Volunteering in India - An Experience of a Lifetime!

[Carmen Elsa Irarragorri Wyland]

Have you ever felt that you wanted to help make the world a better place, but had no idea where to start? Well, this is something that I had been feeling for quite some time, which is why I ended up leaving my home country of Malta, along with my then-fiancée, Tiziana, and traveling all the way to one of India's poorest regions - Bihar. When we made this decision, we didn't really have much of an idea of what we were getting ourselves into, but now that we're back we both agree that this was by far the most meaningful experience of our lives.

Here's our story:

We chose to travel to Bihar since we were aware that this Indian state faces a lot of challenges that are far more present than in the west, including severe poverty, disease, and inequality. In this way, we'd be able to hit two birds with one stone and fulfill our dream of traveling outside of Europe while also giving back to the community that would be hosting us.

We got in contact with a local NGO, Right2Smile, who have a partnership with the Bodhi Tree Educational Foundation, which is a project that provides free education, food, healthcare, clothing, and community support to hundreds of children from the poorest families in Bodhgaya, Bihar. The values that these projects promote closely fit in with our own, so we decided to show up for Right2Smile's introductory meeting.

There, we learned that in order to be able to join the project, we would first need to raise thousands of Euros for the project in India from here in Malta. At first, this sounded like a staggering amount, since most of us had very little experience with raising funds. However, we soon got to work planning plenty of events, including a fundraising dinner, a trek through the countryside, an open-air work out session, and loads more! In the end, we managed to collect almost twice as much than we needed, which left us all with a great sense of achievement!

In mid-February, we finally set off for India! It was a long and tiring journey, since there are no direct flights from Malta to India. From Malta International Airport, we had to catch a 2-hour flight to Istanbul, and after hanging around for around 7 hours in Istanbul airport, we then had to catch a 7-hour flight to New Delhi. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, everyone was feeling an overwhelming mixture of exhaustion and excitement. After such a long voyage, we were finally in India!

We had to stay in a nearby hotel to rest for a night, and the journey there gave us our first real taste of India! The streets were completely alive with activity, and there were crowds of people (and cows) walking through the busy roads, seemingly completely oblivious to the thousands of motorbikes and tuk-tuks racing past them, often missing them by mere inches! Our senses were completely overwhelmed with all of the sights, sounds, and smells. Nobody had ever seen such an incredibly colorful place!

That wasn't the end of it though, since New Delhi lies in the northwest of India, while Bodhgaya is in the northeast, that meant that we had to take a 15-hour overnight train ride to get there! New Delhi Railway Station is a massive place, where you could easily get lost. Thankfully, we all managed to board the train together when it finally arrived, and the journey was surprisingly comfortable. We all had a bed of our own, and many hawkers regularly passed through our cabin selling delicious Indian food and traditional chai (tea).

When we finally arrived, we were picked up by our project coordinator, Cri, and one of the school's employees, who goes by the nickname 'Tuntun'. We then all piled into one of the school's minivans and began our last stretch - a 45-minute journey to the Bodhi Tree Campus, through the bustling streets of Bihar, which were bursting with life. There were people selling all sorts of colorful things in the streets, Buddhists monks walking in single-file everywhere you looked, and many different kinds of animals all over the place, including cows, goats, dogs, and even boars.

When we arrived at the school, we were greeted with what was by far the warmest and most emotional welcome of our lives. All of the students and teachers who were present that day, more than a couple of hundred in all, had lined up at both sides of the playground, and kept chanting 'Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!' over and over again. The students and male teachers were dressed in their smart uniforms, while the female members of staff were wearing bright purple saris, which are a kind of traditional Indian dress.

As if that wasn't enough, as soon as we stepped off the van, we were each blessed with a red mark on our foreheads, and were given a fresh floral garland to wear around our necks. We then walked through the rows of people all the way to the school's entrance, which was such an unexpectedly emotional experience that many of us were reduced to tears by the end of it.

What really struck me was the pure joy that clearly showed on the faces of these children. Bihar is the seventh-poorest state in India, yet in spite of this, the people there seem like the happiest people on Earth, and this is something that we all kept noticing throughout our time here. Everyone seemed genuinely happy for our arrival, and no words can truly express how grateful we all felt for such a spectacular welcome!

Over the course of the three weeks that we spent there, we had a lot of contact with the children, and we did our most to make them keep smiling, and to help them grow into strong and independent citizens, so that they can eventually help better the lives of everyone in Bihar. We especially had a lot of contact with children who have special educational needs, and focused on helping them develop their motor skills, which will help them become more independent as they grow older.

While no two days were ever alike, many days started off with an early-morning yoga or meditation session, after which we would have a simple breakfast, and then either help out with the children's lessons on the school campus, or else pay a visit to one of the nearby playschools. Afternoons were generally reserved for cultural activities, such as temple visits or Hindi lessons, so that we could become more aware of what life is really like for the people of Bihar.

Using some of the money raised, we also had the opportunity to take many of the children on extracurricular activities, which they wouldn't normally have the chance to experience due to the limitations of poverty. On one occasion, we took a group of students to a nearby swimming pool, and on another day a camel was brought to the school to be used in animal therapy, which was particularly beneficial for the children with special educational needs.

Apart from the main campus, the Bodhi Tree Educational Foundation has also opened three playschools in the surrounding villages, the furthest of which is over 45 minutes away on foot. While hundreds of children make the journey from the villages to the school and back every day, such a trip is far too arduous for children under 3 to make by themselves, which is why these playschools were seen as such as a blessing by the parents who live in these rural areas.

Over the course of our stay there, we found the time to visit each of these playschools and to spend time with the kind children who go there every day. We spent quite a few pleasant mornings engaged in a number of educational activities with them, including making animal masks, singing nursery rhymes, playing athletic games with them, and loads more. It broke my heart every time we had to say good-bye to these wonderful children.

The presence of women in Bihar's workforce is notoriously lacking, and here's where the Bodhi Tree Educational Foundation has also made an immeasurable amount of progress. When the school first opened, over a decade ago, there were very few girls enrolled, despite being offered a chance to get a free education. This is because many people from the villages of Bihar did not believe that women require much education, since they feel that their place is at home.

However, due to the tireless work of the project's director, Dhirendra, many of the community's traditional barriers have now been broken down, and as of today, there are almost an equal amount of male and female students attending the school and playschools, compared to just the handful of girls there were when the school first opened.

There is a project in the school called 'Garden of Smiles', which is where young women are taught skills such as sewing, henna tattooing, and the application of beauty treatments. This allows them to grow as persons, make some money from their work, and may even be the start of a long and fruitful career.

Out of the many surprises that India had in store for us, by far the biggest one came about very early on for Tiziana and myself. This is because, as soon as Dhirendra found out that we were engaged, he immediately asked us if we would like to celebrate our wedding right there in the school. Initially, it was hard to take him seriously, since weddings in Malta usually take between one and two years to plan, since there are ridiculously long waiting lists and lots of red tape to get through.

However, Dhirendra assured us that weddings in India could be successfully planned in just a couple of days! Needless to say, there was a lot of resistance flowing through our heads, since it was a huge life choice to make in such a short amount of time, and going ahead with it would mean having to spend such a special day with our friends and family absent. However, we eventually decided that it would be a lot more meaningful to celebrate our love with the wonderful schoolchildren and people from the surrounding villages, so we opted to follow our hearts and, within six days, we were to be married.

Of course, we knew very little about Indian wedding traditions and rituals, so we had a lot of help from many of the members of staff and volunteers who are involved with the project, including Prince, Anu, Sumit, Wasim, Ramesh, and many others, all of whom treated us like members of their own families.

We also had a lot of help from one of Dhirendra's close friends, Avinash, who took us all over Bihar to get everything that we needed for the wedding at fantastic prices, including the wedding dresses, rings, jewelry, items needed for the rituals, and many other things that we needed to make our special day absolutely magical!

The big day arrived, and we started off at around 1pm with a big lunch for all of the school children, all of whom were, of course, invited to the wedding. Incredibly, the last living student of Mahatma Gandhi, Dwarko Ji, was also present, since he had agreed to be Tiziana's father-in-spirit, since our family in Malta did not have time to travel to India, due to the spontaneous nature of the wedding.

A couple of hours after the meal, the wedding rituals began. It started off with a turmeric cleansing ritual, where our bodies were covered in turmeric from head to toe in order to purify us for marriage. What is really beautiful about Indian weddings is that the rituals and celebrations flow seamlessly from one to another. There were around 15 hours between the start of the meal to the end of the final dances, and many of the spiritual rituals, such as Buddhist chanting, Sanskrit readings from Guru Ji accompanied by junior Hindu priests, and recitals of sacred vows, took place in between traditional dances, firework displays, and a meal that fed around 2,000 people in all!

It is impossible to put into writing the immense gratitude that we have for everyone who was involved not only in the wedding, but in making the entire experience by far the most meaningful moments of our entire lives! Now that it is all over, and we are back in Malta, it is very hard to re-adapt to the Western world that we were so used to not too long ago.

The daily struggles that really used to get on my nerves now pale in comparison to what I witnessed in India, and I have learned to be grateful for what I have, no matter what happens in my life. I am certain that we shall be returning to Bihar once again, before long! India well and truly has a special place in our hearts now...

To anyone who is considering doing some voluntary work, whether in your own town or somewhere far away from your comfort zone, my advice is to stop thinking about it, and to just do it! There are loads of places that could do with a hand, including Cambodia, Kenya, and Chile,

just to name a few.

We went to India expecting to give a piece of ourselves to the community, but ended up getting so much back from the experience! Once you put your heart into sharing love and kindness with the world, it is almost impossible to go back. This world of ours contains many troubling issues, so start changing your problems into challenges, and do your best to make at least one person smile with every day that passes. Trust me, you'll be a lot better off for it!

Learn More About the Project Here: