US kids intern at Bhavishya Yaan

Privilege. Opportunity. Equality. These are the aspects that the Bhavishya Yaan highlights. From first standard to tenth standard, it provides underprivileged students with the chance to advance their skills while building upon their education. We were fortunate enough to be invited by the GK Marg center’s mentor, Bhavika Parekh, for the volunteer share program which is run jointly by the Rotary Club of Bombay and the Vidya Organization. We are honored to be able to share the experience with the world.

Coming from the United States of America, we were thrilled to see the diverse and beautiful culture that India has to offer, especially regarding the schooling system. When at the school, there were five other volunteers with us which made for a total of seven. We were all different ages, ranging from 7th standard to college, and each of us had different strengths and weaknesses. Some of us have worked with children before through another volunteer program, school, and some of us have never had the chance to work with kids. But regardless of our experience with teaching, we all came together as a team to help the students with their English skills. From the moment we stepped into the school, we realized that we had to adjust to a new style of living. With lack of materials and school supplies, us volunteers had to brainstorm unique lesson plans for the students each day. These lessons were easy to carry out because of the students’ hardwork, dedication, and drive to learn new information.

Over the course of the weeks that we were there, we began to see each student open up to us individually. We started to connect on a personal level with the students which made the teaching experience much more cherishable. On the first day, the kids were shy and only spoke Hindi and Marathi to us; however, by the end of the two weeks, the children came up to us and greeted us solely in English. It was heart-warming to see how much progress the students have made in such a short amount of time and it is unimaginable to think of all that they have accomplished at the center. We are extremely blessed to have supported the Rotary Club of Bombay in achieving their mission. Education is the base of life and we are happy to have helped the students strengthen their foundation. We not only learned the students’ names while teaching, but more importantly, their stories.

A special thanks to Mrs. Ekta Shah who inspired us to share our response about the center and who gave us the chance to be associated with Bhavishya Yaan.