SERVICE LEARNING INTRODUCDTION

The Goal: To learn capacity building skills and implement a project within an existing organization.

We were sitting in class when Lori, our professor, first passed out the list of NGO’s we would be working with.  The list had three different organizations listed on it.  RAPID, a non-profit organization that helps bring widowed and abandoned women back into society by helping them gain the necessary skills that one needs to function in the job market.  This organization sounded amazing and the thought of helping women gain power in a society where they were often a bit more oppressed sounded delightful.  The second organization, BAIF, was an NGO that worked in the agricultural sector and this organization also wanted students to work with women and farmers in rural villages.  In many of the villages in India where many of the occupants live under a dollar a day, malnutrition and reproduction is a huge problem.  On one hand many of the women are not educated on how to properly take care of themselves during pregnancy and on the other hand, the villagers do not know how to care for the large families they are creating.  What BAIF wanted help with was making educational slideshows and flipbooks to educate pregnant women and villagers on how to live a healthy nutritious life.  Akshara,  the third organization on the list was a non-profit organization that worked in the school sector in India.  This organization focused mainly on bettering the pre-school and primary level schools in India.  When I first read the description of Akshara I thought blah, ‘please do not put me there.’  I have been working in elementary schools since before I can remember and I was ready for something new.  The goal of the education group was to implement a curriculum called Peace Games within a couple of primary schools in Dharwad and Hubli.  Peace Games is an organization started by a group of Harvard students which aims to promote building peace within a community and works with groups of students to identify issues within a community and find positive, peaceful solutions to solve those issues.  The idea of Peace Games is wonderful and a very positive curriculum especially for school systems likes India where the government has so much control over the primary and secondary level syllabuses. 

When I opened the email that listed the names of the students that would be working in each student group I was not surprised but a little bummed that I was placed with Akshara.  I decided to think positively because I was going to be blessed with working with so many awesome students and kids are my favorite.  That was some of the best advice I ever gave my self because I must say, the day our service learning ended, last Wednesday, I shed many tears because I could not believe the amazing people I met through this adventure and how much I learned about the Primary education system in India.  It definitely changed my life.  Thank you Lori  and our TA Julie for giving me that experience.

The following blogs with illustrate my wonderful journey detailing the frustrations, highlights and learning experiences I faced.  Enjoy the pictures.