Wild Bears & Fortune Tellers: Four Months on the Subcontinent

I was recently lucky enough to be given a four month sabbatical in order to carry out some voluntary work in South India. I chose to work at a small charity called Sharana in Pondicherry, an old French colony. The charity is involved in several areas; child sponsorship, microcredit (small interest free loans for people to start a business), spirulina production and social enterprise (they run a small cafe, tailoring unit, and newspaper recycling project).

Whilst I was there I provided accountancy advice, including costing the products made by Sharana and applying a profit margin. I helped set up a three week Christmas market stall to sell our products during December.

I provided excel training to staff at the charity, and I also ran a one hour English class for 6 – 9 year olds who came to our office to do their homework, as they didn’t have electricity at home.

Going to volunteer at Sharana is one of the best things I have ever done. I have grown in confidence, met some fantastic people and had the experience of a lifetime! I feel that whilst I have contributed to making a real difference in people’s lives I have also taken a lot from the experience for myself. I will definitely be going back to see the friends that I have made at Sharana.

Pondicherry

Pondicherry offers a volunteer from a westernised country a gentle introduction to living in India. As Pondicherry was still under French jurisdiction until 1954 it still retains a Gallic flavour in parts. There are plenty of restaurants that offer European food options. There is even an Alliance Francais where you can watch French films on a Sunday night. Pondicherry is a good base to visit surrounding beaches where you can take surf lessons. I was managing to get a surf in three times per week.



Travels in India

As part of my trip to India I also wanted to do some travelling. Within a month I managed to see Varanasi at dawn, the Taj Mahal at sunrise, a wild bear in Rajasthan, and bribe a train guard in order to get a seat on a train to my connecting flight. Plus, I had also seen a fortune teller in Jaipur who had told me I am going to have two children and live until I’m 93 so I felt that I had nothing to fear!