For part 2 of our volunteer work, we were driven to a village 2.5 hours away to work with another NGO, Kautala Friends Sporting Club, for a couple of days.
The village children took longer to warm up compared to students from Ideal Mission School. Afterall, it was their 1st encounter with foreign volunteers in the school. Most of their volunteers helped out in the medical field. We did not have much time to work with the children and spent more time working with the teachers instead.
Apart from working in the school, we had the opportunity to learn more about the programmes of the self help groups in the villages, school programme, medical help, hospital projects and met most of the staff.
Directors of both NGOs that we met have very good insights with many self sustainable programmes. We were very impressed to see it so well run!
Interestingly, there were a number of Belgium supported programmes in Kolkata. The following photos would be able to show and share more …
We are very thankful to Mama Basu for making all of the volunteering possible and the warm reception we had received at the training institute, Ideal Mission School and at Kautala Friends Sporting Club. A BIG THANK YOU to all of you!
Kautala Friends Sporting Club - This is used as a sch on weekday fr 8-3pm
Meet Mr Samir, Director of the club. He took very good care of us. =) Thank you!
Space is a constraint in this school with 5 classes.
There are 2 classes in this room. See the tiny chalkboard each child uses?
3 classes in the same room. Noticed the 2 chalkboard at the back? For 2 diff class. Due to space constraints, they have to work with what they have..
This is another class next to the 2 classes. Rather hard to concentrate but the children were all so quiet and attentive when the teachers were teaching..
They were all so thrilled to be photographed.
Our auntie who cooked our lunch in the tiny kitchen
Mr Chin sharing with the teachers interactive teaching..and even Mr Samir joined in!!
Shared with them some team building games for the students. Mr Samir and his staff had fun trying out!
Our sumptuous and huge lunch!
As we had limited time with the students, we taught the teachers different types of handicrafts that they can used with their students.
Making a puppy using towel. Like their students, the teachers were eager to learn too.
After 2 hours of intensive training..have a picture together before we leave..
It's Mr Samir's dream to build a proper school compound. May his dreams come true..
The village streets..
Mix and match the slippers you want!
Apart from schools, the club has a few other village projects
Teaching housewifes how to utilise their own land for farming.
Hospital project! Starting off with maternity and children ward as there isn't one in the vincity
Ground level is almost ready and 2nd level will be build when they have more resources.
Free clinic for the villagers...
Basic but sufficient!
unlike singapore, the teachers do not have as many training opportunities. thus, when there are volunteers, i.e. foreign talents, they will take the opportunity to learn something new to teach their children.
ReplyDeletewhen i was in mumbai, we taught the teachers how to make book covers, kites, etc. the teachers were so happy with their end products, they ran along the corridors with their kites. all these photos really brought back a lot of fond memories of my trip! :)
i hope both of you enjoyed your little volunteering activities. i'm sure it made an impact in their lives :)
joyce
May dreams come true, no matter big or small... Was Mr Chin reminded of his teaching days?
ReplyDeleteChannel 8 just started airing a show on Mondays "Love On A Plate 名厨出走记", a food travelogue with a twist. Celebrity Chefs stepped out from the comfort of their spacious kitchen into the rural areas. Using limited ingredients, they whipped up a mouth watering feast for the villagers and shared their knowledge with the less fortunate...
June 22, 2.25pm
U r tempting me to go volunteer there!!! Think there should be a program to allow SG teachers to go there n share teaching methods with the local children!! Reading how they have such limited resources n all n have to share classroom is so sad!!! N yet here we complain when classes hit 40 children.... At least our 40 kids have desks n chairs lor! N the kids r so cute!! I want one too!! Ha ha- minjie
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