Recently, I visited the Wishes and Blessings’ Coolie Camp which is the organisation’s day care centre functioning under the Street to School Programme. Under this programme, underprivileged children from streets and slum areas are given access to education to prepare them for school. I went there with my colleague Monika, and two of our volunteers Tanvi and Shreeja who joined us in the centre.
The children were quite shy when they first saw me, as I was a new face there. But afterwards, they were so comfortable and interacted without hesitation. They all greeted and welcomed me with open hearts. I introduced myself and asked them to do the same. The children began by telling their names and shared one thing they love doing or are passionate about. Tanya and Jyoti were the two teachers-in-charge. The centre was colourful and beautifully decorated by them and I loved every bit of my brief and meaningful moment there. Salman gave us an amazing welcome performance and he went on to show off his thumkas on ‘Mera Wala Dance’.
Smiles could be seen everywhere. To experience how NGOs operate at the ground level, I have always enjoyed participating in field trips and contributing my bit through volunteering. As I started spending time with the children, I really loved talking to them. It has given me an insight about what’s going on in their minds.
There are bold and mischievous students in every classroom, as well as calm ones who are shy and timid. Some of them speak out of turn, while others politely raise their hands to answer all the time. Some children consistently receive As while some require more help than others but I adore them all equally.
Every time I visit such centres, I see that everyone has something unique to offer, despite how different they are from one another. These children encourage me to voice myself without fear and holding back. I learnt that there is no shame in freely expressing ourselves without inhibitions and that is what makes us human. I talked with every child one by one to know more about them. Prior to visiting the centre, I planned 4 activities to conduct at the centre.
We started with Chuk Chuk Train, where I lined up the kids to form a human train, then I instructed and gave them directions whether to slow down or quicken their pace, move backwards, turn right or left and when to stop. They followed the instructions I gave to make it more fun and engaging. It went on to show how attentive they are. The second activity was a Memory game to analyze how long the kids can remember a particular thing. The third one was a collaborative drawing, in which I divided the children into 4 groups. I gave them a single sheet of paper and colour pens after which I set a timer for a few minutes. This activity turned out really interesting and each of them took turns in explaining what they created.
My visit was such an enriching experience and I am looking for more such visits in the future. I genuinely enjoyed it a lot and I hope to see these bright kids really soon.
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