Volunteering in India for all ages...

I was 47 years old and decided to volunteer through Volunteers for Peace in Dharmasala, India in July, 2011 I was told the average age was of participants was 28. Without my age included, it was 22. Believing that we all needed to be there, I became a part of a 22 member team lead by two facilitators from FSL-India. We lived and worked together for three weeks. We came from all over the world, with half of us not speaking English, but that didn't prevent the creation of community both for one another and for the two rural Indian schools that we served. As a parent of three children in American schools and as a teacher, I was amazed at the lack of facilities and comfort that were afforded to Indian children in their schools. But, quickly, I realized that the lack that I perceived was the norm for them. I saw children in school's who couldn't even afford to have their own pencils and yet they thrived and loved learning and being with one another. There was also a lot of gratitude shown to the volunteers from the school officials, teachers and students for the time and effort spent beautifying their classrooms and play grounds and the games and songs we sang to strengthen their knowledge of English. As a nursery school teacher, long out of the classroom, my moment was playing the guitar and
having fifty Indian children sing the song Kumba. All in, was the perfect opportunity to give and to learn on many different levels. I look forward to volunteering this summer in a rural school in Kenya.