Volunteer from USA, April 2012Hello folks,
I’ve been staying at Parijat Academy for 10 days now and I can finally start sharing my stories. Right now we are having a holiday called “Bihu” and we will not have classes again until Monday. The next few days I will be partaking in some culture activities and I will have some extra time to update my experiences.
First, I will say that this experience has been quite the challenge for me. I am currently the only volunteer here and sometimes it can be overwhelming for me because I have never volunteered solo before. However, this is a great learning opportunity and it has really pushed me to put more effort into connecting with people around me. Uttam and his family have been fantastic! They treat me like I am part of the family and they always make sure I am well taken care of.
Now let’s talk about the fun stuff, the children at Parijat Academy. I just recently finished a teaching job in South Korea. I was there for almost 2 years and the education system is extremely different from India. In Korea children are overwhelmed with education and in India children are thirsty for it. The kids here are eager to learn and they are very excited to have a foreigner in the classroom. The energy level is very high and seeing the glow in their eyes is one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever experienced. The English level is very low, so sometimes it can be discouraging, but yesterday I started to notice that some of the children were starting to catch on and I could hear them using simple phrases that I commonly use…phrases such as, “high five,” “excellent,” “fantastic,” “Are you ready?,” “Is it okay?”. After noticing this I started to feel more hope. Also, they have pretty much mastered the “Hokie Pokie” and I have a blast every time I lead them in the song/dance.
I still can’t believe I’m really in India working with kids and getting immersed in the culture…I used to dream about this! Anyone can do this if they are willing. I want to encourage you to get involved and to take the leap of faith to come to India. I have met so many people that want to be involved with social justice, but usually volunteering in another country is very expensive. Fortunately, this is not an issue with this organization, so start considering it…and please try to bring a team. I can’t even imagine the progress that could be made if we had a group here. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will post more later.
Best Regards,
Amy
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