Request for Volunteer Opportunities in India

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

A former colleague of mine is looking for opportunities to intern or volunteer

for 6 months anywhere in Punjab, or also Delhi, Chandigargh, or Mumbai. She will

spend a second 6 months in South Africa and is looking for organizations

specifically in Capetown. She will be available after the end of May.

She will not require a salary or housing. She speaks fluent Punjabi and basic

Hindi. Please find below a description of her interests.

I would much appreciate it if you could contact her directly (Manmeet Kaur

Bindra, mb2024@...) with any opportunities. Manmeet is an incredibly

intelligent and enthusiastic woman and would be an asset to your work in

HIV/AIDS.

Best Regards,

Joya Banerjee

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My name is Manmeet Kaur Bindra, and I am a graduating senior at Barnard college

at Columbia University in New York. I am applying for funding to spend next

year in South Africa and India to work on the role of forced migration and sex

work in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

For my undergraduate education, I studied history and anthropology, with a focus

on British colonialism, migration, the global economy, gender, and human rights.

I eventually plan to attend law school to work on international public policy

regarding refugee issues.

I am looking to work for organizations in South Africa and India to conduct work

on the intersection between migration, trafficking, and HIV/AIDS. While men are

also trafficked, women and children are particularly vulnerable to enslavement

and contraction of HIV/AIDS.

Opportunities for employment in formal sectors are extremely limited even in

developing cities. Thus, links between HIV/AIDS and trafficking are mutually

aggravating and demand gender and culturally sensitive responses that address

the disempowering socio-economic situation of women in developing countries.

As an advocate, I hope to work with community based NGOs to raise awareness

among community members about the spread of HIV/AIDS among forced labor

populations through public education and writing. My goal is to help develop

sustainable mechanisms to respond to the growth of trafficking through various

activities, such as setting up information booths to help ensure safe passage

along common travel routes taken by traffickers.

I feel particularly strongly about working with commercial sex workers who are

trafficked into urban settings in India and South Africa because of the growth

of trafficking and because of the need for culturally sensitive programs that

work to dismantle existing stigmas and biases against sexuality, HIV/AIDS and

women's rights.

In South Africa, I prefer to work in Capetown and in India, I would prefer to be

in either Delhi, Chandigargh, Mumbai, or other areas in Punjab.

Manmeet Kaur Bindra

mb2024@...

.................................

Joya Banerjee

Consultant

Adolescent & Youth Cluster-

Reproductive Health Branch,

HIV/AIDS Branch, UNFPA

E-mail: banerjee@...