Madanapalle

After my short stay in Bangalore, I reached the village Madanapalle in the state of Andhra Pradesh after a 4-hour taxi ride.

There I will be working as a volunteer in one of the English Medium Schools (Babyclass - 10th grade) for a planned 5 months.

During my time there, I will work closely with the kindergarten and preschool coordinator, attend the teacher-led trainings, meetings, and have regular (professional) exchanges with her.

I started my volunteer work at the beginning of the school year, so during that time there was a lot of chaos from the teachers and students: timetables and schedules could not be followed in the first few weeks due to the focus mainly being on discipline and strict rules of conduct.

With my years of practical experience as an occupational therapist working with children, I naturally hoped to be able to fully contribute therapeutically to the everyday school life.

However, my tasks as a volunteer mainly involved training the children in spoken English and ensuring that they followed the rules of conduct and discipline.

This went against my idea, as I did not envisage spending 5 months solely focusing on discipline and order.

The more I tried to accept what was expected of me, the stronger grew my internal resistance and conflict.

I had a strong desire for an empathetic and loving approach as well as a playful didactic method, especially with the younger students, in line with my own understanding, which unfortunately was not fulfilled there.

Instead, the children were sometimes disciplined with hands or sticks and were shouted at loudly and nervously.

To distance myself from this and gain a sense of well-being, I took market visits or small trips with other volunteers from the school on our free days.

The encounters with the villagers were very warm and impressive, and we were often met with curious and penetrating gazes. Initially, I found this somewhat uncomfortable, but gradually got used to it.

However, I found it difficult to get used to the stench of the garbage lying on the streets and the open sewage system. I was already familiar with the pollution from Kerala, but was once again shocked and saddened by the villagers' lack of knowledge and understanding.

The enriching free time with other volunteers and the interesting intercultural exchange helped me a lot to not lose hope and to continue giving my best at the school.

Despite the strict discipline, I had intense and very moving moments with the small and preschool children, as well as with the baby class and preschool teachers, which I will cherish in my memory😊.

From this experience, I have learned to stay true to my own values ​​and principles, despite all efforts to gain acceptance.

I am glad that I made the decision to end my stay after one month, so as not to lose my happiness and to give myself the opportunity to get involved in a different place.😊

... We should bring a smile to our own and others' faces more often...