National and visiting foreign volunteers share their experiences

"You or I could look at that tree and spot maybe two or three mangoes. But ask any of thesegirls, and they could see about twenty." - Rahulbhai, science teacher at the Kedi School

Nestled in the rural farmlands of Dharampur District, Gujarat, you’ll find the Yellow and pink painted walls of the Kedi School. It’s home to about 70 girls, as well asseveral teachers and staff. Calling Kedi a “school” is a misnomer—rather, the institution houses a community.

What first struck me about this bustling community is that each girl and teacher are exceedingly warm and compassionate. After just a few days, girls would crowd around me andask me about America, or gather around me in my bed at night and giggle about my fear of bugs,or pull me to their classrooms so I could play games with them. We played games to improvetheir English, and my Gujarati—when I came to Kedi, I could barely have a conversation in mynative tongue—talked about the differences between our cultures, and asked each other about daily life at home. I learned that many girls worried about being married after their graduation, because they each had aspirations to graduate from college and become employed. We showed each other a lens to a different part of the world, and this exchange is an interaction that I’ll never forget.

I was also surprised at the depth of the girls’ curiosity—a characteristic that I foundrefreshing, especially as a graduate of a standardized education system in America. These girlswere not studying to pass exams, or constrained by the rigidity of a common curriculum;instead, teachers go beyond merely passing information. In class, students ask probing questions and engage in intellectual discussions sparked by activities that the teachers organize.One day, when I was in the eighth-grade class, the girls asked me three very different questions,and were very determined to get answers: Where would the Earth fall if the sun disappeared? Why is milk white? Why do we get nightmares? I was stunned by their curiosity and inspiredboth by their knack for asking questions and the teachers’ aptitude for harnessing their students’ creativity.

The most poignant part of my stay at Kedi, however, was the girls’ connection with nature. Behind the building is a cowshed, fields for growing vegetables, and an orchard formango trees. I was awestruck by how they live in harmony with nature—from harvesting cropsto milking cows to plucking the ripest mangoes. They work quickly and efficiently, laughing andgrinning as they cook and clean. I admired their strength and resilience, their tendency to takeon hours of physical work. Coming from an upper-middle-class-suburb in Northeast America,I’ve never lived without a washing machine, hot water, or air conditioning. But living at Kedi, Ilived more alongside nature than I ever have before. The teachers told me that the girls’ greatest strength was their intuition, a feature that arises from their affinity with nature.

When I left Kedi after three weeks, the girls and I cried. Everyone at Kedi, including theteachers and staff, had imparted to me a lens to a different lifestyle, selfless warmth andcompassion, and insight into the beauty and peace of living with nature.

Kedi School has been working on the upliftment of tribal community by providing education to tribal girls since the past 15 years, whereas otherwise these girls would have not received such education. The goals of the school are two folds: 1) to promote economic independence and 2) to increase awareness of issues such as healthcare, gender equality, and environmental conservation. These issues are crucial for the upliftment of the surrounding tribal communities.

The school itself is a residential school for 80+ tribal girls who come from remote villages near Dharampur town in Gujarat. These villages have only primary schools with inadequate teaching resources, such as not enough teachers, supplies, etc. This is where Kedi School plays a crucial role. Moreover, these girls would not be able to attend any higher education as such schools do not exist in their villages. Kedi School is a blessing for these girls who want to pursue higher education and have aspirations for their future.

We have been visiting Kedi School since the past several years. This time our experience was quite different - we got an opportunity to participate in various activities that showcased the great work Kedi School is doing. During our 4 months stay, we became closer to faculty and students who we learned a lot from. It was an amazing experience, which we will never forget. We are very impressed with the efforts put in by faculty members and trustees in holistic development of the students. Students are provided with a well-rounded education focused on real life situations, culture, arts and academics. They can express themselves and really grow as an individual.

We also got an opportunity to take classes. It was a new experience for us, but we could do it with the guidance provided by the faculty members. Our biggest challenge was to find how to make learning interesting with relevant examples for the students so that they can grasp the subject matter easily. We were veryimpressed with the students’ curiosity and enthusiasm to learn new things, and this only provided us with confidence in Kedi’s techniques.

Kedi promotes activity-based learning. Faculty members are encouraged to implement and research new ways of teaching, thus connecting with each student through interesting learning.They are also encouraged to continuously improve their teaching based on students’ feedback.

Through our experience, we walked away with learning from the students. We learnt from them on how to be happy in all situations. This is a hard concept to grasp when you have resources and are provided with the basics like in the USA. However, for these girls, in their daily lives they stay happy even with limited resources. This is a lesson we will hold on to and will continue to work closely with the students.

The school she built on that land is a dream school even for the privileged children! It is a De-Schooling school actually! This is a boarding school, where children -only girls- get complete residential facilities here which has almost become their second home. All their food requirements are met under top medical guidance. They learn most subjects by practical experiments and model making and fun, even Math, which has never been taught from the black board! Along with the syllabus, they keep learning various skills and talents that is going to stay with them and keep enriching the quality of their life.

The school does not follow any Board, State or Central. Therefore, she has been successful in adopting completely novel methods and unique syllabus in education.

The school has installed Solar panel and meets most of its electricity requirements from that independently. The school also has installed Solar cooking system which provides steam downwards into the kitchen which prepares food for all the students, resident teachers and other staff members. Most of the food is made from organic farming they do on the adjacent land whose owner has allowed it to be used by the school temporarily on friendly basis.

Normally we see there are Standards/Classes in schools and the subjects are taught as per the standard the child is in. Here, the subjects are taught as per topics and not as per standards. Because, standard based learning has many limitations like student forgetting the topic the next year. So instead, like the topic 'Fractions' is taught to the combined class of Std. 3 to 6 together. That brings meaning to the fractions! And that too not on the black board but practically.

She quotes a thinker who said: "Let not the school interfere your education."

We bid her good bye wishing her all the best in her endeavor.
(*Kedi means a narrow pathway created by human footsteps in the nature.)

It was a new level of dedication they showed, one I had not witnessed in many privileged students from families like ours. That is the beauty of the [Kedi] school. The model of education stresses on the relevance of education. Since they come from places where education cannot be taken for granted and most students did not receive proper education before, let alone education of such quality, they valued it.

"The VI graders inquired about sun, so instead of answering, I gave them another question: what is the sun and why does it produce energy? They instantly answered that the sun was a ball of fire and that is why it give out heat and light. Telling them that the sun was not a ball of fire, I set them on a homework to find out what the sun really was…..

The next day just as I entered the building, these four brilliant girls ran up to me and started talking before I could even breath. They had found out that the sun was, in fact, made of Hydrogen and helium, and it was this turning hydrogen into helium that gave out energy."

One of the initial classes, I asked them that if I were to drop a wooden duster and an iron tile, which one would land first. Like any person who does not know about free fall, they said ‘iron tile’. I disagreed. So, 24 against 1, we argued our way through. When the class ended and as I started to leave, two of the girls (Priyanka and Renuka) handed over a duster and a tile to me. It was a challenge. Either the class was wrong, or Aayushiben was. Seven of the girls went on the ground floor while we dropped both the objects thrice. Both the artifacts hit the ground at the same time. They were astounded. Now, this was an amazing activity not just because it was an experiment, but because I didn’t tell them the answer. They knew about gravity and they knew about acceleration, but why did the duster and the tile fall at the same time? That was their question to answer.

They were not ready with the answer the next day. Not even the day after that. On the third day after the article-dropping, Renuka came up with a solution. She didn’t call it free fall, but she did note that nowhere was mass a factor of acceleration. She spoke for about two minutes in which she explained free fall in terms I had never thought of using, but which did explain free fall so beautifully.

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart, whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones." Charlotte Bronte.

The biggest challenge that is faced by those working in the area of Education is to convince others about the importance of the same. It is especially true when, the children belong to the marginalized communities, staying in the interiors.

The irony being that although they are flooded by technological inventions (mobile, TV,) the basics for livelihood is a mere myth. With the school buildings in place, teachers and students log being full, the distribution of amenities shown on paper, everything is virtually there.

In such a scenario, Kedi – A place for learning took form, from casual talks with persons working with Tribals, educationists, teachers and students. To run a place learning for Girls alone was a conscious decision.

Established in 2006, it began with only 18 girls (in the age group of 18 years to 20 years), with Std.VIII to Std.X. Today it has a strength of 95 girls, ranging from 12 years to 17 years. The girls belong to varied tribes like Dangi, Kukdawadi, Warli, Gamit, Chaudhary etc.

They have nine permanent teachers (mostly tribal), two vocational trainers and a few dedicated volunteers.

They provide academic facilities, vocational training and Hostel facilities (since most girls come from the interior areas making commuting difficult)

How it differs from the regular schools is the curriculum, which is designed in-house, doing away with standard text books and tests/exams. It is only in the Std. Xth that the students are trained for the Board exams. The evaluation of the child is done through parameters other than the exams. Often some children repeat certain years.

The vocational training includes organic farming, animal husbandry, block printing, zardosi, tailoring and Warli painting. Other curricular activities include debating, reviewing books, workshops, movie watching, out of state trips, medical camps. Visiting and staying with other tribes and documenting their songs, stories and sayings.

"The fact is that given the challenges we face; education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions." Ken Robinson

What Ken Robinson says about building an environment where the children want to learn and can naturally discover their true passions, is what this school tries to emulate. And this is seen in the gradual change in the attitude of the girls as well as that of their parents. Most go for higher studies and pick up jobs as Health workers in their own villages. As garment workers in nearby towns. Some are now pursuing Nursing, Engineering and BRS.

While I did not come here through ASHA I am working with the Kedi school through a mutual friend of Aparna Kadikar. I am a musician and Stage Manager and wanted to get experience in the field of NGOs. The other intern who is here with me at the same time came through ASHA and thus I am writing a report for ASHA too, because I think it is a great place to come for future interns, both in what they can contribute to the school and what they will learn for themselves and their life.

When I first arrived at Kedi school I came not to work, but to see the Inauguration of another NGO situated within the same premises as Kedi school. Kedi is part of altogether 4 NGO projects working independently from each other in different fields, and at the same time working with each other. So it is for example possible to go to Kedi School and at the same time go to nursery school situated within the Clinic Arch 30 meters away uphill.

The inauguration complied also of a theatrical performance of Girls from Kedi School, and girls and boys from neighboring schools. All of which are children from Tribal areas.

I was impressed and rendered speechless of their incredible artistic performing abilities. These tribal youngsters could not only perform theater on stage, but they could dance and sing on a level that students of the same age in Europe hardly achieves, especially not every individual in the class.

As a musician, my heart jumped of joy because one of the ideas I had, coming to India was to teach English and music, so I was told, was to put on a school play. Everybody told me that would be crazy and far too ambitious, but for me it was the one thing I knew how to teach.

Coming back two days later I got to know the girls and the school and especially the school rooms and their inventory. I was stunned again, I don't know what I expected but certainly not a school build by NGOs, outside the cities, for Tribal girls, that was better equipped than my high school and that had, that was the most important thing, THE FAR BETTER TEACHING METHODS, which are up to date with what we nowadays know needs to be the way of teaching human beings. This school is hands on, teaches with all senses, detects dyslexic pupils, for whom at this school it doesn't matter that they are dyslexic because they can still follow, understand and remember everything, because all the senses are used.

The other thing that amazed me, and I think this is for one due to the teaching methods which are build on cooperation rather than elbowing yourself through high competition, and secondly due to the girls themselves coming from so poor a background that they have to rely on each other to survive, was, that there was, in a boarding school, a well behaving, relaxed, friendly, helping and supporting each other community that as sad as it is to say, cannot be found in our schools. No girl wants the other to fail, they are not looking for credit themselves though, they just want to help - all of them.

The same week I am writing this report we stand 5 days before the premiere of our musical.

All 69 girls are involved in it. Acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments, but also writing their own script, producing the set and costumes, we have a light and a sound designer and two assistant directors. And all of this is being done in English which is the girls weakest language. But as theatre goes communication is not a problem when one starts to open one’s mind to the various communication skills available to the human body and mind.

I myself did not speak a word of Gujarati, and yes basically I still don't but we get along and we, so just the girls and I, could even do some of the staging without anybody being there to translate. The easiest language certainly for me was music, which is universal<. Do re mi is called sa re ga ma here and so language barriers were easily overcome when we rehearsed the music. Body language goes very well with acting and staging and getting the personality hidden in the shy individual to blossom.

My first experience with an NGO taught me a great deal about who I am and what I want to be doing in the future. I had come here with the resolve to help in any way that I could and believe that I exceeded my goals.

When I was younger, the less fortunate people at my school and in my neighborhood, didn’t have the latest version of tennis shoes or cable television. When I grew up, it was having or not having the latest cars or the most expensive college apartments on campus. My internship with ASHA has brought me to Dharampur, India. For the past two months, I have been working with, Kedi, a secondary school which focuses on the education of tribal girls. I didn’t really understand what ‘tribal’ meant before I had come. I had heard the term, “adivasi” but I could never really fully comprehend it. With the help of Aparna and Pankaj Kadikar and a girl who lives with them, Menka, I had the opportunity to see the villages where these girls came from. It was like I had landed on the front cover of a National Geographic magazine. It is a place where people still use the barter system, water is fetched from wells, and work starts from sunrise to sunset. It is a place where nature is revered and money is scarce. No one had cable television or the latest style in shoes.

I learned that within these villages, dedicating the time or monetary effort for the education of girls is traditionally not practiced. The word ‘Kedi’ literally translates to ‘the unchartered path. Many of the girls are previous child labor workers who worked in factories or in construction under strenuous, unsafe working conditions for several hours at a stretch. The working conditions cause severe impediments to both the physical and mental health of these children. At Kedi, the girls are housed, clothed, fed, and educated at an extremely minimal cost. The goals of the school are to promote economic independence and to increase awareness of issues such as healthcare, gender equality, and environmental conservation.

I am currently teaching English at Kedi, working with the tribal girls on a school drama exclusively in English, where all 69 girls are participating. We are working on improving grammar and pronunciation, as well as working to bolster their confidence in speaking in an unfamiliar language. I myself didn’t realize how much it actually meant that the girls were speaking English until I went to the village area. The parents of the girls kept asking me if they were speaking in English, as I discovered that English was reserved for the urban elite.

Kedi advocates a democratic style of teaching where girls are free to express their opinions and encouraged to speak their minds. Kedi uses alternative teaching methods, where hands on learning and emphasis on practical use of the material they learn is practiced. For example, to teach the election process to the students, the school held an actual election, therefore exercising the democratic voting process as well as eliminating any false beliefs of what an election entails. This free exchange of thoughts and vital life lessons were also something that I had not initially expected.

My first day at Kedi, the students were learning about the solar system. The universe and the solar system can be a difficult concept to grasp for 13 year olds and can prove to be even more difficult for tribal children. The math teacher,Harshadbhai, taught the girls by making them observe how the earth moves around the sun with the use of a globe and a flashlight. All the students were required to actively participate and relay what they learned from the lesson. To strengthen the lesson, Harshadbhai had the students actually become the parts of the solar system: sun, earth, moon etc.

Abstract concepts, initially, are difficult for these girls to grasp; therefore, putting on a play seemed to be a practical, viable teaching method that would involve learning while having fun. It was rewarding to watch them become more confident with the language and teach each other. Something I noticed was this unwavering commitment they had for one another. When asked questions by teachers, the girls always selflessly chimed in to help their fellow classmates from failure.I was able to not only teach them, but learn a great deal from them. We exchanged stories about the people in our home towns, our friends, parents, weddings, etc. While my own roots are from the rural parts of India, I myself have a limited concept of what it is like to live in rural areas. In my time in Dharampur, however, I really had the opportunity to be exposed to the people and culture of the tribes.

The staff at the school is professional and knowledgeable in what they teach. Aparna Kadikar and Jayant Desai, founders and trustees of Kedi, are also both actively involved in the education of these girls. Aparnaben is at the school nearly every day, teaching, creating curriculum, or working with the other teachers. At night, when she stays at the school, she reads them stories and tells them tall tales. She mildly scolds them for misbehaving or for poor performance. She acts as a maternal figure for these girls and an incredible role model. Jayantbhai works with the girls, teaching them English. At the age of 74, he makes 5 hours journey from Bombay to Dharampur without fail every week to teach these girls. All of the girls feel especially close to him. One day, when I had asked whether he was coming to the school the next week, he replied, laughingly, “I’ll be coming until I die.”

I feel that my experience here has been extremely valuable, as I have learned a great deal about the education system in India, tribal culture, and to my surprise, about the environmental movement in India. In connection with Kedi, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about current environmental problems while working with documentarians, CNN, as well as members of the Clinton Global Initiative to promote solar cookers and to save local forestation and wildlife.

I think one of the greatest strengths of this school is that the curriculum is appropriately tailored to the students’ needs. My time with Kedi was rich with experience and one that I will carry with me for the rest of my life and hopefully into my professional career. I learned that a good education is not something to take for granted; it is a gift for many, not a right. I learned that the latest shoes and living in the most expensive places are trivial in a world where people don’t have water to drink or even just simple shoes to wear. I would encourage prospective future interns to work with Kedi. I think it will be a positive experience that you will remember forever.

"My experience at Kedi School began with the monsoons: the heavy rains, ample green gardens, and the cool serenity of the school itself; intermittently broken by the clamour of cheerful students rushing to greet me with the traditional ' behn .' I met students who were at once shying, confident and very proud of their school. Over the course of the three months that I independently volunteered at the school, I grew to appreciate the girls themselves; their indomitable spirit, the joy with which they danced the garba at festival times (and patience with which they taught me the steps); their willingness to speak English and make mistakes; their fearlessness to learn about the world and the environment around them.

The development and responsiveness of the students in the classroom rested on their ability to listen and adapt quickly and independently to versatile teaching styles. Outside the classroom, the students displayed a vivid intelligence and a hunger for practice while completing daily tasks. The readiness of local teachers to work with the volunteers smoothened the way towards the substantial progress made by the students. Led with grace and spirit by the school’s founder, Aparna Kadikar, the everyday routine at the school was uplifted and made special. Sharing the girls’ daily tasks ranged from cooking meals on open fires or utilizing solar energy, farming, cleaning and sifting flours to the artistic crafting of intricate embroidery for saris, singing swaras in classical music lessons, or painting traditional warli figures. The experience of living amidst the girls while learning from them and teaching them was a relationship based on trust, friendship, hard work and true exchange that was in every way remarkable and amongst the most magical and fulfilling hours I have ever spent.

The school is located in a very green area with number of mango and chickoo trees surrounding the building. It is a very pleasant and clean area, radiating feeling of peace and harmony with the nature.

"If you think further, these tribal girls do not need education (may be from their perspective). They will be fine without it. They will grow up physically by nature, but not mentally, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. But, they will not know that. Life will be as usual for them, as has happened for last many years and generations. They will spend their lives in poverty, not knowing what they can achieve if educated."

They have an Eco center, that is, have solar panels on the roof with subsidy from the govt. The school uses solar energy to generate steam for cooking. They produce organic mulch to be used as fertilizer for their plants and vegetables and use as much locally grown vegetables for their cooking as available.