lego, building blocks, make believe play, teaching them numbers, colours, animal names, songs, dances, lots of art & craft, colouring in, etc preparing them for school with good pencil control.

Teaching in the primary schools

Teaching often takes place on the floor which is not ideal but schools do not necessarily have desks and chairs

The children traditionally learn by rote so a more relaxed, interactive style of teaching is very much loved by the children and gets good results.  Children are generally first to sixth grades and learn, in English, numbers, alphabet, animals, colours, forms of transport, professions,   – generally by having sheets to colour in but through art & craft, singing, dancing and reading stories.  They love colouring-in so a daily colouring-in activity reinforcing some new words learnt is always a good idea!

Making these name labels are a great way to learn the children’s names

Street Children Project

Teaching at this project takes place mid afternoon and these children until recently were literally roaming round the streets and did not attend school.  They have been encouraged to attend the Project which was at first in the shade of a tree and now is in a refurbished building.

Teaching the children in the Street Children Project

Teaching will be much the same as for nurseries and primary schools.  The prime objective is to make learning fun and encourage them to read and write.

Orphanages

One of the orphanages visited is actually a home for destitute and orphaned boys and the volunteers normally visit a couple of times a week, after school, to do fun activities with the children such as art projects, art & craft, games and sport.  They are particularly good at cricket and could teach the volunteers how to play!  However, you can also play other sports with them such as volleyball.

Playing volleyball with the boys at the home for destitute and orphaned boys

Teaching Disabled children

Disabled child using toes to do art & craft

Teaching these disabled children can be very rewarding both for the child and for the volunteer as the child learns new skills.  Art & craft is a great medium to help them develop other ways of operating. Teaching them in English also helps them develop their language skill-set and gain a greater understanding of the world.

Animal care

Caring for cows that are sick or have had operations

This charity works with stray dogs, wild cows and donkeys and performs many operations such as sterilisations and removal of plastic bags from the stomachs of cows. There are many stray dogs around Udaipur and it is not unusual to see a mum with a litter of puppies.  Cows also often fall ill due to roaming freely round the villages and towns and eating whatever they can find – often rubbish and carrier bags. Sometimes the animals are involved in accidents on the roads or even on the railroads. Duties include:  feeding the animals, making sure they are eating, making sure they have water and are drinking, bathing them, helping administer medications, calming them, talking to them, petting them, cleaning out their enclosures, removing faeces, hanging up bedding, washing floors, administering physiotherapy…. Anyone wanting to train as a vet or veterinary nurse would find this work interesting.  Animal lovers would also find it very rewarding. For more information click below on our Related Page Animal Care in India.

Workshops

Yoga lessons on the rooftop of the volunteer house

Yoga is something you can do as a workshop whilst you are volunteering in India.  The price per week varies depending on how many people would like to join the workshop but as a guide:

• 1 person – 3,500 rupees for 5 lessons
• 2 people – 2,000 rupees each for 5 lessons
• 3 people – 1,500 rupees each for 5 lessons
• 4 people – 1,300 rupees each for 5 lessons
• 5 people – 1,100 rupees each for 5 lessons
• 6 people of more – 1,000 rupees each for 5 lessons

Whilst there, learn how to cook mouth watering Indian meals by watching our Indian cook.

Weekend Excursions:

If there are enough people, we can arrange group excursions however our in-country partners are also very happy to advise you in-country on how to get about at the weekends or when you have finished your placement . Typical excursions in Rajasthan are:

• The Taj Mahal
• The Ranthambore Tiger Park
• Jodhpur and also stay with the desert communities nearby, sleeping under the stars and taking a camel ride at dawn to see the sunrise
• Horse trekking
• Udaipur attractions such as City Palace, take a boat ride on the lake, shop in the market….