Boomers Abroad

Description

As a volunteer on a Care project in India, you will have an important role to play, whether you are a trained professional offering us the benefit of your experience or a person on a gap year or career break looking for some experience of development work. Everybody is welcome, provided you are willing to work hard and be committed to the role.

The orphanages and care centers in India that we work with are located in and around the city of Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The centers cater for orphans, children in care, and children with disabilities aged from 2 - 18. In many cases, your day will begin early when you will be required to help the children get ready for school. You might have the middle of the day free or you may want to stay on to help out with other social care activities.

We also have a Care placement working in a hospice for low-income people with terminal illnesses. This placement can be quite intense and includes helping to feed the patients, clean wounds, change their clothes, and simply spending time with the patients coming toward the end of their lives.

In whichever volunteer care project you find yourself, you need to be ready for a challenge. Many of the children are desperate for attention and there will be many present who have health problems or who require special attention due to disabilities.

For the younger children, there is often a nursery attached to the home where you can help or perhaps you might even go with the children to school and teach a little English. When the older children come home at 4.30pm, you can help with their homework or organize games and activities for them before dinner.

Some care centers are more inclusive in their approach, teaching both life skills and handcrafts to the older children. As a volunteer, if you are good at art, crafts, sports or even gardening there's a lot you can do to help on a social level. Interaction, friendship and support are the most important things you will need to be able to offer the children we work with.

In most cases volunteers stay in accommodation at the care placement where they are working. This gives you the opportunity to get involved with the children throughout the whole day.

This project is available for two weeks if you don't have time to join us for a month or more. This project has been selected by our local colleagues as being suitable for short term volunteering for both the host community and the volunteer. Although you will gain valuable cultural insight and work intensely within the local community please be aware that you may not be able to make the same impact as someone volunteering for a longer period.