Tadoba

This is the map of Tadoba.

I had my introduction chat with Claudia today and we sure did talk a lot. During the conversation it became clear to me that the situation is a little different than I imagined. This is good, since the challenge will be even bigger. Further my placement coordinator thought that I might not be able to meet my learning objectives, because the organisation is small. Now that's not going to be a problem, since there is a lot to learn that I didn't think off.

A village in Tadoba

There are many differences between the Netherlands and the communities in India. People are very much aware of the status of a person. Women better don't wear shorts, even though it's like 30 oC. Women take care of cooking and raising the children and the men work on the fields. In the harvesting period, it's, for the children, more important to get the harvest in than to go to school. The language spoken is Marathi....so I need a person who can translate for me and my dictionairy ofcourse :). The food and products which are used are quite different than I'm used to, so Claudia gave the advise to find myself a cook... How nice will that be, dinner is served!

There are quite a few issues that need to be tackled: education, economic growth, litter (plastic shopping bags), decrease of the buffer zones around the Tadoba- Andhari Tiger Reserve and so on. Claudia and I came up with lots of possibilities of projects I can do. So lots of work and lots to read before I make a choice of which project suits me best. I will focus on education, developing services (inventarisation of what people like to achieve and find ways to support them) and what to do with litter. For the exchangeproject SCF likes to set up I might do some filming. Never done that before, but it sounds like fun.

Well, next step is to get organized. Find out when I can leave, tickets, vaccinations, write my project proposal for school and very important, learn more about India, the rules, culture, do's and don'ts!!

Yogi Cat, only bigger!

The first step to start moving :)

For some people it's difficult to find a placement, others are more lucky. This time I'm that person.

Through connections I heard about Stichting Claudia and Friends. This is an organisation involved in 2 projects in India. One is a handicraft project and the other a project on nature & environment education at schools. Both sound nice, and both are in line with RD&I. On the website you will find a third project, an exchange programme. As an assignment I had to make a programme proposal for an exchange programme, so this sounds interesting too.

So the first step, an appointment with Claudia, in order to, firstly, find out if her organisation meets the placement criteria, secondly, if there is a project for me, or if we can agree on an assignment.

This is exciting!!!

If you like to know more about the organisation, here's the link: www.scfindia.nl

Feel free to check the side, it's nice.

Since I have little knowledge of what can be found where in India, I googled some maps. The location is: from Bombay to the middle-> 150 km south of Nagpur and 25 km north of Chandrapur.

My cat

This is Yogi Cat. His all time favourites are food, sleeping and attention, lots of it...

In the morning he wakes me up, sitting on the top of the stairs miauwing. Alright, he too is hungry when he wakes up, or after a busy night....

During the day, particular this time of the year, he likes to spend his time indoors. Just doing nothing all day, laying around on the best spots he can find... This means my lap when I try to study, where else!

When I cook my dinner, his spot is on the stairs next to the stove. Nice, all that lovely smelling food. At times it's necessary to have a closer look, and if he gets the chance he won't hesitate to try stick his nose in a pan.

The way to go when he was a kitten, was to sit on my shoulder. A very comfortable position, from where he could keep a close eye on all things happening around him.

How sweet is that :)

This is what I do

Since 2004 I study Rural Development and Innovations at the van Hall Larenstein Institute, situated in Wageningen since 2006.
In 2007, my placement will take place and it has to be somewhere out of Europe.. I don't have a place to go yet. I'm looking in to going to India. Places of interest are Asia, Africa and South- America. The only problem is that I don't speak Spanish or French that well.
During my placement I like to join a project which involves wildlife, culture or nature conservation in combination with education, or support of the local communities. I have no experience with these conservation aspects, since my study has focused on the agricultural and toerism side of rural development for the last 2 years. I hope I can learn about these interesting aspects during my placement.


I received experiences in Rural Development and Innovation through different placements with different aims.

• My first placement was an introduction. It took place on a dairy farm in the Netherlands. I had to visit the farm 7 times to have a look around, get insight in what goes on on the farm and I learned how to milk cows.


• For my second placement I stayed in France at Mas de la Fargassa. My aim was to get introduced to a more specific way of farming and discover what the differences are in France and the Netherlands. I stayed on a farm in the Pyrenees for one month. This was an organic farm with extra activities, like homemade products which got sold in the shop or at the local market, a mini camping and the sales of fruits to local organic shops. Also they took WWOOFERs (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), who help out on the farm in return for food and shelter. The environment was very international with the owners of the farm being Dutch and English, and the WWoofers who mostly came from the USA and Canada.


• My third placement coverd 15 days in 2006 with Stichting Ontwikkeling de Venen in Utrecht, the Netherlands. I was involved in the process of organising an information day called "Dag van het Veen". The aim of this placement was to get more familiar with the kind of work an organisation can do, which parties are involved and where to get subsidies from.


• The fourth placement took place in the summer of 2006 with the organisation Simbo. This organisation provides holidays for youth in the Netherlands and Europe. I was located in Vorden for 3 weeks, and was, together with a colleague, responsible for the children in the age of 10-13 years old, to ensure they had a nice vacation. The aim was to get familiar with guiding groups and the different methods you can use in doing so.

Now it's time for the fifth placement. A placement of 20 weeks out of Europe, where I have to participate in a project, or do my own project, in agreement with an organisation involved in Rural Development and Innovation. Looking forward to it... but first things first...find the right organisation...