I had the opportunity to teach at a slum school in Jaipur, India. It was an amazing experience. I stayed with a host family and ate vegetarian food. We walked to the school every morning, and taught until about 1:00 p.m. We were able to travel to nearby sites during holidays and weekends.
The school experience was very enlightening, and although we would have appreciated some more information about what learning materials to bring with us, we really enjoyed it. The volunteer experience will only improve as the school program and curriculum better develops. For most of the children, we were involved in the only ‘formal’ education they would receive in their life, and that was quite confronting at times.
If nothing else, my time in India reminded me of the important things in life. As actions speak louder than words, the best review I can give VWI would be to say that we enjoyed our time in India so much that we are looking at going back to India and helping the school further!

I would recommend anyone who is looking for a pleasing, satisfying as well as a real experience of volunteering abroad to go with VWI. The staffs are very warm, friendly and funny and they make feel at home. The project itself was very safe and organized. One is given the opportunity to form strong relationship whilst teaching with the community children and school kids who were all very friendly and eager to learn. The feeling I got when the kids smiled and when they progressed in their learning is an extremely overwhelming and rewarding feeling which is very difficult to describe in words. The time spent with the children will definitely stay in my memories forever. The program also includes sightseeing tour of Pinkcity, Jaipur which include you to visit famous places like Amber Palace, Monkey Palace, Hawa Mahal, City Palace and many more. These trips were enjoyed so much. The Six weeks that I spent in Jaipur with VWI was fun and I did not want to go back home as the time spent so fast. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I had a wonderful time in India doing the teaching Project in Jaipur with VWI for 6 weeks. I met with many people and made a lot of Indian friends, ate a lot of delicious Indian food, and traveled to a lot of beautiful historical places.
I really enjoyed the time I spent at the school center, the time I worked with kids made me understand the meaning of life. I spent about 6 weeks with kids in August- September. The climate is good here in Jaipur as the rain stopped passed away during these months and the entire city which is covered by mountain look pretty by the greenery. In School sometimes kids were very naughty, but sometimes they make me in so much love; they gave me their toys; give their notebook to write my name and they get around me most of the time when I in the classroom. I was so happy and excited with kids every day; they made my heart soft and warm. They don’t know what’s good and bad; they are pure and natural. I hope they grow up happily and healthily.
Ich wohnte in einer indischen Gastfamilie. Ein Hausmeister hat mein Zimmer jeden Tag gereinigt. Die Gastfamilie hat 3 Mahlzeiten pro Tag für mich zubereitet: Frühstück, Mittagessen und Abendessen. Alle Mahlzeiten, die sie mir während meines Praktikums serviert haben, waren sehr lecker. Aber eigentlich habe ich nicht viel Zeit in der Wohnung verbracht, weil ich viel Zeit mit meinen indischen Freunden verbracht habe. Die Mitglieder des VWI-Teams luden mich zu sich nach Hause ein, um mit ihnen zu Abend zu essen. Auch ihre Eltern und andere Familienmitglieder waren sehr gastfreundlich. Ich habe nicht nur viele lokale Snacks probiert, sondern bin auch zu vielen schönen Orten gereist, weil sie mir viele schöne Plätze empfohlen haben.
In Indien gibt es Hunderte von Göttern, und meine Freunde haben mir einige ihrer Legenden erzählt, wie die des Kobragottes oder des Gottes mit dem Elefantengesicht. Die Geschichten sind so geheimnisvoll, und ich denke, es ist wirklich interessant, sie zu kennen. In Indien habe ich keinen großen Kulturschock erlebt, dafür aber einige interessante kulturelle Gewohnheiten. Meine indischen Freunde haben mir beigebracht, wie man mit der Hand zu Abend isst; ich habe gesehen, wie Kühe frei auf der Straße herumlaufen, und selbst der dichte Verkehr kann sie nicht stören. Jede Familie hat ihren eigenen Glauben, und sie glauben sehr fest an ihre Götter. In Indien ist alles in Ordnung, außer der Verkehr, und ich hatte Angst, die Straße zu überqueren, weil alle Autos, Autos und Motorräder sehr schnell sind. Eine Fähigkeit habe ich in Indien gelernt: mit den Autofahrern zu verhandeln. Ich musste dem Autofahrer nicht nur sagen, dass er nach Meter fahren soll, sondern auch, dass er bitte schnell fahren soll, sonst würde er eine längere Strecke wählen und mehr Geld verlangen.
Auf jeden Fall war es eine unvergessliche Erfahrung für mich. Ich mag die indischen Menschen, die indische Kultur und das indische Essen. Ich werde es auf jeden Fall meinem Freund empfehlen, denn es wird eine schöne und unvergessliche Erinnerung sein.