The Volunteers have landed

Saturday July 3rd was an auspicious day in Kochi...it marked the arrival of the very first GVI volunteers on the brand new Kerala project ! Fergus and Jamie, both from the UK are here for 2 months, Izumi from Japan is with us for 1 month, and Elizabeth from Australia, and Polly and Harriet from England, are all here for two weeks. We honestly couldn't have asked for a better group to kick the project off. Everyone is fun and fired up, ready to start at the school tomorrow morning.

The volunteers arrived to a fully decked-out GVI pad, with Ridhi and I having spent the last couple of weeks making sure it was set up to be a comfy home for the tired teachers to return to every night to recharge, hang out, eat the amazing Indian food we're having made for us every night by our wonderful cook Shardha and, most importantly to call home for the length of their stay.

My name is Brooke, and I arrived in Kochi two weeks ago to work as the project coordinator, alongside the project manager Ridhi. I'm the one in the picture with the gorgeous little boy from Upper KinderGarden Class ! I'll be living in the apartment with the volunteers, and am so excited to be here in Kerala and be part of such a worthwhile project. I started with GVI in Febrary this year as a volunteer on the amazing Laos project...and a blink of an eye later, I'm in India feeling a million thankful miles away from my old job in advertising !

I look forward to meeting all of you who have already signed on to the project, and encourage anyone who's thinking about it to just jump in and give it a go...it'll be the experience of a lifetime !

Brooke x

The Volunteers have landed