Week 1 volunteering with the Association of People with Disabilities (APD)

By Aoife Dennehy

Today is our second day volunteering in Ulsoor School in the surprisingly named Murphy Town. We are getting to know all the children from meeting them here in the main learning centre and in APD. We also go to Frazer Town school and work with the children here and in APD also where they attend for speech therapy, physio and occupational therapy. Some children are on holiday as the Muslim festival of Eid approaches and the sound of drums grow louder and faster as you approach the festival. Commercial Street gets busier as they buy Saris and food preparing for it.

We have met so many different people over the past week. We have also been getting used to the culture around such things as marriage, especially as a group of predominantly females. First thing they do is look at your feet, apparently rings on your toe indicate that a woman is married.

The children and staff are so friendly and helpful. Work here can be challenging as there is far less equipment and resources in comparison to Ireland. It requires a clot of effort and creativity by everybody to overcome some of these challenges.  All in all we are having a fantastic time and really enjoying this unique experience.  We are excited to see what the next three weeks have in store.