Sarah Letts worked for Jarrold's former Publishing Division for 10 years in editorial and project management roles. In 2008 she decided to turn her skills to something completely different and signed up as a volunteer with VSO. The John Jarrold Trust has supported Sarah's work with a donation of £1000 to VSO. Sarah recently sent the following report on her experiences so far.

Rural India

Namaskara,

When VSO emailed last March and told me they had potentially matched me with an organisation in rural India, like most people I had never heard of Orissa – a state in the east of the country between West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh which sits on the Bay of Bengal.

Also, like most people, I knew about the booming Indian economy and business brands such as Tata and Vedanta acquiring British companies, the call centre service boom in Bangalore, the rise of the middle classes in India, etc. So my first reaction was, perhaps, surprise – ‘What do I possibly have offer India? It seems to be doing quite well’

The reality, of course, is different. As people here tell me the ‘real’ India is the rural India where 700 million people live and a large proportion of them live in profound poverty. Orissa is the poorest state in India, scoring lowest in the Human Development Index. It is described by other Indians as ‘remote’ and ‘backward’ largely due to the fact that 23% of the state population of 36 million is Adivasi – Sanskrit meaning the first inhabitants – the indigenous tribal people of India, officially referred to as Scheduled Tribes. Dalits or Scheduled Castes (formerly referred to as ‘Untouchables’) form 11% of the population and Fisher People a further 9%. So 43% of the state population come from social orders which have been marginalised, oppressed and exploited for generations. The state has very high proportion of people living below the poverty line (which is reality far less than the much quoted a dollar a day. Rural BPL in India is technically defined as an income of less than 550 rupees per month – about £6.80), low levels of literacy (11% in some communities), high incidence of maternal, infant and child mortality, endemic malaria (approximately 50% of all malaria deaths occur in Orissa), high levels of communicable diseases due to lack of sanitation and safe drinking water and high levels of distress migration (seasonal migration through economic necessity-human trafficking is also commonplace here), the highest number of cases of malnutrition and death by malnutrition in India and a rapidly growing problem with HIV/AIDS.

Orissa is also extremely beautiful and its people genuinely kind, warm and welcoming. Its coastline skirts the Bay of Bengal and in the interior are mountains where the tribal communities live a precarious existence trying to subsist from the forest land and facing the real threat of displacement as large industries buy forest land from the state to exploit the natural resources. Oriya people are innately generous and dignified and resilient. Its geographical position makes it vulnerable to cyclones during monsoon and drought in the summer months. In 1999 a super cyclone killed 10,000 people living on or near the coast and left many more thousands homeless and destitute. They are still recovering from the economic impact of this and sometimes talk nervously about when the next one will happen but generally approach life and its many challenges with good humour and huge amounts of fortitude.

I live in a city of about 400,000 people called Berhampur. This is small by Indian standards and is semi-urban but certainly the largest town in the district (Ganjam). The state capital, Bhubaneswar, is 100 miles to the north and takes about three hours to reach by train. Berhampur does not receive many foreign visitors and in the last six months its quotient of foreigners has increased five fold with me and four other VSO volunteers. Why so many? There are many NGOs (non-governmental organisations) based in and around Berhampur working with the communities in Ganjam and other districts such as Gajapati, Malkangiri and Khandamal where serious communal violence erupted late last summer. There are approximately 6,000 NGOs operational in Orissa and consequently 40% of VSO India volunteers are based here. This is because of Orissa’s need for NGO intervention but also because unlike other very poor states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in eastern India, Orissa is regarded as safe. Rural India and particularly eastern rural India is the stronghold of the Naxalite movement, Maoist terrorists who fight for the rights of the landless through violent opposition to the government. There are Naxalite cells in Orissa but they are not as active as in other states and are not interested in foreign development or Indian NGO workers. However, I have had the slightly unnerving experience of sitting in a field in Jharkhand, watching a cultural show performed by children rescued from trafficking and surrounded by armed soldiers there to protect the local Indian dignitaries from Naxals.

The NGO I work for is one of the largest and oldest in Orissa. People’s Rural Education Movement (PREM) is 25 years old this year and has about 400 staff most of whom are field activists, working in their own communities, and 152 network partner NGOs throughout Orissa and also in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. PREM’s approach in all its development interventions is to build capacity, facilitate and advocate for long-term sustainability. Therefore much of their work is in training, raising awareness, sensitising, building skills, empowering and so on. The entire approach to development work has changed in the last decade. Previously it was focused on service delivery but now the emphasis is on facilitation - enabling people so that they can improve their lives through enterprise, education, improved healthcare, improved facilities such as safe drinking water and involvement in democratic decision making – effectively getting involved and being represented at the institutes that decide on local governance. In this way people in the communities can build the skills and knowledge that will enable them to change their lives and break free of the cycle of exploitation, poverty and indebtedness in the long term.

As Communications and Documentations Advisor my role at PREM is to work closely with the staff to help them develop skills in report writing (monthly and annual project reports, concept notes, consultation reports), documentation management and process, branding, communications materials (e.g. website, annual review, fundraising promotion) and communications policy. The ultimate aim is that when I leave they should be able to sustain the processes, systems and skills we have built together.

The language here is Oriya, and most people speak this or Hindi. Day-to-day conversation between colleagues is in Oriya but some field staff also speak the indigenous tribal languages, such as Kui, the language of the Khond tribe. I work in the English language which the majority of my colleagues speak, as they have been to university where the medium of teaching is exclusively English. However, verbal communication can be challenging particularly when dealing with the more technical aspects of communication for an English speaking audience. Resources are limited but I am highly honoured with a computer which has (albeit sporadic) internet access and which I share with my colleague Marjorie, a French VSO volunteer who arrived last week and is an HR Advisor. There are therefore humorous and charming moments of miscommunication and bewilderment but we muddle through together. There are some lovely ‘Indian Englishisms’ such as ‘You will move outside to go marketing’, by which they mean ‘Are you going shopping?’

Inevitably as a development organisation the focus of PREM has always been and will continue to be in field interventions, thus aspects such as communications and HR have not been prioritised or integrated particularly effectively into the operational and strategic fabric of the organisation, so there is much to do and both Marjorie and I are extremely busy. I am the first volunteer PREM has ever had and I do feel rather privileged to be supporting them with their goals as their work is highly impressive and the commitment of the staff humbling.

The VSO country programme office is in New Delhi over 1,000 miles away and the team there manage and support us remotely, after we complete our training period in Delhi and they put us on a train to head off to our new lives. It is a real challenge for them as India is such a large and diverse country but they do a great job of supporting 40 of us and the organisations we are placed with. We do have a placement review visit after six months and an end of year planning and review conference to touch base and they are always on the end of a phone or email should we need back up. Generally though most VSO volunteers form a close alliance with their organisation and do not require much hand-holding. Donations to VSO, such as the that made by the John Jarrold Trust, enables the organisation to train and support professionals from five countries to join organisations like PREM and help share skills which they can then sustain in their development objectives and help to change lives at grassroots level with those who need it most.

As for day-to-day life in rural India. It’s very different to the life I had in the UK but I am never bored or feel I am missing my old life. Like most of India I work eight to ten hours a day, six days a week so Sunday can be pretty hectic catching up with washing (done with bucket, washing powder and a lot of elbow grease) and domestic chores and socialising with neighbours and new friends. I live on the edge of Berhampur, about three miles from the city centre, on the first floor of a three storey house owned by the family that occupies the ground floor. They have been so welcoming and generous and have shared their religious and family celebrations with me. The accommodation is spacious, it maybe lacks a little bit of home comfort, but it is clean, has a Western toilet (a real bonus) and direct water supply (again a real bonus). There is no shower or bath in the apartment so like most people here I use a bucket and jug although I do allow myself the luxury of heating the water with an immersion element as there is no hot water supply in the city. There isn’t much of a social life either; it is very traditional here so no alcohol and no coffee shops but I am now a regular at various chai stalls and try to meet up with the other volunteers about once a week at one of the restaurants in town (more like canteens than restaurants but the food is very good and very reasonable). I am used to be stared at and to adopting various yoga style postures on the bus to work in order to make room for my fellow passengers. And yes, it is exactly like you have seen on TV with people hanging on to the outside of the vehicle. I haven’t tried it but I have stood on the footplate a few times as that can be the most comfortable place.

I generally wear salwar kameez which is the traditional long tunic, trousers and scarf (dupatta). As I said it is very traditional and one is required to dress very modestly even when the temperature is 45 degrees. However, salwar kameez is surprisingly cool and I no longer agonise about what I am going to wear to work. It’s always the same as the day before but just in a different colour!

I don’t want to tempt fate but I haven’t yet experienced the legendary Delhi Belly (I am scrupulous about filtering and boiling water before drinking it) and other than a rat running around my kitchen during my first month, haven’t had a nasty encounter with any tropical creatures. There are snakes and scorpions here but if you are sensible and listen to the advice of your colleagues and neighbours you should avoid any dangers. Luckily Marjorie was on hand to deal with an uninvited and very, very large eight legged intruder last night while I stood and squealed in the opposite corner of the room. France 1: England 0!

So I’ve been here just over six months, been at the sharp end of the infamous Indian bureaucracy (in pursuit of residency permit and visa extension –trust me, you do not want to hear the detail on that!), learnt very little Oriya (must try harder), made new friends, adjusted to a new diet, new climate, new culture and new way of life and learned a huge amount about the problems and challenges and hopes of people in a developing country and about myself.

Has it been worth leaving job, house, security, UK weather and everything I know? Definitely. It’s not all been plain sailing. There have been frustrations and ‘I think I am going to scream’ moments but it has been a unique privilege and I haven’t regretted my decision for a single moment.

So if you are ever in rural India you can be sure of a very warm welcome. They may not have much but they will share whatever they have with you and make you feel right at home. If you happen to find yourself in Orissa, swing by Berhampur, anyone will tell you where I live, come and say Namaskar, enjoy a cup of chai and we could even ‘move outside and go marketing. . . ‘

On behalf of VSO I would like to thank John Jarrold Trust for its generous donation. This will enable VSO to train and place a volunteer with an organisation which really needs and deserves professional support and skills.

For more information about VSO visit www.vso.org.uk

For more information about PREM visit www.prem.org.in

Sarah Letts

VSO Volunteer

Berhampur, Orissa – February 2009

The Prem Campus

These ladies are from a local Self Help Group - a co-operative who work together in a livelihood enterprise. They come to the campus each day to work on traditional crafts or in food processing.

Khond Village

Sarah's neighbours