Responsible and Sustainable Tourism in India

My name is Harry and I am a digital marketing executive and copywriter from Birmingham, UK. My girlfriend works in the charity sector and as such, wanted to incorporate a week’s volunteering into our three month travels around Asia. This has suited me from the perspective of my skill set, as Jeevan needed help in marketing and promoting his NGO across various platforms and putting ROSE in front of other organizations overseas. I feel proud to say that the work my girlfriend and I have done will help this charity, even if our work has just a minor impact. Kanda is a stunning little village. This trip constitutes not only my first trip to the bewildering subcontinent of India, but also my first time embarking on a season-long trip around the world. I didn’t know India could look so green or so beautiful before I saw Kanda; the views are simply matchless. We both love our room. However, we both felt a little detached from the family, only really interacting with them over meals – and even then, the language barrier (and perhaps a difference in custom) prohibited any real social engagement. I would like to have been invited to get more involved with the family on a day-to-day basis. I feel that nonetheless, it has been wonderful seeing and experiencing India with an authentic, rural, hard-working family. If I may make one suggestion to Jeevan, it would be to prepare, and stick to, a pre-planned itinerary with a day to day layout of activities for the volunteers to get involved with. I believe this is strongly needed as we felt a bit lost, or useless, in some hours of the day. A side note on the host Jeevan Verma – you could not ask for a friendlier and welcoming host. He is a dedicated guy who has committed himself to his community. Jeevan – it has been a pleasure to contribute to your cause. I wish you all the success with your goat breeding expansion plan. Sincerely, Harry.

My name is Alice Metcalf and I have visited R.O.S.E for one week as part of a 3 month tour around Asia with my boyfriend, Harry. Last year I graduated with an MA in Global Urban Justice and I have been doing research for a charity in London since then. I found R.O.S.E on the internet and was keen to put some of my skills into practice on the field whilst learning about Hindi culture in rural India. On arrival we were both blown away by the scenery and the fresh air! Kanda is an absolutely stunning place – I could never get bored of these views. My boyfriend is a digital marketing executive so our primary function here has been developing marketing tools and networking with various universities and volunteering coordination organizations. I think that we have made good progress in just one week, but it’s important that someone follows up the leads that we have started. We have also spent some time identifying potential donors who are interested in funding agricultural programs in rural India. Again, it is important that our work is followed up on to ensure that the time we have spent on this has been worthwhile for R.O.S.E. I genuinely believe that Jeevan’s dream of expanding his goat breeding program will be realized – and he deserves every success! The accommodation is fantastic – we have both been very happy in our room. My only suggestion on how to improve guests’ stay here is to perhaps give them more of an opportunity to get involved in day-to-day life here with the family. We have asked the family if they would like help with any job a number of times, but our offer has rarely been taken up, leaving us feeling pretty guilty when so much hard work is going on around us. That said, today we were taken down to the fields and shown how the land is prepared for a new season of rice growing which was fascinating and excellent fun. Jeevan has been a fantastic host, really made us feel part of his family and he seems so grateful for the little help that we have given him. We have set up some more crowdfunding pages and will certainly continue to try and fundraise for this fantastic project when we are back in the UK. Thanks so much for having us, we have both learnt so much and good luck with everything.

It was great to see the progress of the bathroom while we were there. However,we were under thee assumption that we were going to be able to hep with the project, Welcome: we were very warmly welcomed by the family and Jeevan coming down to meet us at our jeeps. I felt comfortable very quickly and everything we needed and all information needed was shared. Homestay: the rooms were very comfortable and the food was amazing. I felt very welcomed into the home. Family: so caring and helpful, made me feel very welcome Food: so yummy! There was always enough – but as North Americans wer are accustomed to eating dinner earlier, so I often got hungry around 6pm when we were not ea5ting until 9. Nature: the village is lovely and all the farm land and flowers around ROSE were beautifully well kept. Project: it was great to see the progress of the bathroom while we were there. However, we were under the assumption that we were going to be able to help with the project, so felt at loose ends when there was no work for us to do. I am glad we were able to carry some supplies though so we felt like we were adding more to the project than just money. Culture: the wedding preparation was definitely a highlight for me because that is when I felt most integrated into the culture. I also really liked when I was able to help cook because I felt like I was participating in the culture rather than just observing. Community: the community is beautiful and everyone was so kind Service: see what I wrote above for ‘project’