Report of Rural Awareness Camp – Neerude

Introduction
Rural Camp is an integral part of the training programme for the students pursuing any field of study. This was organized for three days at Neerude, Mangalore from 15th to 17th December, 2017 with an objective to create a platform for the students to understand and analyze the Rural Social System, Strategies used by the Non-Governmental Agencies, Nature of Government Intervention for the development of poor people, and to facilitate students experiences of group living. During this camp, the students were encouraged to organize and carry out programmes and events for social awakening and development of the people.

Objectives of Rural Camp
• To enable students understand the Socio-Economic and Cultural conditions of rural life and to help students integrate essential values for life.
• To facilitate an exposure to the students to organize and carry out programmes and events for social awakening and development of the people.
• To help students develop personal and professional skills and to facilitate self-development in processes like decision-making, planning, organizing, executing, coordinating and recording.
• To assist the Students learn to work together as a team with a positive approach and to encourage them to take on concrete task towards future from the camp.
• To understand the problems faced by the people of Neerude and to try finding solutions to their difficulties.
• To also understand that in a life full of comfort in the city, there are many people in the world who live life with meager facilities, which helps us learn and understand the importance of vital resources.

Day 1
The inaugural ceremony of the Rural Exposure Camp began on 15th of December, 2017 at 10.00am in the Church Hall at Neerude. The participants gathered for the camp consisted of students from various colleges across the city like Loyola College-Manvi, Jyothi Nivas College, St. Joseph’s Evening College-Bangalore, St. Aloysious College-Mangalore, St. Philomena’s College-Mysore and St. Joseph’s College-Bangalore. The Chief Guest Prof. Anoop- St. Aloysious College, Mangalore, Brother Philip- St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, Mr. Ranjith- coordinator, Bangalore, Mrs. Gracy- St. Philomena’s, Mysore inaugurated the camp. Then the guests were welcomed by the National Convener, Monica. Prof. Anoop then explained about the objective and the importance of the camp to the participants. With his blessings for the success and fruitful exposure to the students, he ended his speech. Then Brother Philip inspired the students with his encouraging words of wisdom for a successful camp. The inaugural ceremony was concluded with a group activity which introduced the participants among each other. The tiresome, hot journey was energized by a fruit drink served to all the participants after the introductory game. Soon after the refreshment we had another group activity which also included the painting of an AICUF poster for the camp. After a small briefing, each group was allotted with their respective field work that had to be completed within the stipulated time.
Preceded by lunch, we played games in the playground which included sac race and others. We also had an ice-breaker session about the pillars of AICUF where each group was given a topic like dalit, women empowerment and others upon which they had to present a mime. This day of enthusiasm ended with delicious dinner and sound sleep.

DAY 2
This day began early at 6 am in the morning, after which all of us seeked the holy blessings from the almighty in the mass at the Church. Yoga to energize the participants during the day was also a part of the schedule. 9am to 12 noon included tiresome fieldwork which consisted of cleaning the rooms the participants resided in, cleaning of restrooms, kitchen, cutting of dry grass, re-planting saplings, leveling of the land and moving of many big clay stones. The evening game for the day included tug-of-war, playing with dried coconut leaves. These games united the participants irrespective of their geographical divisions and unified them as one working for the same cause. Later in the evening there was a fancy dress competition conducted among the various groups, the participants where uniquely dressed with deep meaning adding to their attire for the set evening. Fr. Assisi Rebello along with the Principal of St. Aloysious College, Mangalore paid us a caring visit to know about how the camp at Neerude was taking place; they also shared their words of wisdom and joined the participants for dinner.

Day 3
17th of December, was the last day of the camp. Bonds among participants already established, their undying spirit kept the enthusiasm of the camp going. The day began with the mass at the Church which was accompanied by many villagers who were happy to see the students taking keen interest in the village and its affairs. It was followed by field work as scheduled on all the days of the camp. The valedictory ceremony took place in the Auditorium with the Parish Priest among us. After a long afternoon, guided by the office bearers of AICUF and Mrs. Vinolia from St. Aloysious College the participants of the camp were taken around the village, among the lush green fields, dense vegetation and among big rocks, they had most fun. Subsequent to this, games were conducted involving the active participation of the villagers and camp participants in the village ground, where they played volleyball and cricket.
This long day was ended with a camp fire, where each of the students shared their experience and learning of this rural exposure camp. The bright camp fire surely glowed as bright as the knowledge seeked by the students at the camp. This was followed by some music and dance that was thoroughly enjoyed by all present there. The delicious dinner garnished a fun filled day.

Outcome of the Camp
The Rural Awareness camp brought out the following outcomes to the participants and the students -
• The Students from various colleges across the state got awareness on various themes and fields.
• The students got motivation from various resource persons who presided over various workshops during the camp.
• Students could learn a lot about socio-economic, cultural, educational life of the students and people at Neerude.
• Students were able to excel in professional skills such as leadership, communication, team work, organization, coordination, cooperation, rapport building, reporting and so on.
• Students were able to learn how to interact with the people and collect a data from them as they were provided a golden opportunity to study on socioeconomic and educational status of people at Neerude.