Anjali's Travel Journals

August 7th-
Today is my first official day in India. I have a gut feeling that this is going to work out beautifully. Even as I reached the airport, my cousin Joshita, told me that she is willing to help me make plans to go talk to her principal about them donating old uniforms. Actually, when my dad visited he noticed kids wearing thick, heavy sweaters simply because it was all they could afford and they needed them for the cold nights and winters. My dad was really touched when Joshita volunteered to spend her weekend speaking with her principal about this issue. I will be going to meet her vice principal in two days. Everything seems to be falling in place and I cannot wait to meet the kids at KTC and Koshish.

August 10th-

I spoke with Sapna did yesterday and she told me that I should report to the KTC location at 11am on Monday the 13th. Also, I met with Joshita's vice principal yesterday and took the Just Read books with me. I think it went really well. She seemed pretty sure that the uniform donations would all work out and in fact said that after this month she will arrange a volunteer group of kids from her school that will be willing to spend their free time at Koshish and KTC locations year round. I thought that was amazing news and would help to further our plans for a long sustaining program as well as gives KTC and Koshish kids mentors that are only a few minutes away. 

August 13th-

Today was an extremely rewarding experience as I had been looking forward to this day for quite some time now. It is nice to finally have all my questions answered. At first, there was a bit of confusion over the location of KTC but after some time we found it and then we were informed that no one was notified that I was supposed to come. I had previously spoken with Sapna didi who told me Rinky would receive me, however that did not occur. However, I spoke with Anu Aunty who was extremely helpful and gave me a concrete schedule of 4 classes I would be teaching; 10-11. 11-12, 2-3, and 3-4. I throughly enjoyed speaking with her and am so thankful she was there. 

I began my first class at 2pm with a batch of about 30 7-8 year olds girls. I can assure you that this was not when I expected. :) These kids were so excited they were practically bouncing out of their seats like air bubbles in boiling water. I was informed by Anu Aunty that these kids barely know their alphabet and I was to use their work books and teach them the next letter that they had not yet learned: G. I had them write upper case and lower case G three times each, and then try to come up with a list of words that began with that letter. Mostly, I found that they were able to do so if I let them yell it out rather than be called on specifically. I noticed that if I asked them individually, they would loose confidence and shyly tell me they didn't know. Though their English was extremely limited, their enthusiasm to learn and their respect for me was incredibly touching. When I had about 20 minutes left of class, they had all completed their assignments and I was so thrilled that I wanted to capture the moment with a few pictures. At that point, they were extremely difficult to control and I had to say things like, "if you aren't quite then I will put the camera away" and then they would all quiet down and sit properly. It was a complete surprise to me when 5 or 6 children clung to me with tears running down their cheeks when it was announced that my next class had arrived. They begged me not to leave and I asked them when they would return. They told me they only came on Mondays and were thrilled to hear that I would be back. I had an amazing experience with the youngsters and I even received gifts from two little girls: Ruby and Komal. I can't wait to see them all again. 

I began my second and final class of the day at 3pm with a batch of 16-19 year olds. I was so incredibly nervous as I had no clue how they would react to a 16 year old  teacher. So, before I began I introduced myself and told them I wanted to spend the hour simply talking and getting to know them. I could tell this was not what they expected as that is not what the girls before me had done. However, they opened up quickly and told me about themselves as well as asked me several questions about my life. I could tell that they were very surprised with the answers they got and I think that brought us much closer together. I continuously tried to get them to respond to all of my questions in English, however they seemed hesitant. So I would ask questions in English, translate them, and they when they replied in hindi, I would make them repeat their answers in English. Though I talked to everyone, there were two people that I felt I connected with the most, Anand and Pushpa. They told me they were glad that we had talked and become friends first because now they wouldn't be as shy speaking up when I called on them. They also told me that they remembered Sohinee, Vidya, and Riya. They told me about the games they played, which ones they enjoyed and wished they had played more of. I found their feedback extremely helpful and used them to create my lesson plans for the following days. These kids are extremely mature and intelligent and as Vidya told me, they are willing to learn. They simply need a little mentorship, and a confidence boost. 

My first day was much much better than I had expected and I am so excited to return tomorrow and finally get some use out of those lesson plans. :) I am so glad everything worked out and cannot wait to return to the States and share my pictures and videos with everyone.