Nicole Byrne is a final year Sociology and Social Policy student who has just returned from ten weeks volunteering with Suas in the Vikramshila Education Resource Centre in Kolkata (Calcutta). She worked on an ‘Education to Employment’ scheme in a secondary school for boys. She worked with these students to improve their confidence and communication skills, culminating in an English language public speaking event. Nicole also spent two days a week as a teaching assistant at Nabadisha centres for street and slum children in areas of the city with particularly high crime rates. She spoke to the University Times about her experience.
Oliver Welfare is in his Senior Sophister year in Medicine and spent his summer in Kolkata working and learning with MOVE (Medical Overseas Voluntary Electives) in the Premananda Memorial Leprosy Hospital. Over the past 30 years, Trinity medical students have worked with MOVE in developing countries all over the world including Samoa and Malawi. MOVE also raises money to buy equipment, supplies and medications for these hospitals in order to improve patient services.
Why did you decide to volunteer with Suas/MOVE?
NB A number of my friends had participated in the Suas programme in both India and Kenya and came home raving about the experience. Voluntary work overseas was something I had wanted to do for some time and Suas had a great reputation. They provide training for volunteers and a key feature of the volunteer programme is that the work is sustainable, which is vital.
OW Having been there [in Kolkata] 3 years earlier (travelling with friends on my gap year) there was some feeling and buzz about the place that drew me back. For me, it was a matter of finding a suitable hospital in Kolkata.
How was the volunteer experience different to the tourist experience?
NB Having had the chance to do some travel around India after volunteering I can honestly say that there are important differences between living and volunteering in a place and visiting as a tourist. I will just mention one: [when volunteering] you get the chance to form relationships with the children you are teaching, the staff you work with, your neighbours, the local chai seller! Every day on my way to school, I was greeted innumerable times with a friendly “hello ma’am, how are you today?” By the end of my time in Kolkata, I really felt part of a community and this was largely due to the unquestionable welcome offered by all the children, their parents and the local people.
OW I loved it then, [when visiting as a tourist,] but you cannot get the true feel of a place until you live and work there. As a tourist you stay around the backpacker haunts, follow the crowds and no matter how individual you feel you are being, there is always someone else who was listening in on that special advice or tip off you got from a friendly Bengali. When living in the city you get to know the people around you, not only those you are working with. I was working in an area called Maniktala which does not see many volunteers and so the locals made special efforts to chat to me and make me feel welcome. Also, learning a few phrases of Bengali so as to hold the most basic of conversations with the fruit-seller makes shopping the next day a pleasure – he may even throw a few plums in for free, without any regard to how hard you try to pay for them!
What were the highlights of the experience for you?
NB Having the opportunity to teach such wonderful children and seeing their progress is certainly up there on my list. The first day in the secondary school, many of the boys were reluctant to stand up and answer our questions in English and yet, by the end of just ten weeks each and every one of them stood up on a stage in front of an audience of two hundred other students and spoke all on their own about everything from their hobbies to their favourite cartoons. The transformation was incredible and I was so proud to see this.
The unbelievable excitement in relation to our presence and the eagerness to learn among the younger children in the Nabadisha centre was also an extremely enjoyable part of my experience One day I took out a set of dominos I had made and the children just squealed in delight and spun around, that enthusiasm and energy was so moving and encouraging and definitely one of the my highlights from programme. I left the Nabadisha centre at the end of every day with a massive smile on my face.
OW I would always leave the hospital quite drained, both physically and emotionally. Having said that, every day I would also see something that has changed someone’s life forever. A patient might be able to leave the hospital and work again as she has had a new prosthetic leg fitted or the physiotherapists might have sufficiently mobilised a patient who has had their foot amputated so that the patient can get to the bathroom and not soil their bed. The smallest breakthroughs can be the most important for the patient as it gives then the confidence to proceed with their treatment. In my first few days, some of the inpatients were a little wary of me but by the end they greeted me like an old friend. Some, in particular, would call me over and chat to me in broken English for a few minutes, just to ask me how I was liking the hospital.
What was the toughest part of your experience?
NB India is an extremely different place to Ireland in so many ways, and things are done differently. Seeing extreme poverty on a daily basis was obviously very tough. Things that are unacceptable in Ireland are often acceptable in India and it’s hard to come to terms with that. Also, saying goodbye to all the students and staff I had worked with over the course of the placement was difficult and upsetting. That was something I had not anticipated when considering the challenges before I arrived.
OW One case particularly affected me. He was being treated for leprosy but was having a reaction to one of the drugs. This was causing him unbelievable pain in his ulnar nerves in his elbows; imagine hitting both your funny bones incredibly hard and having 5 times that pain 24 hours a day for 3 weeks. He could not sleep or eat, and he was crying silently all day. There were not enough advanced pain drugs to control it and he was coming close to death, all because of pain. He would deteriorate further every day. His wife stayed by his side to support him but would come to beg us to help him whenever she knew he wasn’t looking so as not to hurt his pride. It was heartbreaking to watch him dying. Miraculously, I heard he was on the mend in an email a couple of weeks after I left, something which the doctors could not have predicted!
Has your perspective on things here at home changed?
NB It would be impossible to return from over ten weeks volunteering in Kolkata and not to have a changed perspective or different views in some way. I think it will take me some time to realise just how much this experience has influenced me but one thing I can definitely say is that following this Summer I will have a long term commitment to volunteering and issues surrounding education in India and development in general.
OW When there I vowed never to complain about the HSE or NHS again, as although not perfect, they give a decent service, and we don’t know how lucky we are to have free or subsidised health care. (Just look at the struggles Obama has been going through!)
What advice would you have for students thinking about volunteering abroad?
NB Do it! My time in Kolkata volunteering with Suas has been one of the most, if not the most, incredible experience I have ever had. Think it through fully and realise that there will be a lot of work involved, lows as well as highs. If you still want to go ahead and you believe that you can commit to it and give your full 100%, then I would highly recommend it.
OW It was one of the toughest experiences I have ever had, but also one of the best. I got to work with patients I would never come across at home and live in a different culture. It is such a special privilege that should never be passed up. It is not always easy to get in contact with the people in charge if you are organising yourself rather than through an organisation used to dealing with volunteers, the key is persistence. Do not give up. If you do, you will be missing one of the greatest experiences of your life.
Compiled by Róisín McGrogan
Róisín is the Careers Advisory Service’s Civic Engagement Officer. Information on volunteer work can be found on their website at www.tcd.ie/careers.
