Curriculum handouts. Check. Pens. Check. Paper. Check. Maps, name tags, stickers, glue, magazines, camcorder. Check. As we headed out the door this morning, checklists sped through all of our heads as we dashed out the door to begin our first day of class! Upon arriving at the site, after taxi dilemmas and detours, we were enthusiastically greeted by the 90+ students at the facility with handshakes and “hello sirs”. Their energy and excitement was so contagious that it made our icebreaker, the 8 count shakedown, and our classes that much more exhilarating, even though we faced a small hurdle with their age groups being at least 5 years younger than we had anticipated. We adjusted our curriculum accordingly, teaching them as much as possible about savings, computers, and discovering their individual strengths, and ended the day with lots of hope and ideas on areas of improvement, which we shared extensively with Akhilesh, the site’s project manager.

Touring CHI/Prayas’ other projects at the site encompassed the remainder of our afternoon. We visited the crèche center, sat in on musical, Hindi, and English classes, and concluded the tour with a meeting with one of the self help groups; men and women with specific skills such as puppet making, wood carving, and dancing, who are grouped together to advise one another and work together to start small shops and businesses in the area.

We learned a great deal today and with three more days of teaching and meetings, we are excited for what is to come!

Signing off,
Bernard