India

INDIA

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INDIA 2024

Anticipated Trip Cost: $TBD
Anticipated Dates: June 10 – 24, 2024

REGISTER FOR INDIA

Leadership Development

  • 9-month leadership development program with integrated local service component
  • Youthlinc’s mission is to transform volunteers into lifetime humanitarians, which takes time and effort- we are not a “pay-and-go” program
  • Twenty five years of proven curriculum and data show that our program truly changes and improves our volunteers & communities abroad
  • Connect and build friendships with your team for 9 months prior to travel

Projects

  • Work with Waves For Water India, an organization dedicated to providing portable water filter systems across rural villages in India
  • Projects relate to community health, business & vocational skills, ecological improvements, construction, cultural exchange, and education

What's Included?

  • We are a Utah-based program. Round-trip international airfare is included from Salt Lake City. Minors will never be asked to fly alone to another city to meet their team for the first time.
  • All meals, accommodation, transportation, & clean water
  • Excursion to Taj Mahal and trekking near Bhutan border
  • Travel insurance, medical professional travels with team, 1:3 ratio of adult:students

CHISANG, INDIA

The Youthlinc Service Year will begin sending groups to India in the summer of 2024.  Through our Nepali partner, Binod Rai, Youthlinc was able to send a Global Community Leadership team to India in summer 2023 through partnership with Utah State University. This gave us the opportunity to evaluate some communities in India as an option for the Service Year. Jessica Roueche, Director of Youthlinc’s Global Community Leadership program, was able to do an in-depth site visit at Chisang to prepare for a Service Year team working there in 2024. Jessica was able to evaluate project potential, safety, accommodation, meals, excursions, and entering into a sustainable & mutually beneficial partnership with the local communities. The program will collaborate with Insight Himalaya and Waves For Water India with Binod Rai and Panu Lucksom as the primary in-country coordinators. 

Read About Our Future Projects

Construction projects will be focused on improving the Govt School in Chisang and a secondary public school in the village. The community and the team will work together to renovate the school library, dining area, and classrooms. The biggest project will be renovating the school roof where it leaks frequently.
The cultural committee will oversee opening and closing ceremonies. They will plan a fun fair for the village students, which will be a culmination of English Camp. The committee will have the opportunity to visit homes across the hillside of Chisang.
The education committee will run an English camp for the students in the Govt School and the St George School in the village. Youthlinc students will have an interactive time engaging with students in both a primary and secondary school.
The community health committee will work with the Women's Self Help Group of Chisang; a women's group focused on advocacy for women and the community in the region. The topics will be discussed-based health education lessons on mental health, diabetes, and men's and women's maturation.
The vocational committee will teach women in the community and in the Women's Self Help Group how to sew maturation pads and how to make items to sell to local tourists.
The business committee will put on a business seminar teaching basic marketing principles such as product, price, place, profit, and promotion. Income for the Chisang area is focused primarily on farming or items sold to local tourists.
The ecological committee will focus on ways to decrease single use plastics, composting, brick-making and ways to track and observe personal habits related to environment impact.
The team will have a beautiful drive through the hills heading to Chisang; full of tea gardens, coffee farms, and the chance to see monkeys and elephants on the way. The team will trek alongside the border of India and Bhutan, visit the Taj Mahal, and Agra Fort.

In-country Coordinator

Binod Rai

Binod Rai is the in-country coordinator for the Youthlinc programs to Nepal and India. Binod’s family business, Insight Himalaya, celebrates over 30 years of pioneering new trails and adventures across the Himalayas while collaborating with Waves4Water to deliver water filters to nomadic families. Binod is the South Asia Director for Waves4Water and has assisted in their work in Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, China, India, and Mongolia. 
 
Binod has a passion for service through his family and his foundations. He has helped Youthlinc expand and reach more of rural Nepal and India. Binod is married to Rupa Rai, and together they have 2 children who also actively find ways to serve their communities.
 
 

In-country Coordinator

Panu Lucksom

Panu is the Country Director of Waves for Water India, an NGO which provides access to clean drinking water to the migrant slums of New Delhi NCR, Chennai, Kerala, Uttrakhand, West Bengal, India
 
Also working in the flood plains of the north to the gangetic delta in the south of Bangladesh to provide access to clean drinking water through W4W. He has also taken part in disaster relief operations in Myanmar and also provided access to drinking water to the victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami of Palu, Indonesia in 2018.
 
With over 20 years of experience Panu’s yearly calendar includes leading treks in the Nepal Himalaya, operating a mobile Tented Camp deep in the best Tiger spotting area in Nepal, and running fishing trips.