It's so many time that most of us wonder whether or not are we making a difference? Whether or not are we leaving something behind? We all wish to make a mark in someone's life in a way that they won't forget. How many of us really achieve that?
Last summer, one of my closest friends and I had a gratifying experience of working with underprivileged children who live in the slums through and NGO. The task that we were entrusted with was to help them with their studies and teach them the subjects they had a tough time with. Since those children go to government schools, sadly, they all fail yet pass on to the successive grade due to the government policy of not failing a child until 8th grade. This means that if I am enrolled in a government school and I go to the exam hall, fill up my details on my answer sheet and leave the rest of it blank, they cannot fail me.
Because of this rule, most of the girls failed their 9th grade exams and most didn't know the basics of math like multiplication division and none of them knew English. This made our task harder. To teach a child, who doesn't know basic multiplication and division, polynomials, surface area etc was impossible. We started with the basics, taught them number line, basic arithmetical operation, rules of divisibility and the like. For English, we could only teach them articles and spellings due to the time constraints.
In our minds, we were just doing some good deed. Helping the society and using our free time productively. We put in all our efforts for those few days that we were there and on a certain level we even cared about the girls but eventually we moved on with our lives, got back to our routine.
Yesterday, however, I put together a charity of sorts. In the spirit of Holi and just feeling like doing something for the children in the slum, I put together an event where we could donate sweets and all and make their Holi special. A lot of people came forward to donate for this cause and to get a smile on their faces. They were immensely generous and donated in huge quantities. When I went over to the sFor the first time yesterday, I realised, how I had been able to make a difference with just two hours of my day last summer in the lives of those few girls. It made me realise that I had left a mark in their lives.
Here are a couple of the pictures from yesterday, something as simple as a cupcake and cookie made their day. It was wonderful to see how cheerful they were after receiving a plate of goodies. The little ones who were approximately around the age of three even recited poems for me as a thank you. For them this was no less than a party and I'm glad I could do something for them.lum, the children were getting anxiousand asking the teacher "Didi kab aayengi? Didi humare liye kya laa rahi hain?"
As I entered, all the children, wide eyed looking at the huge boxes I carried, wished me good afternoon and all of a sudden the tiny little room was filled with smiles and happiness. It was a good change from a usual day in school. We gave goodies to over 60 children. Including the girls I taught. When they met me, they took their plateful, sat me down and told me how much they missed me and Nehal didi( my friends who taught with me), they wanted us to come back and teach them because we seemed to have motivated them to do better. They made sure I took a bite from each and everyone's plate and again before they left, they asked to come back soon.
(Note : I would personally appeal to you to engage in such
volunteer work and help the children of our society do better at academics. The
NGO that I worked and would continue to work for is ACT For Children. The link to their
facebook page is : https://www.facebook.com/actforchild . A couple of hours of your day could make a massive difference in
their lives. Thank you.)
Last summer, one of my closest friends and I had a gratifying experience of working with underprivileged children who live in the slums through and NGO. The task that we were entrusted with was to help them with their studies and teach them the subjects they had a tough time with. Since those children go to government schools, sadly, they all fail yet pass on to the successive grade due to the government policy of not failing a child until 8th grade. This means that if I am enrolled in a government school and I go to the exam hall, fill up my details on my answer sheet and leave the rest of it blank, they cannot fail me.
Because of this rule, most of the girls failed their 9th grade exams and most didn't know the basics of math like multiplication division and none of them knew English. This made our task harder. To teach a child, who doesn't know basic multiplication and division, polynomials, surface area etc was impossible. We started with the basics, taught them number line, basic arithmetical operation, rules of divisibility and the like. For English, we could only teach them articles and spellings due to the time constraints.
In our minds, we were just doing some good deed. Helping the society and using our free time productively. We put in all our efforts for those few days that we were there and on a certain level we even cared about the girls but eventually we moved on with our lives, got back to our routine.
Yesterday, however, I put together a charity of sorts. In the spirit of Holi and just feeling like doing something for the children in the slum, I put together an event where we could donate sweets and all and make their Holi special. A lot of people came forward to donate for this cause and to get a smile on their faces. They were immensely generous and donated in huge quantities. When I went over to the sFor the first time yesterday, I realised, how I had been able to make a difference with just two hours of my day last summer in the lives of those few girls. It made me realise that I had left a mark in their lives.
Here are a couple of the pictures from yesterday, something as simple as a cupcake and cookie made their day. It was wonderful to see how cheerful they were after receiving a plate of goodies. The little ones who were approximately around the age of three even recited poems for me as a thank you. For them this was no less than a party and I'm glad I could do something for them.lum, the children were getting anxiousand asking the teacher "Didi kab aayengi? Didi humare liye kya laa rahi hain?"
As I entered, all the children, wide eyed looking at the huge boxes I carried, wished me good afternoon and all of a sudden the tiny little room was filled with smiles and happiness. It was a good change from a usual day in school. We gave goodies to over 60 children. Including the girls I taught. When they met me, they took their plateful, sat me down and told me how much they missed me and Nehal didi( my friends who taught with me), they wanted us to come back and teach them because we seemed to have motivated them to do better. They made sure I took a bite from each and everyone's plate and again before they left, they asked to come back soon.
