Good bye to Palampur

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Community Health Work
WRITTEN BY: Rachael Brooks

Namaste! Over the last weekend we went up to Manali, which is about a 5 hour drive from Palampur. This is a smaller town than Palampur but is quite a bit more touristy. The area is well known for its skiing and adventure sports. After a long travel day we had to get used to the change in temperature. With it being an already chilly winter in Palampur, the change was hard to get used to. Our destination was covered in snow and the stereotypical India looked completely unrecognisable. With it being the first time for some of the volunteers to every see snow, as well as snow fall- it made it a pretty
exciting trip.

With all of us having the intention to Ski, we all loaded ourselves in the van and headed up to the slopes. Without the help of chains on the wheels-it made it a difficult for us to get up there. After getting stuck and having the push our van out a few times, our driver decided that we weren’t quite equipped for the cold snowy conditions. Some of us however, toughed it out, jumped on the back of snow mobiles and had an awesome afternoon on the snow.

The following day we all went white water rafting. Which was also awesome, we had great rafting guides who managed to get us through the rapids. A few of us were gutsy enough to swim in this river, which was intensely cold- but an awesome thrill.

The last week we have been working in the community in different villages and schools trying to teach the members the importance of first aid, hand washing, dental hygiene, contraception, and general health. It has been a bit of a challenge from the language barrier but with a few words and phrases in Hindi are a huge help. Of course the work from our hosts Bobby and Amit has been life saving for our community programme. The children and all the people in the community have been amazing, they are such friendly
and loving people and are so grateful even for the smallest help.

Over this last week there have been elections, parades, and protests which have all been amazing to see and to be a part of.

With our last week almost at an end, we are starting to say our goodbyes to the amazing staff from the placements, the beautiful town of Palampur, and to sadly to each other- who we all have become so close over the past four weeks. This has been such a great experience and am no way near ready to go home.

Of course a special thanks to Bobby and Amit who have been so much fun over this trip, and incredibly helpful. You both are amazing, thank you so much for your hospitality!