Saturday - quite the adventure!

On Saturday the NSLI-Y students and their host siblings had the chance to help at an NGO in Noida called Vidya and Child, which is essentially a school that provides education to impoverished children who otherwise can't afford it. The organization provides non-formal education for younger children and later prepares them to eventually attend a university. 

I've read a few books and pieces of writing from the perspective of underprivileged children or adults, and it was always really interesting to me, to view what we Americans must look like in their eyes..entering from our lives of comfort into impoverished areas for a day of charity. You know? So going to this NGO, I was a bit conflicted (though so, so, so excited), but it turned out to be an incredible day from which I learned, and am still learning, so much.

The school is in the midst of a very poor area in Noida, just beyond a densely packed market with living quarters and small stores shoulder to shoulder. Once we reached the school premises, we stood in a narrow hallway to hear a bit of its history: how it began with a girl teaching her maid, and then grew and officially became a school free of charge for those in need of education. After splitting into groups of three, with a few Amity students to translate (in my group was Syahirah, Jabari and I with Sara and Khushi), we visited a classroom of kids to interact with them. While they looked at first to be around ages 5 or 6, most were 9 or 10 years old, even 12.

Syahirah and I struggled through broken Hindi to ask simple questions to a particular group of around six very sweet kids. After asking them their names, ages and favorite subjects, we asked if they like to sing, and they began to sing for us. :) At one point the whole class joined in, forming a circle and swinging their hands (us included) as they sang the first verse of "Hum Honge Kaamyab" - We Shall Overcome. They had so much hope in their voices as they sang, "We will overcome, we will overcome, we will overcome one day" - "Hum honge kaamyab, hum honge kaamyab, hum honge kaamyab, ek din." What innocent, beautiful smiles they had on their faces, even though I know they've had to endure and overcome so many incredibly difficult things already, at their young age.

We sang happy birthday to one of the girls, we played hand games with them (sort of like Patty Cake I would assume?..except the lyrics were in Hindi and it ended by saying "Namaste," so maybe not like it at all), we listened to them sing and read what they were learning in school and we asked them everything we knew in Hindi. The kids I interacted with most wrote their names on a piece of paper for me, as well, as a way for me to remember them. :) I didn't take pictures in the classroom because I didn't want the camera to become too much of a distraction, but I'm really glad I got their names, in their handwriting as well!

The pictures did of course come, and to a point I'm grateful for that, so I can share what we saw. So many people took photos, so I'll share them when I get them later on. Below is part of the sweet class we were with.

I know this is a really blurry photo, but it's the only one I got!..so I have to share it anyways. :)

Somehow we said goodbye, and then walked to a bigger room where we listened to the stories of three young adults who started out without access to education, came to this NGO, and now are on their way to successful universities and occupations. The last girl who shared, Asha, was quite shy, but after wiping away a tear she told us her story. When she was younger, her brothers went to school but her parents told her she had to stay home because she was a girl; when they found out about Vidya and Child, and that the school had night classes for those who have to work in the daytime, she began coming, and became very successful. 

It began to rain, so we stayed under the cover and listened to several Indian boys sing in Hindi for us. Two girls, Sangeeta and Lata, taught several of us a typical Indian dance. Then we all went out into the rain, in a circle, and sang Ring Around The Rosie. :)

A really cute little boy there. He seemed to like the rain a lot!

Little did we know that we would be getting so, so much wetter than from dancing in the rain! As we began to leave we ventured through the same narrow streets we first entered through; now, however, it was flooded. A mixture of sewer water and rain water was about a foot high, and we trudged through it leaving the area. As Khushi put it, "I've never had so much fun walking through sewer water." :) It's hard to believe (but necessary to realize) that while these conditions were foreign to us, they were home for so many others. Though maybe not always to this extent, the people who live there endure this all throughout monsoon season. This occasion stood out to us because of it's filth, inconvenience and general craziness, but it's actually their reality...and there's a weird tension in that relationship that I'm still sorting through.

The monsoon caused a pretty bad traffic jam on the way home, and it ended up taking us about three hours to reach the house! Honestly though, I didn't mind at all. :) It's all part of the experience!

Shukriya for reading! We're going to the Taj Mahal this Sunday, so I'll be sure to post again pretty soon!