Volunteering may be one of the most rewarding experiences you ever have.
However, working with an NGO in India can be very challenging. Adjusting to the pace and the occasional ambiguity of work in Mumbai requires significant patience and adaptability. Being proactive about finding solutions to roadblocks and being communicative your experience are key in making your volunteership a defining and meaningful life experience.
Think over your objectives and agenda for wanting to volunteer, and what you hope to get out of the experience before you decide to take the leap to come to India and volunteer for a significant period of time.
Meet Dave: he recently completed a 3 month volunteership with Atma.
Dave Bushell came to Atma to work on the Searching for Goodness project with an Atma affiliate called Skarma. The project is creating a map of all NGOs within a specific region in Mumbai, and cataloguing their interests and expertise to support valuable resource sharing between resource-constrained organisations.
“My goals as an Atma volunteer were pretty wide-ranging. The opportunity to really develop a project and explore the direction it can go was a big part of the appeal. I’ve been given a lot of freedom to try and define my own solutions to challenges that arise. There are few volunteer roles in the NGO sector that give you the same degree of autonomy. It’s very refreshing. Additionally, volunteering with Atma will give me a real opportunity to see how I might enjoy a career in the sector.”
Read more about Dave’s work with Atma here. Dave has been an outstanding Atma volunteer, making an incredible contribution to the Mumbai development sector through the Searching for Goodness project!
It’s also important to understand the personal financial costs of volunteering in Mumbai. Mumbai is an expensive city. You can live cheaply, but the experience of most foreign volunteers is that they have spent much more money then expected.
Please see the Atma Volunteer Sample budget for more information.
Have further questions? Check out the Volunteer FAQ.
