We apologize for the delay! Here are some pictures from last Saturday’s Educational Programme. Read Vasundhra’s post from earlier this week to find out what happened.
Archive for the ‘educational programme’ Category
Pictures from August 15th, 2009 Educational Programme
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009Independence Day with the children of MGR Nagar – August 15, 2009
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009This Saturday we had a very special education programme. We went and celebrated Independence Day with the kids. We started off our education programme by dividing the kids into three groups according to their grades. Our education committee had designed a specific programme for each group.
For the youngest we had a storytelling sesion involving stories about peace and working together in harmony. We also had games which taught them how to count and the names of different colours.
For the kids in middle school, we showed a series of pictures and played “Spin a Yarn.” This was a great exercise as it brought out their creativity and it was heartwarming to see the children get excited about their talents being showcased. This was followed by quizzing them on topics related to Independence Day.
For the older children we had an interactive session where they shared their hopes and dreams. This was followed by an Independence Day quiz. This quiz not only helped us estimate their knowledge but also taught them the facts they needed to know about the country we all live in.
We concluded our education programme by singing the national anthem.
Independence Day signifies freedom in every aspect of life, especially the freedom to live the life we were meant to live. By doing our part, I hope we can help them get closer to that dream.
Photos from Children’s Park Visit
Sunday, August 9th, 2009Yesterday (August 8th, 2009,) our Educational Committee was invited to go with Paathai on their trip to the Wildlife Park, Guindy. Adya, Ashita, Lekha and Vidya had a wonderful time spending time with the children of the MGR Nagar slum and getting to know the people from Paathai as well. We were also happy to sponsor the travel expenses of the trip.
Hopefully we will have a writeup from one of them later this week. Here are some of the pictures they took on their trip. Click on the thumnail for a full size version or check out the album to see the rest of the pictures.
Educational Program, August 1st, 2009
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Today we continued with our task of getting to know the children in MGR Nagar and beginning to build rapport with them. In carrying out our activities today, we had four goals:
- To understand a little more about the children, their interests and goals, and their understanding level
- To give the children an impression that time with us is well-spent and fun, and that it is worth their time to spend Saturday afternoons with us
- To give the parents and elders of the community an idea that our activities will be productive and worthwhile for the children
- To encourage the children to feel free and comfortable with us, and to share their thoughts and insights.
We began by gathering the children in the area outside one of the houses in the community. More children came than were expected. The plan was to begin with the “Circle of Connectivity” activity provided by our educational team, but since there were so many children, it seemed that it would be difficult to maintain order if the children were up and about. Instead, Malar began with an introductory activity of “Hot Potato” or “Pass the Parcel,” as it’s known in India. When the music stopped, the child who was left with the ball was required to go to the center of the circle, introduce his or herself with name, age and standard, and then perform for the group. They were encouraged to perform in whatever way they were comfortable – we had a few recitations, several song-and-dance routine, and one comedy show.The goal of this activity was to make the children feel comfortable with us and with each other, and to start out our session with something fun.
Next, we divided the group into two groups, over ten years and under ten years. The over ten group was then divided into three groups, each with one Sangam India volunteer to serve as a mentor. Lekha managed one group of boys, Adya and Katie managed the younger girls, and Ashita managed the older girls. Within these groups, today’s purpose was mainly to encourage the children to interact with the mentors and with each other in an open and confident manner. One group discussed future goals and school, and two groups discussed movies and other entertainment. Towards the end of the session, after about 45 minutes of discussion, each group wrapped up with a fun game, mostly suggested by the children themselves.
Meanwhile, the under ten group was divided again into a group under 7 and one group over 7. The under 7 group had story time, led by Ayesha, Kavi and Arjun. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story session. The over 7 group, managed by Vidya, attempted to play the memory game but had some trouble, as the children were too young. Vidya nicely transitioned into a discussion combined with an English lesson.
To wrap up the session, all of the children and volunteers gathered in a big circle and did the Hokey Pokey, which is an enjoyable American childhood activity that gets the children up and about. We all enjoyed it very much, and when we asked if the children are going to come back next week, we were answered with a resounding “YES!” which was very encouraging for us. Next week we are looking forward to taking this to phase 2, taking advantage of the newfound comfort level to make it an educational and thought-provoking session.
We are also happy to announce that there is now an official field team for education, consisting of Vidyalakshmi, Adya, Ashita and Lekha. We are looking forward to the development of good rapport, interaction and collaboration between the Indian team and the team abroad to develop strong programs. In addition, we’d like to thank our guest, Adrienne Nobbe, for coming out today.
As usual, if you are interested in helping us out with our educational programme, which is developed by people all over the world, email us at info@sangamindia.org and we will put you in touch with the right people. Join the team!
Visit to New Slums, July 4th, 2009
Saturday, July 4th, 2009Today we went on a visit to search out the slums in the Ramavaram area. It turned out the be a very educational visit, and a real eye-opener about the current conditions of slums along the Adyar River.
Our initial plan was to go to the slum opposite to the one in Ramavaram where we had been working. We had first worked in this place almost a year ago, when we had conducted a medical camp. On that visit, we noted that the slum residents were cheerful and happy; they were glad to have the chance to utilize the services that we provided.
As we entered the area, we made an effort to identify a village leader, with whom we could establish a relationship with, and work together on future projects. We were quickly directed to the Councilor, Mr Perumalsami. We discovered that was a wonderful personality who took an immense interest in the affairs of his people. We spoke to him and he told us about the current situation with the slums in Ramavaram, especially of the ones along the Adyar River. Most of the people in the area are convinced that there is a program against the slums along the Adyar river – after our project slum burned down last month, two additional slums also caught fire. There were also several smaller fires as well. The most immediate concern of the residents was to prevent these fires from happening – Mr Perumalsami was indeed recently protesting against these fires.
Our conversation with Mr Perumalsami was very fruitful. We asked him some basic questions about the slum, and he was happy to answer them. There were approximately 170 houses in this area. He said that many of the people were in need of medical care. Sanitation facilities were very poor – none of the houses had bathrooms, and open-air defecation was commonly practiced in a nearby area. He wanted to show us a second slum, which was also nearby. This slum was back across the street, where the Ramavaram community was, only further down the road. We went there, and found another thriving community of 179 houses. 59 of these houses had been burned down in recent fires, and many of them were being reconstructed.
There was a palpable air of sadness in these communities. There was an immense fear among the people that they would lose their homes in fires. But they had few alternatives. Many of them stored their flammable belongings away from their homes due to these fears. Houses that had been burned down were being rebuilt. People were taking down their roofs and were trying to buy metal roofs that were more fire-retardant.
Despite these fears, the people were friendly and resilient. They were in touch with another NGO that was helping them to educate their children. They were interested in making a community center where classes could be held for them.
As we were meeting, Alex, our group artist, came along and started working on maps of these slum areas. These will be useful to us in our future projects.
We asked the community to come up with a list of the households in the community, with the names and ages of each of the family members. As we begin our own survey, we can use this to more quickly consolidate our data.
Thanks to everyone for coming today, and we appreciate the support that continues despite recent setbacks. We are determined to make a difference in this community, and we’ll need lots of help to get it done. Finally, we’d like to welcome and thank to our new volunteer, Seeralan, from Vellacheri, and our guest, Katie Bush, from Michigan, USA.
Educational Programme, 13th June, 2009
Saturday, June 13th, 2009
Today’s educational programme, even with only a handful of children and just a few SI volunteers, turned out to be one of the most successful and rewarding days yet. Most of the children have not yet returned from trips to their native places for holidays, so it was an excellent opportunity to give the children one-on-one attention.
Today’s activity was a simple one, using picture books with moral stories, such as The Fox and the Grapes, The Dog and the Bone, and other similar stories. Pamela started by reading about five short stories to the children, after which we asked the children to tell us the stories using just the pictures.
All of the youngsters basked in the glow of our attention, praise, and affection. It was a truly heartwarming experience to see how happy they were just to have us spend time and give them our attention. After the main storytelling session, some of the children spent one-on-one time with us, reading to us, with some prompting and assistance. A couple of the children read in English, but with almost no comprehension of what they were reading. Although they started to lose attention after a little while, all of us truly felt a connection with the children today. We did not lose even a single child – all of them stayed from beginning to end. This was truly a success for us, a first-time event. The children ran after us as we left, asking us to promise to come back next week.
We are hoping to find good ways to incorporate the stories into a larger scheme of activities that will engage the children and harness their creativity. As always, please let us know if you have ideas on how to do this.
Another development is that several of the secondary school children have approached us for assistance with school fees. We will be paying them next week, after meeting with all of the children and their parents. Each child has to pay Rs. 525 (approx. $11) for the year. If you’re interested in sponsoring a child, please let us know in the next couple of days. We will provide an update as soon as we find out more details.
Educational Programme – Day 6
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
Today was the sixth day of our Educational Programme, and overall it went well. Today we had a lot of kids getting involved and we were able to reach our objectives that we planned.
Once we got the children together, we got started. We decided not to use the laundry facility because most of the kids were already in the field and it would have been too difficult to get them to come. The first part of of our programme was to get the kids together and to teach them about pollution and about keeping their environment clean. Mathangi and Vivek did a great job telling the kids about the importance of using clean water and about taking daily baths. They also emphasized the importance of throwing one’s trash away in a designated place.
The second part of our programme was the continuation of the “When I Grow Up…” programme that we started on the third day of our educational programme. Having previously discussed doctors and teachers, we continued our programme with a discussion of policemen. Safwan, one of our members, dressed up as a policeman and told the kids about what they do. A number of kids were excited about this and wanted to be policemen and women. He told them about the importance of following the law and that it took a lot of studying, physical exercise and hard work to be a in the police. We hope that were able to inspire a few of them about this line of work. In addition, many of the kids enjoyed getting a chance to try on the police uniform afterwards.
The final part of our project was done by Alex. He taught the kids how to make paper airplanes. This activity was a hit with the kids and they had a lot of fun learning how to do it. It also helped them to learn how to follow directions and it gave us a chance to interact with the kids one-on-one. We all had a lot of fun doing this project and we hope we can do something like it again.
We’d like to thank people for coming out for their first time today. Vivek, Manoj and Neil were all very helpful and we hope to see more of them in the future.
This concludes the first part of our educational programme. Many of us will be going home for the month of May. We do have plans to continue the program next month with the people that will be in Chennai. If you can help volunteer for our project some time in May it would be most appreciated, and we really hope you will contact us about this. We look forward to coming back in June with a lot of fresh energy.
Photos from Educational Programme – Day 6
Saturday, April 25th, 2009Here are some of the photos from today’s Educational Programme, held on April 25th, 2009. Check back tomorrow for a post about the visit.
Educational Programme – Day 5
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Yesterday we had the fifth day of our Education Programme. It was a fun day, a bit more laid back than usual, and we were able to teach the kids a few things about road safety and about teachers. We didn’t have the usual group today but we had plenty of people coming after a long break.
After we got the kids together, we had them sit down in a circle and teach them about road safety. Yogesh told the kids about the importance of safety signals and about how they should cross the road safetly. It was great to see the kids participating in the programme with their own contributions.
After this, Sivaprakash and Yogesh told the kid about teachers. Several of the kids wanted to be teachers, as we found out the third day of our educational programme. We explained to them what teachers did. We had a small whiteboard, which was kindly lent to us. The kids had a fun time lining up in front of it to write their names on the board.
Because we finished our programme earlier than usual today, we spent some time there afterwards talking and playing with the children. We played catch and other simple sports and the kids had a lot of fun. This wrapped our day. We hope to come back again next week to spend some more time with these kids!
Photos from Educational Programme – Day 5
Saturday, April 18th, 2009Here are some of the photos from today’s trip to Ramavaram as the fifth day of our Educational Programme.
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