International Visiting and Volunteering

(India Trip)

“Health and Development in the Himalayas: An Integral Approach”

Contents

An Overview
Objectives
Process
Ideal Audience
Samagra: Canada and India
SMTA, India
How did this start
Recommended reading & Web resources

An Overview

For whom

This experiential journey through Indian Himalayas is designed for people between age 18 and 70 and adjusts to people depending on their physical and mental endurance. It involves international travel and living in remote communities for extended periods. Any stream is welcome and knowledge of Hindi, the North Indian language, is not a qualification.

Duration

30 days

Region

Garhwal Himalayas, Uttaranchal, India.

Goal

This course aims at giving the students:

1. An opportunity to explore the concept of integral development – physical, mental and spiritual.
2. A chance to experience Himalayan rural life first hand in a relatively safe environment.
3. An opportunity to study health, literacy & other development issues in a cross cultural setting.
4. A chance to interact with some voluntary agencies and visit important places of cultural interest in this region.
5. A chance to study flora and fauna in the Himalayas between 2000 mt to 3500 mt (optional eco-trek).

Structure

Core Module (First four weeks): During the first week after a brief period of settling in, the group visits places of cultural interest: Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun and Mussorie. In the second 18 days the group moves to the mountains and lives near the villages; observes, interacts and volunteers with families, in small groups, assisted by SMTA and other NGO (non-governmental organizations) staff. After which the group returns to Vikasnagar and the core module ends with a cultural show and sharing of learning. Optional module (Eco trek): The 7days optional Eco-trek allows the group of selected participants to trek, cook, study and interact with shepherds, pilgrims, nomads and small communities in Garhwal Himalayas, between 2000 mt to 3500 mt.

Sponsors

Samagra has been promoting healing and wholeness through meditation and service in Canada for several years and now it is registered charitable trust in India.

SMTA (Society for Motivational Training & Action) has been working for primary education, among other developmental issues in Jaunsar Bawar, of Garhwal Himalayas, India since 1983.

Objectives

This course is based on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, rather than research. It is based on the premise that we learn better through our whole bodies rather than just through intellect. Hence the emphasis is on immersion, volunteering and living with villagers as one of them. The objectives of this course, therefore, are:

• Discuss the vision of Integral (physical, mental, spiritual) evolution, development and growth and facilitate the person to look at themselves in context of local and global perspective
• Help participants live in a rural atmosphere and get the taste of hardships and joys of such a life.
• Provide participants with volunteering opportunities in the village, so that they can interact with and observe families, rural institutions, and rural services, in the process.
• Provide participants with volunteering opportunities within the Voluntary agency, so that they can get a glimpse of how these agencies work, how they prioritize their agenda.
• Help participants develop insights into Indian culture through field visits to places of cultural significance (Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mussorie). This includes a visit to Dehradun also, capital of Uttaranchal to visit Tibetan settlements.
• Facilitate participants on a trek where they explore their endurance and their “unknown self” and skills. From this perspective they interact with nomads and small communities in the higher mountains. (Optional eco-trek).
• Another important objective is to help participants hone their inter-personal skills & emotional intelligence in unusual circumstances. The diverse group comes into existence largely in India. Living in villages creates interesting situations where the group learns to cope with external challenges as well as internal differences.

Home Objectives

This course has some important objectives for the field teams of SMTA and other Himalayan NGOs, as they too would be learning in this exchange. The main objectives for them are:

• The field teams of SMTA and other local NGOs perforce practices conversational English.
• The field teams of the NGOs gets a chance to see another set of gender values (more equitable comparatively).
• The teams get to see other work related values in action in the student group: attention to documentation, punctuality and efficient meeting management for example. So, one of the objectives is to ensure that thoughtful spaces are created to facilitate learning both ways.