Our life during the work camp. (Yuka)

Hello. I’m Yuka!

Today I want to tell you about our life during a work camp.

 

 

Work camp is one of the main projects which our organization, Wappiness, are conducting.

Students visit leprosy colonies and stay there twice a year.

 

Click here for details.

 

 

 

However, you can’t know how we spend our days there in the website.

So, I’ll show you our real life in the Bishnupur colony!

In fact, the facilities, the living environments and the life styles are a little different in each village.

 

 

 

・Room

 

 

 

During the work camp, all Japanese stay in one (or two) room.

This room is usually used as a classroom for elementary school students in the colony.

Children study in another place while we are staying there.

 

 

Japanese campers get along deeper and stronger because we spend all our time together in this room.

 

 

At night, we sleep under a mosquito net like this.

 

 

 

We lay a mat on the floor and sleep in a sleeping bag.

You may think this is uncomfortable. But you can sleep comfortably than you expect.

 

 

 

・How to cook meals

 

We make our meals by ourselves during the work camp.

We don’t eat much Indian food. We bring some Japanese food and seasonings from Japan and cook with vegetables.

 

 

Surprisingly, there is no gas facility and we use this type of oven made by mud.

 

 

 

We rarely experience this way of cooking in Japan!

 

 

The bottom of the pot will be stained with soot after cooking because we put it over the fire directly.

We remove stains  with sand and water.

 

 

 

This is also precious experience for us!

 

After we finish cooking, we eat our meal outside the room!

 

 

 

・How to bathe

 

In the village, there is no shower facility as well as gas.

Therefore, we and the villagers use well water for bathing.

 

It’s hard for women to bathe  with their clothes on.

However, I found that if I use a long skirt, bathing will get easier!

 

It is so much fun to bathe with the villagers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

・How to wash clothes

 

There is no washing machine in the village ,so we must wash our clothes with our hands.

We put water and laundry detergent into a bucket  and stir with clothes.

 

However, this is not enough to remove all dirt.

So, we press clothes against the ground and rub them.

 

It takes only two hours for  dry out the laundry in dry season.

On the other hand, in rainy season, it takes long.

 

 

・Daily schedule

 

we get up in the morning and practice some dancing.

We hold a farewell party on the last day of our stay and perform dancing!

 

After that we have breakfast.

We usually eat biscuits and breads, sometimes bananas or soup too, as a breakfast.

 

Our activities start after having breakfast.

The contents of activities vary from day to day. They include infrastructure building work, research, meeting, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes we go to  market with villagers.

 

 

Around noon, we have lunch.

After lunch, we take a rest for one or two hours.

 

 

During the break, we also bathe, wash clothes, take a nap and talk with the villagers.

The reason why we take a rest after having lunch is because it’s too hot  to do activities in the afternoon.

Taking a rest makes it possible that we live healthy without becoming sick in India!

 

 

After the break,  we start our activities again and work hard.

 

 

In the evening, we have dinner and after that we go back to the room to have a meeting.

We look back on what we did on the day and make sure what we will do on the next day.

Then, our all activities of the day are completed!

 

 

However, sometimes we don’t go to sleep immediately and play cards or have a chat with other members.

 

 

 

 

Today I told you about our life during the work camp.

Those who are interested in our activity,  please join us!

 

 

 

WORK CAMP