Its just life....

We have 7 amazingly energetic volunteers right now- Dylan, Dylan2 (Dsquared), real life sisters Jill and Haley (Gita and Sita), the fashionista Genevieve, Tom (young tom hanks lookalike)and ofcourse the British queen Sara, who are all just exploding with ideas all the time on what to do next with the kids...they have finished the first term of the summer school with a bang- there was singing everyday, fun aerobics, games being played, lots of art work like making paper mache piggy banks and a carnival where we did face painting, played musical chairs, jenga, henna and other games.
But what the volunteers really wanted to take away from this experience was to interact with kids and make an impact on them and teach them something that they will always remember. We all know its summer and that children are not really there to learn anything serious . What they really need guidance in is what they can do in life, how to be ambitious, how to be strong and independant, how important education is, how to respect others, relationships and so on. These are things that Indian parents do not always discuss with children and children are not given any avenue to discuss such things especially as society is also conservative.
So after some brainstorming we split the girls and boys and had a lesson on life. Just life. Volunteers spoke about their life and got the kids to ask questions about their life and their concerns..things that one cannot always ask their teachers or parents or even friends. We got questions being asked like is it ok to like a boy, why am i being treated unfairly at home and so on..
What came out of it was that the children many of whom are becoming teenagers face the same pressures regardless of what country they are in and if they had someone to talk to about things in open then it would make them understand and be better human beings in the future. All the volunteers had such an amazing time talking to children about learning through travelling, meeting new people,grabbing opportunities, their careers, how success doesnt come easy, hard moments in their life, the best moments in their life and sharing these with the children. It is defiantely a lesson that children enjoyed so much and will always remember. Ofcourse the volunteers felt they bonded with the kids and have taught something that one can never learn from a book..

x Ridhi

Its just life....