Packed Weekend

Yes we do actually work in the office :)

This past weekend was definitely one of the most exhausting couple of days I’ve had this summer! It all started on Friday when I did a ton of planning for my projects and visits to vastis and worked on my handbook. The new program that Sewa Sahayog is designing consists of implementing a weekly 2 hour session in vastis where corporate volunteers will teach science, computer skills, English, and music. So I’ve adjusted my project to help this new initiative and I am creating lesson plans that are consistent with the school syllabi and include hands-on experiments and lessons on science in everyday life. This handbook will have enough material for volunteers deliver for the entire year. The idea is to recruit corporate volunteers and provide them with readymade lesson plans and a science tools kit that they can use teach every week.

Then the first half of Saturday was a very ‘Puneri Day.’ Rhucha had some work to do in Tulsi Baug, so we figured we would get some shopping that we needed to do as well while we were there :) We shopped and roamed around the very crowded Laxmi Road and Tulsi Baug. Then for lunch we had the best samosas in the world and a cream roll from my favorite Green Bakery! It has the just right amount of actual food quality, dirt, and oil to be amazing. That sounds gross, but these are the 3 necessary qualities that make India’s street food the best. Then we had mastanis from the famous Kawre shop! Unfortunately we only had about 3 hours to do all this, or else I probably could have spent the whole day shopping around. Afterwards we went back to the office for our last Samutkarsha meeting with all the abhyasika shikshaks and coordinators and presented our projects.

Next I headed to Ambedkar Nagar with two other volunteers expecting to conduct activities for 2 hours like telling stories, singing, teaching a science lesson, and teaching self-defense. But instead, we had about 40 kids packed into the little abhyasika room in almost complete darkness (because the lights had gone out) ready with a whole different plan. We did the regular checking of good personal hygiene and told a story. Since I’ve been going there almost every day for the past 2 weeks to teach self-defense I’ve gotten very close with all the girls. I had so much fun just sitting there with them and listening to them sing songs, tell jokes, and tell me about their day. Then all the kids had brought dinner from home and sat in 2 circles and took one bite from their tiffin and passed it to the next kid. Half of them wouldn’t start without at least one of us shikshaks taking the first bite. Just seeing them make the most of what little they had just made me so happy :)

Sunday morning craziness at Ram Nagar

Sunday morning started off with our regular activities at Ram Nagar. We’ve been working on giving the older kids there some experience with taking the activities there for the past 2 weeks and it’s nice to see their leadership skills develop in such a short period of time. Then for lunch we went to this place called Peter’s Pan where they have an assortment of foods like waffles, mashed potatoes, burgers, pancakes, fries, and nachos. It was so yummy. But the whole time I was thinking this needs some spice. Some chilli powder would have definitely helped my roasted vegetables! After a nice lunch we headed to the office to work and I had meetings with volunteers helping with the science project.

Despite the crazy amount of exhausting this was one of the most memorable weekends I’ve had during YFS :)