[Editor's Note: Our summer guest blogger who is volunteering at the Shanti Bhavan Children's School in India, Shreya Bhatt, updates us with a video. This school is co-ed, as you can see, but you can fundraise for sponsorships and request to support a girl!]
Last Thursday, Shanti Bhavan held its annual Field Day, where all students of grade two and up participated at various stations that tested their athletic skills.
The children were divided into the four Harry Potter houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin), and each student competed against each other, irrespective of grade. In essence, the spirit of cooperation and competition at Shanti Bhavan was unequivocally displayed on Field Day 2010. Take a peek!
[Editor's Note: This could be you volunteering with the kids next summer! Shanti Bhavan has a great volunteer program, and if you go, consider being a #STF360 travel journalist!]
[Editor's Note: We asked our summer guest blogger in India, Shreya, to tell us all a little bit more about how schools in the developing world use the arts for education. She responds with this visual post.]
Shanti Bhavan is not only an institution that emphasizes academic excellence, but also one that shapes the personalities and worldviews of the children form a young age. What the children do outside of the classroom is deemed just as important as how they perform within. What follows are visual posts on these developments that are non-academic in nature, especially through performing arts such as dance and music.
Alison Futura has been training the school choir
The 8th grade girls are learning how to play the cello from Summer Boggess, a professional Broadway musician
Sabala Baskar, a graduate student from Washington D.C., teaches dance to the 11th and 12th grade girls
[Editor's Note: Thanks, Shreya! Anyone else interested in volunteering at Shanti Bhavan now?! It's on our bucket list. ]
by Shreya, She's the First guest blogger & a Shanti Bhavan School summer volunteer in India
On a balmy Thursday afternoon, I spoke with Grade 12′s Lily Mary Thomas, one of the school’s most coveted soccer players, about her family, life at Shanti Bhavan, and her ambitions for the future. What she revealed to me was nothing short of emotional and inspirational. Her story is a testament to the hope and positivity that Shanti Bhavan instills in all its children.
Lily, aged 16, is one of 4 children, born to impoverished parents in Maryapura, a village near Bangalore. Maryapura’s villagers, like many others in rural India, have been plagued by severe addiction to drugs and alcohol. And like in several other villages across the country, nuns administer education, healthcare, sanitation, and other essentials in the village, dedicating their lives to improving living conditions in these regions.
It was one such nun who had suggested Lily as a potential candidate to Shanti Bhavan’s recruitment team when she was four years old. “I was doing really well in the school run by the nuns,” she explains.
Here are some snippets of our conversation:
Shreya interviews Lily, a senior at the Shanti Bhavan School (which is always seeking co-sponsors!)
Tell me a little bit about your parents.
My parents sell alcohol in our village. Earlier, they were farmers. My family used to live in a shack made of coconut leaves, and we used to grow vegetables on a small area of land that we owned. But a fire destroyed our cattle and shack, and my parents couldn’t do anything to save them. The Congress (one of India’s major political parties) helped us and gave us a little amount of money, but it wasn’t enough to improve our situation. So my parents began selling alcohol to the villagers to make money. My mother also works on other people’s farms for Rs. 100 a day (roughly $2 a day).
What about your siblings? Are they in school?
My elder sister studied till 9th grade, and then started working in a factory. My brother failed his 12th grade exams and is now working in the same factory. We didn’t have enough money to let him sit for the exams again.
What do you think your life would be like if you were not at Shanti Bhavan?
I would probably be washing vessels, and maybe going to a government school if I could afford it.
What do you enjoy most about being at Shanti Bhavan?
Being able to play sports, especially soccer. I love playing sports, and at home, I wouldn’t be allowed to do that.
What are some words your friends use to describe you?
They say I am friendly, and active.
What are your dreams for the future?
Ideally, I want to play soccer for India. But I wont be able to support my family if I depend on sports. So realistically, I want to study biochemistry. I am interested in learning how medicine works on people.
Are you nervous about what the future holds in store for you?
Not really, because I know that if I work hard, I will succeed.
******
Lily’s life story, and her positive outlook on life, is far from unusual at Shanti Bhavan. Hers is one of many inspirational journeys in which the children blaze through many obstacles to come out stronger, so they represent the best and brightest of tomorrow’s world.
[Editor's Note: To learn more details about Shreya's volunteer experience in India this summer, read her blog!]
Art class at Shanti Bhavan Children's Project. The most vulnerable children in India attend the school -- but you would never guess their past misfortune from their present day smiles!
Editor’s Note: Shreya is guest blogging for She’s the First this summer. She is volunteering at an official She’s the First partner school in India, the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, a school for the most vulnerable children in India. Although it’s summer vacation here in the US, school is in session!
The academic year has just begun here at Shanti Bhavan, and we are still recovering from the extravaganza that was the graduation ceremony for our first graduating batch!
As you can imagine, the first week got off to a slow start, but days are slowly becoming hectic. The toddlers returned to the school on Sunday, June 13th, and the campus is once again reeling with the laughter and cries of the little ones.
In any case, here is what the daily schedule looks like during the semester:
As you can see, the days are certainly packed to the brim with activities and classes, and as the teachers and students get into the routine of classes, life at Shanti Bhavan will soon become busy and exciting!
Stay tuned for the next few visual posts of the school and the neighboring village, as well as some interviews of our senior girls in Grades 11 and 12 about their dreams, aspirations, and life at Shanti Bhavan!
Shreya, She's the First guest blogger -- spending her summer volunteering at the Shanti Bhavan school in India.
Editor’s Note: On the first day of summer, we introduce you to She’s the First’s summer guest blogger, Shreya Bhatt, who is volunteering at the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project in India. Shanti Bhavan is an official She’s the First partner listed in our directory of sponsorship programs. You can help sponsor a girl there!
For the past year, alongside my full-time job on Wall Street, I have been volunteering for Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project in New York. Most of my work so far has involved corporate fundraising and strategic vision and mission-related projects for Shanti Bhavan.
Girls at Shanti Bhavan Children's Project who Shreya will be mentoring and interacting with throughout the summer!
This summer, however, I am going to be spending two months at the school teaching and interacting with the students, staff, volunteers, and the rest of the Shanti Bhavan family, one that I have come to call my own.
I am excited to blog about this experience and share some interesting photos, dialogues, and other fun stuff with you via She’s the First. Stay tuned for updates!
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