Beyond Boundaries in India!

Welcome to India! 

We have arrived! After numerous pre-departure workshops in London beginning in April, our Beyond Boundaries project has kicked off in Udaipur, India. Alongside five members of staff, eight young people aged 13-16 from the London Borough of Hackney, have begun teaching English and Maths on Basti Rams project, working in schools in rural Rajasthan.

Some of the team before departing from London to Mumbai

Our Journey

This trip is an incredibly life changing experience and our young people are embracing India 100%. Nerves and excitement filled the air as we met at Hackney Town Hall to begin our journey. Travelling via London Heathrow and Mumbai (India), it was evident to see the 30 hour journey taking its toll, on both staff and students. However, reaching our beautiful house in rural Udaipur soon had the mood buzzing once more. We were greeting by our lovely gound staff (Pankaj and Himanshu), as well as a warm welcome from our talented cook Meena Ji.

Meena Ji - our lovely, talented cook

Despite the tiredness and jet lag, we spent the evening relaxing and getting to know our home for the next two weeks. The following morning we received an informative orientation, detailing some basic need-to-knows about India, as well as cultural considerations and differences we may experiences.

Following on from this, our amazing young people were taken to visit to the school and destitute boys home they with be teaching in. The schools Basti Ram work within are Government schools, and the young people are expended to teach between 7-10 children. The destitute boys home houses up to 100 boys up to the age of 18 - visiting here, our young people enjoyed playing cricket and conversing with the young men at the home. The differences between our schools in the UK and here are clearly evident; this activity was incredibly humbling and enjoyable.

The children at school, as well as at the boys home, were so welcoming, running after us shouting 'didi, didi' which is 'sister' in Hindi. We were kindly invited into local villagers home. She was so proud to show us around and our young people were very intrigued to have a look. Although we were two days in, the behaviour our young people had demonstrated has been admirable; respectful, inquisitive and hard working.

The team in one of the classrooms at school

We had our first lesson planning session which went well - despite some nerves due to this being their first teaching experience, the young people were willing to cooperate and our staff have been incredibly supportive. Working in pairs with one mentor, the groups planned a lesson for their given grade (first, second, fourth or fifth) and prepared their resources. Worksheets were made and resources were utilised in a lovely, creative manner. Following this, each pair executed a mock lesson to our group; it would be fair to say staff were very proud!

In the recreation room

The knowledge our young people have gained in such a short space of time has been beautiful to witness. We are sure they will continue to grow and flourish.

View from the volunteer house

The blog will continue to be updated on their progress at school, the boys home, as well as their travels around Udaipur.
I hope you enjoyed this post, thank you for reading!

Sumeet Dhamu
Deputy Project Leader (Beyond Boundaries)