[Reader-list] Raigad project

[Shashi Gupta]

dear all, for those of you who maybe interested in this project. Shashi
  
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP 125 RIOT-AFFECTED CHILDRENrequired to teach & play with 125 riot- affected children between 15th April to 30th May. Victims of the Gujarat carnage, they are now studying in a boarding school in Maharashtra.  THE RAIGAD SCHOOL PROJECT: a wonderful opportunity for riot affected kids to re-build their lives
Children directly affected by the communal carnage of 2002 in Gujarat were identified from 2 areas in Ahmedabad � Vatwa and Naroda-Patiya. They have been given free boarding and lodging in the hostel of a school situated in Raigad District, Maharashtra.

125 children have come to the school since October 2002 in three batches. These children have now settled down in the school. The ratio of girls to boys is around 2:3. The age group varies from 5 to 15 years (majority is in the bracket of 8-12).

The school, known as Dr. A. R. Undre High School is fully equipped with classes from KG to XII Std.  It also runs a B.S.C college for girls. The school has around 1200 local students and is an English medium school. The school was set up over 20 years ago to provide quality education to rural students.

The school is run by a trust � Royal Education Society. The promoters are the Undre family who unhesitatingly opened their hearts to these kids and took them in. Zia Hajeebhoy (from Bombay) liasoned with the school and with Volunteers working in relief camps in Ahmedabad who identified, selected & brought these kids to the school.
Boarding and Lodging: 
The School has ensured that every child has a bed, clean sheets and pillows, a trunk to keep their belongings etc. Clothes, uniform, shoes & toiletries have been provided. Girls and the little boys stay in the Girls Hostel and the Older Boys in the Boys hostel. Additional help including an additional warden, cooks, cleaners etc have been hired to provide for the needs of these children. The hostel provides wholesome nutritious meals including milk, eggs and non - vegetarian dishes and fresh fruits which the kids enjoy.

Academic: 

18 teachers and students went in the October holidays, voluntarily to give the children their first academic inputs. Their abilities and levels were assessed and they have now been assigned classes where they sit with the local students. 3 teachers have been appointed to give these children extra coaching after school hours.

Emotional & Psychological: 

Mrs Undre, the staff at the school, the caretakers in the hostel, are wonderful and give tremendous affection and care.

Volunteers in their interaction and others with their thoughtful contributions (school kids from Bombay donated their toys, clothes etc) brought these children a lot of love, cheer and hope.

A group of counselors did a preliminary assessment of the emotional health of these children, which is being used as a valuable input in interaction with these children.

Financial:

Donations have come in from a variety of people in the form of one time contribution, long term financial commitments and resources in kind (clothes, shoes, games, books, food etc). Every little bit is helping, however the expenses exceed the donations and the gap is met by the school trust and personally by the Undres!

WHAT CAN U DO?

The immediate focus for the next two months [April and May]- when the school will shut down for holidays � is to help these kids catch up with their peers academically, especially in the sphere of English. Save a handful, most of these kids were previously studying in Gujarati medium, and a few in Urdu medium. Since the Raigad School is an English medium school, the children will suffer academically inspite of their intelligence and aptitude, if they do not get adequately familiar English.

Though the school will close for holidays, the children from Gujarat will stay in the hostel to attend coaching classes from 1st of April to 30th of May. After which they will be given a holiday for 10 days, to visit their homes in Ahmedabad, before the commencement of the next academic year.

We are looking for volunteers who will come to the Raigad School to teach English to the riot affected children and also play and spend time with them- for a minimum of 10 days.

 It is very simple to teach. We do not require professionals to teach English (although if they are willing to come, so much the better). Only a couple of the 18 volunteers who came in October holidays to teach the kids were in anyway connected with education. They just came because of their motivation and enthusiasm  & they did a wonderful job! 

The kids already know their alphabets. Linkages between alphabet & sound and between word & meaning has to be reinforced, reading and conversational skills have to be upgraded. A structured syllabus will be handed down, which anyone fluent in English can follow.

If you know of any kit / module meant for teaching English to vernacular students, you can get it along or inform us about it and we will make it available. The more inputs, the better.

 It can be a lot of fun. Besides being a rewarding experience, interacting and playing with these children can itself be a lot of fun for some people. It will be even better if you are accompanying friends. Because the place that you will be visiting� Borli-Panchatan village, Raigad - is located between green hills and warm blue waters! It has a lovely unspoiled, and as yet uncommercialised beach. Volunteers will teach the kids in the morning, play with them till early evening and then they can be on their own - to trek on the hills or swim in the sea. And the temperature will be significantly lower than the cities we stay in. What more can one ask for in the summers

Besides the English classes, we have organised other activities. We are expecting theatre workshops, film screenings etc. Various groups from Delhi and Bombay will undertake these camps/ workshops. Meeting such a variety of people from various fields can itself be an interesting & exciting experience.

It will easy on your purse. We realise the size of each individual�s purse will vary! Nevertheless volunteers will only have to spend for travelling up to Raigad and back. A bus ride from Bombay to Raigad is approximately Rs 100. If you are from outside Bombay you can add this to the expense for travelling to Bombay. The School will take care of the food and the accommodation of the volunteers. 

 When are volunteers required? from 15th of April to 30th of May

For how long? We would prefer volunteers to stay for at least 2 weeks, but 10 days is the minimum.

How many volunteers at a time? On an average we would like to have 10 to 15 volunteers at a time. So each volunteer can take care of 10 to 12 kids.

How to reach? Busses ply to Borli, Raigad from Bombay (6 hrs); from Pune (5 hrs); from Goa (7 hrs).

 In case you are interested please inform us in advance. You can get in touch with:

Monica Wahi: monicawahi at rediffmail.com  ph: (0)9825412467

Zia Hajeebhoy: hajeebhoyzia at yahoo.com   ph: (0)9820048509

Note: if you or your organisation are interested only in conducting workshops/ camps in the school during these two months, please write to us asap, so we can block the dates for you.



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20030421/dbaf35ab/attachment.html