Project India
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ASB is incredibly excited to announce our continued partnership with the incredible organization Yearoutindia (YOI). After completing six very successful projects with YOI (read more in the "past projects" tab), we feel that ASB returning to a familiar place to complete another project is a great decision.
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Organization: Yearoutindia
Location: Kerala, South India
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About the Organization
Yearoutindia aims to represent, support and facilitate wildlife conservation and community development programs in south India through professional and well planned volunteering programs. They are committed to direct involvement in local communities and environment conservation programs. YOI aims to assist volunteers to come together for a common purpose, to promote and develop local volunteering and voluntary action and to enable local people to benefit directly from such activities. YOI constantly strives to develop strategies and methodologies to ensure harmony between visiting volunteers and local social, culture and natural environment.
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The Project
The ASB team will be living and working at the Mannan Tribal project site in the rural village of Kozhimala. Kozhimala is located in the state of Kerala in South India. This is the same destination as the 2017 ASB India project! For project work involving building sanitation facilities, the team will be working with local staff
to mark and layout building foundation outline, prepare the foundation, prepare sand, cement, fly ash bricks and work alongside the masons, helping to build the side walls and roof, install toilets and complete with painting and setting doors. To clarify, the ASB team will be supporting the building efforts, not leading them. In other words, the professional masons will be doing all the skilled labor with the additional support of the ASB team to speed the process along. Volunteers
can also help YOI develop new project sites and also help re-design structures, help develop ideas for implementing sustainable designs and achieve cost efficiencies etc. Not only will you be improving the sanitation and housing conditions in the settlement, but you are also partaking in a language and cultural exchange with the locals. Moreover, it is the community that chooses which families are in the most need to receive the latrines. Returning to the communities each year and seeing those latrines functioning and in use by those families is
what makes it so interpersonal.
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Accommodation/Food
The accommodation is very basic and has Indian style squat toilets, limited electricity, and little running water. The food for the team is prepared daily by local YOI staff, and it is delicious traditional Indian meals- with spice levels adjusted to your liking- not to mention chai and biscuits multiple times a day!
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Team members next to completed latrine.
Traditional Keralan food on the backwater boat cruise.
YOI coordinator, Nittin.
Our backyard in the Mannan tribal village, Kozhimala.
YOI coordinator, Nittin, in Munnar.