Norwich native proud of service work in India

After finishing graduate school last year, this Norwich native began a job which she says is just the beginning of her lifelong career.

A graduate of Norwich High School in 2000, Erin Finkle headed to Springfield College, where, after six years, she would earn a Masters Degree in recreation management. She worked at the YMCA of the Adirondacks in Silver Bay during the summers.

After school, Erin became Silver Bays’ Outdoor Recreation Director, where she teaches leadership and team building skills for all ages. After less than a year as the recreation director, she was given a chance to travel and provide service work overseas. A three-way partnership was created between Silver Bay, YMCA USA, and Madurai YMCA in India. Erin says she had always wanted to do service work, but she never imagined going to India to get started.

Erin left in February and returned home six weeks later. She said the experience was unbelievable. During her six week tenure, she stayed at the YMCA in their international guest house. The Madurai YMCA, Erin explains, is not like the facilities we have here. In India, one facility is a school for the hearing impaired and another is for children with disabilities. There is also an orphanage or a ‘boy’s home’ as they call it on the campus.

“The work provided at the Y there is missionary work. The services offered are services the community is in need of,” Erin said.

The Madurai facility also acts as a halfway house, of sorts, for young women who need a place to stay while they work. Erin explains socially, women who are not married and work when they reach adulthood are still somewhat socially and culturally unaccepted.

While in India, Erin spent her time teaching communicative English to the teachers of both schools. She taught team building and leadership skills to both men and women and spent her evenings in the boys home teaching basic grammar and other important writing and learning skills.