Hello everyone,
It’s mid-February, so we’ve been here for almost five months now – which means we’re already halfway through! I thought it would be interesting for my third blog post to reflect a little on the first half of my voluntary service, summarise what I’ve actually learnt and experienced so far, and also look ahead to the second half, as I reckon that’s going to be quite different.
For me, the first half of my time here in India actually ended with the mid-term seminar at the end of January, for which German volunteers from all over India travelled to Chennai; we spent a week there together and shared our experiences. It was really interesting to hear what others had to say and how different every volunteering placement is, even though we’re all in similar situations here. To be honest, before the seminar, my fellow volunteer Harriet and I were going through a phase where we were quite frustrated with our placement and our lack of tasks. Personally, I was also simply disappointed that I hadn’t settled in as much as I would have liked. But the seminar actually helped me quite a lot to understand that every voluntary placement is unique, and that we are living and working at a really large, sometimes quite overwhelming school, which naturally makes it difficult to build close relationships straight away. I don’t know whether that will still happen, or whether we’ll be seen as guests here until the end, but I’m coming to terms with the idea more and more and can now accept the circumstances better and enjoy the little things. One of these supposedly small things (it sounds like a trifle, but for Harriet and me it was a big deal) is the first task we’ve now officially been given! Every evening, we get to supervise the ‘study time’ for the youngest girls from the hostels for 1–2 hours. Here, we learn a few new English words together every day and try to teach them a few things in a playful way. As many of the children speak hardly any English, it’s still difficult to build relationships, but we can feel how, bit by bit, we’re gaining the trust of some of the pupils. This is a really important step for us in settling in a bit more here and makes our days here much more enjoyable.
What I’m definitely taking away from the first half of my voluntary service is that I need to adapt more to the pace here. What I sometimes perceived as unreliable is simply a different approach, and I have to say it honestly does feel good not to stick rigidly to times or routines and to realise that everything works out just fine that way too. I’m starting to appreciate the spontaneity and flexibility here and am getting better at turning up late without feeling guilty 🙂
Before the mid-term seminar, I spent a lot of time comparing myself to other volunteers or placement sites and working towards some goal I’d set in my head. It was a bit like: “Yes, in two months’ time we’ll have really settled in”. Now I know that the whole year here is a learning process and you don’t just reach a point at some stage where you’ve simply settled in. Every week at the placement brings something new, and on every trip I take, I’ll learn and see something new.
With that in mind, I’m now looking forward to the second half of the year, to visits from family, to the longer holidays in May, when we’ll also have the chance to explore India a bit, and of course to the time I have left at Capron Hall, which I’ll make the most of.
See you soon
Yours, Salome
This text was automatically translated using an AI-powered translation system.
