A Passage to India
A volunteers diary…Having recently joined The Great Generation as a member of staff I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to join a group of volunteers taking part in a 2 week project in Delhi in November 2007. The key focus of the project was to deliver a creative arts programme to physically and intellectually disabled, and financially disadvantaged young people at Very Special Arts India (VSA), one of The Great Generation’s partners.
VSA is a community arts school which provides a wide variety of art activities for children and adults, ranging from art therapy and music projects to textile printing workshops and weaving projects. VSA’s aim is to create an environment where people with disabilities learn through, participate in and enjoy the arts. The aim of our project was to complement the work they are already doing, by sharing new and different creative arts ideas with the children and their teachers.
We landed in Delhi early on a Saturday morning which meant we had a couple of days to acclimatize before starting at the school. This gave us time to get used to the heat, as well as the intense poverty and begging, so that by Monday we were able to focus all our energy on the project. Both the school and our apartment were based in Vasant Kunj in South Delhi meaning we were able to walk to and from the school everyday. This gave us a glimpse of every day life in Delhi. Crossing main roads was always a challenge, but we soon got used to the incessant traffic and noise on the roads, as well as the pollution and walking to work amongst cows!
Despite our planning, we were apprehensive as we arrived at the school on our first day, but we were warmly welcomed by the teachers and children and got straight in to our programme of activity. The first class of the day was teaching children with mental and physical disabilities. There were two different age groups, each with about twelve students. One group aged between 5 and 12 and the other between 12 and 18. Volunteers separated into two groups, either teaching art classes or teaching music and dance. The groups then switched over for the second class. After lunch we were with a group of about forty financially disadvantaged young people who we taught music and dance to for the first hour and puppetry for the second hour. Another group of older students spent this time working on a mural painting around the theme of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights which coincided with our time out there.
As expected, the children were also apprehensive on our first day. This was the first time they had been around a group of foreigners and they seemed both excited and nervous. We therefore focused on ice breakers, which enabled us to build up trust as well as get an idea of their level of ability and which of our planned activities would work best with them. At the end of the day we had the first of our daily debriefs giving us the chance to discuss how everyone was feeling, what we’d seen and learnt as well make comprehensive plans for day two. The increase in the children’s confidence each day was fantastic and by the third day we really felt we had bonded with them and they were opening up to the new things they were doing. We progressed faster than we thought we would and were able to cover a wider range of activities. The children especially liked working with 3d objects, and showed a flair for Ceroc dancing!!
By week two, we had rehearsals for the grand finale show underway and, to our surprise, all of the children were keen to take part. We had two hours for the performance meaning each group was able to perform a selection of what they had learnt. We also had an impressive stage design, created by the children, for the puppet show as well as an extensive art exhibition. This was a great opportunity to meet more of the local community and some of the parents of the children we had been working with. Unfortunately, it was also our last day at the school and we all had a difficult time saying goodbye….
All in all we had a fantastic experience with valuable feedback from our volunteers and the staff at VSA. The Great Generation is really looking forward to developing future projects with VSA. Volunteers have already invested in a digital camera enabling VSA to capture and showcase the work they are doing. Back home we are looking forward to keeping volunteers engaged as we identify microfinance opportunities. Having taken part in a project, I now feel in a good position to help volunteers to gain a deeper understanding of what they can hope to achieve whilst out on a project.
If you would like to find out more about any of our forthcoming projects click here, or contact Juliet on Juliet.rroberts@thegreatgeneration.org.
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