Khandeghar Water Project Inauguration
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We had included Zila Parishad School of Khandeghar almost 2 years back. This was our 9th school. The school showed steady but slow progress in the first year. The school lacked in the right infrastructure as well as the whole-hearted support from the parents. Entry of Suhrid Foundation help enhance teachers connect with the parents more. This process was quite slow to start with. We sponsored a small infrastructure project in the form of fencing for the school. For the first time, parents felt the ownership. They – not only allowed bigger land to be part of the school – but also helped build the fencing. During the parents meet, we observed more attendance, receptiveness and openness. Though, it was late to launch a new project, parents committed that if we support the water project, they would be able to finish the same within 6 to 8 weeks. The projected started in second week of February, 2016 and we were able to launch the same on 8th April, 2016.
During this visit, it was quite heartening to see the overwhelming attendance. With the success of water project at the school level, they were all the more excited to address the water related issues at the village level. Team Suhrid shared the experiences of a model of water conservation adapted by few institutions in Dharampur, wherein with an yearly rainfall of 40’’ (almost 40% of Mumbai rain-fall), they have been able to make the hilly village completely drought proof. We also shared the approach of rain-water harvesting to divert the rain water to the ground instead of the river. It was quite heartening to see that even the small kids from Anganwadi (playschool) have started washing their plates, hands etc directly from the tap water. Khandeghar school has risen through ranks in terms of kids’ health. They scored well in Hygiene, deworming and Nutrition aspects. We are planning to have a permanent gate next year. Teachers are planning to use the back side of the school to grow vegetables, which can be used within the school.
We also shared certain plans about rain-water harvesting, check dams etc at the end of the session.
Yoga Session for the teachers
We had already conducted sessions on personal development, first Aid treatment and Phonics (novel way of teaching English). Since teachers need to necessarily impart Yoga training to the kids, we decided to have our Yoga instructor to carry out the session for the teachers.
It all started with the basic definition of Yoga, the difference between Yoga and the conventional exercises etc. We taught them the ideal routine, which one needs to follow to maintain the good health. This session was attended by 15 teachers.
Not even a single teacher had formal training of Yoga. Hence, we decided to take one step at a time. They were taught the basic stretching as a first step. They were introduced to simple asans viz Shalabhasan, Bhujangasan, Naukasan, Konasan, Tadasan etc. This – being the first workshop – we told them to learn this with normal breathing. Once they are able to overcome the basic stiffness, we would make them do these with the breathing count. We taught them the deep breathing, alternate breathing (anulom Vilom) and Aum Chanting. They have been given the hand-outs, which would be referred. Next session is planned after the resume from summer vacation.
