In less than 12 hours I will be on a plane heading to Bangalore, India, and since some of you expressed some interest in knowing how it will be like over there, I thought that setting up a blog would have been a good idea to keep everyone up to date.
What exactly I will do once I am there is still little known, but basically after a couple of days in Bangalore I will move to Koppal, where I will work as a volunteer for an organization that does pretty much everything: in Bangalore, Sampark works with children of migrant construction workers through setting up of crèches which provide education, day care and food; whilst in rural areas Sampark works in 45 villages in Koppal's district (North Karnataka) with women, youth and children.
Since unfortunately I can't help with everything, once I am there I will have to decide whether I want to focus on children education or women's literacy, but of course I have no idea yet on what I will chose.
I found Sampark through an Indian family friend, but whom I have never met before. I contacted him more than a year ago with this idea on my mind and the hope of being able to do it last summer, but unfortunately it did not work (too late/not enough money). After spending the whole of it in London working, I regretted it so much that I managed to save enough money to do it this summer, and I am really glad I made it!
In fact, I wrote to him again in February and he's just been the kindest person, giving me the contacts of his niece, who works for that organization. After few e-mails, as soon as I read on my inbox 'That is fine Carolina, see u in July', I bought my flight right away.
I do hope I will have the opportunity to travel around a little bit as well, would love to go visit some friends in Mumbai and New Delhi.
So why India? Well, I've been there already years ago when I was only 12 but it struck me so much I've always wanted to go back. Most of all, I was a quite shocked by such a high rate of poverty, and by going there to volunteer will give me the opportunity to do my very small but hopefully not worthless bit.
I know it will be a challenging experience, I am going alone and without any real plan, but that's what I love about it :)
Now it's better if I pack some stuff since of course I haven't started yet (been out all day trying to find a present to bring to this man's family) so hopefully - talk to you soon! I am really not sure how the Internet situation will be like over there, but I will do my best to keep you updated and uploading loads of pictures.
Lots of love
C
PS: I know, the title of the blog is absolutely awful, but I was a little bit on a rush. If anyone has a better idea please suggest it!
