Student's Reflections

Village Trip Reflections 2018

September 2018

On Saturday, we went to Kumbharghar, a village that has been adopted by our school. We go there to help in infrastructure, education and empowerment. Since I am now part of the Core team, we used this trip in order to survey the work that has been completed and the work that still has to be done. Infrastructure-wise, the work is almost completed, which prompts us to find a new village. Education-wise, we ensure each child attends one of the three nearby schools. We are trying to donate more supplies to these schools. We began painting the alphabet on the school walls. However, empowerment-wise, we have not done very much. This prompted me to think of something simple that the villagers could do. I thought that maybe they could stitch and sell cloth bags since plastic in most forms is now banned in Maharashtra. I approached Mr. Choonawala and he helped us get the process started. We have begun to find a market for the villagers to sell their materials.

October 2018

On Saturday, we returned to Kumbharghar with some Grade 9 students in order to continue the work. The grade 9 students worked on infrastructure while I went and oversaw the beginning of the stitching process. We required to see the skill level of villagers who were stitching the bags in order to determine whether we needed to teach them how to stitch better. Much to our joy, the village women were pros at stitching and could dole out a cloth bag in under 10 minutes! We have now approached various NGOs and are in the process of approaching some private entities to enquire if any of them are willing to give our villagers a continuous demand for cloth bags. If this occurs, we will donate some sewing machines to the village and they can stitch higher quality bags even faster!

The village women seemed excited and grateful at the prospect of being able to earn and support their families from the prospect of their own homes. We urged all the women above the age of 18 to stitch the bags and we hope to send them the first batch of cloth next week!

We also played traditional games with the village children such as Kho-Kho, Kabaddi and Langadi, as well as revised the alphabet and taught them dance.

- Aanya Shahani

The Open Gate School, Czech Republic

Taking part in the village project has challenged the way we think about the impoverished rural-based communities outside of Europe. I personally have never been in contact with a society so distinct from my own before, and feeling engaged in economic empowerment of the locals made me realize my privilege more than any academic paper ever could. It was the physically demanding work, the non-verbal language we had to develop, the shared joys which transcend any ethnic or cultural difference that made us, the students of Open Gate, more close to the locals than we are to some of our Czech peers. And even though it sometimes felt like we are doing anything but actually helping, we all wish to return, and to help. In our interconnected world, I now believe everyone with the material possibility should get out of their comfort zone and reach out to those in need personally. On behalf of Open Gate: The village project is a unique opportunity one can start with.

- by Adam Polanek from Open Gate School, Babice, Czech Republic

British School

The Round Square Village Project that was initiated by the Dhirubhai Ambani International School was an enlightening experience to say the least. Not only did all of our participating delegates learn skills that we could utilize in the future, but also gained a valuable insight into rural life. The work, though challenging, was successful as we could see the progress we were making, and also got to know the other delegates and formed a relationship as a team. We visited the sites of Patal Ganga and Matheran, both which had nearby villages that were stricken with poverty and deficiencies that altered their path into the modern world. That’s where our role came into play.

The DAIS school had adopted a village near the Patal Ganga region known as ‘Khumbarghar’. The village was lacking the most basic resources and necessities and was suffering from heat waves. Through the schools scientific and economic expertise, we were able to solve both problems. Toilets were set up, in order to sustain hygiene levels and cleanliness, and we also planted coconut trees, that could be used as a source of income for the farmers. The Toilet block making was a hectic experience as the weather was harsh and the work difficult, requiring a lot of manual strength. However we managed to tackle this through the constant motivation of completing out task. The stay was fulfilling and the food was fulfilling, and even though we had a good time there, we could not wait for our next service visit, which was to Matheran.

Matheran is a beautiful region that provided us with the opportunity to see the more scenic part of India. The views and area itself provided us with the incentive to work, also shading us from the heat in the shadows of the valley in which the village was centered. Despite being a more developed establishment, Hassachipatti, still faced difficulties in the collection of water and also commuting from the village up 1000 feet to the main market for trade. The work we did here was by far the most rewarding as not only did we complete the main project, but we did so efficiently and collectively as a team of determined volunteers.

THE DALY COLLEGE, INDORE

Having a service project in our own school and being too young to attend it, we jumped at the opportunity to attend this RSIS Project. But we had never expected it to be as challenging as we found it to be. Working in scorching heat, building walls with bricks too heavy to be lifted, eating with the fear of monkeys coming and grabbing our food, climbing uphill and downhill a thousand feet with loose stones and digging deep pits, we actually enjoyed what we did. It was amazing to see how dedicated the people of both Kumbharghar and Hassachipatti were to the concept of education. In the former children were ready to walk bare feet on tarred roads to their school and in the latter they were ready to climb thousand feet and more everyday to reach school. This in turn made us value the education that we are receiving or rather, the life of fighting cocks that we are living.

We were so enthusiastic that our teachers didn't have to coerce us to work. We can honestly confess that we hadn't expected the food and the lodgings to be as good as they were, so thank you for that. As for the service project, we would appreciate it if the core team members consider constructing a secondary school in Hassachipatti and building some sort of canal/pit/trench to help make water easily available in Kumbharghar. Also that the productivity would increase if there would have been some more tools to work with. Another honest confession is that we take back valuable lessons with us and we do not say that with the intention of being cheesy!

Shivani Mangal, Yashvi Turakhia, Mahak Motwani, Karan Bainsla (22.12.2011)

The Millennium School, Dubai

We enrolled for The Round Square Regional Project knowing that we had to put in a lot hard work and dedication to making the regional project a successful one.We arrived at Mumbai International Airport on the 17th of December and went to the guesthouse where we were warmly welcomed by the students of DAIS attending the service project along with us.

We first visited Hassachipatti –the first of the two villages, near Matheran. In Hassachipatti we were involved in making a safe pathway to the village and in the improvement of the village by building a computer lab, a rain water harvesting facility and by providing stationary to the students in the village and other activities including making charts for them in the local school. Building the pathway to the village on the steep face of a mountain was a treacherous job but altogether an enriching experience. We worked with the villagers and thoroughly enjoyed their company.Helping the villagers by building the rainwater harvesting facility and a computer lab was also challenging but rewarding and seeing the smiles on the villager’s faces reminded us how much this service meant to them.

Later that day we had the children from the village come over at the rest house where we taught them the basics of computers. This included Paint,word, internet and also a few games. This was a learning experience for us as much as it was for the children and we hope that these prove to be valuable for them in the future.

The overall experience at Hassachipatti was extremely rewarding and enjoyable.

INDIAN SCHOOL OMAN

A delegation of six from Indian School, Oman we left on 17th December for the Service Project in Patalganga and Kumbharghar. Little did we know the labor and hard work we were in for! We were received by the staff of Dhirubhai Ambani International School and taken to Swadeshi. After registration and briefing about what we were meant to do in the next few days, we interacted with fellow delegates from other schools over dinner.

Early next morning, we embarked on our journey in a group of about 35 delegates to Patalganga. We were then taken to the village Kumbharghar. Though the bus ride was exhausting, it gave us some time to sleep every morning. In Kumbharghar, we were split into 3 groups. We began working on making cement blocks. The equipment was limited, hence only few of us could work at once. Also the cement kept getting exhausted. Since we had never done such laborious tasks before and also the climate was pretty harsh, we kept getting tired and stopped periodically for breaks. Making the blocks hollow would be more cost-effective and also make it easier for us to carry them. Planting trees would provide additional income to the villagers. However, the trees should have been planted in a more organized way rather than planting them wherever we found place. A garbage bin is needed in the village so that the amount of litter can be reduced and hygiene can be maintained.

After interaction, we felt that the villagers needed better homes and more vocational training to enhance and ensure regular income. Water supply also was one of their major concerns. So we would suggest that a pipeline be created that would bring water from the dam to the village. We could also contribute by collecting clothes and books to give to the villagers.

After 2 days of tedious and fun-filled service to the village, we left for our next location - Matheran. We were very relieved to experience a much better climate than that at Patalganga. However, the walk up to the village was quite tiring, making us realize the agony of the villagers who have to commute that way 3-4 times a day. We were very happy to build roads for them. However, we are also concerned about the risk of climbing those steep mountains and hence we suggest that railings are built along the road. Working on the rain water harvesting system was a lot of fun because all of us worked together effectively as a team. We were extremely proud to have finished all our work well in time.

We are very grateful to DAIS for organizing this Service Project for us that helped us stretch beyond our comfort zones and making amazing new friends.

A reflection on Kumbhargarh Village Project 2017-18

January 21, 2017

Today I returned from my first trip in the village of Kumbargarh. We reached the resort at 4:30 in the evening and took the remainder of the day to finalise our plans and divide the people to their own stations. The next day we went to the village early in the morning by 8 am do that we could finish most of the outdoor and hard labour before the sun comes out. For the first part everything was going smoothly until one of our group members started to feel a stroke because of the heat. That led to our whole chain breaking and all our work coming to an instant halt. This made us realise that we should have had a back-up plan so that we weren't relying on only one plan. As a result of this mistake, we weren't able to finish our work effectively, but we also learnt a valuable lesson for our next visit.

February 6, 2017

After completing my first visit last month and learning from the things we did wrong last time, the first thing we made sure of was that we had more than one plan in case a similar situation would arise. Another thing I made sure of was that everyone was hydrated and had eaten a good breakfast before we went to the village so the chances of anyone falling ill would be minimum and with the burst of energy everyone would also work very effectively. By the end of the trip we managed to make 93 bricks, which was the most anyone had ever made before and also managed to successfully complete a class of math, English and Hindi. So compared to the previous trip, I think this one was more of a success. Reflecting on our earlier mistakes and learning from them benefited us a lot and so I will continue to do so for my entire life.

April 28th, 2017

This week, we all sat together as a group and reflected on what we had done the whole year in this project. We looked over all the good and bad moments that we had all shared as a group and the incidents where we worked together to solve a particular issue. For example a part of our project was to tech the students in the village, and we did not realise that they didn't know Hindi and so had to organise last minute and learn basic Marathi with the help of the two students from our group who knew the language so that we could interact with them.

- Karzaan Patel

KUMBHARGHAR ADIVASI WADI, near Patalganga 2015-16

A small tribal village, located near the outskirts of Mumbai (Co ordinates: 18° 43’ 36. 58”N / 73° 12’ 03.084”E), consists of a small tribal community caught between traditional ways of survival and the modern world.

This village was a village that grew extremely fond of and loved very much. Initially all we did was construct houses for the people as they lived in very brittle hay and cow dung based houses which were unsanitary and not very strong. Building bricks was very hard, as well as digging through the foundation due to the fact that there were several rocks which we had to break.

I undertook the first ever Education programme in the school we had built over the past year with the help of the German Exchange programme and RoundSquare International. The kids were very shy at first as they felt embarassed that they didnt know much english but soon i created a village friendly curriculum with village based learning systems (taken from TOK lessons and put to use in the formation of a crude, yet village-friendly curriculum).

- Bhuvam Patel