Teaching, Learning, and Everything In Between

Today I had the heartwarming opportunity to visit an NGO and teach and interact with underprivileged children. The visit was a moving experience that left a lasting impact on me.

The place we had to go was a slum which was situated in Karol Bagh. The slum consisted of the labourers who were engaged in the construction of a building complex which was exactly opposite of the slum. Those labourers were working extremely hard to build such a humongous building which would become houses for other people, however their own homes didn’t even have a proper roof. The stark contrast was visible. The area where they were residing didn't meet any sanitary conditions. There was no proper housing or water facilities. Not only that, the sewers were also open in a lot of places.

When I entered the facility, I was welcomed with warm faces that were beaming with energy. They were extremely curious and eager to know why I, with my friends, had gone there. We were led to a very small room where we were supposed to do activities with kids. It was shocking to witness the conditions in which the children were living as well as studying. It was far beyond basic standards of living. The room was extremely small and there was no ventilation in the room. If the door of the room was to close, the room would boil in this hot weather of Delhi. The room consisted of a small blackboard, an almirah, and a mat that covered the floor. The students arrived with inquisitive faces wondering what the didis and bhaiyas were doing in their classrooms.

There was an ice breaking session, where our introduction took place. The kids introduced themselves to us and we also did the same. After that we told them why we were there and that we wanted to do some activities with them.

We told them we would teach them how to do leaf painting. At that moment a little girl started crying, she wanted to leave. We thought we did something that might have hurt, but when we asked her she told us that she had to go home to cook food. Her parents were out working, so she was incharge of cooking and feeding her siblings. And that very moment wrenched my heart. A girl who was still a child herself must have been about 8 years old was expected to act mature at such a young age and also take care of her younger siblings. She left, but her words left a deep impact on me. The kids who are supposed to study and learn at that age are forced to grow up and act mature. It's not their family's fault, but it's their conditions that force them to do such things.

After that we handed kids a sheet of paper, paint and dried leaves that we took from the college. We showcased how to do the work and then the kids let their creative minds take over and started painting however they wished. After the activity ended, we took photos with them and distributed chocolates. It was a different life experience.

I witnessed the resilience, curiosity, and warmth of children who have so little, yet offer so much in spirit. Those children may be underprivileged in resources, but they are rich in potential—and it is our shared responsibility, as fellow human beings, to nurture that potential with compassion.

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