Manav Sadhana 4

The earn and learn kids were busy creating Christmas Cards. That night, some of the other volunteers and I went to a restaurant called Vishalla which is basically a sort of Rajasthani folk village with live musicians, puppetry and amazing food. Somehow someone thought I might not be that interested, even though it features my favorite things. It was amazing. I spoke to the puppeteers for a while and watched all these interesting puppets do tricks. We talked for quite a bit about history, different arts and I tried to share how what I do is very much like what he did as a puppeteer, but on a computer. For me, that was really the most exciting thing, was to sit down and speak to a wonderful puppeteer.Afterwards we all piled into an auto rickshaw and made our way back to the volunteer homes.

Manav Sadhana 3

The next day Kristeen and I went to the community center/school to do a workshop with a class there. We were greeted by the sweet kids and hard working teachers. One of the children gave us sandhur as a way of welcoming us into class. The kids were amazing as usual and it was a tiring, but incredibly rewarding experience. I jokingly said invited myself to come eat lunch at one of the children's homes as we were leaving after the workshop and she was walking home for lunch. She said she'd ask her mom what she cooked. So many dimples and funny little toes. After that we ate and went to another slum that was more recently adopted by Manav Sadhanda. The look and feel are completely different. There is not yet a sense of community. The first tikra that was adopted by MS has more of a community feel. There has been a great deal of work by MS and people of the community to really make it a home. The other slum is much dirtier, and doesn't really feel safe. We had Jagad bhai with us, but I don't think we'd come alone. Of course these are people who are squeezed harder day by day and things are unimaginably tough. We made our way through to the school that MS had started there. We climbed up a ladder to a floor with all these children sitting there. It's a little nervous to start these workshops, not because I am shy with the kids, but because I feel some pressure from myself to do my best to give these wonderful children my very best and I hope that they will feel good afterwards. These kids were just like others I have met at earlier workshops.Next we walked to Indicorps offices to visit, then had some lunch at a cafe and made our way back to the Gandhi Ashram.

Manav Sadhana 2

The next day we went to the Dalit school across from where the earn and learn kids meet. I had peeked into the school the day before and I can't quite describe how excited I was to share animation with them. The children I met so far have really been an energetic and amazing bunch. Many are not used to discussion questions in class so carrying on an in depth class discussion has not really worked, but they are bursting with energy, creativity and most of all a genuine desire and willingness to try new things and learn. This really does a lot to make what I am doing with the children possible.First I was introduced to the class. Then, as Kristeen continued to cut paper, I asked the kids if they understood Hindi (as Gujarati is their first language) and then liked cartoons. Thankfully they all said yes to both in a cute little chorus. When I asked which cartoons they liked, they would say Tom and Jerry, Chota Bheem, Popeye or Chooha Billee Wali (cat and mouse one :) ) Since most of the kids had seen "Tom and Jerry", I explained how just like they do drawings, the people who made "Tom and Jerry" made many drawings of poses to show Tom running after Jerry.These kids live away from their parents in order to be at this school. They are absolutely beautiful. It's so much fun to get them started with the shapes which they all know and can draw easily. Then coaxing them through that first flipbook with the shapes is fun. Kids eagerly ask if they have done it right as I go around the room, and the sweet thing is that no one really does it wrong. Each drawing will be different even if they try to make them the same and so when they flip the pages, it will move. Walking around and just talking to each kid and congratulating them on their very own cartoon is so fun. They really feel so happy, and I do too.Next I went back to the blackboard and showed them how to draw stick figures in different poses, including getting them all to jump up and down to show me what jumping looks like and also joining them. Then I drew some different things on the board and gave them the option of choosing one of them, or making something of their own. I drew stages of a flower bud blooming, fish, a cricket bat in the hands of the stick figure and more. Then the kids got started. Many first copied what I had drawn, then started creating something of their own. It was like magic to look at a child's flipbook and show them the movement they had created, and then hand it back to them and have them flip it and see it come to life with their own little hands. Next we tracked down a school in the slum and repeated the workshop there. It was so sweet how the teachers welcomed us and most of them participated too. The kids were so eager and full of energy and excitement. Much like children I have seen in Casa De Paz orphanage in Mexico, these kids are so sweet and nice, full of cute naughtiness but so eager to do things. It is really quite humbling to share something with them and see them go from confusion to understanding. It takes a lot of energy to give each kid the individual attention they need and foster that confidence when they ask if they have done it right, but to be able to get everyone creating and understanding within 2 hours is worth it. I love seeing all those crazy, cute, happy faces jumping up and down to show me their very own little animation.Afterwards, exhausted and grateful to have enjoyed such a wonderful experience, we caught an auto and made our way to the school for street kids. Unfortunately we did not make it in time to give a workshop, but Anjali shared the beautiful work they are doing with getting kids that literally live on the street and live unimaginably difficult lives to come regularly to a school and teach them about hygene and other health related issues as well as the core subjects that other kids are learning in school. There are beautiful murals in all of these schools and the kids are provided a nutritious (and might I add, delicious :) ) meal.

Manav Sadhana 1

On the way to Ahmedabad from Delhi, I met a friendly man named Uday on the train who works in the Ministry of Textile. He was very kind and shared a lot of information on Ahmedabad. I wrote down notes for things to see, unsure how much I could fit in, but glad to learn. He had a good sense of humor and kept me laughing on the way, which is always appreciated, especially on long train rides.He told Kristeen (whom he called chotee) and I (whom he called chotoo) to get off a stop early as it was closer to where we wanted to go, so we did and then made our way to Manav Sadhana. I'd heard of Manav Sadhana through Kristeen and other friends who had visited and volunteered there. Many of those friends had gone back several times and could not say enough wonderful things about the place.I was apprehensive about going to Gujarat, due to the anti-Muslim riots which took place in 2002, but did so just to connect to this organization. We arrived from the train station by auto rickshaw and sat down as they were starting their morning meeting with a prayer and moment of silence. We joined and were warmly welcomed with sandoor.We introduced ourselves, then relaxed a bit, put our luggage in our respective girl's and boy's volunteer homes, then took a tour of the slum they had adopted. We got a glimpse of several nursery schools and then the school/community center which was beautiful. Even the people in the colony were warm and welcoming. To me this was really interesting to see that there had been created a real sense of community in the slum and a lot of work was being done hand in hand with the community. They were accustomed to and appreciative of the volunteers who came in their colony.The school/community center had a lot of really creative uses of recycled materials used for construction and decoration. From colored paper wrappers, to bottles and crates these materials were really artisically repurposed. They also had a nice library where I learned how they keep things organized to check out books to children in the community.There were beautiful murals and a nursery with a cool slide and swings. After looking at the slide (yes, a slide) entrance and cool swinging baby in the nursery, I decided that it was the place to live. Afterwards we walked back to Manav Sadahna next to the Gandhi Ashram and met some of the earn and learn kids who create beautiful cards and other items for sale while also going to school and receiving an education. Jagat bhai was removing some strings that were making life tough for a bird he found with entangled feet.Then it was time for my first workshop there. I sat down with the earn and learn kids and taught them to make flip books. This time, I started with circle (gole), triangle (tricone) and square (chorus) on a blackboard and had the kids draw this in different positions, sizes and shapes on their flipbooks. This quickly got the concept across. Then I gave suggestions by drawing blooming flowers, stick figures etc with which the kids could create something new. Jagat bhai is also a very talented artist with many amazing pieces focused on religous harmony depicting many symbols of various religions in creative and beautiful ways. It was really heartwarming to see the kids take to animation so quickly and also to see the adults taking part too. It was really sweet to get all of that support from Kristeen, "", Jagat bhai and really just everyone there. I felt at home right away thanks to all the warmth.Anjali, one of the amazing people at Manav Sadhana met me and within minutes was on the phone arranging workshops with the various schools in Manav Sadhana. I was really grateful for how everyone invited me in and trusted me with their precious time and resources. It is very humbling to walk into a group of truly dedicated and amazing adults and kids and to try and share something that you hope will be worth their time.