Family Volunteering: Karen went with her elder son to volunteer in India

02/06/2018

What about family volunteering? Karen from Norway took her elder son to India, to volunteer in Jaipur. When Karen started discussing the project with her son about six months ago, they decided to find a project where her son could work with construction, while Karen would be teaching children. She also wanted to build up self-confidence for women. So they found Iko Poran who offered both a construction and a teaching project in Jaipur, India. Karen enjoyed the volunteer experience together with her son, and she could even work with women empowerment. Listen to her interview in the video!

Interview with Karen in Jaipur:

Hi Karen!

Karen: Hello

How are you doing?

I am fine. Just a bit emotional today.

It’s your last day.

Yes!

Karen, could you please tell me, why did you come to India?

Well, this was an idea about 6 months ago, and I have been working on it since then.

I wanted to take my elder son on the project together, so that we could do volunteer work. We have been discussing, what we like to do, where we want to go, and we agreed, that we wanted to do a project on school and to do something for children’s education. And then we chose this country and this project because it was one of the countries that have both construction projects and teaching at school. And I also wanted to combine the teaching both with students and with women, ot teach women and give them some self-confidence, so maybe they can encourage the children to keep on studying. That’s the main reason.

How was your experience with Iko Poran?

It was very good. Yes, from start till end, very good information. We feel, that we are very good taken care of, from the arrival, it is very safe way to host and stamp. And we also got so much inside information about the country, and made so many experience that we wouldn’t have as tourists. So it was very solid, the organisation.

How would you describe the India you have seen here?

India is so much more, than I could imagine, before I came. I have read a lot, and prepared for culture shock. Culture shock, it was not so bad. And the differences between poor and rich, they are big, but not so… yes, we haven’t seen so much of beggars and poor people, as we maybe thought. The people are friendly, I was warned, the people are very… they are not nice, they are scared.

Yes, that was what we were warned about. But we met so many nice people, and they want to help us, they were very friendly. We have always been very safe.

Would you advise other volunteers to come with us to India?

Yeah, definitely. India is something special, it’s unique, a unique country, and it is some experience, you have to get this experience.

Thank you for being with us Karen. Thank you so much!

Thank you for having us here!

Would you like to try family volunteering in India?

No matter, if you are just going on your own, or want to take your family with you, read about our volunteer opportunities in India, and how to apply! You can find the women empowerment project in Jaipur in full detail here, and also the construction project at the school!