I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in June 2010 in India with AEGEE (European Students’ Forum), which is the biggest interdisciplinary student association in Europe. 2010 marked a special year to AEGEE not only because it got 25 years old but also due to the fact that for the first time in history it sent its members to explore other continents. The case-study trip (CST) to India was part of a bigger project called Beyond Europe and it involved sending 20 participants from Europe to India and working with topics related to United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals (UN MDGs).
We started out the project in Baroda, a small and very untouristy city in India with ca 1.5 mln inhabitants in Gujarat state and ended up in New Delhi, a buzzing capital of this incredible country. The aim of the CST India was to empower young people in Europe to contribute to the achievement of the UN MDGs and thus all the program was related to getting to know the respective situation in India.
During the time in India our days were full of different visits to schools, hospitals, NGOs, slums, and other projects where we managed to get an overview of their activities, ask questions, as well as carry out our own program on the spot. One of the best days for me was when we were split into smaller groups and my group was visiting a waste pickers’ union in a really hardcore slum to talk about their life as well as to answer any questions they had. Being a regular tourist one would never be able to access this kind of slums without some confrontations leave alone getting that personal contact of the inhabitants. For all the participants in our group this was a really big experience that also broadened our mind a lot.
Additional highlights for me were for instance a drawing competition we made for different primary schools, a tour by a former street child in Delhi, going door-to-door in a slum making a questionnaire with local students, and a visit to a traditional Indian family in a remote village.
After these 3 weeks it is still hard to describe India in only couple of sentences. It really is a mix of everything – shiny happy people, cows, elephants, camels and dirt on the street, amazing culture and music, deeply rooted religion, extreme poverty versus extreme wealth, etc etc. Also, imagine a challenge you’d have when being in India for the first time and having to organise a 3 weeks of program for ca 30 people. Despite we had local partners in India, the program was organised by a team of young Europeans, and by the end of the event we can say they were very successful beating their challenge…
All in all, after getting an initial grasp of the country and realising how chaotic it was, I figured out that there is still a structure in this kind of country and nothing will be undone despite it is done a bit differently than we Europeans are used to. ;) And of course, three weeks is not enough to get a whole picture of India – thus I’m looking forward to my return to this country to explore more.
If you’re interested in reading more about our activities in India then during the CST we also kept a blog that is written by different participants and can be found here: http://cstindia.wordpress.com/ While CST India was only one part of the Beyond Europe’s UN MDG’s initiative, then you can check more information about other activities here: http://www.projects.aegee.org/beyondeurope/ And if you want to get more up-to-date about UN MDGs and their progress, feel free to check: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml
Madli Pindmaa
