I'm a freshman from the University of Pennsylvania currently blogging about my experiences in Allahabad, India this summer! My friend, Michelle Spada, from Vanderbilt University, and I are working with an organization called the Society of Underprivileged People, which cares for children who have been trafficked. I'll be updating my blog as often as I can with my experiences working with these children, and anything else related to education that I'm experiencing in India!
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Updates
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02 JUL 2009
Computer Skills!
It’s been awhile since our last blog post! Things have really picked up speed here at SOUP and when we’re not working with the kids here, we’re spending time with Joy on development plans for his organization over the next four years. We’re doing things like helping him create a functional newsletter, updating and reorganizing his website, and documenting the stories of each child that stays with SOUP into forms to send to one of their partner agencies, Free for Life Ministries. We’re also talking a lot about the fundraising that is going to be required for them to construct a brand new shelter home, something they would like to see completed within the next year. One of the great things we’ve been doing with the kids has been their work on the computer. We’re getting each of them set up with an email address, and then having them send emails to a past volunteer at SOUP they remember, or the family members of Michelle and I. Their faces every time they realize that they are sending ... -
18 JUN 2009
Charades, Traveling the World, and a Trip to the Park! - Tuesday, June 16th
The past few days with the kids have been awesome! Joy has sent word to all the children that have been placed into homestay situations that Michelle and I are here, and each day a few more show up. It’s a little overwhelming because we have to assess where each child is at in his or her level of English in about 2 seconds, but they’re very patient and we try to mix it up with fun games so nobody gets frustrated. I’m learning a lot about how difficult it must be to manage a classroom of 20, 30, or 40 kids – thank goodness there are two of us! We taught them emotions and prepositions using charades, which was a lot of fun, and we bought a map of the world and are trying to give them a sense of how big of a world they actually live in. At first most of them couldn’t even find India, but after these past few days many of them can name all 7 continents! We had them journal about all the places in the world they want to visit. Many of them had never really even though about the possibili... -
18 JUN 2009
Gautam's Story
Every time Joy sits down with us to explain in detail the story of another child, I still sometimes feel like I’m reading a book or watching a movie. Here is Gautam’s. Gautam is 14 years old and first game to SOUP when he was 7 years old. He ran away from home because his parents had forced him to drop out of school and work 13 hour days at a factory for a rupee a day. He was picked up by a gang that forced him and other children to pay 50 rupees for “protection.” Their real intentions were to either train them for begging or sell them for extraction of their organs. They would torture children who would not pay the 50 rupee fee. Somehow, at age 7, Gautam managed to escape the gang, and was picked up by Childline volunteers when they noticed him wandering the streets of Varanasi. (Childline is an organization run by the government that rescues street children and sends them either back home or into shelters). Gautam was sent to SOUP and has been here ever since. He is nothing short ... -
11 JUN 2009
Value Education (Tuesday, June 9th)
Four days later, and Michelle still hasn’t recovered from whatever made our stomachs upset last Friday. Even though I’m feeling better and love working with the children at SOUP, I’m also really appreciating the time off while Michelle is recovering to reflect, read, and write. I read a few chapters of the book Joy lent me, “Urgency of Value Education and Primacy of the Girl Child,” and I’m loving it. The first few chapters were basically an overview of the current Indian education system and the many barriers that exist for women in Indian society, particularly girl children. The first substantive chapter really explained the concept of value education. The book’s argument reminds me a lot of the guiding philosophy behind Shrimashram, the school we visited outside Kolkata. Like Shrimashram, the book emphasizes the importance of educating the whole individual through experiencing art, music, dance, drama, and yoga. I really like the Indian value of harmony and interconnectedness; th... -
11 JUN 2009
Kajal's Story
Another thing I’m going to try about blog about every so often are the backgrounds of the children we are working with, because understanding their stories makes us appreciate our work with them so much more. I’m going to start with Kajal, who, as I have mentioned before, is blind. Kajal is blind because when she was very young, her mother poured acid into her eyes and the eyes of her sister before sending them out into the streets to beg. (If you’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire, then yes, it’s exactly what happens in that movie). But even after being blinded, Kajal was still not earning enough money begging. So one day, her mother took her to the train station and pushed her onto a train. Thank God the train was headed towards Allahabad, and thank God the conductor knew about SOUP, because he called Joy when the train pulled in to Allahabad Junction. Joy of course took Kajal in. Today, Kajal is 7 years old, happy, healthy, and even on her way towards restored vision, if SOUP can raise ...