The Difference an NGO can make

Madam, madam is what I hear everyday as the children at the slum school I work at call me to do some counting and I am reminded everyday why I chose to leave a business in the UK to come and volunteer for an NGO here in Jaipur.  In Western society there are many of us who are in a fortunate position to have a good roof over our heads, not having to worry about our next meal or how to make money at 10 years old to support our families but sadly there is a large population of India where that is their reality.  It is wonderful to be in a position to be able to give something back and the great thing about India is there are many ways you can get involved.

So if there are many opportunities to do that, you’d think it would be easy to organise right?  Hmm….when I first started looking in to volunteering in India I came across many organisations that were the middle man, their role was to put you in touch with the NGOs out here, organise accommodation and give you support when you needed it and they were doing a great job but it came at a high price mostly between $130 – $150 a week which I certainly couldn’t afford on a long term basis.  I decided I would take, perhaps a brave decision and decide to look for grassroot organisations myself and contact them directly.  Brave, because I was choosing to make a decision as to where to volunteer based on a reply to an email and having never met these people or received recommendations or references from other people, I was going in to it a little blind.

Even finding the information about local NGOs within Jaipur was not an easy task!  One of the things you will find in India is not a lot of information is on the internet which was the reason for creating this blog! There are many opportunities to volunteer here in India and you have to consider what type of work you want to do.  Do you want to work with children, women, people with disabilities, animals, environmental projects?  Do you want to teach, do behind the scenes work such as website design and social media or helping with design projects?  Do you want to work in an orphanage,  a special school or a school in the slums?  What about language barriers and cultural differences with your colleagues?  These are all things you will need to consider, some of which I did think about at the time but I underestimated the cultural and language barriers which posed a fair few problems for me when coming out here.  After hours of research I came up with numerous NGOs to contact and through reading what limited information was on some of their websites, I whittled it down to the one I currently work with.  After contacting them I hoped for the best and headed out here December 2016 to work with the children in the January.  I was not only having to worry about starting a different job but the worry of where I would live during this time and having to organise hotel accommodation for that, two stresses all at once!

Fortunately I love the children I work with and watching the children learn, grow and develop is so rewarding, whether it’s teaching them their colours, helping them count or teaching them to write their own name.  These are special moments that words can not begin to describe how rewarding it is and in your own way you are providing children and people with an opportunity they may not have had.  It’s not the easiest of work, you may be in conditions that are not so hygienic or that really challenge you but it is good fun and it leaves you a changed person.

Wondering how you can get involved in voluntary work during your stay in Jaipur, well unlike me you can have a much easier time organising this!  Blue Beds and myself are partnering up to provide you with an opportunity where you can stay at the hostel long term whilst working with local NGOs that we ourselves have first hand experience of knowing and have checked them out to ensure you end up with an organisation that respect and appreciates your time as a volunteer at a more realistic cost to you.  There is no catch or hidden agenda, just a love for social causes and giving back.  Keep a tab on this blog to find out more about this exciting opportunity.