Sunday, June 6, 2010

SSS Itinerary

The Sunday night of our arrival, Mr. Tripathi visited us at the hostel and gave us a motivational and introductory talk on our work, the NGO (SSS), etc., and I found him very inspiring. It got me really excited to finally start my work. He each gave us a copy of our itinerary for the 2-month internship, and it was noticeable how much thought they put into planning our whole stay in Uttar Pradesh.

The SSS Itinerary for the AIESEC Project Vikaas Team

15 May, Lucknow
Welcome and Introduction

16-18 May, Lucknow
Learning about the problems in Uttar Pradesh, government schemes, achievements, and interventions needed

19-20 May, Barabanki, Sahjahanpur, Bareilly and Rampur
Working with Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

21-22 May, Hardoi
Interacting with students of Degree College of SSS

23-28 May, Hardoi
Working with community and discussing with district authorities

29-4 June, Lakhimpur Kheri
Working with community and discussing with district authorities

5-6 June, Lakhimpur Kheri
Action with World Wildlife Funds (WWF)

7-11 June, Almora
Working with community and discussing with district authorities

12-16 June, Hardoi
Working with community and discussing with district authorities

17-23 June, Lucknow
Workshop for formulation of appropriate project at the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD)

24-28 June, Lucknow
Workshop to finalize project

29 June, Lucknow
Press Conference

It gave me relief to see a set itinerary since it was contrary to what I had read on Indian behavior how disorganized and unexpected they usually are.  Whew! What scared me though was that there seemed to be no weekends and breaks on the schedule at all. Uh oh! Getting a visit from our CEO on a Sunday night made it more true, and made me expect a very long and tiring 2 months ahead.

Writing this now, I'm starting our 4th week and I can say that it is true. Having been provided accommodations by SSS, we've been with them 24/7. Most of the time just going to places they tell us to go to. The only breaks we've had were from sicknesses, car troubles, etc. I can't say I'm glad for those things, but I'm grateful for the times we got to rest and got to visit tourist places in India.

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