My Mom went hyper ballistic when I told her I was planning a volunteer tour in India and trying to zero in on a summer volunteer program for students. Are you crazy Jill, she kept nagging. Of all the places Indiaaaa…. and she really lost it when I said I had sent in my application for a volunteer tour in India with an NGO working for wastepickers’ empowerment. Received their mail seeking lots of details and when I landed in Delhi, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group proved to be a marvel. Recognised internationally, it put me onto a familiarization round over two days and thereafter allotted me a clear and concise schedule and internship requirement after a detailed interview wherein I gave out my strengths and weaknesses.
The travel by local transport was strenuous but the project work hours with children in one of Delhi’s waste landfills was so engrossing, that more often than not, I spent my leisure hours playing with the children, meeting their parents, understanding their backgrounds, culture, deprivations, dreams and much more. Also had a fun picnic organized for one of their projects ARMAN by Shaping Lives, it is the Foundation which finances this project. Their smiles and goodwill for me never stopped and I marveled at the resilience and inner strength of these less privileged outcasts of society. I stayed with Chintan for 6 months. Got a certificate to prove that in case you have doubts, but my hyper mother!!! …she is proud of the Jill who returned after that and brags no end about it to her friends and needles them to send their kids to the volunteer program in India …the one that Jill attended
