just about a month after my first visit to Arkapalli i am a part of a group called SPRUHA - the awakening. Anurag, Sudeep, Sinu, and i have started SPRUHA. we have carefully chosen our team for Arkapalli and we are now 8 people. we don't want to spread out of proportions too soon. we are being very careful about that aspect. SPRUHA is being funded by the college(Osmania University - college of engineering) as of now. we do plan to look for other sources also.
SPRUHA is just back from a one week camp at Arkapalli. we stayed there for a week. we held holiday classes for the children. we taught them english, helped in math and sciences, performed experiments, made them perform experiments, made learning as much fun as possible. i wonder if we ourselves ever thought of learning as fun, but we sure do now. teaching in telugu wasn't that easy. but the kids helped us along when we got stuck. we talked about our lives, our world. we talked about the opportunities the world has in store for them. we spoke about general awareness. there we around 60 students. some of us went and spoke to the parents of the childreen who dropped out of school.
most of them asked the same question - " if we send them to school not work how will we survive?" we really couldn't answer that question. that was surely discouraging. but there were also some parents who were really happy that we came and were telling the kids about what they could do with their lives.
some of us conducted a survey of the village with the sarpanch's permission, and help. we now have a map of the pipelines in the village, 'coz we intend to give them technical help in the long run. we know many of the children by name and sight. we know the most promising of the lot. we know a few of the problems they face in their lives. we know what their wants are, we know what their dreams are. we also know that half their lives are bleak. especially when i go stand in front of them and tell them that they are less to none, and we are equals. i feel that i have had an unfair advantage, an advantage we are working hard to erase.
our next plan is to conduct a parent teacher meet in the village. the villagers know us now, have seen or rather stared at us as we walked along. we spoke to some of them, and some more of them have heard about us. we had some intermediate students in class. they were home on vacation, and they came to us with doubts in specific subjects. English... was one thing
they all were keen on learning. but how much can we really teach in a week??? how much can they grasp in that same one week?
along with the parent teacher camp we are conducting a health check up for the children. we are just entering the village. but the more time we spend there, the more is our desire to help them. outside the village at a distance of 3 km or so are located some "tandas". lambadi tribes live there. Anurag and i went there on the last day. there are hardly 20 houses there, but they have a single roomed primary school with 2 teachers. the older ones come to Arkaplli for their education. the response we got there was amazing. they weren't properly informed, so they didn't turn up for the classes. they regretted it a lot. so did we. wish we went there on the first day!
the 7th class is our star class. the most enthu-d class. its a pleasure being with those kids. if we can do something for that lot we will all be happy. how can i forget Khatam Raju, the 4th class kid, who sits and corrects 6th class students??? thats is one kid we really have to do something for. we so badly want to provide him with a chance to make something of himself. the last day we had a response session. one girl, suhasini, studying intermediate in Hyderabad, got up and said "i also want to pursue engineering. then i will also get my friends and come back and do something for my village." thats when we realized... yes we could achieve something. 1 week - SPRUHA "and miles to go before i sleep, and miles to go before i sleep."
SPRUHA is just back from a one week camp at Arkapalli. we stayed there for a week. we held holiday classes for the children. we taught them english, helped in math and sciences, performed experiments, made them perform experiments, made learning as much fun as possible. i wonder if we ourselves ever thought of learning as fun, but we sure do now. teaching in telugu wasn't that easy. but the kids helped us along when we got stuck. we talked about our lives, our world. we talked about the opportunities the world has in store for them. we spoke about general awareness. there we around 60 students. some of us went and spoke to the parents of the childreen who dropped out of school.
most of them asked the same question - " if we send them to school not work how will we survive?" we really couldn't answer that question. that was surely discouraging. but there were also some parents who were really happy that we came and were telling the kids about what they could do with their lives.
some of us conducted a survey of the village with the sarpanch's permission, and help. we now have a map of the pipelines in the village, 'coz we intend to give them technical help in the long run. we know many of the children by name and sight. we know the most promising of the lot. we know a few of the problems they face in their lives. we know what their wants are, we know what their dreams are. we also know that half their lives are bleak. especially when i go stand in front of them and tell them that they are less to none, and we are equals. i feel that i have had an unfair advantage, an advantage we are working hard to erase.
our next plan is to conduct a parent teacher meet in the village. the villagers know us now, have seen or rather stared at us as we walked along. we spoke to some of them, and some more of them have heard about us. we had some intermediate students in class. they were home on vacation, and they came to us with doubts in specific subjects. English... was one thing
they all were keen on learning. but how much can we really teach in a week??? how much can they grasp in that same one week?
along with the parent teacher camp we are conducting a health check up for the children. we are just entering the village. but the more time we spend there, the more is our desire to help them. outside the village at a distance of 3 km or so are located some "tandas". lambadi tribes live there. Anurag and i went there on the last day. there are hardly 20 houses there, but they have a single roomed primary school with 2 teachers. the older ones come to Arkaplli for their education. the response we got there was amazing. they weren't properly informed, so they didn't turn up for the classes. they regretted it a lot. so did we. wish we went there on the first day!
the 7th class is our star class. the most enthu-d class. its a pleasure being with those kids. if we can do something for that lot we will all be happy. how can i forget Khatam Raju, the 4th class kid, who sits and corrects 6th class students??? thats is one kid we really have to do something for. we so badly want to provide him with a chance to make something of himself. the last day we had a response session. one girl, suhasini, studying intermediate in Hyderabad, got up and said "i also want to pursue engineering. then i will also get my friends and come back and do something for my village." thats when we realized... yes we could achieve something. 1 week - SPRUHA "and miles to go before i sleep, and miles to go before i sleep."
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