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Media releases > First VSO volunteer from India
First VSO volunteer from India heads overseas
(Friday 1 October 2004)
On board Kenya Airways flight KQ 201 to Nairobi on Wednesday, Pushparaj Mohanty created history by becoming the first Indian VSO volunteer to depart from India.
Pushparaj, from Cuttack in Orissa, was recruited through the iVolunteer overseas programme, which is a partnership between iVolunteer and VSO. The programme started in November 2003 and has recruited 27 Indian volunteers so far, who will be placed within VSO’s 34 country programmes.
Pushparaj - who has a background in rural development and mass communication - has previously worked with national and international NGOs in India such as the Council for Professional Social Workers (CPSW), Bhubaneswar, Save the Children UK, and CARE.
In Kenya Pushparaj will be working with Partnership Approaches to Social and Economic Construction (PASECO), a community-based organisation in Mombasa working on issues of social empowerment. During his two-year placement with PASECO, Pushparaj will be working on with colleagues on organisational development, partnerships, fundraising and community mobilisation.
Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of VSO says:
International volunteering has traditionally been seen as something rich countries do to poor countries. VSO wants to challenge that stereotype and is finding innovative ways of moving committed people with skills from wherever they are available to where they are most needed. VSO now promotes volunteering between and within Southern countries, harnessing vast talent and challenging the view that the North has all the answers. Editors' notes
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