fk India

Fair Trade Organized by fk India Network Partners

2009-06-08T22:30:00.000+06:00

Fair Trade - Kolkata

2009-06-08T22:25:00.000+06:00

....

CSA Documentary Film

2009-01-27T15:33:00.002+05:00

Network Meeting and Fk Participants - 17th December 2008

2009-01-14T14:22:00.001+05:00

Human Rights and Youth - Importance !

2009-01-14T14:16:00.006+05:00

Human Rights Festival Organized by the Network at Christ University

2009-01-14T14:06:00.000+05:00

Defenders of Human Rights being Facilitated by Ms.Saowanee , Representative from Fk Asia Office

2009-01-14T14:01:00.001+05:00

Defenders of Human Rights being Facilitated by Ms.Saowanee , Representative from Fk Asia Office

2009-01-14T13:57:00.008+05:00

Fk India Network Meeting Photos held at Deer Park

2008-08-08T10:22:00.002+06:00

GROUP DISCUSSION ON ORGANIZATION PERSPECTIVE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

DEER PARK TEAM WHO DID AWESOME JOB DURING THE MEETING

ICE BREAKER SESSION

ALL THE PARTICIPANTS WHO ATTENDED THE CLIMATE CHANGE SEMINAR AND FK PARTNERS, PARTICIPANTS

Minutes of the Seventh Fredskorpset India Partner Network Meeting
August 3, 2008
Deer Park Insitute, Bir, Himachal Pradesh

The 7th FK – India Partner Network meeting held at the Deer Park Institute, Bir, and Himachal Pradesh on the 3rd of August 2008 began at 9 am. Mr. Prashant, the head of Deer Park Institute thanked all the organizations who participated in the Conference on Climate Change and its effects, which preceded the Partner Network meeting.

• It was decided that all the organizations in the network would form an action plan to work on the issue of climate change, in their own capability. This action plan and activities related to it would be published in the Network’s newsletter.
• Ms. Jennifer of Deer Park Institute suggested that all the organisations in the network collaborate on a network level programme on this issue,
• The meeting also discussed on the frequency of meeting as a network and whether two meetings in a year were needed. Finally it was decided to continue meeting twice a year.
• It was also decided that at the beginning of every network meeting, the events (e.g. conference) which entailed the previous network meeting would be evaluated. Also, what the organizations, from their part, had done based on the issue which was discussed at the event would be reported.
• The deadline to publish the network magazine was decided to be September 30th, 2008. Each partner organization would send their input to Mr. Suvendu, the head of Drik – India,(CC to all partners) by the 31st August, 2008. Along with their inputs, each organization would be expected to write about how climate change affected the particular group of people they worked with.
• The FK participants from various organizations came together presented their ideas on a participants’ magazine and a joint programme at least once in a year. The coordinators, on behalf of the network, said that there was no need for a separate participants’ magazine since the FK network already had a newsletter which could incorporate the content which the participants envisioned in the proposed magazine. Mr. Sacha Jyotisalikorn, the FK-Asia Chief also echoed the same thought and stated that funds for a separate magazine will not be available. At the same time, the participants and ex-participants were encouraged to meet up at least once in a year to share their experiences, thoughts, ideas and have a fun time.
• It was also decided to strengthen networking and sharing of thoughts through the FK India blog (www.fkindia.blogspot.com) and every organisation was requested to post at least one post every 2 months.
• The next meeting was decided to be held along side a proposed conference on ‘Gandhian Principle of Peace and its relevance today’ which would be hosted by Drik – India at Kolkatta. It was tentatively decided to be held on the 7-9 of December, 2008.

Cricket - Article By Rakesh Gupta

2008-07-06T22:59:00.003+06:00

Cricket. Cricket! Cricket?

Sharad Pawar, Sri Lanka, India’s richest sporting body, Hansie Cronje, exhilarating ODIs against Pakistan, racism row, Muttaiah Muralitharan, telecast rights, betting meter, Allan Donald, offering prayers for a victory, players’ houses stoned, Geoffrey Boycott, Zimbabwe, animated on-field behavior of players’ success, Mohammad (Yousuf) Youhana, hockey forgotten, Lagaan, Kapil Dev, Sportsmanship, 20-20, Jagmohan Dalmiya ousted, 424 run chase, Harsha Bhogle, Don Bradman, Sunny days, Lords, MCC, Ashes, Chak De India, RSA, Anil Kumble circle, match-fixing, Indian Premier League, Drona award, 300+ runs by a batsmen, 10 wickets in a match, ‘Victorians’ calling it, “This is not cricket”, Clive Lloyd, public gathered at the windows of TV showrooms, Women’s national team (does India have one?), Indian Cricket League, Allan Donald, leisure sport, Ranji trophy, Arjuna award, Ferrari tax evasion, Bob Woolmer, keeper-batsman, Vijay Mallya, sponsorship, MAN of the match, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Tony Grieg++

This is my effort to present cricket in a cultural studies perspective, for all that we know about it. Mostly looking at the phenomenon called the cricket especially during and after the 1980s in India. I am neither a true cricket fan nor am I a specialist who followed cricket, analyzing and critically looking at this game called cricket. This is an attempt which started off as a curiosity to answer my questions on the peculiar nature of the game and its presence in the lives of the people politically and culturally sometimes ‘superseding’ the individual self or just associating it to replicate the inner self or neither of the cases. Also trying to look at if there is any relation at all with the ‘viewing of cricket culture’ to the collective sub-conscious and the evident conscious behavior of a person.

I cannot just take off from the 1980s although that’s what I am interested in. Before that its worth mentioned one incident/accidental turn which caused the ‘emergence’ of cricket in India. Also my memory and my opinions would be stronger for this period since it’s the experiential opinion. So, I would try and give some interesting (that I think) events in the course of History of this Game.

First cricket match was played in Britain in the early 1700s. Soon after that in a matter of few years cricket started to become popular among the elite who either played themselves or paid people to play for them. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was established in 1787 which sort of became the official body to set rules and regulations governing the game of cricket and did so for at least 150 years.

Cricket started gaining popularity throughout Britain and more and more of cricket had gotten familiar with everyone - the common men and the elite. This caused a worry among the Puritans who were airing opinions for the absence of people from Churches on Sundays due to people playing cricket and regarded this as a escaping from divinity for a senseless game.

But, the structure of cricket created by the MCC gave some openings to the colonizing mode of Britain then, which gave them ideas for deploying cricket as a way of disciplining people and encouraged the army to practice cricket. This was also promoted in the colonies as the Oriental approach of ‘civilizing’ the colonized because of the features the game possessed. Hence cricket was regarded as a ‘sport of leisure and a way of keeping oneself fit.’

There was another usage of cricket in the colonies which was as per the words of Fourth Lord Harris, Governor of Bombay (1890-1895) who led the foundation for the expansion of cricket in India said, “This works as a counter-attraction to paisa and politics”

There is one interesting way of putting across the thoughts of a fast bowler which might have had a direct influence from the World War. Harold Larwood (pre WW player) said something like he wanted to bowl short deliveries to batsmen to just intimidate them and put them on guard when they are facing him.
Whereas, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson (post WW players) said something like they go onto the field intending to hurt the batsmen by aiming at his rib cage so that they (batsmen) are always aware of the bowler being faced by them.

By this account of cricket and its presence in India, let’s look at it as a culture of viewing by which people associate it to themselves. It is important to note that India had been good at hockey and we all know of the leading names of Dhyan Chand and the glory of the sport in the international arena with the number of Olympics gold India has won. This was largely spread in the 1950s and 1960s.
Then, there was an interesting turn in the 1980s which took place that brought cricket to the fore. Advent of TV sets in the 1980s and in the year 1983 Indian men’s cricket team won the cricket World Cup which saw the entire shift of hockey to cricket in terms of viewer base and the revenue generation.
Now getting to the difficult task of understanding the cricketing culture and the viewing culture in India with which people derive political spaces and cultural affiliations from it. Let me start with the metaphor that Ashis Nandy uses in his book, “Tao of Cricket” – “An Indian game discovered in Britain”.
This is very much true in the sense that cricket as some people points it to be foreign, but it has been so much internalized that it ceases to be foreign just like the chilies which came to India in the medieval times which has since then been so much a part of Indian cuisine.

Cricket in some ways is a ‘truer’ projection of cultures and of encounters of cultures than many other forms of human self-expression.

There is another noted author who puts it as, “In India people watch cricket for six months and talk about it for the other six” who also goes on to say that, “To enjoy cricket one must know something more than cricket.”

Looking at this study in 5 different heads:

1. Cricket vs. Chess

By looking at the course of the chess which has been explained one can easily understand why the winner emerged so. Although, success lies in the accuracy and steadfast thinking to be able to make ‘the right moves’.
By looking at the cricket score card, one can never understand what has happened and who the winner is for one who doesn’t know anything about cricket. It requires a lot of training to know that there are 300 balls to be faced and get the most runs to contain the opponent to get one run more to be able to win with each team consisting of 11 players.

This makes cricket a lot more complex and cricket excels in uncertainties and ambiguities. This could be regarded as why cricket has elevated to different levels with the self-expression of a sport in itself.

2. Myths – Good vs. Evil

This is one of the approaches which have been noted in Ashis Nandy’s book. He starts with an example of a Pakistani cricketer having received a standing ovation by 85,000 strong Indian crowd in Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
He looks at this as Indians being associated with the myths where characters like Karna and Drona exists and respected and also looked at as a necessity in the world we associate with. This is where cricket comes in and we are able to relate it to the cultural history of ours.

3. Collective Nation opposition

This is something Indians had to deal with throughout. There is virtually no social-security established by the government (just by looking at India as a political nation after the 1947) and we have been regarded as collective societies where families take care of each other.

Here it is interesting to bring in the Soccer clubs to understand cricket in India better. Soccer fans stick to their favorite clubs even tough a great star leaves to another club. It’s a big loss but people move on. With cricket in India it’s not the case. One can be a fan of Sachin Tendulkar as he will continue to be representing India for his entire career. This will enable one to idolize him. I am keeping aside the latest developments of ICL and IPL as it will definitely need a good long time to be able to replicate the soccer clubs model.

This idolizing can mean that one has been able to associate to the unleashing against the bowlers and get some good runs and regard it to his success. Since team’s success directly translates to everybody’s success.

So, we can see that an Indian youth is probably able to look at the self-expression of collective nation or also looking at the idolizing as a symbol of protest of collective nation to a preferred Individualistic lifestyle and emphasis laid on being individual and unique rather than following suite and the entire hassle of compromise for each other’s benefit to put it in a blunt way.

4. Structure of politics and cricket

There goes a great amount of similarity with the way the cricket boards work and politics.
BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), is the apex governing body for cricket in India. The board was formed in 1929. It is a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. The BCCI often uses government-owned stadiums across the country at a nominal annual rent. It is a private club consortium.

The mandate of a cricket board is:

To appoint ‘umpires’ or in a wider sense adjudicators to oversee the cricket progress and control the activity of the sport.
To organize competitions and create an environment of competition such that it nurtures latent talent to recognize and take them forward.
To increase nation’s prestige by churning victories
To build cricket as a economically viable entertainment industry
To provide for protection to the ‘gullible’ cricketers against any offense against them be it professional or legal.

This conjoins to be a political party and the objectives of a governing body upon its citizens. This could also mean that the power that is derived of just by the nature of cricket and also strongly backed by the revenues it generates, this form is possible and perhaps consciously created so.

5. The dissent of the enlightened, educated youth and the ‘classical’ cricket fans

This is the entire thing against the 20-20 cricket form by the mid-20s age group of people and people who call themselves to be the true cricket fans who would like the game form being its original self.
This could mean 2 things, for all we know ODIs could be a form to reduce the boredom of the 5-day cricket and the other thing could be that some are trying to look at the high and low cultures of viewing cricket and differentiate themselves by sticking to the ‘original’ game format and not being swayed by the recent 20-20 format.

So, to conclude, since I couldn’t come up with something better than what I read in a piece on Cricket and National identities, I just put that.

“When cricket goes, it is bound to take away with it something of a meaning of life of many of my generation. If on the other hand the game survives the vicissitudes of our time and many hope against hope that is does so, it will perhaps survive as a defiance and critique of modernity in a world moving towards post-modernity.”

Culture of Consumerism in Bangalore - By Rakesh Kumar

2008-06-24T10:26:00.002+06:00

When India opened up its economy in the early 1990s, people had an
inkling that things are never going to be the same. But the changes
that came about in Bangalore were beyond anyone's imagination. What used to
be a sleepy laidback small town in South India is now globally well
known as the hub of outsourcing and the Capital of IT revolution in
India. With high pay packets and increasing "disposable income" came the
Culture of Consumerism.

Traditionally, consumption has been seen as either a material process,
rooted in human biological needs, or as an ideal practice, rooted in
symbols, signs, codes. Consumption is embedded within systems of signs
and symbols, of making and maintaining distinctions, always
establishing boundaries between groups.

I have tried to look at the culture of consumerism in Bangalore and how
it is affecting the way in which the different groups in Bangalore
interact and perceive each other.

Change in the Government's Culture:

The consumerism culture in Bangalore is obviously brought out by the
larger political policies. The Liberal economic policies of the Govt.
have played a direct role in creating new employment opportunities,
allowing unrestricted production of goods and services and of course by
allowing free inflow of Foreign Companies and brands.

The pre-90s socialist governments promoted frugality and protectionalist
policies. Guest Control Act of 1976 could be seen as example here and
many state governments were pro-prohibition of alcohol. Regulations kept
foreign investors out while licensing and Red-tapeism discouraged
domestic investors. Contrast this with current governments that leave
no stone unturned to woo investors, foreign and domestic alike. We have
examples of governments ignoring mass uprising (NBA, Singur) to attract
investments and develop infrastructure. Special Economic Zone viewed by
some as a great tool for economic upliftment is criticized by others as
the worse form of social oppression due to issues like displacement,
non-application of labour laws etc. Pro-liberalisation policies of
governments (both at Central and State level) played a great role in
the current Consumer behavior patterns in Bangalore. The growth of
Bangalore's consumerism culture can be traced back to advent of LPG
(Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation) in India.

Consumerism in Bangalore

Though consumerism is a worldwide phenomenon, it takes on distinctive
characteristics in Bangalore. The city is growing and changing so fast
that it is constantly creating divisions in the city. There are
different cities within the city and some stark glaring boundaries. So
we have those who have jumped on the bandwagon of consumerism (new
Bangalore) and those who haven't. Among those who haven't, there are
two groups - One who cannot afford it owing to their small earnings (Other
Bangalore) and the others who are from a different generation (old
Bangalore) and who detest or dislike it. It obviously isn't a clear
boundary based on age and income but tends to largely follow the
pattern. I spoke to few people belonging to these different groups to
understand their take on Consumerism in Bangalore - by whatever name
they know it.

Old Bangalore - Mr. Narayana M M, migrated to Bangalore in 1979. He was
employed with MICO, considered the best paymaster in Bangalore those
times. The only monthly expenses he can think of in those times was
House Rent, Grocery and Kerosene Bill, Water and Electricity Bill. The
only expense that fell out of the necessities category was an
occasional movie and no eatouts. When I query him about the Consumerism culture in
Bangalore, he tries to be very diplomatic (the old Bangalorean that he
is), but quiz further and there is a hint of disdain toward this
culture. He says, "People have to spend money carefully. It makes no
sense to spend too much money unnecessarily on articles you could buy
for cheaper price elsewhere. It is their arrogance and showy nature
that is making them spend money at will." Obviously the consumerist ideas of
Brand Value and High-end Marketing make no sense to him.

But he also has a positive take on the changes in Bangalore. "People
are becoming more 'modern' in their outlook and doing away with old rituals
and superstitions. People are living more comfortable lives today. When
I was working in MICO, a huge majority of us used Bicycles to commute
though we were one of the best paid groups in the city. Today even
college kids have motorcycles." He endorses these changes.

This shows that consumerism is not simple acts of buying but it is a
barometer of others perception of lifestyle, not only the economic
lifestyle but social and educational factors included. It influences
the way of thinking and the way people are perceived.

New Bangalore - Ms. Jincy Joseph works 12 hours at least on most
weekdays. 15 and 16 hours days are not what you call very rare. With
such hectic work life, she is always looking forward to the weekend. As
corny and as stereotypic as this might sound, it is the reality for
many young professionals in Bangalore working in the IT & BPO sectors in
Bangalore. I can vouch for this with my 24 months of work experience.

Jincy contrasts her current spending habits from her childhood - "Those
days even an Ice cream or a cake would be big treat for us. Now I have
no account of my spending which is high though I set aside my savings."
She agrees that 'society' is becoming very materialistic and friends
and family do not have time to spend with each other. The general
justifications of the high-spenders are "I slog like crasy the whole
week and need to enjoy at least during weekend." and "This is the time
when I can enjoy while there are not many responsibilities."

Through consumption people are trying to make up for things their
fast-paced, busy lifestyle denies them. They are trying to compensate
for the intangibles with the tangibles. Valentines Day gifts to show
your love, you were working too long on your anniversary and a diamond
ring will compensate for it. The advertisements too aggressively
encourage and reinforce such thoughts. TATA SAFARI Dicor - Reclaim Your
Life, they are so convincing. Status, prestige, esteem, love, and even salvation- in a consumer
culture, all of these intangibles are available in the marketplace. And
people are spending on it.

The Other Bangalore - Auto drivers are one group who are not major
players in Bangalore's consumerist setup in the sense that they do not
directly participate in it. But they are in constant interaction with
the consumerist Bangalore. The two have a love-hate relationship where
they can't do without each other but are at odds with each other many
times over the fair fare payable. Passengers crib that auto drivers
behave like they are doing a favour and charge unreasonable amount and
on the other hand auto drivers complain that "they spend 400 rupees on
tasteless Pizzas and Rs. 500 on movies but grudge us a 20 rupees tip."

I catch Mr. Kumar, an auto driver who came to Bangalore 20 years ago,
near Forum Mall (considered by many as temple of consumerism culture in
Bangalore) as he is waiting for his next passenger. He gushes with
excitement "I have seen foreign only on TV, but Bangalore has become
like a foreign country. Anyone can come here and survive, the place
welcomes all."

I asked his opinion on the changes in Bangalore, "The IT/BT/BPO people
spend like crasy. Software is the problem. House rent is skyrocketing,
inflation is rising in Bangalore and the people causing it are the
software people." Probe him further and he complains about loosing
morals and ethics. According to him, "These people don't care for the
customs and traditions. They live the way they want to."

In this city where exists hundreds of sub-cities, people are drifting
further away based on their consumerist culture. For a large segment of
the population the IT boom means nothing, Liberalisation means nothing
- except maybe higher cost of living. They perceive New Bangalore to be
the harbringer of their hardships and miseries. The New Bangalore's
consumerist culture stalks them the most - to see their leisurely
luxury spending while they themselves are living a foot to mouth existence and
finding hard to make ends meet.

This has led to reactionism of different kinds. Take for instance the
Kannada Rakshana Vedike's protest against the Indian Railways for not
employing Kannadigas, or their blackening the English Boards of
commercial establishments, or renaming Bangalore to Bengaluru by the
government. The Other Bangalore seems to be having an economic and
cultural insecurity on account of this Culture of Consumerism.

The Other side of the story - I would like to reiterate that the new,
old and other Bangalore isn't a clear boundary based on age and income
but tends to largely follow the pattern. There is appreciation among
these groups of the positives in the others and at sometimes an
understanding of their own system's shortcomings. Speak a while with
anyone from New Bangalore who spent their childhood in Bangalore,
before these drastic changes and you will find emotional charged nostalgic
feelings. They miss their old city where summers were cool, traffic
smooth, slow paced laidback life when you knew all your neighbors in
the streets etc. Some are themselves very critical of this Consumerism
Culture. Ms. Bhavya G J says "Am riding around Bangalore and it scares
me what is happening to the city. Money is simply pouring in and people
are drowning in its gaudy and I seem to be drowning in it too." There
is this feeling that they can't hold on to the old and are going with the flow.

The great India middle class dream has always been to own a house
before you retire. In pre-liberalisation world, home loan was not an easily
available option, certainly not easy as it is now wherein banks call
you to give you a home loan. Consumerism Culture helps young people own
their own house pretty early in their career. It is emotional and
economic comforts like these that come with the Consumerism culture
that the Old Bangalore is appreciative of.

The common feeling is that there is no way one can stop the changes the
city is undergoing. Every group is just doing its best to cope with the
change. Some accept most things open armed, while others try to close
out most of these, each group dealing with the same change in their own way.
The Consumerism Culture difference lies in the style of grappling with
the change.

The great Karl Marx Conclusion

According to Karl Marx the base of any society is it's mode of
production and this base determines the super-structure which supports
the base. The base conditions the super-structure and the cultures of a
society can be related to the super-structure. So if Karl Marx is to be
believed, the mode of production or the economic conditions in
Bangalore are determining its Consumerist Culture. Though it is probably
simplifying the issue, the argument holds strong in the context of
Bangalore's Consumerist Culture.

Consumerism is big business in India. There will be 628 million
middle-class Indians by 2015. And already, their net income has doubled
over the last 10 years. Obviously, every multinational company now
wants to sell in India. Analysts say we are only getting started. The
government could soon allow FDI in Retailing. Bangalore's Consumerist
Culture has been very vibrant in its 'nascent stage' itself, one
wonders what the future beholds. It could also be the initial phase of change
being the toughest.

One could only hope that this culture does not lead us on the
disastrous paths few societies have been on before they learnt their lessons. Man
ultimately aspires better living and I am not sure how big a part
materialistic aspirations should play in it.

There is no judgment associated with this. In Bangalore, this is how it
is now. Rakesh Kumar.N

Fk Srilankan Network Meeting

2008-05-21T12:14:00.002+05:00

Sri Lanka Fk Network had their meeting on the 13 and 14 th May 2008 and Mr. Jaikumar, representative of India Fk Network from Christ College, CSA was provided an opportunity to share the initiatives of the Indian Network and what makes it an active Network in Asia.

20 members were present representing partner organizations in the planning network meeting for the year 2008. It was an enriching experience for the representative and the members to learn from each other.
Mr. Sacha from the Fk Asia Office was present at the meeting. We thank Fk Asia and Sri lankan Network.

Fk India Network

Farewell to Norwegian Participants

2008-05-04T13:54:00.000+05:00

The winter group of North Participants from Sund Folk College, Norway successfully finished their exchange program. They were involved in the activities of Centre for Social Action from February 2008. The farewell was organized by the volunteers to bid them good bye and to wish them best of luck !!!

International Conference on Women

2008-03-29T12:30:00.002+05:00

Dear Friends,

You can find the online version of the International Conference document

Women in Emerging Indian Economy - Silence to Voice : Problems and Possibilities held at Christ College, Bengaluru on November 26th and 27 th , 2007.

Please click here to download your copy

Documentary

2008-03-28T17:39:00.002+05:00

We care

2008-03-13T19:35:00.002+05:00

Hi all,

We decided to put up an online version of We Care magazine(with a hint from our friends in Norway :) ). So if you have a pretty fast internet connection, or if you’re dedicated enough to put the download for the night, ladies and gentlemen, behold….

We Care
File size : 12MB
File type: PDF
Software required : Adobe Reader 5.0+
Click here to download

FK Profile: Joachim

2008-01-17T16:43:00.001+05:00

Full name: Joachim Johnsen

Hometown: Rognan

Exchange period: February-May 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 13. Mars 1989

E-mail: mwa_ha_ha_haa@hotmail.com

Interests:

2008-01-15T18:13:00.000+05:00

Full name: Stine Torgersen

Hometown: Frøya

Exchange period: February-May 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 04. September 1986

E-mail: stine_8604@hotmail.com

Interests: Theatre, music, books, nature, new adventures!

2008-01-15T17:42:00.000+05:00

Full name: Elle-Mari T. Langøigjelten

Hometown: Frøya

Exchange period: February-May 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 18. February 1986

E-mail: ellemari1986@hotmail.com

Interests: Nature, theatre, social work, people, travelling, scuba diving, boxing , politics.

Profile: Marita Amundsen

2008-01-15T17:26:00.000+05:00

Exchange period: Feb. + March 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 31/12-1988

E-mail: marita.amundsen@gmail.com

I'm a girl from the middle of Norway, and I really look forward to go to India; to work with new people, meet new friends, contribute and see this beautiful country with my own eyes.

I'll be there soon!

Marita

FK-profile: Nora

2008-01-15T17:22:00.000+05:00

Full name: Nora Svenson Paus

Hometown: Bærum, close to Oslo, the capital of Norway

Exchange period: February-May 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 10. January 1988

E-mail: norenmoren@hotmail.com

Interests: Music, nature, society, theatre, human rights, social work, enviroment, concerts, people, animals, writing, traveling, swimming, ecology, hiking, skiing, politics.

I am so much looking forward to go to India and meet new people, work, learn and get to know a new culture. It is unbelieveable that we are leaving in just a few weeks.

FK-profile: Sakarias

2008-01-15T17:01:00.000+05:00

Full name: Harald Sakarias Brøvig Hansen (FK-Class at Sund)

Hometown: Stavanger, south-western Norway

Exchange period: February-March 2008

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action (CSA), Christ College, Bangalore, India

Date of birth: 29. nov 1988

E-mail: harsa@lyse.net

Interests: Hm. Photography, peace, ecology, politics, society, music (I'm best at listening), theatre and movies, books, working out (when I'm not sick), nature/hiking, and summers on the coast of southern Norway.

(: Sakarias :)

Surprise dance by Boopsy and lenin in Cultural house for international week

2008-01-11T22:59:00.000+05:00

Dance by Fredskorpset in Cultural house for International week

2008-01-11T22:34:00.000+05:00

8 th Fredskorpset Preparatory Course in Asia 24 th September - 13 th October, PART - II

2007-12-28T11:57:00.000+05:00

8 th Fredskorpset Preparatory Course in Asia 24 th September - 13 th October - PART -I

2007-12-28T11:44:00.000+05:00

Centre for Social Action

2007-12-28T11:23:00.000+05:00

Today's Youth - Social Responsibility?

2007-12-28T09:12:00.000+05:00

Signature Film about the Conference - Women in Emerging Indian Economy

2007-12-27T19:11:00.000+05:00

Wangari Mathai Video Message - Women in Emerging Indian Econonmy !!!

2007-12-27T18:52:00.000+05:00

Indian Dance by Norwegian Fk Participants at their Farewell Party - November 2007

2007-12-27T17:50:00.000+05:00

International Conference on Women in Emerging Indian Economy

2007-12-05T16:21:00.001+05:00

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Christ College, Centre for Social Action is a partner of the Norwegian Government development organization called Fredskorpset for a student exchange programme since 2002. Fredskorpset comes under the Ministry of External affirms, Norway and works with the vision of promoting partnership for development in order to contribute towards lasting improvements in the economic, social and political conditions of people in developing countries, and with the realization of human rights for all. (See www.fredskorpset.no)

Fredskorpset has established it network of partners across the globe. One such network is Fk India Partners Network, which is coordinated by CSA and Drik India-A development media organization at Kolkata.

This year the network organized an international conference on “Women in Changing Indian Economy-Silence to Voice; Problems and Possibilities’ The seminar was held on 26th and 27th of November 2007 at Christ College, Bangalore.

Conference Background:
India is seen as the next superpower and statistics predict that by 2025 India together with China will emerge as Asian giants in the global economy surpassing the European markets and just behind the US. Though changing economy can be a major force for prosperity but it needs to be supported by adequate policies and favorable socio-cultural-political and economic environment.

Globalization is a double-edged process as far as women are concerned. This is reflected in the fact that majority of women in India and other developing countries find themselves stripped off the benefit of social security, government subsidy, protection of labor rights and the safety nets due to Globalization processes. Various findings suggest that liberalization and globalization of the economy has marginalized majority of women in the developing countries and India by the way of reduction of employment opportunities, reduction of wages, casualization of jobs, and exclusion from the modernized production process. On the other hand, there are also positive findings. Globalization has helped changes in the lives of women who have been able to avail of the opportunities, which have opened up in the various sectors of development. However these changes are still less in intensity and needs to be scaled up. Within the above context, the conference was organized to explore and assess the role of women in the changing economy of India under the present globalized economic environment and thus identify the challenges likely to be faced while attempting to integrate women. Also the conference was to enable a critical and reflective thinking on the mainstream development paradigm itself and its impact on women and look at the phenomenon of the changing nature of work from a gender perspective.

Fredskorpset, Norway supported the conference and it was facilitated by Christ College, Centre for Social Action, Bangalore & Drik India, Kolkata. There were 127 participants from 11 countries who participated in the conference. The participants were college teachers, students, senior NGO personnel, activists, and Government officials and media professionals.

In the inauguration held on 26th November, the following eminent persons addressed the participants:
• Mr. Helge Espe Deputy Director, Fredskorpset, Norway
• Ms. Ann Ollestad, Honorable Ambassador of Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi
• Mr. Torbjørn Urfjell, Political Advisor to Minister of Development Cooperation, Norway.
• Keynote on Role of Women in the Changing Economy -An International Perspective by Padmashree Lila Feroz Poonawalla, Chairperson, De Laval & Industrialist, Pune
• Keynote on Role of Women in the Changing Economy-An Indian Perspective by Padmashree Patricia Mary Mukhim Director, Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Shillong and Activist & Columnist, Meghalaya

The first day of the conference had a plenary session on “Mainstream Development Paradigm-Critical Appraisal from a Gender Perspective”. Themes such as Globalization and the changing agricultural sector and Globalization and Women's Education were covered in which there was a critique of the Development Paradigm itself.

The speakers were Ms. Shubha Chacko from Sangama, Bangalore and Ms. Paromita Chakaravarti from Jadavpur University. The moderator was
Dr. Jamuna Ramakrishna, Programme Officer from Hivos, Bangalore

The afternoon session consisted of three parallel sessions as given below:

A. Changing Nature of Work-
A Gender Perspective B. The Changing Agricultural
Sector-A Gendered Appraisal C. Status of Health of Urban and Rural Women
Sub themes covered were New economy and problems of beedi rolling workers
An overview of Indian situation was also covered.

Speakers:
Ms. Anchita Ghatak from ActionAid India, Kolkata
Ms. Shoma A. Chatterji, from Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), Delhi

Moderated by:
Dr. V.S. Elizabeth from National Law School of India University

An international scenario was presented and some Initiatives and experience were also presented

Speakers:
Ms. Gloria Romaine de Silva, from Sri Lanka
Ms. Gayatri. V from Institute for Cultural Research and Action, Bangalore

Moderated by:
Ms. Sudha Bhat, Initiatives for Development through Participation of Marginalized Sections, Bangalore Sub themes covered were Sexual health, identity and sexuality in India, Status of Health of Urban Women and Globalization and Mental Health of Women-

Speakers:
Ms. Vidya Shah, New Delhi
Dr. Sukanya Rangamani, CHC Bangalore
Ms. Ratnabali Ray, Kolkata

Moderated by:
Dr. Vijaya Srinivasan, MVJ Medical College, Bangalore

The second day of the conference had a plenary session on Women Making Changes in Rural Economy- International and National Experiences’ .The Grameen Bank Micro Finance Model from Bangladesh was presented. And a critique of the micro credit phenomenon in India was also presented.

The speakers for the session were Mr. Dulal Chandra Kar from Grameen Bank, Bangladesh and Ms. Smita Premchander, from Sampark, Bangalore
Dr. Motilal Dash, from BITS Pilani, moderated the session.

Later three parallel sessions occurred as depicted below:
A. Women in Emerging Economic Sector B. Changing Gender Role: From Silence to Voice

C. Development and Displacement-A Gender Perspective
Case studies on International and Indian experiences of women emerging as entrepreneurs were presented

Speakers:
Ms. Wang Xiu, Deputy President, from China
Ms. Neelam Chhiber, from Indus Tree Crafts Foundation, Bangalore
Ms. Padma Seshadri, from AWAKE, Bangalore

Moderated by:
Dr. (Ms.) Tattwamasi Paltasingh, Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad International Perspective on the theme was presented and sub themes such as Media & Women’s Concerns & some developments in Media and women’s role were presented

Speakers:
Ms. Ichikaeli Maro from Tanzania
Ms. Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti, from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
Mr. Rangan Chakravarty, from Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata

Moderated by: Mr. Kallol Dasgupta, Writer, Columnist, Activist and Singer
Urban and rural experiences displacement of women and gender concerns were presented. The serious phenomenon of induced displacement was also presented

Speakers:
Ms. Madhu Bhushan, Vimochana, Bangalore
Prof. Smitu Kothari, from New Delhi
Dr. Walter Fernandes SJ,
from Guwahati

Moderated: Ms. Rita Norohna,
School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore

The concluding session of the conference was held on day 2. Here Dr. Sahu, Professor in Sociology Lucknow University who is also the one of the conference advisory committee members presented the conference conclusion.

Other conference related events:
An International Photography Exhibition on the conference theme was facilitated by Drik India, Kolkata during the conference days.

Films/documentaries on the conference theme was conducted in Christ College, Jyoti Nivas College and St. Josephs Arts and Science college. The social work students and other interested students participated in the film screenings. The filmmakers of these documentaries accompanied the film screening team and addressed the students during the discussions after the film screenings.

Conclusion:
The conference was helpful in taking stock of the situation of the women in relation to the globalization processes. It helped in understanding the situation at a macro level and also identifying the gaps. The conference learning could be used further to look at these gaps and initiate further deliberations.

For the participants, it was a learning experience especially in building new perspectives and challenging them to reflect on new issues emerging with respect to women’s situations. The organizers felt that these new perspectives could feed into the college academics.

Press Reports on International Conference on Women - Silence to Voice, Problems and Possibilites

2007-11-28T19:28:00.000+05:00

TEAM OF FK Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:57:00.000+05:00

The Team

Johny Joseph, CSA – the man who started it all
The germ of the FKC idea was born when I met Sacha 3 years ago. Sacha gave the go ahead for the 8th FKC after going through the design of the program. We went to Bangkok for the 7th FKC in April-May 2007, and after that, we were ready to start work. The results are there for all to see.

Sacha Jotisalikorn, FKC – the one who knew the pulse of the course
I wish the participants the very best of luck and hope they don’t face difficulties they cannot solve. I hope the course was useful and they are able to implement concepts into practice. When people come at the beginning they are tense, by the time they finish, they are like family.

Nisa Chamsuwan, FKC – the woman who led from the front with a microphone
I echo Sacha’s thoughts when I hope that the participants utilize the knowledge they have gained here. On a personal note, this was a good trip for me, as I went for the first time on the social and cultural trip to Mysore. I enjoyed it very much.

Shaji Varghese, CSA – the quiet thinker who planned it all
The concept of a South-South exchange is a fantastic idea in the sense of promoting global understanding and peace. It was great to see young energetic people from backgrounds as diverse as media, fisheries and social work working together. The resource people also made the course very informal through their experiential methodologies in teaching their content.

Antony Raju, CSA – he was there all the time
It was a wonderful experience to see them start off as nervous participants sitting alone in front of their computers but finally ending up as one big family. People don’t want to leave now. It will be a great value addition for their work in their host countries.

Ruthy Rajan dreams of being a journalist who also works with under-privileged children.
(II Journalism)
'This is my second year in CSA so therefore I have more responsibilities this year. Learnt a lot while helping to organise this programme. It was quite an experience to delegate responsibilities to the first year students as well.'

Jofin C.V dreams of becoming a cricketer.
(I Computers)
'First year in CSA and I was able to communicate with such varied people and to get involved in this programme is really good.'

Prakash KN dreams of becoming an actor.
(I Sociology)
'This was a great experience and I liked the fact that there were so many people from different countries coming together.'

Arun Williams dreams of working in an airlines.
(I Political Science)
'I learnt a lot. Had a lot of fun. I got to make a lot of friends in CSA. The senior volunteers are very supportive and we learnt a lot of things.'

Santhosh M Katkurwar dreams of becoming the CEO of Google Search
(I Economics)
'It was a great experience. We interacted with different people, learnt various cultures. Exchanged ideas, different views…'

Peter Serjious dreams of becoming a football player, body builder & a social worker.
(I Botany)
'Excellent experience. I loved the interaction.'

Vandana R. dreams of becoming a journalist
(II Journalism) 'This whole experience has been a learning for us in terms of organization as well as attending some of the sessions. Great to meet so many people from different countries'.

Bharath N dreams of becoming a social worker
(II Sociology) 'It was a great experience because through these sessions I learnt very many things. Not only the participants but even the CSA volunteers found this very useful for our future.'

Mathews George dreams of becoming a Missionary, Psychotherapist & a counsellor
(I MSc-Psychology) 'It has been great knowing people from different countries working with them and for them. It is great working with this team of dedicated volunteers doing the background work. I also got to help in conducting the interactive games as part of the course.'

Nivendra Uduman dreams of becoming a social worker
(I Psychology) 'This was my first project that I was involved in and I really learnt a lot of things. I made a lot of new friends and the airport trips were great fun. I loved them the most.'

Ronald Joseph dreams of becoming a great manager also doing social work
(I Psychology) 'This was my first experience in CSA and interacting with so many people. I would like to thank CSA for making me a volunteer for this programme. I learnt how to communicate with people.'

Jaikrishna R dreams of becoming a social worker
(III Chemistry) 'I have been a CSA volunteer for numerous programmes before this. This was a different experience as it was for a duration of 20 days, the others were of a shorter duration. I liked the fact that there were participants from different countries coming together. '

SVATI M SATISH

My Ambition: I want to be a journalist and it has been a dream since as long as I can remember. Also I wish to do something for those living in the underlying sections of the society. It can either be through helping the children with their education or just by creating awareness among the people about various civic and health related issues.

For the Fk Programme:
FK has helped to better my understanding about various socially related issues and problems. Also it has given me an opportunity to interact with people from different countries and genres.

Concept, design and documentation for the 8th FKC by Theatre-in-Education, Script Peoples Theatre

12th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:53:00.001+05:00

Gender and Gender Relations

The day after the study visits, a dancing energizer, and a first aid session all participants seemed to be in high spirits. The penultimate day of the training program started with a session on gender & gender relations. The facilitator Dr Anitha from National Institute of Advanced Studies NIAS asked the group - 'what do you mean by gender?’ 'Is there a difference between sex and gender'? Gender roles should change depending on the changing situation. In most country laws, when carefully examined you will find a certain amount of gender discrimination. Stereotyping leads to discrimination, oppression and segregation.
Gender refers to relations between men and women. It is also the social meaning society gives. Gender relations are essentially relations of power. In all societies known to us, men and women have unequal power, and men, as a group, enjoy social and institutional power to command women's bodies, intellect, labour and fruits of their labour. Therefore gender relations are relations of conflict and not necessarily, nor obviously, harmonious or cooperative and are unlikely to be so as long as they remain unequal. Gender issues crop up primarily because the woman’s sexuality is the measure of family honor – if you want to dishonor a family you dishonor their women.
Three groups were formed to discuss gender issues in a variety of situations and present it to the rest of the class. Dr Anitha asked the participants to reflect on the norms for men and women at a) Home b) Office c) Public places.
From the discussion what emerged were the said and unsaid rules for women to move out of their houses, to go with an escort, to go with more than one escort etc. Examples from work places of participants were discussed with the ratio of men and women coming into focus. It was pointed out that negotiations for women in work related issues at the office seem to gain more strength if the number of women are more. Lack of mental and emotional strength from family and public places makes it challenging for the women to exert their viewpoint at the work place. Family problems, decision making, income sharing, distribution of income, choice of life partner, sharing responsibility etc all were viewed within the framework of personal experiences by the participants. Creating mental and physical spaces for women to participate was highlighted as the need of the hour. Dr Anitha asked participants to take a look at the stereotyping and ideology held by individuals and society with regard to gender.
To the question – Why do only women talk about gender? Dr Anitha mentioned, “if men talk, things will be easier”

Sujan Parajuli
An M A Sociology student from Chitwan, Nepal, Sujan is a man with a passion for organic farming. Describing himself as a farmer for the past 12 years he has already made three to four visit to India before. He finds the cultural diversity of the group very enriching and will be going to Hyderabad to work with Deccan Development Society. His aim is to go back to his farm and make it a resource centre and look at ways to save environment. A cricketer at heart his favourite player is Shahid Afridi. Sujan says he plays cricket regularly and is an all rounder and will be missing the game when he is working here.

Damayanthi Nandasena
A native of Sri Lanka Damayanthi is with the Green Movement there. For the past three years she has been promoting sustainable agriculture. “Marvelous” is the way she describes this training program as it is her first chance to interact with people from across 10 countries. She is traveling to Ilam in Nepal and has heard it is a beautiful place with misty mountains. Her aim is to look at income generating options through sustainable agriculture. A lover of music and handicrafts Damayanthi started off this journey thinking it would be easy, but finds it challenging especially because she misses her family.

Participants got together to make a presentation on their host country. After each of the presentations one person from that country add their “tips” on what they can expect when they reach their new home.

Who is my secret friend?

This long awaited moment finally arrived soon after lunch. A list of all 22 names was put on a board. Each one would come up and try to make 2 educated guesses about who their secret friend was, before this was revealed to them. People made some extremely clever deductions in getting their secret friend right – handwriting samples, spelling mistakes, confessions to neutral parties, spelling mistakes in letters and even guilty behavior! All of them then exchanged final gifts with their secret friends. One touching gift was Anita giving a silk scarf to Mathana – a Buddhist gesture signifying friendship. The excitement at discovering one’s secret friend was the apt finale to the 15 – 20 day long game.

Reliving the past and looking to the future
Sacha presented a slide of many beautiful photographs taken during the prep course – a reminiscing of the memorable past. He then showed a video of other people who are part of the South-South exchange already working in various host countries. He said that this would be their future – not a lonely one when you remember that there are a few thousand others like you who form the extended Fk family.

The Fk code of conduct

Respect for Human Dignity
Cultural Sensitivity
Security aspects
Environmental considerations
Corruption (against the practice of)
Confidence and good will

11th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:50:00.000+05:00

Navadarshanam symbolises the best example of a study visit. It is the story of a visionary and how he along with a group of people got together and used the land as it was always meant to be used. Organic farming is his mantra. Meet Mr. Anantu and his dream.
‘Chemicals in farms have only been introduced in the last 50 years. Before that since thousands of years we have been into organic farming. I would like to devote more in the spiritual realm than in the physical realm. My work is that. By doing what Iam doing, it can generate a lot of interest in others and people will be tempted to follow it. The whole world is involved in running the race – that is the goal…running. In a rat race, even if you have won a race you are still a rat. That’s what makes a social worker different. We work for humanity. It’s a selfless journey’. When asked whether it was an expensive proposition to switch to organic farming on a large scale, he replied ‘in the beginning it was difficult for us. Eighteen of us stayed in two mud houses and we have built this farm over seventeen years of hard work. Those were the best years of our lives. Today, this is a completely self-sufficient place. Nothing is procured from outside. Everything is obtained here. This can be replicated by anybody but it depends on the person, his background, his conditions, the society he lives in among other things.’
Finally he said, ‘this is not a farm, this is a research and development initiative. There are always challenges. If you don’t want challenges you cannot live anywhere. If you really want to help the earth you have to develop that subtler force within you. It is not about using chemicals or not using chemicals. Human beings are trying to conquer nature, this is against that subtler force.’

Drik

The Drik team had an interesting day as well. They went to Visual Search and met the documentary filmmaker, KP Sasi. KP Sasi showed them his documentary film, “Redefining peace”, about women’s rights. He then discusses with them techniques of approaching a topic, how he chooses his topics, and his interests. The most exciting thing for the Drik team was getting autographed cartoons from KP Sasi who is also a well-known cartoonist. One common complaint all voiced was the problem of funding for making documentary films
The second stop was CIEDS who focus more on development work regarding women’s rights. Ms. Madhu Nagabhushan, the co-ordinator welcomed them and had an informal chat about conditions that they would face in their host countries, as well as making them reminisce about home. The most memorable thing for the participants was the beautiful design of the house, as well as the bookstore there.

Inland Fisheries Unit

Genomar visited the Inland Fisheries Unit of Karnataka. They were shown many types of fish starting with the carp – common carp, grass carp. They moved on to ornamental fish – goldfish, molly etc, along with guppies. There was a discussion on breeding and seed production and along with growing commercialised fingerlings for sale. They were shown how cow dung is used to produce natural food – plankton, in the water. The Inland Fisheries Unit also has Genetics and Pathology as fields of study. An important fact was that tilapia is banned in India, as the fish supposedly breeds to quickly and destroys ecosystems. This was a little disappointing as tilapia is the basis of study for Genomar.

Pourakhi

Pourakhi visited SPAD – Society for Peoples Action for Development, where they watched a slide show on the various activities of SPAD. The thing that impressed them the most was that SPAD was an umbrella covering organizations that covered every facet of HIV and AIDS right from care, counselling and reduction of stigma to advocacy of rights and law. Particularly impressive was the MILAN project, started to reduce stigma about AIDS.
Swasthi was Pourakhi’s next stop. Swasthi is a rest house for operating sex workers, offering them food, stay and bath facilities during the day. Swasthi even has some HIV infected sex workers who still ply their trade, but making using of condoms. The Pourakhi team were very impressed by Swasthi’s work.

Thaicraft

Members of team Thaicraft visited Shilpa Trust. They got to see different aspects of art – woodwork, pottery, silk dyeing and printing, sandalwood statues and toys. There were also machines for woodworking. The 280 workers of Shilpa Trust seemed to be technologically as well as aesthetically conscious. The Trust workers are now trying blend classical ideas with modern ergonomic design. It was a feast for the eyes.

10 th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:36:00.000+05:00

Interesting Re-cap
Kaushik and Ragni had a very interesting re-cap of yesterday's learnings. They used very interesting visuals, a brief lecture and a game which concentrated on bringing out gender inequities which was all geared towards their task. All in all it was a great session and hats off to the two of them for being creative and bringing in a new dimension into what was just essentially a re-cap.

Take care
Kulwinder Brar from RedR India conducted today's session on security perspectives. The objectives of the session were to understand the need of security procedures, to be able to analyse risk, to be able to analyse operating context and to be able to assess security on country visits. He then played a game called Snow Ball fight. He asked participants to write on a sheet of paper about what they thought the word 'security' meant to each one of them. Once they did that, they were asked to make the paper into a tight ball and then hit the other pariticipants with it. Once the participants had played a little then he asked each participant to collect one ball of paper each and open it. They were then asked to share whatwas written with the others in the room.
He underlined the fact that your personal behaviour underlines all aspects of security. Therefore, he said, security is a state of mind. He handed out handouts of an imaginary situation where participants were located at an unsafe place with real threat situations in various places. They were first asked to identify the areas that they were most vulnerable at and then asses their personal risk. Participants were then asked to make a presentation to present their learnings. The participants shared that women faced a higher threat than men in various situations. There was a necessity for participants to be prepared from within which would reduce personal vulnerability greatly. Access to information greatly helps reduce the vulnerability. This information can be obtained either through embassies or government agencies.
Kulwinder then played a game with the group. This was a team-coordination exercise. Participants were divided into four teams . Each team stood in a line in front of an empty bucket. A bucket filled with water was placed behind the last person with a mug. Participants had to pass the mug filled with water over the heads of the participants and fill the empty bucket in front. There would be no communication between teams during the exercise. The exercise was great fun for the participants. Banda emerged the most wet person as a giggling Shopna emptied mugs of water on him.

Key Learning Points
• A security threat is a danger in your operating environment flowing from ill intent.
• Risk is the impact a threat may have on you.
• Vulnerabliity is the extent to which you are exposed to a particular threat.
• You control some aspects fo your own vulnerability.
• Security is more about the right behaviour.
• Team effort can help build better capacities and reduce risk.

Good Security
• Keeps stafe and assets safe.
• Maintains sustainable and effective programmes.

Risk
The likelihood and impact of encountering a threat (a combination of the threat and vulnerability level)

Safety and Health Hazards in an operating environment
1. When there is a grenade thrown, never touch it and hit the ground if you feel a grenade has been thrown as it throws shrapnel at a distance of 30 metres.
2. Land mines can be set off with a pressure of a few pounds. It is best to avoid areas which are suspected to have land mines completely.
3. If you encounter a mine - do not touch, do not approach, mark it (but at a distance) and only if this is your agency policy, report it.
4. Good security involves NOT being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

At Checkpoints
1. Never make any sudden moves

2. Be patient
3. Obey all instructions
4. Be clear in your communication
Tip
Carry a water sterilization kit with you when you travel to remote areas. It takes very little space and ensures that your drinking water is safe.

Health
Always immunize yourself for Hepatitis A &B, Typhoid, Diphtheria, Poliomyelitis, Tetanus, Rabies.

HIV/AIDS Awareness
Dr. Shalini from Bangalore Medical Services Trust conducted a short session on HIV and AIDS awareness. She explained that HIV is called the Human Immuno Deficiency virus. It is only present in human beings. It leads to AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) which is the last stage of the disease. AIDS spreads through blood transfusion or sexual intercourse or through using drugs using previously used needles or from an infected mother to a newborn child. This infection is now shifting from 'high risk' populations like truckers and prostitutes to 'low risk' general population like house wives.
HIV is a problem because it gives no indications for a very long time. It lies dormant for a period of 2 weeks to 6 months and it spreads without both partners knowledge. This period when it lies dormant is called the 'window period'. After this period is the silent infection stage, this could be from 6 to 12 years. The person will look and feel healthy but within the system a war will be goin on with the immune system. A blood test can show the existence of HIV virus at this stage. The last stage is for 6-12 months this is the stage where the patient if exposed to a simple infection like TB can die from it.
Any AIDS test should be accompanied by counselling sessions before the test and after the test. The blood test used to test for AIDS is called ELISA or Rapid HIV test.
The basic symptoms of AIDS are a significant weight loss in a month, chronic diarrhea that lasts for over a month, prolonged fever, severe TB, fungal infection in the mouth and throat. Again all these or any one of these symptoms should be supported by a blood test, only then can one confirm if the patient has AIDS or not.
There are two strains of the HIV virus - HIV1 and HIV2. HIV1 is quicker while HIV2 takes a longer time to act.
Insist on HIV tested blood, for blood transfusions and always use new blades or sterilised blades for activities like shaving etc. Abstain from sex before marriage. Be faithful to the partner and correctly and consistently use condoms.

2007-11-05T12:27:00.000+05:00

9 th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:26:00.001+05:00

Egg Game
Participants were grouped together based on their gender in two groups. Each group formed a little circle with a volunteer in the centre. The volunteer had to fall over with his/her feet firmly planted on the ground. It was the responsibility of the group to ensure that the volunteer did not fall down. It was a trust exercise and all partcipants had a go at the exercise.

Resolving C onflicts
Christopher & Rachel conducted an interesting session on Confict Resolution. Christopher started off by exploring what a conflict really was all about. A conflict creates tension or discord. It is caused by real or believed opposition. It usually concerns the needs, values or interests of a person or a group of people. He got the participants to discuss what happened in a conflict in terms of physical as well as mental condition. He stressed the need to address conflicts. Otherwise they would get out of hand and create a point of no return for both the parties involved.
A conflict, he said, was the result of differences. One must celebrate the differences and realise that they provide opportunity to develop newer perspectives. However when differences grow and they are not addressed, they can turn into a conflict. He said there were three stages to a conflict - when the conflict starts, when the conflict grows and finally resolving the conflict. In a conflict one is basically addressing emotions and it is good to keep that in mind.
Very many conflicts can be identified and resolved through nonverbal communication. Body language can be a true reflection of what everybody is communicating. Studies show that 80% of our communication is nonverbal. They include eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, body orientation, closeness and vocal expression.
Through role-play techniques he and Rachel set about creating different situations and also demonstrating tools and techniques about conflict resolution. The main aspects that came acrosss were when one stepped into the other person's shoes and approached the issue from there. That could help alleviate the conflict.
During the session Christopher announced an interesting exercise. During the days' session everybody would take turns being his interpreter. This way everybody would be on their toes and would be forced to listen very carefully. He asked the participants how they felt in a conflict. The responses were - irritated, angry, aggressive, tensed, nervous and a general indifference to other people. He then asked them why it was necessary to avoid a conflict. The responses were to avoid misunderstanding, decreased productivity, to avoid tension, to avoid affecting friendships, to avoid disrespect, as it creates insecurity and to avoid stress. He then asked the participants why they needed to address the conflict. The responses were - that would enable them to solve problems, would help maintain the relationship, help understand a point of view, they could learn from experience, it would prevent discrimination, keep people happy, and it would maintain better physical & mental health.
Three skills, he said that would help resolve a conflict when used together were a) Asking questions b) Showing understanding c) Saying your position. Questions like open-ended questions can make the beginning of a dialogue possible between two people ina conflict. It paves the way for basic communication to take place. Showing understanding provides an opportunity for empathy to establish. This provides the basis for conflict resolution. When you can state your position and be clear and share as to what is really affecting you or preventing you from functioning to your best potential then you are on the path to resolving your conflict.

Exploring Conflict
After tea, Christopher divides the participants into pairs and asks them to think of a conflict that they have had with a person in power and not to share it to their fellow participant. Then the participant becomes that person and reacts accordingly. The fellow participant has to guess who this person is by asking suitable questions and observing body language. This was an exciting game for the participants as they had great fun exploring the roles.

Quote for the day
It takes two to speak the truth. one to speak and one to listen.

4 Stage Communication Exercise
Participants were divided into pairs and asked to find their own space. One of them had to be a listener while the other would be a speaker. In the first stage of this game, the speaker would talk about a conflict from personal experience, while the listener would remain quiet and listen carefully. Then after a while Rachel would ring the bell which would signify the beginning of the second stage of the exercise. During this stage the speaker would continue talking about the conflict and this time the listener would ask good questions. In the third stage, the speaker would be quiet while the listener would reflect back what he/she has just heard. In the fourth and last stage, the listener would help the speaker with solutions to the situation. Once a pair went through one complete round they were then asked to switch roles where the speaker would become the listener and the listener would become the speaker.
The responses shared were interesting - 'I was feeling like a king', 'I remembered my wife. She is the speaker and Iam the listener', 'in order to give solutions shouldn't the listener be someone who has some experience about the subject?', 'it was difficult to listen and keep silent', 'I spoke about astrophysics and I was happy he didn't laugh'.

While resolving conflicts
- Pay attention to the person's feelings through the conflict.
- Do not show any disrespect at any point of time.
- Respect the identity of the person.

Spotlight
Mathana Aphaimool is from Thailand. She has been actively involved in Social work for the last 5 years. She finds the sessions 'very good and gives a big thanks to fk'. She says 'the activities are very entertaining' although she has a difficulty because she is not fluent in the language. Although she is homesick and misses her family and her pet dog a lot, she is happy about going to Nepal where she has her project. Her biggest dream is to help all the farmers in her village in organic farming. Her interests include trekking, rowing, basketball, geography, watching National Geographic. What does she hate? Nothing, really.

Nahyan Shahed Alam is from Bangladesh. He has just completed his BSc in Computer Science and got into his first job with an NGO when he got this opportunity to be a part of this project. He finds the entire training experience 'pretty good, the participatory group work method was completely new for me and I found it very interesting. I liked the way Christ College & FK took care of us. They were constantly taking our feedback and ensuring we were well'. He loves fast cars, travel, Cricket and has been wanting to learn the guitar although as he admits he has been quite lazy in that respect so far. He hates people who 'backbite' and absolutely can't stand hatred.

Anoop Kumar is from India. He has been working in social work for the last 4 years. About the workshop he says, 'I feel good, I have got clarifications for my idea of sustainable development and I have learnt how to cope up with stress. I found today's sessions especially very important. This is a good platform which provides great exposure to work in a new environment and culture and Iam looking forward to travelling to Sri Lanka for my project.' His biggest dream is to run his own NGO in the interest of the poor which will enable him to run multiple programmes that will help a person. He loves reading, watching cricket on tv, catching up on new practices that are followed in the development field. He hates hypocrisy and people who show disrespect.

8 th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:25:00.000+05:00

Act out
An interesting energizer was played by Banda. Each participant had to enact something and then that person would move onto a new participant and this person would have to enact it back and then create something that was totally new and then move onto a new participant.

Wow
Anita Gurung’s and Suraj’s presentation about their learnings in the earlier session was brilliant to say the least. They used interesting visuals and crisp summaries to underline their learnings. What added flavour to their presentation was interesting short videos on human rights which was simply superb to say the least.

Feedback on the ‘America…America’ Song
- The song was anti-American rather than anti-Bush. It was awkward.
- That message was mis-directed. Creating negative attitudes against a specific country rather than a specific government.
- Personally I agree with Sacha.
- There are very many American nationals who protest against the policies of Mr. Bush. Therefore it is not nice to target the American public.
- The video focused not only at Americans but also various other aspects of American policy. It showed the fact that Americans value freedom but deny it in other countries through their actions.

What’s in a name?…A lot actually!!!
Christopher Macmillan & Rachel Burgh from Metaculture conducted the session on Cross Cultural Communication & Conflict Resolution. Cristopher started the session by asking each person in the room to stand up and give his/her full name and then share the full history of the name, how one got the name, the meaning of the name and anything else to do with the name. Cristopher wanted to explore the history behind each name and the findings were interesting to say the least.
‘Su in my name means good but Iam not a good person’.
‘I don’t know the meaning of my name’.
‘We provide milk for generations to the King in Lanka.’
‘My name means Prince’
‘My name means Arjuna from the Mahabharata. The second part of my name is the title given to our family by the British.’
‘My name means fresh water.’
‘My name means beautiful, but Iam not beautiful.’
‘My name is typical of the farming community but our grand parents are not into farming so they changed my name.’
‘My name is taken from Sanskrit and it means song.’
‘My name is taken from a famous character in Indian culture.’
‘My name means nation’.
‘My name means dream.’
‘I was born during sunrise and therefore I was named after him.’
‘My name means the breeze and Kshatriya which is a fighting clan.’
‘Iam named after a flower.’
‘Iam a bridge.’
‘Iam named after the night. A monk named me.’
‘Iam named after truth.’
Cristopher asked the group ‘what did you notice from this exercise’? The group responded with, ‘names reflect our culture’, ‘a lot of people had their grandparents names’, ‘where the names were different to pronounce, there were nicknames’, ‘lots of different meanings for names’.

Identity Wheel
Cristopher gave a brief overview of Transactional Analysis by Eric Berne (‘I do something to you, you do something back.’) Then he distributed sheets with what he called Identity wheels. These were circles, which were divided into 8 equal parts. He then asked participants to list different aspects of their identity (social, religious, cultural roots), which they felt very strongly about onto that sheet.
Strong images emerged with regard to gender, cultural identity, defining interests and multiple identities.

Doors and walkers exercise
This was an interesting energizer with participants divided into ‘doors’ and the ‘walkers’. The ‘doors’ were participants who created doors by holding hands with each other. The ‘walkers’ were the others who had to move about slowly with their eyes closed, their key to going through the doors were the warning sounds made by the doors when they were going away and encouraging sounds made when they got it right. This energizer paved the way for the session on cross-cultural communication.

5 stages of culture shock
Stage 1 – Settling in (Incubation)
Stage 2 – Adapting (Transition)
Stage 3 – Insight
Stage 4 – Mixing (Integration)
Stage 5 – Re-entry Shock

Stage 1 – Settling in
Symptoms – Bliss, Pleasure, Excitement, Everything is new.
Solutions – Build solid foundations- good living situation, personal social network (old & new), bring select items from home.

Stage 2 – Adapting
Symptoms – communication difficulties, Discontent, Impatience, Anger, Sadness, feeling incompetent. Danger – Expressing feelings as facts.
Solutions – Support systems, understanding feelings as messengers, take action.

Stage 3 – Insight
Symptoms – Gain some understanding, Pleasure, Sense of humour, Psychological balance.
Solutions – Keep an open mind, seek out different perspectives, hold the complexity, be flexible.

Stage 4 – Mixing
Symptoms – New culture has both positive and negative sides, double or triple integration, Feeling of belonging, self-definition, goals for living.
Danger – exoticism or avoidance.
Solution – find the value in each culture, try to view the culture from it own perspective, find a place for your authentic self in each culture

Stage 5 – Re-entry shock
Symptoms – Person who goes home isn’t the person who left.
Danger – Reacting to family or situation negatively.
Solutions – Consciously balance new parts of you with home culture

General Recommendations
 Don’t forget the good things you have
 Have a hobby
 Be constructive
 Avoid unfavourable or hostile environments
 Don’t try too hard.
 Have regular physical activity or exercise.
 Have time for relaxation and meditation
 Maintain contact with your new culture
 Maintain contact with your ethnic group
 Set simple goals and check your progress
 Be patient, and stay confident

Framed
‘The conspirators at work’

Spotlight
Shopna Akther is from Bangladesh. She has been working in the area of social work for the last 8 years. She is also a freelance photographer. She has jointly developed three documentaries. Regarding the workshop she says, ‘this workshop is challenging. The homestay was a challenge. I didn’t understand the language at all’. She likes the fact that the workshop is based on real-life experiences. However she prefers if it was more visually supported than just remaining lecture-based. Her loves watching Tom & Jerry and reading Harry Potter. She also loves watching Indian movies. She hates ‘bad behaviour’ and ‘unsafe people’.

Gaurav Gurung is from Nepal and as he admits, ‘Iam a shy person. I don’t like to talk too much. But he isn’t too shy talking about his girlfriend. He finds the workshop ‘very helpful as it has exposed me to various situations. It helps me to communicate and has improved my presentation skills.’ His biggest dream is to build a hydropower in Nepal. He loves the sharing of cultures that this experience has brought about. Gaurav loves playing football and his guitar. He hates selfishness and ‘backbiting’.

6 th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:18:00.001+05:00

Protection and Promotion of Human Rights

Mr. Henri Tiphagne, the executive director of Peoples Watch, and board member of the National Human Rights Commission of India, along with his colleague Mr. Subroto, presented an extremely powerful first session on Human Rights. He started off with saying that Human Rights does not belong in courts of law or constitutional articles, but it is something that is personal to each human being. Human Rights is a basic need, and the three keywords for Human Rights are knowledge, skills and action.
He then screened a film – “I am Dalit, How are you?” It reflected the conditions of Dalits (Broken People) in India. It was a movie that the audience squirm in their seats, tear their hair out in anger, and feel terribly ashamed and surprised about Untouchabilty. The film awoke people’s consciences in various forms. This, said Mr. Henri, was what he wanted, because Human Rights is all about the passion to see things put right. It is this anger that caused the United Nations to recognise caste discrimination as a blatant violation of Human Rights. Therefore anger and passion are also the hope for the future, and Human Rights needs people who are willing to pay the price to get it.
There was a slide presentation about the Principles of Human Rights. It made it clear to all of us that human rights are
o Inherent to all beings without any distinction, legally guaranteed by human rights law
o Place an obligation on governments to act in some ways and prohibit other ways
o Inherent entitlements based on the respect and dignity of human beings
o Universal, inalienable, indivisible, interrelated and interdependent.

First, Second and Third Generation Rights
Ist – Civil and Political rights
2nd – Social, Economic and Cultural rights
3rd – Solidarity rights, which include right to peace, to a clean environment, to the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind.
4th – Right to self-determination
5th – Right to development (right to development as a collective as well as an individual right – individuals regarded as primary subjects of development).

Discussion on Nandigram - ‘human rights is also linked with politics, they go together’ ‘Human Rights are universal. Speak strongly. Keep the politics out. Speak consistently and speak collectively.’

Humanitarian Law
- Also referred as law of armed conflict or the ‘law of war’.
- Intended to limit human sufferings in times of armed conflict.
- Seeks to protect persons who are not, or are no longer, taking apart in the hostilities and to restrict method and means of warfare.

Even during a conflict, humanitarian law should be followed.

A short musical video ‘America America, American war paar da…’ was shown to the participants. The hypocrisy that exists in the U.S war on terror was highlighted through catchy lyrics and hard-hitting visuals.

‘So free Iam dying to see
Disneyland and…’

Human Rights in India encompasses four words – Right to Life, Right to Equality, Right to Liberty, Right to Dignity. This is also the core of the United Nations declaration as well.

Tip: Listen to your conscience and then respond appropriately.

Spotlight
Bal Kumari Ghimire is from Nepal. She has been in the area of social work for the last 9 years. Speaking about the entire experience here, she says it is ‘nice and gives me an opportunity to learn. It teaches me skills – how to communicate…’ It also provides her an opportunity to make friends. According to her, all the sessions were very nice. She dreams of becoming a woman leader in the area of social work in Nepal. She loves reading, music and singing. She hates discrimination and people who hate each other.

5th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:11:00.000+05:00

What do you think was the purpose of the home stay?

This question of Sacha’s had answers like “ I might face the same conditions out there” “After the home stay I am confident that I can manage any where” ”Taking on the challenge of communication in an unknown environment”

Sacha said the main point of the home stay was to see if individual was ready to take on the challenges of the real world, to see if one could adapt to a new environment, and finally, looking at bridging the gap between theory sessions and field experiences.

Another question of Sacha’s was – Did any of the sessions help you in your home stay? Daniel found the session on discrimination very useful, because he met people who “did not like black people”. Other sessions that helped were those on stress management and the session on personality development and understanding. Sacha capped it off with telling participants not to romanticize the community life and not expect extreme good or bad experiences in a community stay.

Media and communication development

Mr. Ashish Sen from VOICES, a community radio program service, started off this session in a very interesting manner. After asking what the participants expected from his session, he stated what he had come to deliver, and created a common ground of expectations. Then he made the participants play Marshall Mcluhan’s communication paradigm game. Banda was given a picture that he had to describe to the participants, who all had to draw their idea of the picture based on what Banda was saying. For the first round, no one was allowed to clarify doubts with Banda. Then Banda described the picture for the second time, but this time the others were allowed to ask questions that would help them clarify the picture. Needless to say, the first round produced varied pictures, and the second round, because of its participative nature, got everyone to create pictures that were very close what Banda had in his hand.
Mr. Ashish used this as an example for basic media communication, and talked briefly about the sender-receiver message/media model. He said that for effective communication for development, the receiver of the message needed also to be the producer of information, and not just remain a consumer. He gave the example of Budikote, a village on the border of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. This combination produced interesting linguistic and cultural mixes. The local Karnataka radio, Akashvani, though it broadcast community development messages, could not address this mix of culture. He then talked about how creating a community radio station addressing the needs of the locals made a huge difference to the community, simply because the model had created a feedback mechanism of relevant information for the locals themselves. They have appropriately called their radio station Namma Dhwani – Our Voice
For his second session, Mr. Ashish started off with a small discussion on the three types of media – Public, Private and Community. Public media is usually one-way communication, private media has its agenda for profit, and therefore the hope for change lies with community media. Since community media is driven by the needs of the community, fastest social change is possible this way. He gave several examples of how community radio showcases the power of the people – how monarchy in Nepal could not stifle the voices of people and radio stations like Radio Sagarmatha and Radio Lumbini were so powerful in community reach that they forced the authorities to change the law for the benefit of the people.
The highlight of the session was a little demonstration of a mobile radio station, a simple briefcase model that runs on a car battery. When connected to an antenna it can broadcast to a range of 3-4 km. Mr. Ramamurthy from All India Radio demonstrated the set, and excited participants heard themselves on a small radio. Mr. Ashish finished with several brilliant examples on the power of community radio. The most powerful one was the example of Budikote, where for the first time Panchayat elections were covered live on a mobile phone and broadcast and cablecast to the community. It was truly a marvellous session that opened people’s eyes to the power of community media.

Five takeaways from Mr. Ashish

People centred communication
Principles
Two-way communication
Three tiered communication – pubic, private and community media
The power of Community Radio

As responsible people, let us ask ourselves, “Do we get the change we deserve or do we deserve the change we get?”

Where does the media stand on development?

Here are some statistics about how much attention the media pays to development. The Centre for Development and Learning conducted a survey on how much coverage development gets from mainline newspapers in India. Watch the numbers over the course of a year.
8549 articles concentrated on Foreign Investment. In contrast only 988 articles talked about education, out of which 288 articles focused on elementary education, and only 59 articles even concentrated on rural education.
The Times of India, out of its 24 daily pages devoted 4% to development, The Hindustan Times had 3% coverage, Deccan Herald had 4% and The Pioneer stood at 8 %. Coverage on craft, gender and the girl child was the least, followed by drinking water and NGOs.
As Mr. Ashish put it, “Statistics don’t bleed, people do”. Time to wake up?

Spotlight

Norman Nacion from Philippines says “Mabu Hay Pilipinas” – Greetings from Philippines in Tagalog, the language spoken in the country. Norman is a Tilapia specialist, and tilapia is a kind of freshwater fish, which is big business in the Philippines. He is a graduate of fisheries from Central Luzon State University, and has been tilapia specialist for 8 years now. He is going to Angola to train the people there in new methods of tilapia culturing, harvest and growth. He finds the course very helpful, especially the session on stress management. He is an extensive traveller and loves basketball. He finds India a very hospitable and friendly place. On being asked for a quote he says, “Take care of your health, because people lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health”

The basics of communication

Mr. Suvendu, the director of Drik, India took a session that took participants back to the basics of communication. He started off with the example of Maggi noodles, a two-minute meal that is very popular today in India and many other parts of the world. Nestle, the makers, came to India with a marketing campaign that turned out to be a disaster. They decided to consult Alyque Padamsee on why the product had failed. Alyque, India’s ad guru, quickly spotted the problem. The British company in charge of the ad campaign had targeted women as the primary consumers. Alyque said that this was a faulty approach, because in India women are expected to cook for the family, and cooking is a service provided to the rest of the family. Women are not expected to serve a meal in two minutes. He suggested that they target the product as a quick after-school snack for kids. The campaign worked admirably after they changed the target group. This got Mr. Suvendu to the basics of media strategy

Defining the problem
Finding targets of opportunity
Assessing feasibility of activities

All communication arises from these eternal questions-
Who am I? Who needs to know? Why do they need to know? How will they find out? How do I want them to respond?

And communication is defined as, “Any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person about that persons needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge or affective states.”

Finally he made the various groups discuss the following questions - If you have to communicate the message of your org to the host family, what factors would help you? What factors would obstruct you?

4 th October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T12:01:00.001+05:00

Looking back

Back from home stay in a village, participants reflect on an important learning of the last session. - “Development should be sustainable”. If it destroys environment then that is not the right kind of development.

Sustainable Development – State, Private Sector and Civil societies

Dr Gopakumar the director of Public Affairs Centre started off his session by linking it to the previous activity of “Looking back”. The focus was on understanding the evolutionary map of “Sustainable Development”. While the 50’s & 60’s focused on Productivity as an outcome of world war, the 60’s & 70’s was aimed at State Action through good policies and governance. 80’s brought the voice of Sustainability into focus. Early 90’s focussed on Participation through decentralisation. Accountability/Transparency were the hallmark of late 90’s, Dr Gopakumar brought the session focus to the concept of Sustainability.
It was pointed out that civil society has always been an advocate of Sustainable Development, although it came into official government corridors in the 80’s. To substantiate this stand the example of 1977 Kenyan green belt revolution was cited – a good three years before the government and other caretakers of society laid their claim to it as policy matter.
It was mentioned that there are 70 official definitions of Sustainable Development revolving around the three domains – Social, Economic and Environment. Dr Gopakumar challenged the participants to improve on the model. The Fk participants came up with the following additions - technology, political guidelines, role of institutions, human resource and education, making it the unofficial 71st definition for Sustainable Development.
The pictorial representation of SD along with Rule of Law and Quality of Life standing on a structure of Governance caught the attention of all participants. The need for political will through public awareness and societal values was shown as the foundation necessary for SD to take place. A global map of red and green showed how corruption and economic development are related.

The question raised today was – What is good society?

Shocking news

$ 50 Billion in aid is required to have global poverty eradicated by 2015
$ 1 trillion is paid as bribe globally by household and small firms (200 times more that what we require to eradicate poverty)

“Rural Haryana has more millionaires than urban Bangalore – This is not an economic situation, it’s a social situation”

Dr Gopakumar pointed out that The State, The Corporate and The People have to work together to achieve set objectives. Social audit – Businesses being open to auditing by the society - an emerging concept. The new question being raised is how are corporate’s and NGO’s being accountable to society.
In the second part of the session the participants were divided into three groups and asked to create roadmaps on how to contribute towards sustainable development through the a) State b) Business and c) Civil Society

Sabrina Sharmin

With her head cover you cannot miss her in a crowd, Sabrina from Dhaka, Bangladesh. A geography lecturer from University College, her aim is to relate geography and migration. This is her first visit to India. Before embarking on this journey she was informed that people from Bangalore are simple and English is the main language spoken here! A traveller at heart, she has travelled widely within Bangladesh and is going to Nepal after this training. She is very interested in working with returning migrant workers and women. Her hope is that during her one year in Nepal she will be able to acquire enough knowledge, which she can use in her country. A lover of handicrafts, she also designs clothes and is a shy singer. The one thing she misses the most is her family.

The Roles and Responsibilities of a Development Worker

Mr. Vijay Kumar from Society for People’s Action for Development (SPAD) facilitated a much-needed session on the roles and responsibilities of a Development Worker (DW). He started off with a question on what they thought were the characteristics of a village. Fresh from their home stay in villages in Hoskote, the answers came flying from the participants – No bed, no toilet, no schools, animals in the house, division of labour in a family and so on. After listening patiently to these replies Mr. Vijay Kumar came to the crux. He listed out the basic/universal characteristics of a village.

o Primary relationships – Everyone knows everyone else.
o Open society – There are no secrets, everyone knows the state of affairs
o Closed society – at the same time, the village is resistant to change and development. This, said Mr. Vijay Kumar, was very important to keep in mind.
o Joint Family system – Again the strongest and weakest point, the joint family creates harmony and division of labor, but is also patriarchal, and therefore resistant to new ideas. Mr. Vijay Kumar asked the participants to look out for such fine social fabrics.
o Feeling of oneness – The entire village is represented by one or two leaders. Antagonising one will antagonise the whole village, which again is very important for a DW to note.
o Sharing – Every little thing that happens is known, so every one reacts to any issue.

What are the problems of a village community?

…was the next question. They were divided into geographical groups for this, and were asked to list answers specific to their country. Again lots of common answers came thick and fast – lack of hygiene, lack of education, infrastructure, gender bias and so on. When all this was discussed, Mr. Vijay Kumar again summed it up in one perfect insight – “the biggest problem is to get people to talk about their problems. So the change agent, that is you, will have to have a specially sensitive heart to read the unspoken problems in the eyes of the people.”

Mr. Vijay Kumar posed the next question

What is development?
The answer had been given in a previous session, and he summed it up as development that concerns economics, politics, culture as well as environment i.e. both material and non material.

Finally Mr. Vijay Kumar finished with the role of the DW or as he framed it

What are the roles a DW needs to play?

o Respect yourself – the most important message of the day, a DW is a professional in his own right, on par with any engineer or doctor.
o Function like a change agent – work with individuals, groups and communities, look at the larger picture always
o Friend/philosopher/ guide – you need to be a resource bank with the knowledge to solve the problems of the community.
o Catalyst – Be the link that bridges the people and the external services, link the people with the program
o Management expert – Adapt to playing the roles of HR, understand finance and organise people
Involve people to create sustainable development for a long term future

As a final exercise, he made the participants ask themselves about the qualities and limitations of a DW, a fine way to create the introspection that comes with being a change agent

Final say

On being asked about what he would like the participants to take home from his session, Mr. Vijay Kumar quoted a Chinese poem, which he felt summed up the entire truth of being a social worker

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Work with the people

And finally when there is positive change, credit it to those who made it possible, the people and not you.

1 st October - Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T11:47:00.001+05:00

First exercises - 7 Stretch energizer

Daniel is given the lead to “energize” the group. Small whisper from one of the facilitators and Daniel is all smiles to start. Everybody follows Daniel in stretching one limb at a time “7” times. This is followed by a stretch for “5” counts. The first day after a Mysore trip is tiring but all participants are ready to start on time.

Review of Saturday

o Screening of the movie – Dear Mom
o Stereotypes, Prejudices etc
o We can be discriminated
o We should not discriminate and put people in difficulty
o Adjustment, Adaptability and Accountability
o How will we adjust with the host country – culture, language
o Not to be nervous, but adjust using the skills taught during FK training
o Symbolic meaning through a drawing
o Maintaining personality – through funny games

Two names are picked at random for next review.

Poverty, Well-being & Sustainable Development

The second week of the program and the participants are asked to understand “thought processes” which influence how people respond in the real word.
The facilitator for the session is Mr Sharachchandra Lele, an Indian Institute of Science graduate with a Phd in Forest and Ecology from the U S.

Mr Sharad started off the session with a question. – What is development? Each participant had his or her own notions of development - Infrastructure, Education, Improving standards of living, moving towards peace. The next two questions formed the crux of the session - “Where to go” and “How do we want to get there”
The example given was everybody agrees that water for ‘A’ group is necessary but the question is should it be at the cost of group ‘B’ and therein lies the problem. The next question was – Should everyone have a car? No one seemed to agree in the group. A few felt that its “ok” to have a car as long as it doesn’t cause problems like pollution, extra consumption of fuel etc. Mr Sharad tried to make the participants question themselves with the thought. Is it “ok” to have solar powered cars? If “yes” can I have 10 cars because it is my requirement. If “no” are you not trying to impose your idea of well-being on me?
With these questioning examples the participants were made to understand the issues of poverty, well-being and sustainable development critically, instead of following set notions.

The classification of Material and Non-material things came into focus. The concept of “Good Life” being different for different people was brought to the forefront. While one participant noted that Food, Clothing and Shelter are basic necessities, the facilitator pointed out that the basic necessities apart from clothes are requirements of animals also. What differentiates us as human beings is that we like to have music, dance, culture, freedom, independence etc. “Good Life” and well-being have multi-dimensional aspects. The question is what is minimum for things like food, shelter etc for an individual.
The next topic was “how do we measure”. The common notion is to measure by per capita income. This is done because it can be “calculated”. The argument against income measurement is that it is difficult to measure. Women’s right issues, independence etc cannot be easily measured. A country with high per-capita income might have low on independence hence the term “good life” is relative to context and conditions. The topic of environment was brought in. In environment, the issue is not only air, water etc, but also access to these things, animals birds and their effects.
These issues - content, context and environment with their relativity need to be taken into consideration at the decision making level.
In the second part of the session four groups were made and each group asked to answer a question related to four dimensions of poverty, well-being and sustainable development.
Focusing on environment, it was pointed out that what is good for one person might not be good for the other and has to be checked in relation to context. A landslide for uphill farmers might be bad, but good because of the silt to the downhill farmer. This is also relative, because excess landslide is harmful anyway. People usually find a way around these things. E.g. how terrace farming reduces landslides.
While discussing developed areas the term “Global North” and “Global South” was highlighted. Global North refers to developed areas with Global South being underdeveloped areas. E.g. Bangalore being a “Global North” as compared to villages nearby which are “Global South”
Participants were asked to see how they would formulate policies at the national level or during implementation of programs at the NGO level itself.

Shoes

A circle was made with everyone’s footwear and participants were asked to stand outside the circle. The leader says “in” and “out” continuously and suddenly stops at one of the words – all participants have to jump in or out of the circle accordingly. The last person to do so is asked to come to the centre of the circle and be the leader repeat the instructions of “in” and “out”.

Participatory Approach in Community Development

Mr Jangal, one of the pioneers in the Participatory Rural Approaches (PRA) method, divided the participants into three groups to get their idea of “participation”. Concepts that emerged were - assessing the problem, preparing a plan, contribution, joining, working together, taking part in decision-making etc.
In the context of development PRA is defined as “ collective effort by people concerned to pool their effort and resources to attain objectives they set for themselves”. What interventions have to do is facilitate this process.

The types of participation highlighted were
o Passive participation
o Participation in information giving
o Participation of consultation
o Participation for Material incentives
o Functional participation
o Interactive participation
o Self-mobilization
Self-mobilization is considered the ultimate aim of PRA. The others are considered means towards achieving it.

Creation of Social Map with the help of the community is an important aspect of PRA. Social map is used to depict the habitation pattern of the region/village. It provides a useful base for understanding and identifying problems at various levels for intervention. The local people with the facilitators help do this. The three L’s to be followed are Look, Listen and Learn.

Suraj Ratna Shakya

Having spent his growing years in Kathmandu, Suraj likes everything except the uneasiness of politics. Having been a Sound Engineer for five years with an FM station, Suraj is at present helping establish the first student FM station in Kathmandu. Freelance photography, playing the keyboard and working on the computer keeps him excited. Suraj says he spends more time with this computer than with his family. He is ready for the adventure of going to his host country Bangladesh. A lover of music, he supports music for peace and has also composed two songs for his FM station.

29th September of Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T11:41:00.001+05:00

My Secret friend
A very interesting game that is turning out to be a huge rage is the ‘secret friend’. Each participant has a secret friend they don’t know of and they in turn are secret friends to somebody else. Notes & small gifts have been exchanged. It has made some of them blush in embarrassment; some of them are obviously delighted. Some of them are waiting endlessly for their secret friend to wake up and deliver. All in all, when the gifts are announced, that’s the moment everything pauses for a while.

Dancing feat
Latecomers have to be ready to dance or sing a song to the whole group. This novel idea is keeping chronic late-comers on their toes. For the others it is great additional entertainment.

This is my song
This is my song
And this is the song of my people
When the sun sets
And the moon rises
I know I am home.

Trainer Madhu Smriti Shukla took a wonderful session on ‘Personality & Understanding’. Participants were asked to draw a symbol in relation to themselves. Then, on paper using sketch pens participants found their own place and to the accompaniment of soothing strains of instrumental music prepared to create their works of art.

There were interesting designs that were created. Some of them were abstract, while others were realistic. Nearly all of them spoke of home and a longing for the motherland. The artwork was simple and the sharing was very honest. There was tranquillity in the group as they listened to each person’s idea behind the creation. What was very visible was the bonding and respect and interest shared by all. It was truly touching.

Missing home
And the smell of flowers
I dream of my land
And the thousand flowers I will plant

There were pictures of strength and intense understanding, a coconut tree in all its splendour. Giving support, useful to the community. ‘I give you my leaves, my bark and fruit. I give you myself.’ It seemed to say. It said a lot of the participant. Another art emerged of squiggly lines, seemingly emerging from a point. ‘Iam confused but I emerge from this point’ and that was important.

When the world is a cricket field
And I have a ball and a bat
Then, I can go to sleep at last

A simple response emerged - I live near a cricket ground where I visit everyday. Now I miss it. Another spoke of a lens eye and that being the central theme of her life. Yet another became a kite that soared high. Another had a path leading from his home. As one participant shared, ‘he knows his way home.’ There was another person who described life like a burning candle. Another spoke of her intense love for her homeland.

Bangla…O Bangla
The land of golden paddy fields
The land, this my very own

From music for peace to soccer to ‘just do it’ to positive thinking to a little bit of mathematics. This was a session where the participants got together and shared their deepest feelings and thoughts. There are some things that change the character of a group forever. You can’t go through an experience like this and not feel connected. These were certainly moments like that.

Big 5 Personality traits
1. Extraversion
2. Agree/ableness
3. Conscientiousness
4. Neuroticism
5. Openness to experiences

Dear Mom
There was a very good documentary that was screened. It was made by Daniel from Africa. The documentary featured Daniel’s stay in Norway. It gave the participants a first-hand feel of the country and it’s people. The participants also got a glimpse of the possible follow-up activity they could do after their stint in the foreign country.

Positive Action
In the event of finding yourself among two colleagues who don’t like each other –
a) Reduce the tension
b) Don’t pick any sides
c) Be friends with everyone
d) Play an energiser
e) Don’t expect a 100% change. Be prepared to accept the challenge.

In the event that your boss is not interested in becoming friendly with you and has not assigned you your role –
a) Identify key people who are close to your boss and communicate with them.
b) Adjust to the office culture.
c) Observe office situation first & learn how people work.
d) Bond with people who are not hostile.
e) We are going there to learn as well as teach. Don’t assume something is wrong.
f) Find solutions through team building.
g) Initiate your own ideas and put down your proposal in writing and show it to him.

In the event of people not being able to speak English –
a) Use common words and common language.
b) You can start learning their language and if you are interested teach them English.
c) Learn to greet them using their way of greeting.
d) Buy a lot of small cheap gifts and that will help you make friends.

Spotlight
Anita Gurung is from Nepal. She is a first year Masters student in Sociology. She says, ‘I am a migrant worker returnee.’ She finds the training here very interesting. She says she feels very empowered. She likes the fact that the trainers are very friendly and not strict. Her biggest dream is to open a High school. If it is successful she wants to take it a step further. She wants to establish a university. She also dreams of opening an old age home. Her interests include learning classical music, volleyball, painting, cooking Chinese food and making handicrafts. She hates people who gossip behind her and also those who are selfish.

Kaushik Sengupta is from Kolkata, India. A photographer by profession, Kaushik loves meeting different kinds of people. He has taken a lot of good pictures at this training meet, so therefore he loves it all the more. As far as the sessions go, Kaushik is quite candid when he shares that he has felt bored sometimes but he quickly adds, ‘there are good things also’. His biggest dream is to become a filmmaker. His interests include literature, travelling, listening to classical music. His biggest bugbear is anybody criticising his work.

Ragni Kidvai is from Karachi Pakistan. She is a filmmaker. She finds the entire training a ‘good experience and useful for all participants’. She also adds that, ‘I think it can be a lot more fun & sometimes it takes too long to get to the point.’ She observes that interesting people come with different language capabilities and she loves the variety. To list her dreams, she has too many of them. One of them is to have more conversations around gender.
Her interests include painting, printmaking, drawing, political theory. She is also a confirmed bookworm and loves being a facilitator. She hates the army in any form.

H.M Senevirathna Banda is from Kegalle, Sri Lanka. He sums up the training here in two words – ‘great experience’. ‘I got a lot of things here. I liked the volunteers who are very helpful. I also got an opportunity to meet Dr. Abdul Kalam which was great.’ This man is brimming with energy and positivity as he speaks. He shares that he poverty as a child and now his energies are fully utilized towards helping helpless people. His hobbies are reading and again this is towards social welfare. There is nothing that he hates, because as he reasons there is always somebody who will love what other people hate.

28th September of Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T11:33:00.000+05:00

Insight
Nahyan and Sujan made a presentation of the learnings from the session, yesterday. Although their presentation was very exhaustive and it was evident that they had put in a lot of hard work, it was suggested to them that maybe they should have presented it more creatively and with the focus on their insights and learnings.
Sacha then told the group, ‘you don’t need to be afraid. After this prep course, you will be confident when interacting with others in a foreign country’.

‘Everyone has a right to live…’
A very interesting case study was presented to all the groups. Six people were profiled and the group was asked to choose in order of acceptance, who they would be more acceptable to have as tenants. The profiles were as follows – a) Ruth (35 years and a social worker), b) Mona (38 years) & Ali (44 years) and their 8 year old son, c) Hans (20 years) student of medicine, d) George (56 yrs) and a sailor who will be away at work for several years, e) Nora (22 yrs) & Fatima (39), Nora works in a nearby school and Fatima is selling cars, f) Tom (40 yrs) & Lisa (19 yrs). Tom works in a farm and Lisa is at home with their 4 months old daughter.

The participants then got into a discussion within their own groups. A lot of interesting data was presented. Two groups said their first preference was Tom & Lisa. They felt that they liked somebody who owned a dog. It gave a picture of security and dependability. One group pumped for Nora and Fatema, while the other group went with Ruth.

In the next round, a little more information was given about the characters. For instance Ruth turned out to be a black American social worker who had previously been to jail. Nora and Fatima were discovered to be Lesbians who were in a steady relationship. Mona & Ali were in a live-in relationship. Hans is a student who wears Nazi insignia on his clothes.

When this information was shared with the group, prejudices and beliefs slowly started emerging. One group relegated the lesbians lower down the order. Another group stuck to the same list even after the new information. Their criterion was priority to women, regular income generating clients, and the specific needs of the client. Two groups put the social worker on top. The medical student looked less likely to get accommodation. The sailor was relegated to the last spot.

Gently the participants were forced to examine their standpoints. There were various debates and discussions that took place. ‘You have moralised lesbians very badly.’ ‘That lady committed a crime for which she was sent to prison.’ ‘Why are we thinking of her past?’ At moments Sacha would intervene, ‘you are making a lot of assumptions based on limited information’. Somebody said, ‘we are impressed with Ruth’s achievements.’
Another response was ‘how does the church validate living together?’ Another person said ‘people who are not married and are living-in a relationship are very likely to separate.’ At which there was a retort, ‘but what about all the divorces that take place.’ The perfect response was this, ‘marriage is not something that is signed in a register book it is more than that.’

This truly powerful session was summarised this way by a participant, ‘I am from a conservative Bengali family and when I came here Iam beginning to see new view points and realize that everyone has a right to live’.

Be Aware
Sacha had this to say, ‘There will always be disagreements in society. The world is never perfect. This is the reality. When you go to another country you are a stranger and they will judge you. The opinions, judgements that you made about others; people in a new country will be judging you. Ask yourself if the judgements and opinions they made about you are fair! Therefore be sensitive of your opinions.’

Follow up activities
What kind of follow-up activities would you do to share your experiences?
1. Photography exhibition
2. Multimedia workshop
3. Documentary
4. Photoshop workshop for rural photographers
5. Video documentation
6. Develop content for a website
7. Seminars
8. Video clips
9. Presentation
10. Group work
11. Demonstration
12. Case studies

Spotlight
Prathapratim Roy Choudhary is from Kolkata, India. A textile engineer by profession he moved into social work to help improve the conditions of the textile weavers and dyers. He says that this workshop is very important for him. Citing an example of this morning when he was forced to view new viewpoints in the landlord and tenant exercise, he found it moving. His biggest dream (hold your breath) is to study Philosophical Mathematics. Apparently it forms the original rules on which the mathematical formulae is constructed. He loves to read books on Philosophy and to listen to Rabindra Sangeet. Being a peace lover he hates all wars.

27th September of Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T11:27:00.000+05:00

Feedback
Today’s session started off with a feedback session on the facilities of the past few days. The feedback ranged from ‘Good’ ‘Before teambuilding we didn’t know each other, but after that we know each other very well’. Another person said, ‘I got into the sports ground after 9 years and I enjoyed it.’ One quiet person said, ‘ the first day I was stressed out as I did not know anybody, but because of the team building activities I now know everybody.’ When asked about the Stress management session, there was a feedback that ‘the activities were useful but the discussion after that was boring.’

What does fk mean to you?
1. Opportunities
2. Source of funds
3. Gaining International perspectives
4. Immersion in another culture
5. Making new friends,
6. Sharing previous knowledge
7. Learning about Asia
8. Networking
9. Being better activists & more socially aware
10. Learning new skills
11. Practicing already acquired skills in a new context
12. Language
13. Provide facilities for sustainable development
14. Facilitators through north-south exchanges
15. Providing opportunities for solidarity by getting people together

Why do you want to go on this exchange?
1. To share skills
2. Share experiences
3. Lots of new friends
4. To improve knowledge & skills to understand different cultures
5. To make our future secure
6. To assist them about our culture to built professionalism
7. To learn how to stay alone
8. Personality development
9. Help for our county
10. Team work

What do you want to get out of this exchange personally?
1. Confidence
2. Stress Management
3. Freedom of realisation as a human being
4. Coping under different situations
5. Cultural experience
6. Acquire knowledge
What do you want to get out of this exchange professionally?
1. Getting knowledge about different societies and lifestyles
2. Adaptation skills in new environments
3. Enhancement in team building capacity
4. Communication ability/ skills from different organizations
5. Increasing our technological skills
6. Networking with others in the field

Partnership for development

Fredskorpset

o A network of partners and participants in the North and South
o Secretariat in Norway
o Regional offices in Uganda, Africa and Thailand, Asia
o Overseen by a Board of Directors
o Financed completely by the Norwegian government

How does Fk operate?

o Through partnerships, though not through fk itself
o As a partnership collaboration between an organisation and its counterparts

A peep into Fk

o A Norwegian volunteer service established in 1963
o The pioneer period in the 60s and 70s created a corps of development workers who were highly respected in Norway
o In the late 90s Fk concerned itself with re-examining its effectiveness
o The Ministry, based on several papers on a future volunteer service, concluded to abolish the old volunteer service and created a new program

Fk on the web at http://www.fredskorpset. no

Overall objectives

o Contributing towards lasting improvements in economic, social and political conditions of the populations of developing countries
o Ensuring that development assistance benefits the poor
o Focus on the recognition of fundamental human rights
o Contributing to individual and organisational contact and co-operation between Norway and the South based on solidarity, equality and reciprocity
o Ensuring 50% of funding goes to least developed countries
Spotlight

Sameer Chhetri

Sameer Chhetri is from Nepal, and is a first timer to India. Sameer is going to Thailand later and is happy to have met Ms. Mathana from that country. That makes him feel very comfortable about his forthcoming journey and stay in Thailand. He finds the course very systematic and realistic. He would like to thank Fk for providing him this great opportunity. Sameer’s biggest dream is to run a big organisation in Nepal for handicrafts

FK Norway (Fredskorpset) arranges reciprocal exchanges of personnel between organisations in Norway and developing countries. Our objective is to contribute to lasting improvements in economic, social and political conditions in the world.

When people from different countries meet and get to know each other, this gives rise to knowledge, understanding and empathy… and the world gets smaller. That is why we give ordinary people the possibility to work for longer periods in a foreign country.

The exchange occurs in a partnership between two or more organisations or companies, with support from FK Norway. The aim is to promote the mutual exchange of knowledge, experiences and skills. This goes both ways: the organisation or company both sends and receives participants.

FK Norway is a public body answerable to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and financed totally over the State Budget. For the year 2007, Fredskorpset has been allocated NOK 165 million. Over the past five years, about 2500 participants have been exchanged.

26th September of Preparatory Course

2007-11-05T11:20:00.000+05:00

Ping or Pong

Ping Pong was the energizer for today. The participants stood around in a circle, with a volunteer in the centre. The volunteer would say ping-pong ping-pong a couple of times and then stop at a participant and say ping or pong. If he says ping then the participant whom he is facing will have to say the name of the participant to his left immediately without thinking and if pong is the word then he would have to do likewise for the person standing to his right. It was all great fun, with quite a few people getting stumped with their left and their right.

Kicking stress out of our lives

Prof. Kishore Kumar K. V, Senior Psychiatrist from NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences), India’s premier mental health institute, was the chief speaker today. His session today was brilliant to say the least and absolutely necessary at this point of time.

He divided the participants into five groups. Group 1 was given the task to go for a run for about 10 minutes. Group 2 was asked to have one person in their group drawing a picture like a landscape and while the picture was being drawn, the others would have to criticize and discourage the person verbally. Group 3 was asked to again choose another person who would draw something and this time time the group would be completely impassive and not respond to the artiste in any way at all. They could pass on sketch pens if he asked but that would be it, there would be no other response. Group 4 was asked to play a game called the ‘cat & mouse’ game, which was played with participants standing in two lines and two others – a cat & a mouse. The cat would have to catch the mouse keeping in mind the changing dynamics of the movement of the participants. This was again based on the trainer’s directions. In one instance the cat would have to run through short alleys and sometimes it would be longer alleys, created by the participants.

The long Run
After the groups had fulfilled their objectives, Prof. Kishore had a debrief on all the exercises. Group 1 who had to go for the long run shared that it was ‘exciting, relaxing and challenging’. ‘It was easy’, they shared, ‘ for the first three minutes after that it was difficult. Our hear beats increased and when we reached the top floor, some of us looked down at the traffic from the window and the sights around.’ Some of the other group members interrupted, ‘We didn’t look out, but we chose to concentrate on the task.’

Prof. Kishore pointed out a very interesting thing here. He said that all the participants were suffering from acute stress because of the physical activity. Both groups chose different strategies to counter stress. Looking out of the window is one strategy, which basically works as a diversion and allows the person to calm down and take his mind off the present stressful situation. While when the others focused on the stressful task, they were telling themselves that very soon this would be over and they need to complete within the time frame. This is also another useful strategy to counter stress.

He said that stress can be external or internal. We either fight or fly from it. He shared some chilling details. Stress converts enormous amounts of glucose into fat. This results in the storage of unwanted energy in the body. Problems like obesity diabetes, reduction in bone density, Suicide, burnout, substance abuse are all stress-related.

So how does one fight this silent killer? Relaxation helps reduce stress. By training one’s body one can reduce stress. He said that we must initiate strategies that bring in changes within. After the age of 40 we experience the effects of stress accumulation, he continued. We are witnessing a new disease profile today. And this is all related to lifestyle. He reminded participants that when you drink coffee or smoke a cigarette before a stressful activity like a meeting, the stress level trebles!

Creative Nikki
Group 2 then shared their experience. Poor Nikki who had to face the brunt of her group managed to complete her drawing. She said that it was very difficult for her initially – ‘I love to paint but I am not good at it. I had this image in my mind for a long time and I drew it. When I asked for a yellow pen, the group members would give me black. So then what I did was I wanted a black pen I would ask them for the yellow pen and they would give me black! I realized that there was no point in getting angry. I had to complete my task, come what may. Prof. Kishore seconded Nikki’s approach and said that her creative strategy vis-à-vis the colour pens was a great way to deal with stress. Her ability to adapt to the situation was commendable.

Prof. Kishore said that Nikki had used assertion and confrontation as powerful strategies. Most people experience stress because of lack of assertion. Assertion is a positive strategy. Prof. then went on to say that all stress is not bad; stress also has the ability to bring out our positive energies. He summed it up ‘Life cannot exist if there are no challenges’.

Alone
The participant from group 3 felt a lot of stress doing the drawing alone and without any support or encouragement from his group. He said, ‘I found my group members not responding to me. I became impatient because I was losing time and I had to draw something.’

Prof. Kishore intervened to share that this participant had used ‘staying focused’ as the strategy to counter stress. ‘We have all the abilities to counter stress within ourselves – tolerance, creativity, problem solving…the problem is that we don’t use these abilities all the time. He asked the participants a simple question – ‘do you all desire change? Change can only happen when there are the three C’s – Conviction, Consistency, Commitment. Lifestyle change is the biggest challenge that man has because he is not convinced that he needs to do it. People with conviction gain more control and initiate action. Prof. said that whatever change happens, happens by design and not by chance. Our inaction causes damage.

Cat & Mouse
Group 4 shared, ‘we were more focused on our roles and the circumstances kept shifting all the time. Initially it was disorienting but I adapted soon. It was stressful. Some people are better cats while others are better mice. There was anxiety and also empathy for the cat.’

The 6-point mantra to beat stress
1. Exercise regularly.
2. Diet – Eat a healthy breakfast, moderate lunch and a meagre dinner.
3. Relaxation – listen to music or meditate or try breathing techniques etc.
4. Recreation – indulge in something you enjoy doing every day
5. Pleasurable Activities – indulge in what gives you pleasure regularly.
6. Sleep – 6 to 8 hours is a must.

Substance Abuse
1. Alcoholism is a major killer and primarily responsible for perpetuating poverty.
2. User does not know that body metabolises alcohol differently so the user becomes addicted quickly.
3. Women become addicted more quickly than men.
4. If young people practice assertion they can postpone addiction.
5. Young people under 24 years should not drink alcohol as it has serious consequences for the body later.
6. Studies have proved that if a person uses tobacco before the age of 20 it is unlikely he will ever stop using it. Similarly if a person has not had tobacco before the age of 20 there is very little chance of him succumbing to it later.
7. Using substance is not a deviance. Remember that person lacks certain critical skills in his life.
8. Getting the person to talk about his addiction is the best way to start initiating action.
9. To kick a drug habit, the person needs professional help.
10. There are possibilities but they will only work if the person is convinced he has a problem and wants to get out of it.

Our journeys in a foreign land

Rabeya Sarkar Rima (Bangladesh) and Archan Gurung (Nepal) shared their experiences of working in a foreign country. Rabeya’s presentation was very touching – ‘It is depressing and it can get lonely but you still need to let your host know. You have to adjust. You have to make the best of what you have, however minimal the facilities are. Now I miss Karachi.’

Archana’s power point presentation was very exhaustive. She said, ‘my motivation is that I am doing this for my community. Don’t have high demands while working. Be happy with what you have’.

Spotlight
Sabina Singh is from Nepal. ‘This is my first international visit,’ she gushes in excitement. Did you know that this spunky woman got an airline to wait for her before she boarded it because of some immigration problems? ‘I feel I am still in Nepal. From yesterday’s team-building session my relationships with the group has only become better. I feel lucky to be here. The training is very practical & based on actual situations. I love it. People from Bangalore are great, the volunteers especially. They made us feel as if we are in our home country’.
Her dream is to open an old age home (‘for that I will need lots of money’.)
She loves sports, swimming, playing with colours, hanging out with designers, travelling, cycling and hiking.
She hates chess and all other indoor games. Also try not to smoke around her, she has a khukri with her just in case.

25 th September

2007-11-05T11:10:00.000+05:00

Together on the field

A lot can happen on a football field. Day two of the course was designed for Outbound activities and the weather gods seems to agree. With the cool morning breeze the participants with their green fk t-shirt seemed one with nature. Each of the project groups energized themselves with a team cheer and were preparing to compete in the open. Balloons filled with water were seen flying over peoples head as teams tried to play ‘catch’ with towels in their hand. A loud cheer erupted as the competition picked up as project teams were winning and losing with water splashing all over.
Backed by an interesting commentary by Mr.Anthony on the mike, the inspired teams put in their very best. Genomar walked away with the honours after beating Thaicraft convincingly.

Leading the blind

‘Time up Ladies and Gentlemen, the real fun is about to start now.’ The participants who were sipping their soft drinks leisurely abruptly moved to the field. Sure enough, a very exciting game was played. Each group was asked to stand in a line, and in their path at some distance were placed a towel, a water balloon, a basin and a chair. All participants in the line except for the last participant (leader) would be blindfolded and the group would have to pick up each of the objects and finally reach the chair.
The groups were given some time to prepare their strategy. Incredibly Genomar fulfilled all the objectives once again and in record time. What then followed was sheer entertainment, with groups losing their way, bumping into each other and probably the most hilarious moment was when two groups were fighting over a chair. Another group was seen slowly backing off towards no-man’s land in search of the elusive water balloon 
Genomar summed up their astonishing win in these words – ‘We had a great understanding and system of communication which enabled us to reach our goal quickly.’ The teams that lost agreed that they had a poor leader and poor communication skills.

Together we can reach the centre

Wonder who cooked up these interesting games! A can of soft drink is kept in the centre of a large circle on the floor. Each group has to devise a way to pick up the can without touching any part within the circle. As usual, even before the whistle was blown, Genomar succeeded in lifting the can very cleanly from the circle.
It was a fabulous lesson in team work and required grit and determination. Interestingly the circle sizes kept getting changed, but the teams matched up to the occasion and very soon all the teams were able to do it on their own. Lots of great photo opportunities were created in this game, and there were lots of cameras out.
When asked, Genomar had this to say – ‘We are a very relaxed group and have a great sense of humour. It works. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do’.

A pen and a bottle
Dropping a pen into a bottle is child’s play. Imagine if that pen was tied to a long thread a few feet in length and imagine likewise it was similarly tied by very many threads and that each participant standing in a circle were holding one part of it with the pen in the centre. And now try dropping that pen into a bottle kept on the floor into the centre.
Doesn’t sound very easy, does it!
It was a frustrating time for everybody. Each group had to develop different strategies and work together like a single unit to achieve their objective. And guess what they were all victorious. Whew!

Papaya – Banana – Fruit Salad
The Papaya – Banana – Fruit Salad energizer was a lesson in moving your bodies the way you moved way back in Nursery. A little difficult for some of the folks, very challenging for others, comparatively easy for some but enjoyable for everybody and a great way to stay awake after lunch.

The tower of ‘Pesa’
Here participants in their own groups create a tower made from paper. The tallest tower is the winner. Soon each team was busy preparing strategies to create the tallest tower in the room. Within a short time there were skyscrapers looming over us. Well er…not all of them…Genomar looked rather out of place. Although they were the only team to stick to the time-line, it was certainly not a tower. Anyway, that was good because not all of us can be perfect!
Pesa and Thaicraft created what were the two tallest towers, but Pesa’s was just a wee bit tall or an ‘illusion’ like someone said ‘because it’s standing straight’.
What worked for Pesa and the other teams which created the marvellous towers were that they first worked on the base or the foundation and from there on it was easy to build the rest. Well you can say the same about life, isn’t it!

Awaking the actor in me
Each group was asked to do a little bit of acting for a change. They were given specific topics based on which they were supposed to create that topic using their bodies. Some of the topics were water conservation, HIV Aids and Peace. What was incredible was that the groups were very easily able to present the topics and the audience were able to guess the topic very quickly.

Final Round
It was time for feedback and sharing at the end of the second day of the Indian experience. Some of the feedback was –
‘The trust level of the group is great.’
‘Dropping the pen into the bottle was the toughest exercise.’
‘If the objective of the game is clear then it works, otherwise it doesn’t’
‘We learnt from previous games.’
‘We know each other now.’
‘Today’s session increased my confidence and my creative abilities.’
‘I had a wonderful experience. Now I know team work is not easy.’
When Sacha asked the participants if they were scared or worried about going to a foreign country on their own as part of their project, one participant shared ‘I am scared a little bit about going to Nepal.’
Sacha replied, ‘You are not going to be alone, you have your team with you. You can trust each other. These games were designed to help you. We hope from today you can further strengthen the relationships to help you support each other, share information with each other. There is nothing like a perfect posting. You will face hardships in a new country. There will be adjustments and sometimes it may be difficult. Your success is something we are very interested in.’

Spotlight
Daniel Bernando da Silva is from Angola. Speaking about the past two days, Daniel is elated, ‘I feel happy. I know how to speak to people now. English is not my language. I speak Portuguese. Earlier I was shy to speak English, but now I feel confident speaking English. I have now learnt how to be in a group. How to respect others and now I can stay in any country and not feel alone’.
Daniel’s passion is Tilapia. He hopes to learn as much as he can about this fish. His interests include Dancing, Music, reading, studying, watching T.V and soccer. What does he hate? Here is one guy who doesn’t mind admitting that he hates to be alone.

Overheard - One gentleman was heard commenting – ‘but I thought they said there would be some physical activity and not all physical activity!’

8 th Fredskorpset Preparatory Course in Asia 24 th September - 13 th October

2007-11-05T10:44:00.000+05:00

Kick-starting the 8th Fk Preparatory Course in Asia
9:14 a.m. and the delegates looked very colourful with fresh Jasmine garlands around their necks, sandalwood paste on their foreheads and the smell of incense in the air.
Mr. Johnny Joseph, Programme co-ordinator of CSA and host for the meet welcomed the delegates. ‘I am relieved’, he said, ‘that the programme is starting without a hitch. The delegates received their visas only on 18th Sep. Two delegates one from Pakistan and the other from Bangladesh will reach Bangalore in 2-3 days time.’
“Today Christ College is ranked among the top ten colleges in India and that is only because of the vision of our Principal Fr. Thomas C. Mathew.”

‘Whew we made it’ was the mood that Mr.Sacha Jotisalikorn, Asia-representative - Fredskorpset was in. He extended a warm welcome to the delegates. He said that this was the first time that Fk was organizing this event outside Thailand in the last 8 years. He was impressed by the commitment and quality of the CSA volunteers.
He alluded to the famous ‘Indian Idol’ TV reality show and said that this was the era of ’15 minute fame’ but ‘we hope that that this Fk programme lasts more than that for you.’

‘The more you unlearn, the more you will have the courage to learn’ was the message that Fr.Thomas C. Mathew shared in his vibrant speech. He spoke of collaboration and networking being the buzzword today. If the 60’s were called the Pre-professional age for teachers, in the 70’s it metamorphosed to the autonomous professional age, where teachers managed everything. In the 80’s it moved to the partnership professional age where teachers collaborate. Today it is the Post-professional age. This being the age of broad changes in the world economy, faster communication, digital technology and the Internet.
The Fk programme, he said was an expression of this. He called it a capacitor that was being built for social change. He reminded the participants that ‘you are building a great network, which is very strong…build it into a social movement.’ Citing Christ College as an example, he said ‘a college is not a building or its structure…it is the students and faculty who breathe life in it. The quality of our programme depends on networking and collaboration. We have students speaking 30 – 35 languages here, but we are united through English. We are one.’

This was followed by a photo shoot at the entrance of the college and tea after that.

My face – your face
And they drew each other’s faces
with so much of dexterity,
An eye here, a nose there
‘Hey hold on, my nose doesn’t look like that’
Ha ha ha ha ha
What’s that?
‘Where are my eyes?’
Who’s that?
That’s not me!
Do I look like that?

This is like a merry-go-round
And little by little
Each one of us add our piece of art
Together we make a portrait
That happily looks
Somewhat like me

The icebreaking words from the session

“Santa, are you listening?”
Stationery, clothes, camera, cosmetics, notebook, bag, shoes, hat, umbrella, Laptop, Mobile phone, USB drive, flags, watch, Music CD’s, Radio, toothpaste, brush, shaving set, Khukri (weapon).

Ready to mingle?
This was the mother of all energizers. Just after lunch and with the threat of sleep looming large, this was one game that had the participants on their feet and literally in each other’s arms. A participant plays ringmaster asking all the rest to ‘mingle, mingle, mingle’ as a group. At any instant he calls out a number - ‘4’, and the group rushes to subdivide into groups of 4.

Within a few seconds there was complete chaos and laughter. The group was completely energized and ready to face the after-lunch session.

Framing our rules
The day progressed with rules being framed for the sessions by the participants themselves. This would be the guidelines till the end of the workshop. General instructions regarding the stay in the campus was shared vis-à-vis laundry, television viewing, food, medical facilities and water were shared. To remind participants once again the campus is strictly a no-smoking zone and is followed diligently by students and faculty alike. Similarly alcoholic drinks are not allowed in the rooms.
The session winded up with participants getting an FK lapel pin and a t-shirt as a memento. Tomorrow they step out for an interesting outbound session. So it will be sports shoes, comfortable clothes and no paper for the day. Get set guys…!

Spotlight
Shefali Akter Shetu is a videographer and video editor who works for DRIK in Bangladesh. Her dream is to be a filmmaker and trainer. Shefali enjoyed today’s session. ‘I learnt a lot about facilitation from the way the sessions were conducted today. It’s great’, she gushed.
Shefali loves photography, music, books and meeting people. Beware if you handle her pictures or her equipment roughly. She absolutely abhors it.

Profile:Boopalan.R (Boopsy)

2007-08-31T00:19:00.000+05:00

Name:Boopalan.R

Exchange period: August 2007-June 2008

Home Organization:Centre For Social Action (CSA), Christ College, Bangalore, India

Host Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway.

Date of birth:04.07.1987

Interests: Playing games like cricket, foot ball, Volley ball, Hockey,

Basket ball,Computer games, Reading books, Photography, Designing.

I am very happy that I decided to be a FK participant.Each day is full of exciting things to learn, that doesn´t mean its only enjoyment.Even we have ups and downs here, but life becomes beautiful when we enjoy both happiness and sadness.Every day has a lesson for us since we are in a different culture.I think I am on the best journey of my life, and I feel that i will not get this experience anywhere.......

E-mail:Boopalanr_raj@yahoo.co.in
Boopalanraj@gmail.com

Profile: Blossom

2007-08-31T00:08:00.000+05:00

Name: Blossom Mary Abraham

Exchange period: August 2007 to June 2008

Home Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Host Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway
Date of birth: 23.01.1987

Interests: singing, dancing, reading, listening to music

e mail:blossomabrahm@gmail.com

Its been really nice here so far n i hope to have one of the best times in my life during this exchange period. looking forward to this new life of mine!

Profile - Komala.V.R

2007-08-31T00:07:00.000+05:00

Name:Komala Valagerehalli Rangaswamy

Exchange period: August - June 2008

Home Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Host Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Date of birth: 20.08.1987

Interests: Dance, reading, language, music n outdoor activities.

Contact info: komalz20@yahoo.com , 004799510215

its been 3 weeks since we have arrived in norway and its been non-stop fun and full of exciting stuff..lot to learn and reflect!!

Profile:Lenin Joyal

2007-08-31T00:06:00.000+05:00

Name: Lenin Joyal

Exchange period:Aug 2007-June 2008

Home organisation: Center for Social Action in Bangalore, India.
Host organisation: Sund Folk College in Inderøy, Norway.

Date of Birth: 14.08.1987

Interests: Reading,surfing net,debating,reading,watchin tv,playing snooker,listening to songs

I am very much anticipating a very good trip with loads of experiences and fun.In that way I would be able to contribute back to CSA in a more efficient manner.Alongwith that I would develop myself and find sometime to introspect on myself.
Contact Info:linlen_g@yahoo.com

FAREWELL VIDEO OF THE PREPARATORY COURSE AT SUND FOLK COLLEGE, NORWAY 07

2007-08-30T16:58:00.000+05:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fAlKNTE8GNM

Watch and enjoy.... Relive the moments !!!!

Good luck with your trips in Guatemala and India.

FK-profile: Sunniva

2007-08-24T01:38:00.000+05:00

Name: Sunniva Sunde Krogseth

Exchange period: September - December 2007

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 24.07.1987

Interests: Arts, drawing, juggling, music, politics, playing, reading, language, circus.

sunnivask@hotmail.com

I'm very excited about going to India!

2007-08-24T00:54:00.000+05:00

Name: Anna Solem Walseth

Exchange period: Sept.-Dec. 2007

Home organisation: Sund Folk College in Inderøy, Norway.

Host organisation: Center for Social Action in Bangalore, India.

Date of Birth: 22.10.87

Interests: Dance, travel, music, books, skeeing

I am a girl from Trondheim looking forward to see other faces than the 200 living in my hometown:-) and hopefully contribute with something in a good way!

FK Profile

2007-08-23T22:25:00.000+05:00

Meerke L. Th. Vekterli

Exchange period: September - December 2007

Home organisation: Sund Folk College, Inderøy, Norway.

Host organisation: Centre for Social Action, Christ College, India.

Date of Birth: 06. 05. 1987

Interests: Music, photography, snowboard, art, books.

E-mail: m_thomasson87@hotmail.com

Profile: Elisabeth Glomseth

2007-08-23T16:17:00.001+05:00

Name: Elisabeth Eriksrud Glomseth

Exchange period: Sept.-Dec. 2007

Home organisation: Sund Folk College in Inderøy, Norway.

Host organisation: Center for Social Action in Bangalore, India.

Date of Birth: 21.09.1988

Interests: Travel, music, books, movies, snowboard

Looking forward to going to India, experiencing Bangalore and hoping to be able to contribute with something good through CSA with the other FK participants.

Contact Info: elisabeth_jg@hotmail.com
(+47) 979 51 478

FK Profile: Randi Grenasberg

2007-08-23T15:29:00.000+05:00

Randi Grenasberg

Exchange Period : Sept.- December.2007

Home Organisation:Sund Folk High School, Norway

Host Organisation: Centre for Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 04.04.1985

Intressts: Photography,Painting,Art,Music,Kickboxing,Social work, etc.

And I look farward to traveling to India :)

E-mail: randi.grenasberg@yahoo.no

FK-profile.

2007-08-23T15:25:00.002+05:00

Therese Aune

Exchange period: September-December 2007

Home Organization: Sund Folk College, Norway

Host Organization: Centre For Social Action, Christ College, India

Date of birth: 03.05.87

e-mail: therese.aune@gmail.com

Interests: music (making it, playing it, hearing it, seeing it), garden trolls, absurdity, maximalism, movies, colors, kitsch, books, concerts, plasticflamingos, arts, creativity, diy, food (making it, eating it), photography, polaroids, people.

I am a tip-toeing, helter-skeltering girl from the capital of Norway who's looking a lot forward to go to India. I hope I will be able to contribute to your work in a good way!

-therese

North-South Exchange Program 2007-2008

2007-08-17T21:56:00.000+05:00

Christ College, Centre For Social Action sent 4 participants to Norway for a period of 10 months and will be recieving 6 Norwegian Participants for a period of 3 months.

The South Participants are

Blosssom

Boopalan

Komala

Lenin

We wish them very best for the program and are looking forward to recieve the Norwegian Participants.

Regards,

Centre for Social Action,
South Secondary Partner
Youth Exchange Program

Home Coming Seminar and Preparatory Course

2007-08-17T21:38:00.000+05:00

The Home Coming Seminar and Preparatory Course for the South- South Exchange Program will be hosted by Centre for Social Action, Christ College in Bangalore, India. The program is scheduled to take place on 21 st September to |14th October.

There will be 28 participants taking part in the Homecoming Seminar and 49 participants for the preparatory Course from different countries in Asia and Norway.

The program is supported by Fredskorpset Asia Office

Farewell to Helle and Brita - Fk participants 2006-07

2007-05-16T18:43:00.000+05:00

A farewell party was organised to say final good bye to dear Helle and Brita , fk participants from sund fhs for the year 2006-2007 on 16th May 07 at CSA office.

Good luck for all endeavours in future..

With Love

Centre for Social Action
Christ College

In the group picutre : Volunteers and staff members of CSA along with fk participants

In the second picuture :
From Left : Helle, Johny Joseph, Brita, Jai

Profile: South Participants

2007-05-10T12:43:00.000+05:00

href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_9eMm6hM2dcM/RvNwXA9swtI/AAAAAAAAABw/7dsmvO04vZY/s1600-h/n886340150_260027_7302.jpg">
Name – Rakesh Kumar N

Exchange Period - August 2003 to July 2004

Home Organisation: Centre for Social Action, Christ College, India

Host Organisation: Sund Folk High School, Norway

DoB – 26th January, 1984

Interests – Books, Traveling, Cricket.

Email ID – rakeshkumargowda@yahoo.com

Contact # - 91-80-9886016184

The exchange programme was a great experience that made me appreciate traveling and different cultures. During my stay in Norway, I was involved with Norwegian Language and Culture course at Sund fhs, Conducting seminars on various aspects of India, Working as assistant teacher in Mosvik school, working with Red Cross Refugee Guide Center, etc.

The network for FK India participants is a brilliant idea and am looking forward to interact with other participants through this blog and other forums.

Thanks,
Rakesh

Jaikumar Chandrashekar

Exchange Period : 2005 -2006

Home Organisation: Centre for Social Action, Christ College, India

Host Organisation: Sund Folk High School, Norway

Date of birth: 26.03.1984

Hobbies: Theatre, Playing badminton, cricket, research on the net

Address:
#340, Halappa Compound,
Venkatapura, Koramangala
Bangalore- 560034

Email: jaikumar26@gmail.com

Contact Number: +919901488466

FINAL REPORT ON INFORMATION WORK

Final Report on Information Work

The information work was one phase which I really looked forward since January 2006 and had already started planning for it and the reason being, for me it was an exciting thing to share what I had gained during my stay in Norway for so long and to make my friends and others to understand how important was it for me personally.

I always was convinced that the Exchange program gives the participant ample opportunities to grow in their own capacity and with no doubt Sund was the best place to realize this aim.

When I first started my information work activity. It was a exciting moments to share all my experiences to people and to hear whoa reactions from them. I could see that they really wanted to be part of this program except when I told them they had to sacrifice a year from their academics.

The first phase of information work was carried out at Christ College, targeting the student community from the age group of 16-18 years. They were very much interested to listen to something different from their usual classroom lecturers and had many questions to ask related to Norwegian culture and its economy.

So far during my information work, I have encountered more than 1000 people with my views and expression about Norway and the exchange program and most of them had one question in common on their minds. Whey does Norway conduct such programs spending so much money?
Development aid is looked different in country like ours. They could not possibly think that this is one way that it could strengthen the relationships between north and south countries and bring about positive change among youth that constitute major part of our population.

Conducting sessions on Norway was all together a different experience for degree students at Christ College. These sessions were more interactive and challenging as they had many questions and keep them listening to you is bit hard. The topics, which I covered for these set of students, were Culture shocks and Norwegian Welfare system with a lot of interactions allowing them to ask many questions.

Apart from the formal sessions I have conducted in a formal setting, my stay in Norway at sund has equipped me with so many talents and potentials that I have a different identity all together. It has opened up many opportunity avenues for me.

I was given responsibility as Assistant Coordinator to plan, coordinate activities for the north participants from Sund at Centre for Social Action. I must admit that the main criteria to have this job was my experience and understanding of Norwegian culture and which helps the process to be much more smoother. The language at times plays a significant role in bonding the participants to work and understand each other better.

The other state of affairs where I have had prospect to play a crucial role with my experience of my stay in Norway is with the visit of different students from different universities from Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, U.S.A, CANADA.

Christ College and Centre for Social Action receives many students and faculty for orientation towards development issues and I have always been given the opportunity to interact and coordinate with the organization. This ability is definitely because of my understanding, which I gained during my stay in Norway at Sund. The cultural tolerance level and cultural differences varies from culture to culture which I was able to balance due to varied experience in Norway.

It is interesting specially when I encounter Norwegians and start speaking to them in Norsk they have a stunned expression for a moment and confused to where have they landed. I have such experiences working with students from Hist University and Oslo University.

Working with Sund students was one great experience, which I need to mention. I was considered to be assistant during the study trip, which I accepted as a privilege. It was a great time where I could interact and share how different sund was in the year 2005-2006 compared to the year 2006 –2007 in Norway.

During the 2006-2007, my contributions back to the home organisations has been up to my best level with the experiences and skills I had gained from Norway. I have tried my best to transfer it to junior fellow student volunteers. I have conducted some sessions to prepare the fk participants in the beginning. I have also conducted team building and cooperation sessions for the student’s volunteers of Centre for Social Action.

Like to also mention that I wish to continue my information work when and where ever I get a possibility to present my learning may it in schools, public places, etc.. This process will not stop just because there is no monitoring done.

All in all I would like to say that I am greatly indebted to Fredskorpset for supporting this program and my heartfelt gratitude to Sund Folk School for providing us with the best of exposure to various facets of Norwegian Culture and its system. Last but not least my home organization Christ College, Centre for Social Action, which provided me with this lifetime opportunity to be a participant in the Cultural Exchange program.

Information Work Report for the Month of July 2006

Jaikumar Chandrashekar

16/07/2006

– Session to Final Year B.A (Pseco)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks.
Members attended – 30
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

19/07/2006

Conducted to my own class of III Pseng
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Also discussion on YOUTH, drinking culture and one nightstand.
Members attended - 70
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

25/07/2006

Conducted to Pre university Class (PCMB)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Members attended – 90
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

28/07/2006

Conducted to Pre – University Class (PCMB)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Members attended - 85
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

Information Work Report for the Month of August 2006
Jaikumar Chandrashekar

07/8/2006

Conducted to Pre – University Class (PCMB)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks.
Members attended – 75
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

11/8/2006

Conducted to my own class of I FEP (B.A)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Also discussion on YOUTH, drinking culture and one nightstand, SKIING.
Members attended - 70
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

14/08/2006

Conducted to Pre university Class (PCMB)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Members attended – 80
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

17/08/2006

Conducted to Pre – University Class(PCMB)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Members attended - 70
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

Information Work Report for the Month of September 2006

2/09/2006

Conducted a One-day Rural Exposure camp for the I B.A (Pseng).
Lecture on Fredskorpset, Folk School and Sharing experiences of Cultural shock.
Members attended: 35
Session Duration: 45 Minutes

16/09/2006

Conducted to my own class of I Pseng (B.A)
Topics covered included introduction to Fredskorpset, Concept of Folk High school, Screening of documentary film and sharing my personal experiences on cultural shocks
Also discussion on YOUTH, drinking culture and one nightstand, SKIING.
Members attended - 70
Session Duration- 60 minutes.

Presentation about Norway at BTM Bible Church on 15.10.2006

I was given an opportunity to share about my experiences and different cultural shocks in Norway. I specifically addressed the situation of Christianity and how people in Norway feel about Religion being a Christian Country.
The reactions were mixed from the audience and had many queries after the talk. It was challenging experience to make them understand that people can live as atheist too.

Presentation on our experiences in Norway during Fk Asia partner meeting 13/12/2006

It was a collective effort of the four-fk participants to put up a presentation of our learning in Norway including our personal project. We were able to do it in spite of 15 minutes constraint using a power point presentation, which is attached along with this report. Different partners and participants attended the meeting from Asia that is part of the Fredskorpset.
The feed back given was very positive and encouraging and they were all impressed with we learning Norwegian in 10 months period.

Photo Exhibition of our year at Sund at Christ College

This was also a collaborative creative effort of all four of us (Cheryl, Renu, Thomas) to make our experience shown to others in a colorful way. We displayed pictures of our stay in Norway. It included pictures of various stages and activities of our stay in Norway.

Presentation about Norway to friends and relatives in an informal setting.

This was an informal presentation and talk about my whole experience to all my family members and relatives through audio – visual aids.
The presentation included all topics right from talking about food, climate, religion, culture, education system, Marriage, divorce, welfare system etc.
At the end of it – they had one question – Why did you not stay back there?

Presentation about Norway to a group of 10 students from Netherlands and Tirupathi on Norwegian culture and Education

In the month of January I was selected to participate in training program on Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship organized by Better Future from Netherlands.
During this period working with Dutch and Indian Students from different background I had an opportunity to present my learning from Norway.
We all watched the video of Lofoten trip and Norwegian Education System and had discussions on various aspects related to the topic.
I could find out that there were many similarities when it comes to culture and landscape between Norway and Netherlands according to the students.

The other unique initiative I took to reach to more people with my learning’s was with the use of Internet. I used Google video as my medium to reach others. So far it has been viewed 62 times by different people across the globe and there has been 6 downloads of it.

For reference please log in to:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4580986942550867262&hl=en

This video gives an insight into the rich experiences gained by me during my 10 months stay in Norway participating in Cultural Exchange Program at Sund folk High School. There are also videos of Norwegian Folk dance available on the Internet posted by me.

The following video gives you an insight into the NORWEGIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM, which was my personal project during my stay at sund between 2005-2006.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-4539756456827897293

The following video was the project done by me along with three dutch students and one of my Indian friend Rajiv. The proeject is related to Education access to Children with the help of Better future, Netherlands during January 2007 at Tirupathi

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6918149968068756511