Everyday brought new challenges, meaningful interactions and invaluable lessons

February 2025

By Ben Tismer UK Volunteer January 2025

I arrived in Mumbai late at night following two long flights either side of a 7-hour stopover in Abu Dhabi. I hadn’t slept at all on either flight or at the airport so, after checking into Cowies hostel and being given a Snickers bar by the lovely man at reception (legend), I went straight to sleep excited about what the next three weeks had in store for me. The first couple days were spent with Lucinda or Kumar, who showed myself and the other volunteers around and introduced us to some of the other OSCAR staff. My first impression was how welcoming everyone was, with even the locals in the street wanting to grab a photo or just have a chat. It made me wonder why the UK, especially my home town London, was so miserable and different. Most evenings consisted of football matches at the ‘Back Garden’ turf with the boys from Volenti Academy. These intense kickabouts gave me a great appreciation for the OSCAR kids’ ability to play in such humid conditions of 30+ degrees because I certainly struggled to cope.

The next week consisted of helping out at massive events such as the Mumbai Marathon and OSCAR’s Annual Football Day. The Annual Football Day was especially grueling as we worked from 7am to 7pm in the scorching sun refereeing matches. But witnessing the smiles on every single of the 900+ children’s faces and seeing how much fun they had was incredibly rewarding. The only negative aspect of the event was the horrible T-shirt tan I received from being in the sun all day. Alongside these big events, our mornings were spent teaching English in the local communities. My particular classroom was incredibly tiny and being 6ft2 represented a certain challenge. Despite the logistical difficulties, the classes were very fun and most of the kids were super engaged and excited to learn. The one hour spent playing Hangman one morning was a personal highlight for me. It was hugely inspiring to see how eager these children are to learn and grow in spite of the circumstances they find themselves in. 

Just as I was becoming accustomed to life in Mumbai, us volunteers boarded an 11-hour overnight train to Wadi station in Karnataka before a 1.5-hour tuk-tuk ride to a village in the middle of nowhere (literally). I need to make an important point here – India is not built for tall people. I was too long for the bed on the train so my feet were left dangling off the end and the same happened in the tuk-tuk with the roof being too low for me. A 90-minute ride sat with my neck at an angle and my head banging the roof every time we went over a bump (and there were many) left me with about 200 less brain cells.

We spent the next five days teaching more English, playing football and visiting schools and temples, swarmed by locals and bombarded for pictures everywhere we went. One takeaway from this experience is that I never want to be famous. There were perks to being treated as celebrities though, I received countless scarfs, some traditional clothing, and even a religious artifact. The pinnacle of the “celebrity” experience was making it on the front page of the local paper! All these experiences further highlighted how generous and kind the people of India are – something I think the UK can learn from. The Karnataka trip as a whole was certainly the most challenging part of my volunteering experience. I was completely removed from everything I knew as normal and thrown into an entirely different way of life. Being woken by a rooster at 5am, washing myself using a bucket of water, and being stuck in traffic jams of buffalos and goats were all new experiences for me. However, at the same time it was these aspects that made the trip so fun and exciting, and why for me, Karnataka was one of the highlights of my experience. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the daily kickabouts with the local village kids in the evening. Playing football in the dark with a flashlight shining from one of the roofs as the only source of light was interesting to say the least. Seeing how excited the kids were that I was joining in and being swarmed every time I scored (no I did not take it easy on them) was an incredible feeling and served as a reminder of what motivated me to come out and volunteer with OSCAR – to hopefully have a positive impact on these children’s lives. Not to mention the joyous laughter as they tried to teach me some of the local language. The most rewarding part of the Karnataka leg was the CV workshop that Min and I led for the Young Leaders. Being able to pass on knowledge that I’ve learnt from school and university to a group of young people who would otherwise never have this kind of learning opportunity was hugely fulfilling.  

From running a half-marathon to exploring rural India in a tuk-tuk, my time with the OSCAR family in India has been a truly eye-opening and transformative experience that not only exceeded all my expectations but contributed to my own personal development. A massive part of this was down to the people who made me feel so welcome and helped with every aspect of the trip. I want to say thank you to Karan, Anil, and Sachin for taking care of us in Karnataka. And I especially want to thank Kumar for going above and beyond. He is truly one of the best people I’ve ever met and if you ever find yourself working with OSCAR he will treat you like family from day one. My experience in India would not have been the same without him. Overall, this has been a fantastic experience, from the bustling streets of Mumbai to the quieter landscapes of Karnataka, every day brought new challenges, meaningful interactions, and invaluable lessons. 

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