Hello,

Last week we talked about how we planned our trip to India last summer.

So this week, we’ll tell you about the first part of our time in India: the NGO that we stayed at, Visthar.

Having spoken to a contact in Visthar prior to our arrival, we arranged to be picked up from Bangalore airport at around 3am. This reassured us as we could tell that they were a kind group and would look after us well. Having had no sleep, we were a little disorientated and it felt we had been driving through no man’s land for hours. However, when we got to Visthar, at about 5, we already knew that we would love it there as it was so beautiful and green.

Visthar is a centre for Social Justice and Peace Studies. On the campus (nothing like a uni campus of course), it is surrounded by trees, it’s very lush and green and there are several animals wandering around (dogs, cats, cows, etc.). They provided us with three meals a day, plus snacks, and had really good facilities.

Visthar is a very sustainable campus, with its own vegetable and herb gardens, recycling paper factory , and solar panels.

One thing that we used a lot were the bikes you could take out to the nearby shop. They were also good for exploring the nearby areas and going on adventures when there was nothing else to do.

During our time at Visthar we had classes, usually one a day, in a very small group of just us. These were usually held outside and were very informal, yet informative. We covered topics such as poverty, economics, gender, the environment, etc. These weren’t like uni lectures as they were very discussion-based and we found this to be a really helpful and interesting way of learning. Because these classes were on such an intimate basis, we felt comfortable asking lots of questions which meant we got the most out of each class.

One thing that we will never forget was when we sat down with a panel of people, all from different backgrounds in India, and were able to ask them questions about their lives and stories. This helped us understand so much about India on a very personal level, and was even quite emotional at times. In return, we also answered their questions for us, so the whole experience was mutually beneficial.

Overall, Visthar was such a valuable experience for us, and we learned so much, partly through classes, partly through talking to the staff and hearing their stories. The module that allowed us to go to Visthar was so worthwhile and we couldn’t recommend it to anyone enough. It was truly unforgettable.

Becky & Katie x