Building a house for Kasturi

From March 1, 2014 to April 10, 2014 I have been to Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu in Southern India to spend my time as a volunteer for Tamilnadu Village Outreach. This NGO is run by John Degler, who (for already ten years) works with and for poor people from rural villages sorrounding Mamallapuram, trying (and succeeding!) to improve their daily life. He accomplishes this by maintaining various projects, among them building houses and community centers, establishing tuition schools for children and providing clean drinking water.

My job was to help with and document the construction of a two room house for a very poor tribal family in one of the villages. I accompanied the main contractor when he buyed the necessary materials, I was in the village on working-days helping with my own hands and I created a facebook-page to inform my friends and family at home (who supported the project with donations) about the progress.
Since I never did anything similar before, I had new experiences every day an I learned a lot about life and people in foreign cultures.
Of course, with this kind of work you encounter many challanges, but this is probably the most interesting part of the deal and it certainly is always fun and rewarding!
The house was completed in time before I had to leave and I think both the villagers and I will remember these six weeks for a long time (I definately will!).

The NGO (and John Degler's house) is located in Mamallapuram on the east-coast of India between Pondicherry and Chennai. I lived in the "Penthouse"-called rooftop apartment (one room with attached bathroom) which was organized by John for the period of my stay. Mamallapuram is quite a busy place during tourist season but also in off-season there is a lot you can do. The town is right at the ocean, there is a very nice beach, also you can choose from various restaurants and bars where you can hang out and meet people. It is a very safe place, i never felt threatened by anyone or anything or even uncomfortable in any way. The people I got to know were extremely friendly and always welcoming. Food and accomodation are very cheap (like almost everywhere in India) and if you avoid the more western-style locations you can get around with very little money. Other than many other organisations John doesn't charge you thousands of Dollars to have this experience, it's really all about helping the people and not about profit.

I definitely enjoyed my stay in Mamallapuram. The indian culture is completely different from western lifestyle, there is so much to learn, see, taste, smell and so on. After the first cutural shock has passed you will learn to love this place!
Working with John's NGO gave me a much deeper look into this culture than simple travelling ever could.
I am very glad that I had this opportunity and if you want to do something like it, do it! It is definitely worth it!