Padma Sanath - a portfolio

"How mean am i when life gives me gold and i give you silver, and i deem myself generous" - Khalil Gibran

The VSO World Youth Exchange Programme (England and Uttaranchal, India)

I was one of nine indians selected to participate in the recent World Youth Exchange Programme which involved living and working in communities in both England and in India for a period of three months each, from October 2003 to March 2004 organised by VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas, UK) and Pravah, Delhi.

We stayed with 'host families' at both countries in pairs, i.e. each indian participant had one UK counterpart that we lived with for the entire six months' period. Each of us had a different team member that we worked with, the work counterpart, to optimise cultural exchange and increase more interaction within the team.

The England phase was at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where i worked in two environment placements and the India phase was in the Himalayas, in Tehri Garhwal, where we worked with mountain children.

The Bucks Free Press, dated October 3, 2003

The England Phase

From October 2003 to December 2003, at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, I opted for two placements in the Environmental sector - At the Amersham Field Centre, we (my work partner Justin and I) engaged in conservation tasks and also (initially assisted and later) took classes on environmental awareness for children of various ages, from as little as 6-8 to as old as 18. These classes were handled the 'play way' method, and were invaluable in increasing my understanding of effective teaching styles.

We also helped organise a fund-raising event and we raised more than 50 pounds (50 pounds are about 4000 rupees) through eco-friendly greeting cards and handicrafts like 'stone people' and 'leaf magnets'. Of this money, half was given to the Woodland Trust, Britain's largest environmental trust towards the planting of trees. See related news clippings >>

My second placement was at the Environment Centre, Holywell Mead, High
Wycombe for which i conceptualised and designed the website (maintained by someone else now).

My work partner and i also organised a seminar-cum-workshop called 'Congestion... Suggestion', on effectively dealing with the transport problems in High Wycombe, with a strong focus on Sustainable transport solutions. It was open to the general public and had a good turnover of about 40-50 members of the general public as well as the High Wycombe Transport Society and involved facilitating discussion and information sharing.

This was the beginning of my great interest in sustainable development and the value of it truly being the key to most of today's problems.

I also managed to raise about 40 pounds through writing names on rice grains (which was also published in the Buckinghamshire county newspaper, Bucks Free Press See news cuttings >>), which were given to Save the Children for their relief work in Afghanistan.

The India phase which extended from January till March 2004, involved living and working in rural india, in the himalayas; more specifically, in and around Anjani Sein village in Tehri Garhwal, Uttaranchal.

This experience was unique in all aspects! Living in a rural community where everything is totally different (India being characteristically very diverse; especially since i come from South India, even the language, clothes, habits and lifestyles are totally different).

We worked in teams of four-five members with children of villages assigned to us. The aim was to gain their trust and make them believe that children also have a voice and must come forward with their problems and believe that they have the power to change adversity. We had to create 'baal panchayats' (baal - children, panchayat- local self government bodies) in each village that would help them solve problems.

I was assigned a particularly difficult village where the children were only interested in playing cricket and tending to household chores! gradually we managed to bring them together and we conducted elections successfully a week before we left.

In addition to work done individually and on a pair (UK) /small team (INDIA) level, we also as a big team engaged in various team activities. One day a week in UK and India was designated as 'Educational Activity Day' (EAD) where in turn, each pair would be given the whole day to focus the team's attention and energies on a particular issue, like a workshop. Like for e.g. Justin and i did our EAD on Human Rights. The day was filled with information giving, role-plays, discussions, energisers (as and when required) and case studies.

There were also Community Activity Days (CADs) where the whole team engaged in activities like clearing paths, cleaning and painting a school, litter-picking, etc.

On an individual level, i initiated and organised an Anti-Plastics Campaign in Tehri Garhwal that included an anti-plastics march that covered four- five villages, including a prominent marketplace. Posters were also put up about the harmful effects of burning plastic and throwing it into the fields.