Nine people will depart Bendigo on Friday, bound for Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).

They will combine a humanitarian trip with continuing the development of an ongoing relationship between Bendigo and AFL India.

The delegation is being led by Bruce Claridge, chaplain at the Golden Square Football Club. He led a similar mission last year.

Claridge will be joined by his wife Jan, Golden Square footballer Jake Donegan, Strathfieldsaye Football Club fitness adviser Mick Talbot, Alex Rooke, who is the sister of current Bulldogs coach Nick Carter, photographer Boyd Robertson, former Sandhurst footballer Geoff Scown and two people who will head up the business development side of the trip, Toni and Ben West.

He said the seven-day trip would serve two purposes - to assist AFL India with its national championships and work with families from slum areas to develop small business skills.

Claridge said aside from teaching children how to play Australian rules, the group would donate gifts such as footballs and a spare set of BFNL interleague gear for players to wear while pursuing their dream of representing India.

"We are also buying a van for the children to be transported out of the slums and poverty and off to opportunities like AFL India, but not only football, but educational things" Claridge said.

"We've raised about $7500 over the last few months to buy the van through the Bendigo Christian community.

"Mick Talbot, from Step Into Life, is also donating some gear."

Links with AFL India and a Christian pastor’s support ministry to the families of the Mominpore slum in Kolkata were established during last year's trip to India.

Claridge said a similar trip was planned for January 17 and he hoped to involve representatives from other Bendigo league clubs.

A longer term aim is to have member of India’s AFL International Cup team train alongside BFNL players when in Australia.

As the first BFNL player to be a part of the mission, Donegan he anticipated the trip would give him a different perspective on life and could even be "life-changing".

"It will be a real eye-opener as to what you've really got in life and give you an appreciation for how different people live," he said.

"I don't think you can appreciate something like this until you see first hand how these people live, you can only see so much on TV.

"It can only be a great experience. I've done a few (overseas) tourist places, but this is a bit out of the spectrum for me."

He hopes other footballers will consider being involved on future trips.