HIV/Aids Project in India (Delhi)

Project At A Glance Location: Delhi / Alwar (close to Jaipur) Start point: Delhi End Point: Delhi Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local food (3 times a day) Room: Host family or hostel Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

With over a billion people living in there, it is not surprising that there is an AIDS/HIV epidemic in India. Over 2 million people are infected in the country. There is a very limited knowledge and understanding about HIV/AIDS. Many impoverished people in India are not educated enough to understand the causes of HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted. People who become infected are often excluded from their own family's home as well as from society. The good news is there has been some progress in recent years. Drugs have become more readily available and distributed, but there have also been many behavioral changes in the population due to education and outreach with programs like IFRE’s. As a volunteer in our India HIV/AIDS project you can be part of the solution as you support the ongoing efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide the manpower needed to comfort HIV/AIDS infected patients in India.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

There is no specific education, experience, skills and/or qualifications needed to join our fight against HIV/AIDS in a volunteer project. However, volunteers are expected to be flexible and patient as well as passionate and have love for the poor and HIV-infected people of India.

Volunteer Responsibilities

IFRE volunteers collaborate within local groups and organizations help foster awareness among local communities. IFRE’s volunteers, hospitals, NGOs and local groups are helping to prevent loss of life and are trying to improve the lives of those already infected. Our volunteers aid the sick and foster awareness of this disease while working to change attitudes and behavior towards those unfortunate enough to be infected with education and community outreach.

In Delhi, many local community organizations are working to encourage HIV/AIDS awareness and education. They offer care to HIV-infected patients. These organizations aim to foster awareness of the disease, work to change societal attitudes and behavior, as well as cultural stigmas towards those unfortunate enough to be infected. Many of these organizations/clinics provide shelter and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients, as well as offer counseling for HIV-positive people and their families. These organizations are also teach a variety of skills development programs such as wood-working, candle-making and tailoring, ensuring that infected people can have an opportunity to earn a living

Volunteers will often be involved in awareness/counseling activities, skill-sharing and training activities, helping with treatment (trained volunteers with a health care background only), preparing and presenting educational programs. Occasionally local organizations will request unique or special assistance, dependent on a volunteer’s skills and experience.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations, provides meals and supervision for volunteers for the entirety of their stay in India. During the volunteer period, most volunteers stay in our safe and secure home base, project hostel or host families. Our office and home base is located in Gurgaon, a beautiful city 40 miles a way of Delhi international airport. This location is very safe and manned with onsite security. It is a clean, sparsely furnished apartment but will meet all your needs as an IFRE volunteers. It is close to the local bus station. Info on amenities close by and transportation to nearby city, etc. internet café, restaurant and supermarket, local police station. This is the ideal arrangement for sharing your daily experiences with fellow volunteers and local staff. Home base bedrooms have multiple beds, so volunteers will usually share a room (same gender). Our in-country coordinator also lives at our home base to assist our volunteers 24/7.

Dependent on the season and flow of volunteers, you may be placed with a local host family or project hostel (mostly in orphanage). Our host families are socially respected and are experienced with hosting international volunteers. They have strong interest in our volunteers’ safety and well being and demonstrate this with caution and care. In most host family situations, volunteers will share a room with another volunteer of the same gender. Another viable option is an at-orphanage stay. Many orphanages in India have set aside special rooms to house international volunteers.

IFRE arranges room, food and supervision for volunteers throughout the program. All of IFRE’s cooks prepare a variety of delicious Indian food (naan, dahl and chapatti breads, curries, rice and pickles/chutneys). Details covering the arrangements for room/food are outlined in the prepared placement details. Volunteers will also have 24/7 access to IFRE's office as well as the mobile numbers of in-country coordinators. In addition, the director of the orphanage will serve as a local contact person for volunteers. IFRE's staff also visits each volunteer every 1-2 weeks as part of our program.