My Sangam Experience by Alice Norbury

Sangam was a once in a lifetime experience. It gave me the chance to experience the Indian culture first hand and learn about how people in India live. Sangam was a little oasis within the area of Pune which the centre is situated. There are slums and shanty towns surrounding Sangam, so we got the chance to see the conditions that a lot of people in India have to live in and how hugely different it was to England.

While at Sangam we did many activities which gave us the chance to learn about the Indian culture, such as; sari tying, bollywood dancing, spice shopping, learning words in Hindi which would help us while we were there, how to ride in Rickshaws (they are like taxis but it is terrifying), crossing roads (also terrifying) and a Maharashtrian dinner which is the meal eaten at a wedding in that area of India.

While at Sangam many different community service projects were planned for us to complete but due to the swine flu outbreak there were a few compromises that had to be made. We all got the chance to do a community service project but had to choose between 3 options all being done at Sangam rather than within the community.

The first option was re-doing the garden area around the flag pole. The participants that chose that project designed a garden idea and got the chance to choose and plant all the different plants that they wanted. The second option was to build a path in the campsite which is at Sangam. There was no path from the main area of the campsite to the toilet facilities so the participants that chose that project built a path from scratch.

The final choice was to paint a mural for the leprosy rehabilitation centre called Anand Gram. We were meant to be painting this mural at the centre but due to swine flu we had to paint it on wooden boards and then for them to be taken to the leprosy centre at a later date. We designed the boards on the theme of animals in their habitat as the mural was going to be put up in the dining room for the children.

After being at Sangam we went on a tour around India which was great to see the main sites of India like the Taj Mahal, Amber Fort, The Red Fort and many other places. We travelled on the 24 hour train to get from Pune to Agra which was yet another terrifying experience as there was so much going on in the cabin all the time. The Taj Mahal was the highlight of the tour as it is so magnificent and I would suggest for anyone to go there.

The whole trip for me was an incredible experience which changed my life as it gave me a different view on life and showed me that I used to take so much for granted, even the smallest things like education, a house, health care, food and even safe drinking water as so many don’t. This international trip has given me some amazing friends and so awesome memories which will stay with me for the rest of my life.