First Impressions, Volunteering - Simon

Well, I have completed my first 'week' of volunteering. Our 'work' week currently consists of three days Wednesday until Friday, 10am until 4pm. Lovely working hours which give us time to take it all in, though this first week only I worked Mon till Wed, hence the completion of my first week. :-)

I guess this first week has been slow as I'm am just trying to see where I fit in. The centre has hundreds of kids from ages between 8 - 18 of which all have been 'saved' in one way or another from a neglected or forgotten past. Whether they were abandoned by their parents, working in the sex trade, child labourers or just being abused by their family or carers and needed to be saved. This centre certainly changes their lives for the better.

The Association for the Promotion of Social Action (APSA) has been doing this great job for 25 years and it has just grown from strength to strength. They provide accommodation and all their meals, healthcare and counselling and a great 'Dream School' where they are educated. Taught in English, though also Hindi and the local dialect, Kannada, these kids just love being in an environment which just lets them be themselves and it shows.

Additionally, APSA has developed their own training centre for the elder kids teaching them such things as tailoring, screen printing, computers and a few other technical things. They produce lots of goods through their training and these items are often sold to clients which include many Four and Five star hotels. Items such as business cards and laundry bags for rooms are produced here.

My first three days were, I felt, unproductive, but hey, I guess it will just happen in time. They have asked me to produce an impact study on one of their other successful projects, the Self Help Groups (SHGs; I will not go into detail just yet about this). I am a little bewildered by this as I have NEVER done an Impact study and can not imagine how best to commence. I have started as best as I can and will find out more next week. Together with our friends of Better Future Rein and I have started a co-coaching group (intervision) and through that I now have a few suggestions which I think can make the impact study the best that I can (APSA provided me with another impact study produced 6 years ago which resulted in a very detailed report consisting of 107 pages, this, I assure you, will not come from me).

Another task which I am helping with is to produce a power point presentation to show to Corporates in the hope of obtaining financial support. This I can do, but it again puts me behind a desk which I guess is not what I want.

They feed me, along with everyone else at the centre and the food is simple, yet great! Rein and I are yet to come across any dish which we have classified as 'too spicy' which means we are pushing the boundaries in the hope of finding it. But this also lets us know that we can handle the level of 'masala' they are adding.

Today was a relaxing day for me whilst Rein is still for one day at his organisation, Spastics Society of Karnataka. I went to check the centre out for myself and had lunch with 'Uncle' (Rein's nick name by the kids) and check out their centre. As Rein may had mentioned, he only needs to walk 15 minutes to reach his, whilst I have to take an auto-rickshaw for 25 minutes!

Tomorrow Rein and I will sneak back into the Leela Palace swimming pool and have a couple of hours by the poolside. Rein did a recon the other day and managed to just walk straight in and get comfy. The Leela hotel is an incredible oasis, the surroundings of which show you that even with all the poverty which still exists, there is a lot of money being made and spent here. In fact, Bangalore is apparently the second fasting growing city in the world!