Prince Harry in Lesotho (Courtesy AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

I saw this quick news article while I was reading the newspaper over breakfast. Prince Harry who is in Lesotho at the moment with army colleagues from the Household Calvary had his mobile stolen while on a night out. You can read more about the story here. The irony of the situation was that after the Lesotho Defense Force found the culprit and recovered the phone they had a tough time explaining to him that he had just robbed Prince Harry since “to him Prince Harry was just one of those white guys”. If you replace “white guys” with “westerners”, that is probably how many pickpockets in our destination countries as there are inevitably some feel towards our volunteers and other travelers, and highlights how important it is to be aware of your surroundings and follow basic safety procedures in any new place, especially one where you stick out. Consequently, if it can happen to Prince Harry it can happen to anybody!

Do any travelers and volunteers have any safety advice they would like to pass on?

Entrance to the Model Farm

James, the India Desk Officer, and I were able to visit our Eco-Development and Model Farm project in the small village of Ullar next to the Western Ghat mountains in the state of Tamil Nadu. We were able to tour the garden, meet with the volunteers there and even lend a hand with the weeding! It is quite an impressive place with an area for preparing organic fertilizer, a nursery for medicinal plants and a lot of well sign posted local plants. There is even a pond made by former volunteers in the shape of India! The current volunteers are actually going to a market in Rajapalaiyam tomorrow that is frequented by local farmers and will be selling discounted organic fertilizer and explaining its use.

Here are some more photos ……..

Volunteers preparing plantlings in the nursery

View of the compost shed from the second floor of the information building

Here I am lending a hand and weeding the India-shaped pond. Good thing I am a country boy at heart!

One of the mighty pachyderms

After trekking and boating on Saturday, we were able to wake up a little later today for another rainy day filled with elephant rides and a tour of a spice farm.

I wasn’t able to get any photos of the spice farm tour given the rain but I did get a lot of great photos from our elephant trek. You can see some below!

Volunteers waiting for their elephant rides. Sitara, Adib, George and Jenna from left to right.

Mike, Kunaal and Amit about to head out

Here is an action shot from our elephant who we dubbed “Jumbo” because he weighed 2 tons more than the other elephants!

Mike and I dared to venture closer to the elephants for this photo

This weekend brought all the 2 week special volunteers together for some exploring and bonding at the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghat mountains. It also brought a big change in scenery with the rain and cold of the hills in stark comparison to the dryness and heat of Tamil Nadu!

On Saturday, we broke up into several groups to take in a boat ride on the lake in Periyar and then a trek through the reserve. After a well deserved rest at the hotel (our day started at 5:30 AM!) we had a special performance of kathakal, a traditional dance form from Kerala, in the early evening.

Here are some photos ……..

One group before their boat ride. They are ready to see some tigers!

Unfortunately we only saw some wild boars and a water buffalo

Considering the rain and leeches, I think our volunteer trekkers were “bold and brave”!

The ladies showing off their stylish anti-leech waders

Emma, Vicky and Sitara on our trek

The kathakal dancers and me. I asked if they wanted to have a dance-off but they declined. I think they were afraid of my dancing abilities.

Lisa administering some antibiotics to a sick cow

Today I was lucky enough to tag along with Kirsty and Lisa our two 2 week veterinary special volunteers at their morning placement with a village veterinarian on the outskirts of Sivakasi. The veterinarian was quite welcoming and I was able to watch Kirsty and Lisa as they helped with artificial insemination and administering medicine to sick cows and goats. Coming from New York city, it was really eye opening for me! These future veterinarians are literally getting some “hands on” experience and are really enjoying themselves.

The vet showing Kirsty and Lisa where to feel for the head of a calf in utero

Ansh and John

Ansh Johri is an alumnus of Projects Abroad’s 2 week community special in Ghana last year and is also a friend of this blog as he wrote a great post about what to expect when volunteering in Ghana (You can read the post here). He is now raising money to help a friend he met in Kwamoso, Ghana attend university and pursue his studies in Information Technology at the University of Cape Coast. If you have any free time please read about the “John Dzimodo College Fundraiser” here and I know Ansh and John would appreciate any help.

More information: http://www.myspace.com/dzimadojohnfund

The 2 week Medical special started today with a seminar by Rajendran, our Country Director, and a local doctor who spoke about medicine and medical practices in India.

After a delicious lunch, volunteers went on a tour of a local farm to get a taste of rural India. In the early evening volunteers based in Sivakasi for the first couple of days went to observe at local medical hospitals and clinics while the rest of the volunteers traveled to the Ayurvedic or Leprosy center.

Here are some photos!

Per all high school funtions there are girls on one side …..

…. and boys on the other for the seminar

Volunteers on a break from the seminar with a temple in the background

Now that is what 45 volunteers on a farm tour looks like!

We have finally made it to India after our 20 hour trip on planes and in airports! Hurray! The only downside is that we have two more forms of transportation (train and bus) and 11 more hours to go until we reach our final destination of Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. One silver lining though is that we picked up some more 2 week special volunteers who arrived the previous night and earlier in the morning than everyone else on the escorted flight.

Amrita and Courtney waiting for our train to Maddurai with the other volunteers

The diversity of India is readily apparent from this sign on our train. You can see the route laid out from left to right in Hindi, English and Tamil.

Amrita and Olivia on the train. Although we we were traveling 1st Class in the air conditioned car I don’t think the train was built to handle all of our luggage! But with some scrunched knees and basic geometry we got them all on!

Even after numerous flights and a 9 hour train journey everyone was in good spirits although very tired! Here everyone is for the last leg of our trip, a bus ride to Sivakasi.

On an aside, do you know who is the largest employer is in the world? If you do, please drop your answer in the comments. I will reveal the answer in one week.

Dubai Airport

After a 12 hour flight we have made it to Dubai and its massive airport! I think Kendra put it best that it seemed like a big mall was put in the middle of an airport. We had a 5 hour layover here and although it seemed that time could not go any slower it gave us a lot of opportunities for great people watching as it seemed like half the world was represented here. I think I speak for all the volunteers in that the grand opulence of the Dubai airport was in stark contrast to the scenes of urban India when we arrived in Chennai.

More posts to come ….

Amrita, Olivia and Daniel killing time in Dubai

So we are off! I am heading to India on the escorted flight from New York – JFK airport tonight with six volunteers from the 2 week high school special trip in India. Since this in my first trip to India, I am just as excited as all the volunteers! For the next two weeks I am hoping to update the blog with pictures and posts from my time there so please check back often.

Bon voyage!

The group at JFK before our flight