This summer, a group of 11 AU students will travel to Tamil Nadu, India on an alternative break trip through the Center for Community Engagement and Service despite the fact that AU’s volunteering partner is nearly self-sustaining.
Over the past few years, Tamil Nadu community partner Communities Rising has developed strong enough relationships with local Indian NGOs that some thought AU's volunteers might not be needed, The Eagle previously reported.
However, for the fifth year, this new group of students will have the opportunity to connect with Dalit children, members of the lowest level of the Indian caste system, also known as “untouchables.”
“Communities Rising has their own office in Tamil Nadu now and continues to run high-impact programs with Dalit youth,” assistant director of the Alternative break program Shoshanna Sumka said in an email. “The summer camp has grown and it is more sustainable because AU students and staff have done capacity building with the Communities Rising staff and counselors so that they could run the summer camp on their own, which was not the case when it first started.”
As a reflection of its success, a team of Indian students from Communities Rising recently placed first in a Regional Robotics Competition, scoring a perfect 80 out of 80 points by teaching coding without computers.
Although Communities Rising does not depend on support from volunteers, Sumka said, AU will continue offering the trip to Tamil Nadu.
“The AU alternative breaks program partners with Communities Rising in a mutually beneficial way,” Sumka said by email. “Both the AU students and the Indian students gain a lot from the encounters. It is a two-way international exchange - not a helping relationship. AU will continue working with Communities Rising as long as they keep inviting us back.”
The small group of volunteers, led by student leaders Jake Houle and Miranda Oliver, will still be welcomed this summer.
The group will have the opportunity to explore the issue of Dalit rights through panel discussions with activists, educational institution visits to surrounding villages and a cultural day trip to the town of Pondicherry.
“When we visit Tamil Nadu, we don’t go to sightsee India or to help guide the Dalit population to have western lifestyles in order to gain equality in society,” Oliver said. “We work side-by-side with the Indian staff of Communities Rising in order to gain more and more awareness about the issue each year that we return and to gain more support on a global scale.”
Both Houle and Oliver were members of the AU volunteer group last summer, and both are passionate about social justice issues.
“As Communities Rising continues to make a lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of Indian children and families, we hope to remain a part of that and follow through with our part in helping achieve quality education and social justice for all people,” Houle said.
