Student
As my winter vacation commenced, I was pondering what I can do to enhance my knowledge. What are the areas which can add value to me and empower my thinking. Out of the blue I remembered, I can work under the organizations which work for the benefit of the society. And the first name which came to mind was Student for development. The name was not new to me. I had heard about their activities and initiatives from many of my friends. So I joined the organization student for development under the program “campus to community”.
The project I had chosen was urban solid waste management. I personally had felt that there is still a need for the proper waste management system body which can efficiently handle the tasks and keep our city clean. I had been working in Bengaluru for around three years and hence I took this opportunity to learn and understand the whole system.
The organization was very helpful and supportive in imparting me the basic idea about the whole solid waste management system. I was guided by a mentor the very first day I joined the organization. The whole process and workflow of the internship was quite facile and every task was designed in such a way that it is easy for a student to understand and implement. In a broader sense the task was dissected into three major steps. The first was on field job. This was the step which happened to be very crucial for me and I got to learn a lot from this. I used to study the actual door to door waste collection methodology adopted by BBMP, the waste management body in Bengaluru. The organization made it pretty easy for me as they scheduled a meeting with the health inspector of the ward where I needed to work. I gathered all the information about the current system from them and was able to map their work on ground.
The second part which comes was proposing a solution for the web interface that could be used by all the stakeholders of the system. To implement this step it was very much required that I have totally understood the current system being used. After getting this knowledge I proposed a solution about what all can be put in the web interface for this waste management system. Introduction of the smart bin system was the most crucial part of the solution which I proposed.
At last, I needed to make a report on all my activities during my internship. I prepared all the map files and documented the proposed solution.
Working for the organization which is solely dedicated to the development of the society was a rich experience for me. I find the people working for the organization very supportive. I feel that all the students who really want to learn and enhance their thinking must join the organization and help their own society and community grow.