The Clemson University Thomas Greene Clemson Brussels Center (CUBC) is pleased to be able to offer Clemson students the opportunity to participate in an exciting and rewarding service learning project in India during the summer of 2012: The ICHEC Housing Project
The ICHEC Housing Project is organized through ICHEC: Institut Catholique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, one of Clemson University’s partners at the Brussels Center. The project is an international service learning project that involves studying Indian culture, participating in an international team of students, fund raising, working with Indian villagers to build houses and traveling to Brussels and around India. During this program you will live in an Indian village for three weeks and participate in a local development project—building houses for local families.
NOW ICHEC TEAM COMES TO SANGAGIRI 2012 HOUSING PROJECT 2012 . STUDENTS NAME. PHILIPPINE CLAIKENS,SOPHIE RAECHI,RAPHAEL STAS,MATOSSION ULYSSE,LAURANNE ZABEAU,SAPHO BAWOROWSKI,ARTHUR LATHOR,VALENTINE BRACKX.THEY DONE HERE JOB PERFECTLY.
WHEN THE SEND OFF PROGRAMM ALL OF THE PEOPLE FACE ARE VERY DULL REASON IS THEY ARE MISSED THEIR LAUGHS & JOYFUL RELATIONSHIP OF ICHEC HOUSING PROJECT 2012 TEAM AND THEM FRIENDSHIP COMES TO END. IN SATHYA NAGER ALL THE PEOPLE CRIED ON THE SEND OFF OF VALENTINE BRACKX AND THEIR TEAM PEOPLE.
SANGAGIRI PEOPLE REALLY MISS YOU WITH PAIN . DON'T FORGET THEM.MAIL TO me i will send to them stechtally@gmail.com. very thanks to all ICHEC teams & head of the department and Brigitte CHANOINE
BEST WISHES FOR YOUR EXCHANGE STUDENT PROGRAMME TO ICHEC (SANGAGIRI) HOUSING PROJECT 2012 TEAM.BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOUR FUTURE AND FUTURE STUDIES.................AND THEN THANKS
BY SAKTHIVEL.J
S-TECH
SANKAGIRI
09789320990
04283-240134
I WILL POST NEXT BLOG WITH NEW PHOTOS
SEND COMMENTS TO ME ...........................................................HP2012 TEAM
PLS TOUCH WITH US
SEE YOUR INTERVIEW TO TAMIL CHANNELS: PLACE SANGAGIRI
What is ICHEC Housing Project ?
Were are a business school in Brussels
ICHEC (Institut Catholique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) has a long tradition of open-mindedness to international and intercultural dimensions, in particular concerning the developing countries. ICHEC Housing Project is part of this tradition. In the second year, it’s the alternative to a one-month training period in a company.
In order to open their mind, we send our students to India and Burkina Faso
The idea is to give ICHEC students and/or students from elsewhere, an opportunity to live for one month in a different cultural environment and to think about this experience. We don’t want to form students with a one-sided view of the world. And the most efficient way to make them conscious of the cultural diversity of the world is to send them abroad.
Why India? Why Burkina Faso? We want them to discover a point of view different from the occidental one. These countries are totally different from what they could have seen in Europe or in US. But we don’t want to send our students as tourists. As a tourist you don’t have the opportunity to really meet people. So we had to find something more efficient.
They participate in a local development project
India.
Our students live in a village for three weeks. They learn about the Indian way of life from the inside. In exchange for this unique experience, the students are required to participate financially and personally in a local development project, in building small houses for destitute families.
These are our local Indian partners:
Dharmapuri :
Mgr Irudayaraj
Dharmapuri Bishop’s house
P.O. Box n°32 Nethayibypass Rd
Dharmapuri 636701–Tamil Nadu-India
Phone 00904342.264403
Salem :
Mgr Singarayam
Bishop of Salem
Bishop’s house - P.B. 703 Maravanary
Salem 636007 - Tamil Nadu-India
bpsingam@yahoo.co.in
Trichy – SEVAI :
Mr Govindaraju - Director Sevaï
N°11 Sundram Flats Shastri Rd
Tiruchirapalli 620017
Tamil Nadu-India
phone : 0431.268.52.27
Tirunelveli :
Sr Anna Mary Cic - Provincial Jawahar Nagar-NGO B Colony Near RTO Palai - Tirunelveli - 627007 Tamil Nadu-India
What
participants say…
Impact in terms of awareness to development is difficult to measure. However we easily can feel it when reading what participants say. CHECHOUSING PROJECT
I’m deeply convinced we should not underestimate the benefit of such a life experience. World realities don’t change but we can change the way we look at them.
Guillaume dV CHECHOUSING PROJECT
I think doing a project like the Housing project is the best way to understand what’s going on around us. There are inequalities, and going to a country like India opened my mind to the difficult living conditions some people have to face.
Marie D CHECHOUSING PROJECT
Because I did this project, I will try, in my professional life, to make people aware of this issue. I don’t know yet what my future will be made of, but I will do everything to devote all or a part of my time to improve North-South relationships.
Arnaud B CHECHOUSING PROJECT
This experience changed my vision of the world, because for the first time in my lifetime, I was really faced with poverty. For the first time, I got the impression of helping someone, of doing something real, even if the people we helped gave us so much more in return.
Laurent O CHECHOUSING PROJECT CHEC HOUSING PROJECT
ICHEC Coopération Internationale asbl – 2 bd Brand Whitlock–1150 Bruxelles - Belgium –Tel : +32.(0)2.778.03.07 – vincent.huart@ichec.be - http://housingproject.ichec.be
The Bishop of Salem, the Bishop of Dharmapuri, Sr Anna Mary and Mr Govindaraju, Director of SEVAI - Society for Education Village Action and Improvement take care of the building aspects and the accommodation of the students.
The participants are divided in small teams of +/- 10 persons. Each team lives together during one month in the village where the houses are to be built. This is one of the most important and enriching aspects of the project.
During three weeks, each team works in their own village, building the houses (at least, they participate in the building, being a helping hand for the Indian workers who effectively do the biggest part of the work).
Our students have no particular skills to build houses. In fact, Indian workers are fully self-sufficient. But it’s essential for the students to participate in the building:
o
they really want to be helpful towards the destitute families, and not only by giving money, they really want to do something with their hands,
o
for their first trip in a so called “third world” country, they won’t come as specialists of something, or with special skills, and they even will be less efficient than the Indian workers. That’s a good lesson of humility for future businessmen and businesswomen.
o
Building houses is their alibi to be in the village. They are not tourists, they have a particular reason to be there.
For all those reasons, we think it’s essential for our students to participate in the building of the houses.
Burkina Faso.
In Burkina Faso, we are working with two local partners.
AMB is a Burkinabé NGO whose goal is to improve accessibility to water by building micro-dams close to small villages. Those dams are 100 to 150 meters long and 1 to 1,5 m high. They retain and keep the rainwater when it falls in the rainy season. This not only slows down erosion, but also feeds the ground water.
What
participants say…
Living close to 10 other people during one month is not easy. We all have different personalities, desires, expectations but also weaknesses… So it was a unique experience to learn to accept each other, to understand our ideas are not always the best, to hold one’s tongue when opinions differ, etc
Stéphanie vV CHECHOUSING PROJECT
I have learned a lot and moreover, I have the feeling of having made a family happy by giving them a house. Meeting them and sharing time with them is a huge reward in return for all the time and energy invested in preparing the project.
Olivier L CHECHOUSING PROJECT
As a business student, I live in an economic environment where we always speak about money, profits, capitalism, etc… It was very interesting to “come down to earth” and face the reality of our world, to see that the profit of some people may damage the situation of many, that we are not alone on earth and that we have to respect it, as well as the people.
Lina H CHECHOUSING PROJECT
I understood our project consisted partly in a humanitarian action, but above all in humanitarian awareness. I won’t say it’ s better like that, but I feel it’s good to make us understand from the beginning that it is as a team, and not alone, that we will be able to make things change through dialogue and sharing with other people.
Catherine D
10 Participants in each village
AJAD is an association created by young people from Koudougou. The goal is to promote the economic development and to make the young people aware of environmental problems, in particular desertification. The final goal is that young people may stay and build their future in their own villages instead of migrating to urban areas.
We are participating in the fight against desertification. Before July, a large part of the money collected by the students will be used in building a micro-dam. In July, the students will join members of AJAD and young villagers and together, they will plant trees. Trees are very helpful in order to slow down the desertification.
Achievements
The project has been going on since 1993.
In 1993 His Grace Michael B. Duraisamy, Bishop of Salem (Tamil Nadu) informed Joseph Houyoux and Matthieu de Tillesse of his project to build some small houses. After visiting the site and meeting a contractor, Chamu Chowriappa, the idea to bring Ichec students into the project was born.
The presentation of the project was welcomed enthusiastically by the students. The experience started that year and 16 houses were built by the first 13 pioneer students. In short, an excellent start for the project. Since then the experience has been renewed each year with groups of enthusiastic participants.
In India, for 16 years, 545 students have participated, financed and helped to build 544 houses, 3 schools and one dispensary.
In 1999 and 2000, 38 students went to Peru, where they participated, financed and helped to build 2 community houses, a soccer field and water canalizations.
For 8 years, since 2001, Burkina Faso has welcomed 90 students. They have collected 43.000€ to finance micro-dams and have participated in planting 38.500 trees.
What
participants say…
Above all, this project in India opened my eyes to what was happening outside my home. I have finally realized that there is a huge gap between North and South, and that we need to reduce it. Of course, we see poverty on television, but we can’t imagine what it is till we have faced it with our own eyes.
Célia C CHECHOUSING PROJECT
How could we avoid exclaiming “1.600 euros !!! “ when we heard about the amount to be collected? This challenge, which at first I didn’t find interesting, turned out soon to be a very enriching one. Indeed, I learned to present a project to my neighborhood and even to complete strangers. Above all I learned not to get discouraged and give up the project for financial reasons, before trying.
Stéphanie V CHECHOUSING PROJECT
The worksite gave us the opportunity to do what we were there for, and that motivated me. Moreover, we worked with AJAD-members and villagers, and that gave us the opportunity to discuss about our culture and a lot of different things. We could go deeper into various points and learn a lot from each other.
Catherine D CHECHOUSING PROJECT
ICHEC Coopération Internationale asbl – 2 bd Brand Whitlock–1150 Bruxelles - Belgium –Tel : +32.(0)2.778.03.07 – vincent.huart@ichec.be - http://housingproject.ichec.be
Who are the participants?
Summary …
The project is essentially intended for students aged between 18 and 25, motivated by the idea of team work, in basic living conditions, and interested in getting to know another culture. ICHEC Coopération Internationale asbl – 2 bd Brand Whitlock–1150 Bruxelles - Belgium –Tel : +32.(0)2.778.03.07 – vincent.huart@ichec.be - http://housingproject.ichec.be
For three years now, Clemson students have also the opportunity to join the project.
In July 2006, three of then participated, each of then in a different team. In July 2007, they were five. One of then already came in 2006 and went back in India as an assistant.
Our aim is to contribute to our student’s education by giving them the opportunity to live an enriching experience. Asking them to build houses is one way of doing this.
For our partners it is the other way round : their aim is to give a roof to as many poor families as possible, and a way to do this is by welcoming our students.
This last summer, another five students came with us to India and shared the experience.
This participation of American students is a great opportunity for our project and is an enrichment in terms of intercultural experience.
Our two objectives were meant to meet and be mutually productive.
To contact us…
Don’t hesitate to contact us for further information:
What about the coming summer?
Clemson students should contact the Office of International Affairs, abroad-L@clemson.edu
Our partners are ready to go on with us.
ICHEC COOPERATION INTERNATIONALE
In India, we want to maintain our goal to finance and build one house per participant. In Burkina Faso, our goal is to finance one micro-dam and plant about 5 to 6,000 trees.
Pierre DUPRIEZ, Joseph HOUYOUX, Christine ROY, Jane de WAGTER, Nicolas DEFLANDRE, Paul GERADIN, Brigitte CHANOINE, Françoise FONTEYNE, Aline CHRISTIAENS, Laurent LAHAYE, Françoise FONTEYNE, Guillaume de VERGNIES, Catherine DAL FIOR, Matthieu de TILLESSE, Vincent HUART
Finance
A big challenge for the participants is to collect money. Each one, with the help of sponsors, must collect a sum of 1.700€ which covers the contribution to the building of a house, the travel expenses from Belgium to India and accommodation and food for a month.
Tel. : +32.(0)2.778.03.07
Fax : +32.(0)2.778.03.86
vincent.huart@ichec.be http://housingproject.ichec.be
This is an important aspect of the project. Indeed finding money and sponsors is not an easy task. It requires imagination, research and organization from the students.
It’s not so easy to combine concentration on studies with appointments with sponsors, organizing an Indian supper, a disco party, selling T-shirts or Easter eggs, or other fund raising events.
HI
ReplyDelete