Raleigh India is an organization that leads expeditions focused on helping communities in India. The goal of Raleigh India is to educate people on how to bring relief to people in need and to work toward environmental protection and sustainable community development projects.
Raleigh works with the local people of India and teaches volunteers how to help others while they also help themselves. Some of the low cost technology projects that they do include: rain water harvesting, biogas ovens, gravity fed water systems and composting toilets. Raleigh strives to help communities have access to water, sanitation, education and energy. They use resources that are renewable and work with organizations and local governments to help with efforts of conservation in areas that are protected.
In addition to working on sustainable projects during the expeditions, volunteers get to learn valuable information through experiential education. The stuff they learn, they can also use to help others after their expedition is over. On the expeditions, volunteers get to have fun on adventures and challenges and they also get to feel great about helping others with community, environmental, and developmental projects.
India is home to the only Bengal tiger population left and it is going extinct fast along with the Asian elephant. Both of these animals are indigenous to India. One thing that Raleigh India expeditions do is that they help with projects that are aimed at saving wildlife. Raleigh India has partnered with local NGOs, international NGOs and government agencies like the Ministry for Environment and Forests. With these partnerships, Raleigh is able to figure out the best ways to help with environmental issues in India.
Raleigh India has expeditions for youth organizations, various age groups, companies, schools and other groups. In order to join one of the expeditions in India, you must get accepted and have the necessary funding. On an expedition in India you could have opportunities like teaching at a school, working alongside villagers to help with community projects and living in a tribal community. In addition to helping people, there is time for adventures where you get to do things like mountain biking, rafting, kayaking and trekking. With Raleigh India you can go up to the highest tea plantation in the world, cross the Western Ghats and go to a beach on the Arabian ocean. You get to spend time enjoying the culture and environment and helping with sustainable projects. Instead of just taking a vacation for yourself, you can go on an expedition that will be beneficial for many people. You can implement the skills to work on projects even after your expedition is over.
History[edit | edit source]
Raleigh India started in February 2008. Since they started, they have made many positive differences in the communities they have worked in. Raleigh India is just one part of Raleigh International. Raleigh International holds expeditions in other countries such as Borneo, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The Raleigh International headquarters are in the UK and they also hold expeditions there. Operation Drake was something that started in 1978 where ships would take young people around the world on expeditions, it led to a larger scale operation called Operation Raleigh in 1984 and turned into Raleigh International in 1992 and became more focused on global awareness issues.
Future[edit | edit source]
The future of Raleigh India is based around volunteers. The more volunteers they get the more they can work on projects that will help communities in India. If you're interested in helping with the future of India with Raleigh India or reading more about it you can visit RaleighInternational.org/countries/India.
Sources[edit | edit source]
http://www.raleighinternational.org/about-raleigh
http://raleighindia.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20120327014242/http://www.raleighinternational.org:80/countries/india
links[edit | edit source]
http://www.raleighinternational.org/videos/video/61/Eco-sanitation-Boredeveramunti---India-2011