The start of something special...

At long last, after some time waiting for all involved the first ever Raleigh India ICS programme has begun. Two days ago our volunteers from India and the UK arrived at Fieldbase just outside of Mysore in Southern India. With a mixture of excitement and trepidation they got to know the people they will be spending the coming 10 weeks with. 

We were pleased to see our happy faced Brits hop off the bus

But there wasn't much time to relax, sessions on cultural awareness, medical matters, what to do in an emergency and of course getting to know each other filled the two days. 

After being filled to bursting point with all the essential information our ICVs and UKVs were allocated to their teams with no shortage of ceremony. Introducing Charlie 1 and Charlie 2. 

Charlie 1; Top row left to right - Kavya, Katie, Louise, Ellie W, Appu, Kiran, Thejas
Bottom row - Daniel, Kishore, and Siddu.

As of tomorrow morning Charlie 1’s home will be a classroom at the local primary school in the village of Uyyamballi.

Also in a primary school classroom but in the village of Indranagar will be Charlie 2.

Charlie 2; Top row left to right - Shashi, Abigail, Ellie C.
Middle row - Adi, Kuchu, Natalie, Manju, Sunil, Paul
Bottom Row - Yash and Gordon

If you want to take a closer look at where either team will be during the programme then try out the Google maps link in the right column of the blog.

Both teams will by the end of this week be made up of 50% Indian participants and 50% UK participants, a big first for Raleigh India and something we think is going to make this experience more challenging but even more rewarding for everyone.

They will be working closely with our long time project partners MYKAPS gaining a unique insight into grassroots community development from one of its pioneers in India. The theme for this ICS programme is sanitation and our teams will be starting off by using a variety of methods to research about the communities they are about to enter.

Although I will be posting the information, pictures and videos up on this blog most of the material will be produced by the participants themselves. 

Stay tuned, plenty more to come!