Hosting NGO
SMILE (Situational Management And Inter Learning Establishment society)
Contact person
Kamala, International Volunteer Coordinator
Project Place
Madhyamgram, Kolkata, India
Remark for Period
Volunteers. can join only 04/01-06/30 or 07/01-09/30
Background
Local/ social situation/ needs for the project
Street children welfare project. India is having uncountable numbers of street and slum
dwellers. There are thousands of poor refugees coming every year from nearby countries and from different small towns and villages to the big cities and most of these families are living in a very poorly condition at slums or on street corners like insects. Normal societies are so busy to deal with their personal daily problems, so have little time for these unfortunate people. With every such family most number are children below 12 years including both girls and boys. Often these families bring their children to help them in begging, household work, rag picking activities. So, it is really a shame of the so called civilized societies. We have got our few projects for these unfortunate street children at the different locations of big cities. Now, there are opportunities available in and around Kolkata.
Name and description of the local host
SMILE Society (NGO) had started their activities since 2003! From the first day, children
from the street around its’ project area became the SMILE family members!
Aims and expected impact of the project
Bring smile to every poor child. Our aim to bring them back to the. Normal life.
Main voluntary work
Activities are mostly food distribution, washing, medication, teaching, vocational training to street children. We welcome international individuals or groups to help and look after the needy people during the project. It is a fun filled experience for volunteers!! All volunteers taking part in this project should take vaccination before joining these camps.
Approximate working hours: 3-5 hours x 5 days (weekdays) in a week
Accommodation
Type of building: Local family
- Sleeping: Sharing with other vols.
- Meals: Cooked by vols. & locals
- Smoking: Totally impossible
- Internet access: Wifi 2 hours per weekdays
- Any other points: Follow the local rules, policies, culture, tradition, following in charge.
Location
Madhyamgram, West Bengal,India. Kolkata (ccu), the city of joy, was known before as
Calcutta since the colonial time. This ancient city was used to be the capital of British colonial period. This city has full of heart ,people are basically belongs to the middle class. There are also rich and poor people all around. City Kolkata is know for its busy traffic, huge population, warm welcome and poverty around the street corners! It is a great place to visit for every tourist coming to India.
Terminal
- Nearest international airport: Kolkata airport (ccu), India
- Transportation from the capital or other major city: by air, train
Other activities
Cultural exchange, language learning, training
Qualification for volunteers
- Required: Ready to get the hands dirty
- Preferable: Open and flexible mind. Should have rabbis vaccination before arriving.
Attraction for volunteers
If anyone get a chance to live with the local host family then that brings extra bonus to any traveller. It helps to learn the culture, tradition, language while staying within the normal people of the society. Living on any hotel can never give any traveller such wide scope to know the society and communities as a whole. SMILE society always tries to give international volunteers a big scope to know about the local communities and understand the family environment.
Financial condition
- Fee to be paid for the full period: 1,680 Euro (2,266 US$ as of 2014 Feb. 02, that means 378 US$ per month), includes 3 times local food, shared room at local host family, car transportation to and from project and accommodation, airport transfer, drinking water, wifi facilities 2 hours during weekdays, local coordinator support at every project, 2 days through orientation, work shop training, Pre departure orientation, emergency support, local language training also included.
- Pocket money to be paid for the full period: none
- Other points: Cost excluded = Flight ticket, visa, medical cost if any personal cost, weekends trip, special trip at the end of the project, gift, any special food/ drinks.
Meetings
- On arrival training: 2 days orientation
- Special care during Project: Every evening workshop (training and preparation for next day)
- Evaluation meeting: Every thursday evening .
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