Local students volunteer with street children in India   

Local students volunteer with street children in India

Young lives changed as a group of students experience life in Delhi slums during a recent volunteering trip to India.

28 students from the University Campus North Lincolnshire (UCNL) and University Campus Doncaster (UCDon) spent eight days in Delhi, India as part of a volunteering trip. India was proposed by Volunteering Solutions as the location for the trip to give the students an enlightening and rewarding hands-on experience in a place steeped in rich culture.

The itinerary included a visit to the Taj Mahal, volunteer work with the street children in the slums which including decorating the buildings, sampling Indian cuisine, exploring Humayun’s Tomb, as well as insightful visits to several historic temples; the Akshardham Temple, a Sikh Temple and community kitchen, and a Hare Krishna Temple.

Many of the higher education students, who were willing to take a short break from their studies to participate, have said the trip was a life changing experience. Vicky Warrener, Psychology and Criminology student at UCNL said: “We were promised a cultural experience and educational trip to India. However, nothing could have prepared us for the life changing, humbling magnificence of this wonderful country.”

Group Leader, Gillian Reid (Head of School, Head of School for Health, Education and Sport) reflected on her time in Delhi, saying: “It is hard to say what the highlight was, but being able to offer the students such an experience has pushed them out of their comfort zone, opened their eyes to another culture and the poverty experienced in the slums of Delhi. The students have developed in confidence and team working skills. I am so proud of them and how they worked together in the projects, they have made lifelong friends. Students have commented on how the experience has changed their lives and how it was so humbling.”

Programme Leader for Counselling at UCNL and one of the group leaders, Lisa Kmita, added: “We went as individuals and returned a community. I will never forget the experiences I shared on this trip.”

Gillian is now planning another student volunteering and cultural experience residential trip to Delhi, India, which will take place in February 2025.