Shanthamma and her husband Narasimhaiyya have three children: seven-year-old daughter Madhu and her six-year-old sister Ambika as well as four-year-old Anthony. They all live together in the house of Shanthamma's father, along with her brothers, in the southern Indian village of Shankinpura.
This is home to the lowest caste of Indian society, what we know as 'untouchables'. They are fortunate if they can scrape a living earning 50p a day picking roses that end up in UK supermarkets or the mulberry leaves used in silkworm production.
More likely both men and women are cutting stones in local quarries, a dangerous job that has left a legacy of orphans. They work 12 hours a day, seven days a week for an average household income of 36,000 rupees a year (£422) for a family of six.
Just one hour from Shankinpura is an area with which HR professionals are far more familiar - the bustling metropolis of Bangalore. McKinsey puts India's share of the global business process outsourcing market at 46%. Bangalore, with its Silicon Valley, is the hub of India's burgeoning technology industry. Some 40% of the country's IT sector is concentrated in the city, which has the highest average income in India.
The global corporates and high incomes may only be a few miles from where Shanthamma lives but they may as well be a million. Yet she is one of the lucky ones. Her father has gifted her land in front of his house. She also has a yearly income of 30,000 rupees (£390) from working in agriculture. This makes her eligible for Habitat for Humanity's India Builds programme, which aims to provide 50,000 homes for 250,000 low-income Indians over the next five years.
Building homes is not as emotive as relief for natural disasters or medical assistance to stop the spread of Aids. As such it fails to be front of mind when organisations are considering CSR initiatives. Yet an estimated 2.6 billion people, two-thirds of the world's population, have no access to adequate sanitation in their homes.Not only does poor housing create overcrowding, it promotes ill-health, erodes self-worth and keeps the poor impecunious.
Habitat for Humanity is a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness by constructing simple, decent homes. Founded in 1976, it is now working in 120 countries and is building a house every 21 minutes.
The crux of its model is keeping costs at a minimum through the use of volunteers and works by giving home-owners an interest-free loan. Each house costs about £1,300 to build with homeowners contributing a third through repayments of about 500 rupees (£8) a month for up to six years.
Last December I joined 20 Coutts employees on a packed plane to Bangalore to see for myself the impact of volunteering. For a week I worked with Shanthamma and other families helping them realise their dream of owning a house. The simple constructions were typically 22-35 sq m but provided privacy and a sense of dignity, as well as more humane living conditions.
We mixed sand, cement and aggregate using basic tools, put these in pans and formed human chains to pass them. We erected scaffolding and learned about plumb and level. Some excavated, others tried their hand at plastering. We played with kids (interaction was encouraged), danced in our 'production line' and sieved sand. We politely got told off by homeowners when our walls were not up to their standards. And sometimes we just sat down to catch our breath.
So what did I learn? Well, I now know that good morning in Kannada (the local language) is Namaskaara. I know I should set up a business importing mann vettis - small-handled shovels used to mix mortar that are far more ergonomic than our shovels. I know that throwing bandlis (wok-shaped pans) full of cement to one another is not only guaranteed to make you dirty but is actually a brilliantly efficient way of getting the cement from ground-level on one side of the building to roof-level on the other.
I also know that this type of activity can bond you in a way no other can. As the comments from four of the Coutts' participants on these pages show, it has had a major impact on their lives - both professionally and personally.
Warren Wright of L&D company OnTrackInternational, who joined us on the build, puts it this way: "The physicality of working side by side learning and developing new skills while being dependent upon each other bonded us strongly together. I have been running team-building events for over 18 years and have never observed or experienced such a strong emotional connection within a group, a group I now call friends."
I learnt you can communicate without language. That business people lose ego when working on a project like this. That you work together and naturally step in when someone is flagging. That you spot ways in which problems can be solved. Oh, and now I can build a brick wall.
RICHARD BAMBER, BUSINESS RISK MANAGER
I still find myself thinking about India - the villagers, the smells, the colours and the fantastic team of individuals we took with us.
I guess few of us knew what to expect from this challenge, having done nothing like it before. Months of planning and fundraising were suddenly behind us and the reality of being at Heathrow Airport at 6.30am on a cold December morning came as a bit of a shock. A long day followed and eventuallyat 7am on Sunday morning we emerged from Bangalore Airport into the hustle and bustle that is India. It was just amazing and I'll never forget that initial experience of heat and the sheer volume of people and traffic at such an early time of the day.
Monday morning and the real work started. This is what we came for and this is why we all wanted to undertake this challenge - assisting with the building of new homes - 'building lives'. The people in the village were as interested in us as we were them. Forget language and cultural barriers, there was a common goal we shared and this meant we all completed the work as necessary with no issues and in a way that I would never have felt possible. Not only did we all gel with the locals but I have never experienced teamwork like I did with my Coutts colleagues. The way we supported; helped and cared for each other was quite outstanding. There were no leaders as we didn't need any but when required we all took the lead.
Quite simply the team that we took to India could not have been better. I think it's because we all volunteered for the right reasons. We succeeded and boy did we succeed because we all shared a common goal - to help the villagers with their building activity. We achieved it by demonstrating the most perfect teamwork; a shared vision and a collective responsibility to deliver the goods. I knew hardly anyone on the team before we left; by the end of the week I felt that I had worked with these people all my life.I have experienced what I believe to be teamwork in its purest form. This is what I'll take back to the workplace. I already had a positive view of the business that I work in - this experience has reinforced this and I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to represent Coutts on such a worthwhile activity.
SAMANTHA MUNRO, PRIVATE BANKER
Let's face it, it was pretty ambitious to expect a group of 20 bankers, many of whom had not met before, to fly to a remote, poverty stricken southern Indian village in an attempt to build houses without any prior building experience. Furthermore, many of us had no idea of the conditions we would see, and naturally there would be the cultural and language differences to deal with.
Yet the moment I heard of the challenge, I knew this was a project I wanted to be involved in. The working life of a private banker, surrounded by successful high net worth clients, makes it so easy to take for granted the luxurious world many are able to live in. This leads us to forget that there are those who do not have the basic human right of a safe and secure home in which to raise their family.
My aims were to have my eyes opened to a different culture, while trying to make a tangible difference, however small, to better the lives of those less fortunate. I was also keen to have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with colleagues whom, without this trip, I would be unlikely to ever meet.
I find it extremely difficult to put into words the emotional experience shared by the Coutts team. However, on reflection, I am so grateful to have been part of a group that in my opinion demonstrated the best form of true teamwork I have ever seen. There was no leader, no cross words, simply a group of people determined to work our very hardest to achieve a common goal.
Saying goodbye was of course a struggle. At the end of our final day four children came running over to me and with two of them clinging to each arm gestured that I should come with them. With the five of us running and laughing, they led me outside of their village towards a large steep rocky hill. We climbed to the top of the hill. It was so peaceful and you could see for miles around. It was evident this was a spiritual place for the villagers, a place that they treasured, and I was overwhelmed that they wanted to share this with me as they said goodbye.
Working for Coutts gave me this incredible opportunity, and in return I hope to bring back to the workplace my many learnings around teamwork and communication skills - things that we all seem to struggle to use effectively in our business lives.
KEVIN LOBO, INVESTMENT PRODUCT MANAGER
Being selected for the RBS pilot charity challenge is an achievement in itself but to represent Coutts in southern India and help a family out of poverty by building them a simple home and giving them the self-respect and hope of a better life is truly an amazing feeling.
At first it was quite daunting knowing I would be travelling to India with people I didn't know. But after all the fundraising events, activities and planning meetings before our departure, by the time we had to meet at Heathrow we were all the best of friends - united by a common interest and goal. I knew that if the efforts into the build were anything like how the team had strived to exceed their target during the fundraising, it was sure to be a success. As a team we raised more than £20, 000 which exceeded our initial target by £10,000. As an individual I raised £2,200, exceeding my target of £500.
Once we arrived at the village reality soon set in and it was time to start putting into action all the promises that we made to our supporters. When work began we were able to communicate with the homeowners through gestures and joint workmanship, and I believe this enhanced the special bond that we made with the villagers. This built a stronger connection and sense of camaraderie than would have been achieved by sending money alone.
I soon realised that I was in for a rollercoaster ride of emotions that would enrich my life and change numerous other lives forever.
From a business perspective the experience has reaped many advantages. I have used this opportunity to network and build strong relationships with people -several of whom I am now beginning to work with back in the office. This in turn has improved communication, approachability and understanding between colleagues. I believe that the essence of team-building is working with others to achieve a common goal. India proved the importance of this where I observed how team members helped each other, in a jovial atmosphere while supporting the community in which we worked. This challenge proved to be about developing relationships between people and an understanding between cultures.
OLIVER THOMAS, PORTFOLIO MANAGER
The whole trip was an incredible experience. It was a great opportunity to be able to offer something to people less fortunate than myself. I was not sure what to expect, but the welcome we received from the villagers and the gratitude shown by them is something I will never forget.
The trip has certainly made me appreciate everything I have. The people we were helping had little or no possessions and yet seemed so happy and contented. The children had no toys, but played happily together with anything they could find.
This is by far the most effective team-building exercise I have ever been involved in. The spirit and camaraderie shown by the team was incredible. Though a lot of us had never met before, we now feel a very strong bond as a group, and I am sure we will all remain friends for a long time. I now have a great many contacts in several different areas of the bank, and I'm sure this will be of great benefit to both myself and the business in the future.
The trip has certainly improved my image of the company. It is all too easy for companies simply to hand over large sums of money to charities to try and improve their image and give themselves a sense of corporate responsibility. However, in this case Coutts has really thrown its weight behind the idea. It was not just the financial cost of sending 20 staff to India, but also the time and effort put in by the participants as well as others who helped to make it happen.
I will certainly encourage as many of my colleagues as possible to participate in any future events.
COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Sian went to India with CommunityChallenge (www.communitychallenge.co.uk). She stayed in the CEO centre on the outskirts of Bangalore (www.saiacs.org/ceocentre.htm). For more on her experiences go to www.hrmagazine.com.
