Short summary about first week of volunteering work in Jajival rural school

Name: Silke Lohmar (slohmar_2000@yahoo.com)

I came to India at the end of September, with the aim of doing volunteering work and to visit this amazing country (which is very far from my world). It was a long journey, but travelling for three days (including lost connection flight) was worth the effort and I am very happy to be here. The reception at the Guesthouse was very cordial and I felt at home after a few days (I have to say that I knew this would happen since the photos of the garden which I saw on the webpage reminds me the guesthouse my parents ran in Southern Chile during more than 15 years).

The first day at Jajival school was very special: The chief of the village came to welcome me, the third eye was drawn on my face and a necklace made of flowers was put around my neck. That was very significant for me.

The teachers (Neelam and Saroj) are very friendly.

My background is not in teaching (I am a geologist and had never taught children), so it has been a challenging experience for me. After being a little nervous at the beginning, I try to make the teaching entertaining for the children (it is easy to notice when they get bored or are not interested). Contents of this first week of teaching have been: ABC, colors, numbers, animals, How are you? What’s your name?, How old are you?, How is the weather? I think the children are enjoying the class. Some of them understand easily, others need a little longer (which is normal), some suffer a little bit (I can tell from their faces and I try to make them laugh), but all are always very motivated, friendly and try to do their best, so I feel very grateful.

Support from Sanjay was crucial to communicate with the children at the beginning (I do not speak Hindi) and is still very important in difficult situations (when we do not understand each other), so a big thank you for them too! My next goal is to improve teaching through playing little games.

All the best,Silke