Day 1
On 18th December 2009, we visited the Shramjeevi Ashram located at Vasai, Vrajeshwari. We reached there at 10 am and met the Joint Secretary of the NGO, Mr Pradeep Khairkar. Pradeep Khairkar is associated with the organisation for about 10 years. He briefed us about the NGO and gave us a brief introduction of the organisation and its achievements in the past. Then, he gave an outline of the activities that he had planned for us. He suggested us to divide ourselves into appropriate teams and work. We, then decided that irrespective of the groups that we belong to, all 16 of us would work as one team and whenever and wherever required we would help each other. Mr Pradeep then called out the kids and we started with the activities at around 11 am. The activities we had for the day were as follows: 1. Games Session 1 2. Serving food during lunch time 3. Games Session 2
Games – Session 1
In the first session of games, we played less and interacted more. We talked to girls, aksed about their family and village. We also distributed chocolates to them. We played with them, Dog and the bone, Langdi, and Tug of War. There were around 200 girls. For each activity, we distributed them in smaller teams of 10 – 20. We, being 16 people together was an advantage that we were able to manage them easily. It was a wonderful start as we were able to bring joy and smile to the faces of those small kids.
Serving food during Lunch time
The girls enjoyed the first session so much that they wanted it to go on and on, but it was their lunch time at around 1. It was already delayed by half and hour so did not want it to delay it any longer. We all washed our hands and feet and went to the lunch hall. Before the lunch, they said a beautiful prayer. We, then started serving them the food. It was again a group activity and no one group acted in isolation; all 16 of us were together. While serving the food, again our motive was to interact a lot with thema and make them smile whenever possible. We asked them their names, which class do they study in, cracked jokes, etc. Our imperfect Marathi also made them laugh. It was a culture over there to wash our own plates after having food and no one else would wash your plates. The small girls were very good at it and never complained about it. After their lunch was over, they proceeded towards their classrooms and we had our lunch.
We rested for an hour when the kids were in classrooms having their lectures and decided on what to do next. We decided on few more games that we can play with them.
Games – Session 2
In the next session, we were determined to be better than the first session. We started playing passing the parcel. They were divided in the teams of 10-15 and each group was handled by 2 people. Girls were asked to dance, sing, mimic others, etc and the girls putting good performances were given chocolates and gifts. After the game of passing the parcel, we played kho-kho and musical chair with them. It was 5 pm by then. It was their time to leave for home, but neither they nor us wanted to end the day.
It was a day full of satisfaction and happiness for us. We wanted to come back again next day but it was the time for us to leave for Empower camps. So the next day decided for us was 27th of December. Mr Pradeep promised us to arrange the kids for us even if it is Sunday. It was a not unusual for them to get the kids at Ashram, if someone wants to meet and interact with them.
Day 2
It was 27th of December, Day 2 for us at Sharamjeevi. We reached the ashram at 9 am. We were just back from Empower camps and we were excited and energetic enough to do a few things we learnt at the camp. Our schedule for the day included an additional thing this time – tree plantation. Pradeep Sir wanted us to plant a free trees in the campus of the ashram where there was ample of space available. He also arranged saplings and fertilizers for us, The activities we had for the day were as follows: 1. Tree plantation 2. Games – Session 1 3. Lunch 4. Games – Session 2
Tree plantation
It was an area of thousands of square feet and we were given a relatively smaller but still a very large to plant trees. We were accompanied by two volunteers of the ashram. One volunteered started with the demo of how to plant a tree. They told us what would be the appropriate way and what to avoid while planting the trees. We spent around next two hours planting the trees. It was a good experience and most of us experienced this for the first time and promised to do it again whenever we get the chance. After all the saplings were planted we carried the rest of the items and ent back to ashram where kids were waiting for us.
Games – Session 1