Last week, the ambassador sent out a notification stating that September 11th would be a Volunteer Day and all embassy personnel were encouraged to participate in volunteer activities. My boss even sent out an email to everyone in the office stating that he was completely supportive of us taking part. The ambassador's email had a list of different opportunities happening. I read through and decided playing games with children to help enhance their English skills seemed like something I could handle at this stage (there is no way I can handle manual labor outside in the heat).
So I headed off this morning with about 8 other embassy people to Save the Children India (STCI). The email just gave a general overview of what the organization does which was very, very broad. Basically - helps women and children. This organization does so much more than just helping. It's in Sarai Kale Khan which is a huge hub for child trafficking. There's a bus depot on one side and a railway station on the other. Landlords rent out apartments without ever checking IDs so it's very easy for a trafficker to get into the village with children and not get caught. STCI has helped train groups of villagers to be vigilant in identifying when traffickers come into the village with children. They get the police involved and the children are removed. The outlook in the village used to be that the women and children stayed inside all day and never set foot outside. They didn't get their children immunized and would hide the children if people tried to come over to give polio drops or other medications. STCI finally convinced some of the women to come out for 1-2 hours a day to become literate so at least they would be educated. The men did not like this and told the women they could start working from home in an effort to prevent them from leaving the home. STCI then told the women that they would pay them to attend the classes. Eventually, the men caught on that if the women were educated and even took vocational training classes, they would be able to earn money and help contribute to the income. STCI now charges its students for classes (10 rupees a month or 18 US cents). They want the students and their families to have a sense of ownership over the education. There are so many more aspects to this organization. I was impressed with just how much they do.
When we got there, the director gave a talk about who they are and what they do. Then we got a tour of the facilities. The students welcomed us by performing a dance and then coming to each of us to give us a dot on our forehead that they then put rice onto (or something similar) and sprinkled rose petals on us. The red dot was very easy to smear but extremely difficult to wash off. I believe my eyebrows are still tinged.
The children were divided into groups and we split up among them. I was with a group of predominantly 10 year old kids. We played Memory with animal cards and had the children practice saying the names of the animals each time they flipped over the cards. They didn't quite catch on to the game until one of the kids got the first match by pure luck. It was fun to play with them and see them get excited and applauding each other whenever a new match was discovered.
I spoke with the director afterwards and said that I would be interested in giving more of my time once the new year starts. I also explained that Stewart loves to play sports and might be interested in their Saturday sports days. They require all of the students to participate on Saturdays to help with their general knowledge and teach them about the different types of sports out there. Of course, I need to wait for Stewart to return home so I can tell him all about this!
So I headed off this morning with about 8 other embassy people to Save the Children India (STCI). The email just gave a general overview of what the organization does which was very, very broad. Basically - helps women and children. This organization does so much more than just helping. It's in Sarai Kale Khan which is a huge hub for child trafficking. There's a bus depot on one side and a railway station on the other. Landlords rent out apartments without ever checking IDs so it's very easy for a trafficker to get into the village with children and not get caught. STCI has helped train groups of villagers to be vigilant in identifying when traffickers come into the village with children. They get the police involved and the children are removed. The outlook in the village used to be that the women and children stayed inside all day and never set foot outside. They didn't get their children immunized and would hide the children if people tried to come over to give polio drops or other medications. STCI finally convinced some of the women to come out for 1-2 hours a day to become literate so at least they would be educated. The men did not like this and told the women they could start working from home in an effort to prevent them from leaving the home. STCI then told the women that they would pay them to attend the classes. Eventually, the men caught on that if the women were educated and even took vocational training classes, they would be able to earn money and help contribute to the income. STCI now charges its students for classes (10 rupees a month or 18 US cents). They want the students and their families to have a sense of ownership over the education. There are so many more aspects to this organization. I was impressed with just how much they do.
When we got there, the director gave a talk about who they are and what they do. Then we got a tour of the facilities. The students welcomed us by performing a dance and then coming to each of us to give us a dot on our forehead that they then put rice onto (or something similar) and sprinkled rose petals on us. The red dot was very easy to smear but extremely difficult to wash off. I believe my eyebrows are still tinged.
The children were divided into groups and we split up among them. I was with a group of predominantly 10 year old kids. We played Memory with animal cards and had the children practice saying the names of the animals each time they flipped over the cards. They didn't quite catch on to the game until one of the kids got the first match by pure luck. It was fun to play with them and see them get excited and applauding each other whenever a new match was discovered.
I spoke with the director afterwards and said that I would be interested in giving more of my time once the new year starts. I also explained that Stewart loves to play sports and might be interested in their Saturday sports days. They require all of the students to participate on Saturdays to help with their general knowledge and teach them about the different types of sports out there. Of course, I need to wait for Stewart to return home so I can tell him all about this!
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