We are Katherine and Michael from Newcastle (England) and are staying in Kullu with the Kullu Project for only a very short time of 5 weeks. The first thing we have to say is that 5 weeks is not enough! We spent our first week visiting the different institutions, planning our activities and doing a little bit of volunteering at some places. We have now spent 3 more weeks working at different places and now only having one week left we feel like time has gone too fast and wish we had longer! However that said, we have managed to keep a jam-packed schedule allowing us to make the most of our short time.
We have focused our time mainly at Bashing orphanage, Kaleyli orphanage, the blind school and the drug and alcohol rehab centre. Katherine was most interested in doing arts and crafts and Michael wanted to do sports with the children.
So we spent Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings (5.30 -7.30) at the Bashing orphanage. We split the two hours into two sessions most of the time, doing one hour crafts and the other sports. The different arts and crafts we did included painting (finger painting flowers, printing leaves, symmetrical butterfly etc), name badge making (this was very useful to do at the beginning so we could get to know their names quicker), friendship bracelets, crown making, face portrait collage, papier mache masks (difficult for the small ones, extra help needed for them but all enjoyed the masks once they had finished them), picture frames, sewing and just coloring in some times. Details of methods and equipment for these activities are given in our portfolio for future volunteers to follow if they wish. The second part of the session was usually sports and games. Bought them a cricket set which they adored, also a football and badminton set and skipping ropes. Most of the time we just left them to it, with a little bit of instruction, however they aren’t used to sharing or playing anything by its proper rules, they just like to mess around and play. We jazzed it up some times by attempting circuits and adding a few games in there too e.g. the clapping game, hockey cokey (which they loved!), heads shoulders knees and toes, mingle mingle, musical statues (having an ipod and speakers with a Bollywood movie soundtrack is a great idea – we had Love Aaj Kal and it went down a treat!), sleeping lions etc etc , for more game ideas check out the volunteer handbook. An important point to make about Bashing is that the children are quite undisciplined and you need to watch out for them slapping and hitting each other behind your back! Sharing is also a problem, as is taking turns – make sure you establish a queuing system or else you’ll just have the big kids playing an the little ones stood around being left out. Also the age range is quite broad so keep in mind similar activities for the younger ones, carrying crayons and paper will do the trick. Overall we have had a great experience here, it’s been one of our favorite places to go to and the children really do deserve some fun as they have so little. Sarla, the full time care worker here is a lovely girl too who helped us with the activities and joined in as well, she is a fantastic girl who has become a good friend.
We went to the Drug and Alcohol Rehab centre every Monday and Wednesday afternoon from 3:30 – 4:30, this is in Jhiri just past Kaleyli Orphanage, about a 40 minute bus ride from Kullu. This centre makes a great change from the schools and orphanages as there are about 60 men aged 14-60 to entertain in a very small room. They are all very disciplined due to the nature of the rehabilitation centre, but very grateful for us to be there adding some variety into their very monotonous schedule. They’re a great bunch and we have had a real good laugh with them. The institution is very interesting because as you get know the staff they will tell you more about the ‘inmates’ as they call them, their rare escape attempts and capture. You also learn from the guys themselves, their experiences with drugs and how it has affected their lives. They are very open about their experiences and it’s a real eye opener if you haven’t worked with a group like this before, but they are really friendly and the staff look after you really well. As for what we did here we mainly focused on team building activities splitting the 60 odd of them into more manageable groups of about 5 to 10 to do activities such as Balloon Structure, Minefield, Blindfold Point, Egg Drop, Survival Scenario, Bridge Building, Bottle Lift, Truth or Lie and Show and Tell (More details of these activities in our portfolio). These went down really well, obviously it got them working together doing something creative, a little challenging, often requiring thought and planning. They all told us how much they enjoyed these sessions through our really helpful translator Manish (Former Inmate and escapee after a lonely valentine’s day, long story!), though Manish is only a volunteer now after finishing his 6 months and will soon be moving back home we are sure a member of staff of former Inmate will be there to help you out (and give you all the gossip on the inmates and the centre!). This is definitely a worthwhile place to volunteer as it’s a great learning experience for both parties, us volunteers and the centre itself. Highly Recommended!
Kaleyli orphanage we went to only on a Monday and Wednesday evening from 5 -6.30 after the drug and alcohol rehab centre. Compared to the children at Bashing Orphanage they are well looked after (8 care workers instead of 1) and are well disciplined. There are a great deal more of them though and can be quiet a handful, but there are a wide range of characters and there is very much a family feel! Our activities here were limited as we only had eight sessions but we managed to do name badge making, face portrait collage and a few papier mache masks (a lot of popped balloons!) for the craft sessions and cricket, skipping, circuit training and some team exercises e.g. bottle lift, mine field, balloon structure etc. Doing sports here however is very difficult as they only have a tiny court yard at the front, an a little dusty yard/driveway to the side. But they love cricket and have their own cricket bat, however this is looked after by the management and we don’t think they get to use it very much when volunteers aren’t around. There are a lot of them and you don’t get any help from the staff so advice to volunteers is to plan carefully. In general the children are enthusiastic, energetic and a pleasure to entertain.
A much larger proportion of our time was spent at the Blind school, we went every weekday morning from 10 – 12 here. This was also the most challenging project we undertook, as a previous volunteer said, ‘They are very small, and blind’, plus there is always the language barrier making it more difficult. However this was also part of the challenge and we were happy to put a lot of effort into it. After a lengthy chat with the manager we sorted out a structured plan which involved Friendship Bracelet making, face portrait collage, crown making, weather chart with a lot of repetition. We basically repeated each exercise every week at the managers request as they in particular need the repetition and time to learn anything properly (Simply putting glue on the paper in the right place rather than on the table is difficult for them to learn.). In our activities we tried to incorporate as much touch related objects as possible e.g. Face Portraits used wool for hair, straws to outline the face, buttons for eyes, shell ears, cotton wool nose etc. Although this may sound repetitive and tedious it is incredibly rewarding, especially after trying for over two weeks to teach one little girl to tie knots to make her friendship bracelet and now she can whizz through them no problem, even now adding beads!
Life in Kullu:
Thought it would be useful for future volunteers to know a little but about what its like living in Kullu. Kullu itself is a very typically Indian town, very few tourists stop here making it a more wholly Indian experience. Most volunteers now stay at Mr Bhapas house, in his unused downstairs rooms, which is just a minutes’ walk from Ankits (Local Coordinator) in Akhara Bazaar. For how much you pay its extremely decent, just a bedroom, hot shower, optional kitchen, what more do you need? It’s a good location too, as said it’s close to Ankits and just 10 minutes walk away from all of Kullu, plus the local buses drive straight past, very handy! There is a local market in the centre (Upper Dhalpur) where you can buy almost everything you will need for the projects, we bought books, crayons, cricket bats, stationary, craft materials, skipping ropes etc etc. As for restaurants, we ate out all the time as we didn’t use the kitchen at Mr Bhapas, we found this was ok but if you’re staying a while longer you may want to pay for the kitchen just so that your diet doesn’t get too repetitive, there is only so much daal and rotis you can eat! A more detailed restaurant guide will be added to our portfolios to help newcomers out. The people who run the restaurants are all very friendly and we have made many good friends with many of them which meant we could have a few goes at making our own dinner, we have to admit that our chapatti making leaves much to be desired though! You will find that as you settle in to life in Kullu you will get to know many people who are more than willing to make you feel like Kullu is your home! If we could have improved on our time here we would advise maybe bringing along a laptop and plenty of books as there is not much to entertain you in the evenings. However making friends with Papu next door or anybody else in Akhara Bazaar will ensure you get plenty of invites for chai and a chat.
Hopefully as you can tell from this blog we are thoroughly enjoying our time in Kullu, both with our varied and interesting projects and with homely environment everyone has made for us!
Katherine and Michael
p.s. We will try and add more photo soon!
We have focused our time mainly at Bashing orphanage, Kaleyli orphanage, the blind school and the drug and alcohol rehab centre. Katherine was most interested in doing arts and crafts and Michael wanted to do sports with the children.
So we spent Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings (5.30 -7.30) at the Bashing orphanage. We split the two hours into two sessions most of the time, doing one hour crafts and the other sports. The different arts and crafts we did included painting (finger painting flowers, printing leaves, symmetrical butterfly etc), name badge making (this was very useful to do at the beginning so we could get to know their names quicker), friendship bracelets, crown making, face portrait collage, papier mache masks (difficult for the small ones, extra help needed for them but all enjoyed the masks once they had finished them), picture frames, sewing and just coloring in some times. Details of methods and equipment for these activities are given in our portfolio for future volunteers to follow if they wish. The second part of the session was usually sports and games. Bought them a cricket set which they adored, also a football and badminton set and skipping ropes. Most of the time we just left them to it, with a little bit of instruction, however they aren’t used to sharing or playing anything by its proper rules, they just like to mess around and play. We jazzed it up some times by attempting circuits and adding a few games in there too e.g. the clapping game, hockey cokey (which they loved!), heads shoulders knees and toes, mingle mingle, musical statues (having an ipod and speakers with a Bollywood movie soundtrack is a great idea – we had Love Aaj Kal and it went down a treat!), sleeping lions etc etc , for more game ideas check out the volunteer handbook. An important point to make about Bashing is that the children are quite undisciplined and you need to watch out for them slapping and hitting each other behind your back! Sharing is also a problem, as is taking turns – make sure you establish a queuing system or else you’ll just have the big kids playing an the little ones stood around being left out. Also the age range is quite broad so keep in mind similar activities for the younger ones, carrying crayons and paper will do the trick. Overall we have had a great experience here, it’s been one of our favorite places to go to and the children really do deserve some fun as they have so little. Sarla, the full time care worker here is a lovely girl too who helped us with the activities and joined in as well, she is a fantastic girl who has become a good friend.
We went to the Drug and Alcohol Rehab centre every Monday and Wednesday afternoon from 3:30 – 4:30, this is in Jhiri just past Kaleyli Orphanage, about a 40 minute bus ride from Kullu. This centre makes a great change from the schools and orphanages as there are about 60 men aged 14-60 to entertain in a very small room. They are all very disciplined due to the nature of the rehabilitation centre, but very grateful for us to be there adding some variety into their very monotonous schedule. They’re a great bunch and we have had a real good laugh with them. The institution is very interesting because as you get know the staff they will tell you more about the ‘inmates’ as they call them, their rare escape attempts and capture. You also learn from the guys themselves, their experiences with drugs and how it has affected their lives. They are very open about their experiences and it’s a real eye opener if you haven’t worked with a group like this before, but they are really friendly and the staff look after you really well. As for what we did here we mainly focused on team building activities splitting the 60 odd of them into more manageable groups of about 5 to 10 to do activities such as Balloon Structure, Minefield, Blindfold Point, Egg Drop, Survival Scenario, Bridge Building, Bottle Lift, Truth or Lie and Show and Tell (More details of these activities in our portfolio). These went down really well, obviously it got them working together doing something creative, a little challenging, often requiring thought and planning. They all told us how much they enjoyed these sessions through our really helpful translator Manish (Former Inmate and escapee after a lonely valentine’s day, long story!), though Manish is only a volunteer now after finishing his 6 months and will soon be moving back home we are sure a member of staff of former Inmate will be there to help you out (and give you all the gossip on the inmates and the centre!). This is definitely a worthwhile place to volunteer as it’s a great learning experience for both parties, us volunteers and the centre itself. Highly Recommended!
Kaleyli orphanage we went to only on a Monday and Wednesday evening from 5 -6.30 after the drug and alcohol rehab centre. Compared to the children at Bashing Orphanage they are well looked after (8 care workers instead of 1) and are well disciplined. There are a great deal more of them though and can be quiet a handful, but there are a wide range of characters and there is very much a family feel! Our activities here were limited as we only had eight sessions but we managed to do name badge making, face portrait collage and a few papier mache masks (a lot of popped balloons!) for the craft sessions and cricket, skipping, circuit training and some team exercises e.g. bottle lift, mine field, balloon structure etc. Doing sports here however is very difficult as they only have a tiny court yard at the front, an a little dusty yard/driveway to the side. But they love cricket and have their own cricket bat, however this is looked after by the management and we don’t think they get to use it very much when volunteers aren’t around. There are a lot of them and you don’t get any help from the staff so advice to volunteers is to plan carefully. In general the children are enthusiastic, energetic and a pleasure to entertain.
A much larger proportion of our time was spent at the Blind school, we went every weekday morning from 10 – 12 here. This was also the most challenging project we undertook, as a previous volunteer said, ‘They are very small, and blind’, plus there is always the language barrier making it more difficult. However this was also part of the challenge and we were happy to put a lot of effort into it. After a lengthy chat with the manager we sorted out a structured plan which involved Friendship Bracelet making, face portrait collage, crown making, weather chart with a lot of repetition. We basically repeated each exercise every week at the managers request as they in particular need the repetition and time to learn anything properly (Simply putting glue on the paper in the right place rather than on the table is difficult for them to learn.). In our activities we tried to incorporate as much touch related objects as possible e.g. Face Portraits used wool for hair, straws to outline the face, buttons for eyes, shell ears, cotton wool nose etc. Although this may sound repetitive and tedious it is incredibly rewarding, especially after trying for over two weeks to teach one little girl to tie knots to make her friendship bracelet and now she can whizz through them no problem, even now adding beads!
Life in Kullu:
Thought it would be useful for future volunteers to know a little but about what its like living in Kullu. Kullu itself is a very typically Indian town, very few tourists stop here making it a more wholly Indian experience. Most volunteers now stay at Mr Bhapas house, in his unused downstairs rooms, which is just a minutes’ walk from Ankits (Local Coordinator) in Akhara Bazaar. For how much you pay its extremely decent, just a bedroom, hot shower, optional kitchen, what more do you need? It’s a good location too, as said it’s close to Ankits and just 10 minutes walk away from all of Kullu, plus the local buses drive straight past, very handy! There is a local market in the centre (Upper Dhalpur) where you can buy almost everything you will need for the projects, we bought books, crayons, cricket bats, stationary, craft materials, skipping ropes etc etc. As for restaurants, we ate out all the time as we didn’t use the kitchen at Mr Bhapas, we found this was ok but if you’re staying a while longer you may want to pay for the kitchen just so that your diet doesn’t get too repetitive, there is only so much daal and rotis you can eat! A more detailed restaurant guide will be added to our portfolios to help newcomers out. The people who run the restaurants are all very friendly and we have made many good friends with many of them which meant we could have a few goes at making our own dinner, we have to admit that our chapatti making leaves much to be desired though! You will find that as you settle in to life in Kullu you will get to know many people who are more than willing to make you feel like Kullu is your home! If we could have improved on our time here we would advise maybe bringing along a laptop and plenty of books as there is not much to entertain you in the evenings. However making friends with Papu next door or anybody else in Akhara Bazaar will ensure you get plenty of invites for chai and a chat.
Hopefully as you can tell from this blog we are thoroughly enjoying our time in Kullu, both with our varied and interesting projects and with homely environment everyone has made for us!
Katherine and Michael
p.s. We will try and add more photo soon!
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Alok Bodh
alok26bodh@gmail.com