Gemma's presentation from India

1. ICS with Restless Development
India 2014

2. Thiruvalangadu
village
This is the village where I lived with my team
for three months. It has three restaurants,
where the locals would regularly eat, serving
amazing south Indian food for around 30p a
meal, a school, a temple, fruit & veg stalls and
a small shop selling fresh items like milk.

3. Temple of Shiva
This temple was located in the village. It is one of
the 5 majestic cosmic dance halls of Lord Shiva.
Legend has it that when the Lord was once
entranced in a deep cosmic dance, the jewels
from the Lord's anklets fell onto the earth and
scattered in 5 places, Thiruvalangadu being one of
them. People travelled from far to visit the temple
and we were lucky enough to attend a holy festival
at the temple while we were living in the village.

4. Thiruvalangadu
village is
situated near
Chennai city in
the district of
Thiruvallur,
Tamil Nadu,
South India.

5. South
Indian
food
Much of the food in
South India was
vegetarian. Common
dishes were samba rice
served with various
potato and vegetable
sides and dosa (like a
savory pancake made
from chickpea paste) and
idly served with spicy
chutneys.

6. Restless Team
The team was made up of 5 UK volunteers including
our team leader, who was in charge of two teams so
stayed with us on a bi-weekly basis, & 5 amazing
National Volunteers. We worked on projects together
focusing on health and livelihoods in the local
communities. Two members of the team could speak
both English and the local language Tamil, so they were
the translators for the rest of the team and for all of
our classes/ sessions in schools and communities.

7. This is me with Jaya, aged
22, the only female
national volunteer in the
core team.
(Clockwise from left) Daisy, Ajith, Luke, John,
Mani, Ashok, Megan and me. All aged 22- 25
years old.

8. Home!
This is the flat we (the UK
volunteers) lived in! The
bedroom pictured here slept
the three girls and was like a
giant tent once we all had our
colourful mosquito nets up.

9. The YRC (Youth Resource Center)
This was were we
conducted all of our out
of school sessions and
youth clubs. It was a hub
of activity, the small
structure made from
corrugated iron was
situated on the roof
terrace above the flat we
lived in!

10. We decorated the YRC and
created many resources such
as a job board. The YRC
facilities are open for any
member for the community
to use, seven days a week.
YRC Facilities:
3 computers with internet
Books
Stationary
Games
Jobs board
Jobs directory
Activities available in the
YRC:
CV advice
Careers advice
Homework help
English lessons
After school clubs

11. Projects…
Youth Club
We held a Youth club every week at the YRC to engage the local youth in civic
participation and support them with leadership and team work skills. An example of
one of the aims of the youth club was to get the young people to think about things
they might like to change in their communities and what they can do to make those
changes.

12. Youth Club: session activity included designing their own village,
writing a speech about something they are passionate about and
performing it to the class, and a young enterprise session!

13. Health:
Implementing WASH
initiatives
• Over 70% of people in Thiruvalangadu
village and its surrounding areas do not
have access to toilet facilities.
• In Thiruvalangadu school there is one
toilet for girls and one for boys which
equates to 1 toilet per 500 pupils.
• Across the whole of India 1.2 billion
people do not have access to a toilet
• The Public Health Association states that
53% of the population in India wash their
hands with soap after defecation, 38 per
cent wash hands with soap before eating
and only 30 per cent wash hands with
soap before preparing food.
We conducted health rallies in the
local communities, with the help of
a class of boys from the local school!
The rally was promoting the
importance of hand washing and
boiling water to kill harmful bacteria.

14. Although the toilet facilities were very
scarce in the villages, often people did not
believe toilets were more hygienic than
outside, in a field for example, simply
because they are not used to them.
Using soap can reduce diarrhea diseases
by over 40 per cent and respiratory
infections by 30 per cent. Diarrhea and
respiratory infections are the number one
cause for child deaths in India, and
worldwide diarrhea is the second most
common cause of child deaths. Poor
sanitation is also one of the major causes
of malnutrition among children; India has
one of the highest rates in the world.
Practical education is needed in schools, so
we facilitated hand washing promotion
and hygiene sessions, which can play a
vital role in reducing absenteeism among
school children.

15. Livelihoods in the
community
We facilitated community outreach
programs to support livelihoods in
the local communities. Activity
included building kitchen gardens
which grow as a self sufficient
source of food for families and also
help reduce stagnant water (which
is a breeding ground for
mosquitos). We also preformed
street dramas to raise awareness
about the importance of mosquito
nets.

16. Community sports
Sports events
events
We held community sports events,
such as volleyball and cricket
matches, to promote the YRC and
encourage physical activity and
community spirit. We also used
these sports matches as an
opportunity to raise awareness
about the importance of eating the
correct foods to avoid health
problems, including malnutrition.

17. Livelihoods
in education
Often in schools students are
not given proper advice on
which life choices to make,
often just choosing what
their parents want them to
do, and girls are often
expected to drop out of
education to help in the
home or for marriage.
In schools, colleges and
Universities in the district we
held sessions on:
• Careers advice
• Higher education advice
• Life skills
• Leadership sessions

18. Girls Classes
We held weekly sessions for young girls in the community. After visiting local schools and
communities we felt as though girls were not given the same opportunities as boys. India is the
fourth most dangerous country in the world for women, with child marriage, sexual abuse and
dowry killings being just some of the terrible challenges many women face. We felt it was important
to create a session just for girls where they felt free to express themselves, were encouraged,
supported and taught new skills in order to begin to make informed decisions about their own
futures. By the end of my placement, Jaya (national volunteer) was planning and running the
sessions by herself in order for her to continue the sessions independently after the UK volunteers
left. She is a brilliant role model for the young girls.

19. Creative Learning
After teaching health and livelihood sessions in the local schools we quickly realised that
children are not taught any creative subjects such as art and drama. We decided to include
creative activities in the after school sessions we held at the YRC. We really felt it was important
for the local children to have a space where they could express themselves and develop
essential life skills such as creative thinking.

20. International Women’s Day
One of the main events that we put on was an
event for International Women’s day, on March
8th, as a celebration of women. We held the
event at the town hall and inspirational women
from the local communities came to speak at
the event. The day also included henna and
Rangoli competitions, debates, a drama about
the importance of girls staying in education and
dances, which were performed by the girls who
attended the girls classes.

21. Some best bits.. The people! Everyone in the local
community was so welcoming and friendly
Just like this lovely little boy who lived
next door to us. He would run outside to
play with us, full of so much energy and
excitement every single time he saw us.
Luke and some of the boys from the
youth club in South Rockers t-shirts
(a local cricket team)

22. One of our National volunteers held an after
school club at his home (below). Him and his
sister would give the students free tuition
and homework help every day, we regularly
attended the after school sessions to play
with the children.
We would play a variety of games on the
roof terrace or play sports in the school
playing field after school or on weekends.
Youth in the area did not have many
recreational activities so we felt it was
really important for them to have a safe
space to play!

23. Action at
home project
After my placement my team decided to create something
for women because we felt really passionate about many of
the issues young women still face today in India, such as lack
of access to education. Our project idea is to create a cross-cultural
learning blog for young women in the UK and for
young women in India. The aim of the project is to create a
space where women can learn about each others cultures
and freely express themselves.

24. Life after placement
• Since returning from placement I have been working as a media intern at UNICEF (an
international children’s charity). My volunteering experience with ICS really inspired me
to want to work in international development and helped me decide what I wanted to
do next.
• I have produced some blogs for UNICEF: http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/author/gemma-munday/
Including one on the Girl Summit and child marriage which I felt very strongly
about after my placement. I have also written one on sanitation in India which will be
published in the coming week!
• Restless Development have been fantastic in supporting me since I have returned from
my placement. They constantly offer amazing opportunities for returned volunteers to
get involved with exciting projects and campaigns as part of the UK action network.
• In June I was part of Restless Development’s campaign weekend. My groups campaign,
named ‘Why not her’, was to encourage more women to get into politics and positions
of power. The campaign came first place and won funding from Restless. Since winning
we have attended the National Labour Women’s Conference and been interviewed for
Sky news’ SUBC website. http://whynother2014.wordpress.com/2014/06/15/why-not-her/
• This summer I also worked on NCS (national citizenship service) with the Challenge,
which is a social enterprise program for young people in the UK.
http://www.ncsthechallenge.org/

25. Advice for future volunteers 
1. Learn to fully embrace the culture and understand the customs of the county
and area you are living in. Some things will seem different at first but try to
find out as much as you can about the background of the people in your
communities and why certain customs and beliefs are the way that they are.
2. The work ethic will be totally different
so be prepared for things not to start on
time or go to plan!
3. Integrate yourself as much as possible
into the local community. The more time
you spend going out into the local villages,
playing with the local youth, speaking with
the locals, the more more it will benefit
you and the community. You will feel more
at home and local people will be more
open and willing to come to your events!

26. Gemma Munday: https://twitter.com/gemunday