ASEEMA

Aseema Charitable Trust is a Mumbai - based NGO with a mission to equip children from marginalized communities with high quality, value - based education. As part of our CAS Service projects - we, a group of 14 DAIS students, visit Aseema once a week, and work with children from the 'Kherwadi Municipal School'. We hope to enrich their schooling experience through extra tutoring (with a focus on English writing and speaking), skilldevelopment and fun group-based activities!

 

 

We first met our 4th grade students on a Friday September afternoon - and begun, almost instantaneously, to develop a bond based on our common enthusiasm for learning! It is this sheer enthusiasm that keeps us engaged and on our toes, as we actively line activities up, one week after the other. For our very first class with the Aseema kids, we assigned ourselves each a smaller group of students and began the program by assessing their English and Math skills through dictation, spelling games and math problems. We then turned their basic in-school math into posters through pictorial representation, and noticed that this had a positive effect on their understanding of mathematical concepts. In addition to helping them with their school work, we bond with the children by dancing and singing together, and playing group games such as 'circle time'. Sometimes, we'll have a DAIS student recount an inspirational story, in an effort to encourage the students to dream big and work hard.

 

In our opinion, the children's enthusiasm was truly unmatched in November and December - during the lead-up to the DAIS CAS Fete! With a vision of our children on stage at DAIS, we spent countless classes at the Aseema Centre choreographing a dance routine to “Aashayein”, and helping the children rehearse. It was awe-inspiring to watch the kids not only practice with determination, but also build a strong team amongst themselves. “Each week that we spend with these kids, we get more and more attached to them. We look forward to those 2 hours on Friday! - A DAIS student noted.

 

Our work with Aseema remains one of the most fulfilling parts of our IB experience. To think that we're blessed with the ability to affect positive change in our community by talking and listening to a bright group of children who now feel like family is incredible. We like to think we provide them an open space to discuss any sort of issues: those with school-work, friends or parents. We believe that our job doesn't end with “imparting knowledge”; We like to think of ourselves as a pair of ears and a group of friends trying to make a 4th grade class' schooling experience fun, lively and comfortable. But we end up gaining so much from them as well: we learn about real confidence and compassion, about their dreams and desires. “Some of my girls want to grow up to give back to their community by being teachers and the boys have vivid aspirations of becoming sportsmen”, a DAIS student recounts. In this way, and in so many others, our experiences with the Aseema Charitable Trust have proved to be enriching and unforgettable to students from not one, but both schools involved.

 

Annette Mehta