I’m raising £1400 to volunteer in India and help research, develop and create sustainable solutions to tackle rural poverty.

Who am I?

My name is Altyn and I am your average first year microbiology student. I like to complain, binge eat snacks and watch Netflix, however, I also like volunteering. I have volunteered in various projects of various sizes all throughout my life and Amrita Live-in-Labs seemed like a natural next step.

It’s a big step from what I've done before as my other endeavours consisted of fundraisers like raising money by selling roses on Valentine’s Day or volunteering at a residential home for people suffering from Alzheimer's.

What exactly will I be doing?

For two months I will be helping design and develop sustainable projects to aid rural Indian communities in many different ways. I will be volunteering in rural India with a project initiated by Amrita, a multidisciplinary research facility that aims to sustainably improve the standard of life in rural India. The project is called "Live-in-Labs' and it brings together world's top universities and their students to design and deploy sustainable projects like the development of a smokeless cooking stove. Not only do we design and create these projects, but we also integrate them with the community - teaching people to use our creations and to improve their own lives.

Choosing a project to commit to was hard, there are so many projects out there and so many volunteering missions. Live-in-Labs, however, stood out to me. India is somewhere I have never been, but heard so much about. A beautiful country with a huge amount of problems ranging from poverty, disease and pollution. Although I cannot help everyone and everything, I felt like it was only right to choose a project and country where I can make a real difference.

What’s it to me?

I was born privileged, lucky enough to be educated and lucky enough to right now be at Manchester University and I am grateful. This is why volunteering has always been important to me. To aid and give back to people less fortunate than me. I have taken part in many fundraisers and volunteering opportunities for many charities but I have always strived to do more and this project is exactly what I envisioned.

Helping people in need and ensuring the safety of our environment is very important to me. This project enables me to do both as it focuses on using local materials to help solve problems faced by people in rural dwellings who often don’t even have clean water.

This project is a great learning opportunity, not only will it teach me important people skills like communication and working in a team, but also flexibility and adaptability. The conditions I will be working in are not as fixed as in a normal job environment. In the previous years’ students have been hit by rapid weather changes and monsoons so changing plans and making educated decisions quickly is important.

As aforementioned, I have never been to India and that is an appealing factor! Experiencing the hot temperatures, the colourful scenery and the amazing food alongside so many other new and wild experiences!

Why donate?

By donating to this project, you are helping me make a difference in situ. You are aiding me in aiding others and hopefully making a change in someone's life. This project has been running since 2013 with over 150 projects in 21 states across India and so far, it has touched the lives of over 60,000 rural residents. These projects impact many people and each year Live-in-Labs is leaning closer and closer towards sustainability. Sponsor me and become a part of something bigger!

Where will the money go?

My minimum target is £700 which will cover the cost of flights to and from India. However, if I reach my full goal of £1,400 I will use the additional money to cover the following:

• £450 - accommodation and food

• £150 - student visa

• £100 - cost of travel to and from the projects I will be working on within India

Reaching my full goal of £1400 pounds should pay for all of the expenses, but of course the cost of travel and the ticket prices are only an estimation of the prices from previous years!

Any extra or leftover money in case that happens will be used strictly for project purposes including vaccinations and malaria tablets.

As the project goes on I will update you on my progress via social media weekly and on this very page! I will update you on the progress besides collecting money as there are many things to accomplish before I set off. Once the fundraising part of this is over I will also update you on how the money is being spent and what I am doing to prepare for the journey. When I am able to, I will update from India and upload pictures and videos.

There are also rewards!

On the right hand side of the page there are some cool rewards for sponsors to choose from so check them out!

Click on these links!

You can find me on Facebook

Find out more about Amrita and the Live-in-Labs

Look at some previous and current projects

Help me make a difference!

Please sponsor me and help me make this happen!

It would be lovely of you to help me achieve my goal, but money isn’t everything!

You can also help me by sharing my fundraiser page! Share it your social media, send it via email or text a link to your friends and family!

The more people know of it - the more I can raise!

And I know I said you don't need to give money to help me, but I'd love it if you did!