A day in the life of a Swinburne student in Jaipur

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Women's Empowerment and Street Children
WRITTEN BY: Kirsty Troy, Swinburne University

India has been amazing so far. It is so different to Western life in so many ways. The impression I get is that the people here do what they want, when they want. It is actually so refreshing that there are limited rules and that people are trusted to function together. It is especially surprising how well the traffic functions, considering the roads are so crowded with motorbikes, cars, tuk tuks, and the occasional dog, cow, or donkey. The way it works is that the vehicles sound their horn to alert others of their presence and make people move out of their way. Unlike in Australia where beeping your horn is considered rude or aggressive, here is it is expected and encouraged; the phrase ‘beep horn’ is usually painted on the rear of trucks.

Our weekdays are usually structured like this:

8.00am: Serve yourself breakfast, cooked by the wonderful cooks (Archina and Ladoe). We usually have a few dishes, such as fruit salad, vegetable curry, and chapatti.

9.00am: Leave for our placement in Elephant Village. The journey takes approximately 1 hour.

10.00am: Conduct the Good Morning song and prayer with the children, and then do 15 minutes of exercise.

10.30am: The volunteers break up into four set groups- working with and caring for young children (aged 4-7 years), teaching older children maths and English (aged 7-11 years), teaching girls and women computer skills, and teaching health and life skills to women.

3.00pm: Travel back to the guesthouse. Have chai tea and de-brief with our groups. Discuss how the day went and plan for the next day.

5.00pm: Free time to explore Jaipur! Our expeditions have included trying street food, being welcomed into Indian engagement parties and weddings, catching tuk tuks, and sprinting madly across busy roads.

7.00pm: Have dinner. We serve ourselves delicious authentic Indian food, including vegetable curry, endless chapattis, rice, dahl, and salad.

8.00pm onwards: Free time. Usually spend chilling out on cushions in the lounge area.