Creating a playground and organising activities for children in Moodabidri

  India

• Other Cities in India: 
Mangalore

Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: February 22

Description: Moodabidri is a small town situated 40 km from Mangalore coast in south India. It has a wonderful history of the jain community and has one of the most interesting jain temples in the region, one of them being the famous 1000 pillar temple. The area is an agricultural settlement and the region grows paddy, coconuts, arecanuts, black pepper, vanilla, exotic varieties of mangoes, exotic varieties of bananas and the famous tasty cashew nuts. Over a period of time the region has been facing a lot of water shortage and there's now decline in agricultural practices as a result of the shortage of water.

Year 2003 was the beginning of an initiative to implement rainwater harvesting awareness programs in the form of trying to set up a rainwater harvesting model in the region. Several volunteer projects were organized with the rainwater harvesting theme, and almost successfully completed such model in one of the villages of Moodabidri. Volunteers who participated in the workcamp dug hundreds of trenches to stand the water so that it percolates into the soil and increases the water table of the surrounding area/region.

The volunteers will conduct creative education programs for children in the neighbouring schools. One of the most interesting questions from volunteers in the past years was that it is quite surprising that most/none of the schools have a playground for the children. It was noticed that swings, slides, merry-go-round, and see-saws were not present for these children to play. Volunteers in their evaluations suggested that a project is organised specifically for making a playground or running activities with kids along with the playground project. So this year it was decided that there will be a special project with the theme 'Playground' combined with activities for the children.

Highlights: Moodabidri is on the west coast of Karnataka, South India. Accessible by bus from Bangalore, Mangalore, Goa, Mumbai. Bangalore, Mumbai and Panjim (Goa) are international airports.

There is an extra fee of USD 260 US for participation in this project, intended to support the local host.

Cost in US$: USD 290

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Motivated to work voluntarily within an international team, tolerant, open-minded and cooperative person with adventurous spirit.

Age Range: 18 and over

This Program is open to American and Canadian Participants.

Participants Travel to India Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups

CADIP - Canadian Alliance for Development Initiatives and Projects's Mission Statement: CADIP promotes peace, cooperation, tolerance and understanding in international, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural surroundings. The organization also promotes patterns and examples of civil activities focused on serving others, on building social ties and strengthening communities, on supporting civil society development. Aims and general objectives: * To promote volunteering as an expression of civic contribution * To strengthen the international contacts among young people * To build tolerance and understanding in multicultural and multi-ethnic surroundings *To promote multiunderstanding among youth all over the world * To facilitate the individual growth of the volunteers through the acquisition of work, life and learning skills * To work for the recognition and promotion of non-formal learning * To support the community initiatives and assist in community development.