Monday, June 2, 2014

Erik - Delhi, Week 3

Hi everyone,

I've officially completed my third week here in Delhi, and while I feel like I've already accomplished plenty, there's always more to see and do here!  With my stay now being over half done, I hope I have the time to see and do everything I wanted to!

I don't believe I've written at all about what I do here in Delhi.  I'm working with an NGO called Aman Biradari, which has operations in all of India's major cities.  They want to work towards equality for people of all backgrounds, and one way they are attempting to accomplish this goal is through their Dil Se Campaign.  This project has created homes (three in Delhi, one for boys and two for girls) for underprivileged children, including former street children, and gives them the love and discipline they need to become productive members of society.  Education plays a big role in achieving this goal, and my job involves me teaching English to the children at the boys' school and one of the girls' schools.  They're currently on their summer break now, and most of them really don't want to be in class (they already have a surprising amount of homework for the break!) so mostly my job really just involves me playing with them; sometimes the games involve the English language, like Pictionary or hangman, but sometimes they're just for fun, like Snakes and Ladders or cricket.  They're much more motivated to spend time with me if I'm not trying to force them to do more work, so we make speaking and practicing English a fun activity - it's great how enthusiastic the kids are!


Playing hangman at the boys' school





A group photo of some of the girls I teach - they all really
wanted me to take photos of them

Last Thursday, instead of my usual work, I went to the summer camp planned for the kids by my project supervisor, Robin, and the rest of the Dil Se Campaign.  They planned two three-day long summer camps for around 60 kids, full of fun bonding activities and games.  Robin wanted me to come so I could take videos with my camera and make a short video of the kids doing various activities as publicity for Dil Se.  I haven't actually started the video editing yet (partially because I have no idea where to start - any tips would be greatly appreciated!) but I have plenty of raw footage to use.  Overall it was a fun change of pace from my normal day-to-day routine, and it was great seeing the kids have so much fun with each other!

 

Some of the kids playing a game at summer camp

Yesterday, I took a day trip to Agra with Olivia and her roommates.  Agra was the capital of India's Mughal Empire, so there's a lot to see there, and it's only about a three-hour drive from Delhi.  I woke up around 5 a.m., took an autorickshaw to Olivia's apartment, and we took a taxi from there to Agra.  We spent the day bonding, taking lots of photos, and seeing such amazing sights as the Agra Fort, the Moon Garden, and the famed Taj Mahal (as well as its smaller and significantly less touristy cousin, the Itmad-ud-Daulah Tomb, a.k.a. the "Baby Taj").  Everything was breathtakingly beautiful, and it was exciting to learn so much about India's history.  It was especially exciting seeing the Taj Mahal, but I was surprised with how much smaller it is on the inside than how it looks on the outside (though it was packed with tourists, which may explain why it felt so tight).  I also found out that had we come a day earlier, we would've been able to see the real tombs of Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz, instead of the replicas - this event happens once every year, on the death anniversary of the Shah, so it was very disappointing to find out that we had just missed it.  Still, it was a fantastic experience being at the Taj Mahal anyway, in spite of our less-than-fantastic timing.





The Baby Taj




A photo of a butterfly in the garden behind the Taj
Mahal, next to the Yamuna River



A photo of me in front of the Taj Mahal, which was constructed 
by Shah Jahan in the 17th century as a mausoleum for his favorite 
wife, Mumtaz. It is flanked by two buildings, the one on the left 
being a mosque and theone of the right being built simply to 
maintain the perfect symmetry of the monument.




A photo of the entrance to the Agra Fort - the same king who 
had the Taj Mahal built was imprisoned here by his own son,
who usurped the throne from him.

Anyway, that's been pretty much it for this past week.  It's definitely been a memorable one, and I can only hope the rest of my days in India are as great as these past few have been.  I'll keep you all updated as soon as I finish my next blog post.

See you next time,

Erik

1 comment:

  1. Erik,

    This is an exceptional post! I really enjoyed hearing about your responsibilities at work. You're right- the students will be extremely motivated if you make it fun for them. Learning a new language doesn't mean just sitting and doing worksheets. It's all about getting involved and learning practical ways to put the language to use. Hangman is a great game. I don't know if you have it, but Boggle is also great too. Wordsearches and crosswords are also good ideas too. You can work on specific vocabulary words. There are crossword and wordsearch makers online- just Google it.

    Do you have an Apple computer or a PC? IMovie is really super easy to use. Otherwise, Window's Movie Maker is intuitive. Just upload the movies you have and you can fiddle with the duration of each clip at the bottom. Again, Google is a great resource. I'm sure whatever you end up with will be just wonderful!

    Your travels sound amazing. It's interesting that the inside seemed strikingly small to you. Too bad you weren't there a day earlier, but not many can say they've been there in the first place!

    Keep the pictures coming! Especially at work! I love love love the shot of the children holding hands!

    Best,
    Tammy

    ReplyDelete