Teach One, Reach Many
Rahat Sharma is a final year Law student who is an ardent believer that every dark cloud has a silver lining. Through her words, she continues to pursue the same and is determined to bring about the change awaited.
#SafecitySessions : TEACH ONE, REACH MANY
The Father of our Nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, once said that, “If we are to reach real peace in the world, we shall have to begin with the children.” I have always believed that the children truly are the future of the nation. Therefore, their inquisitive nature while growing up should be nurtured with care and answers. Children are curious about everything and we must ensure that instead of diverting them away from such questions, we must try and clarify all their doubts. For instance, many kids remain unaware and lack knowledge regarding basic hygiene for themselves as well as vital changes in their body like puberty and menstruation. Parents and others hesitate to address these questions at a young age. However, it is of utmost importance to provide the correct answers for their own personal development and thereby, of the nation.
Recently, Safecity’s Team of Volunteers at Delhi were overjoyed on being invited by the Shades of Happiness Foundation, Delhi to talk to their children and explain to them about Puberty and Menstrual Hygiene. The reason for our immense joy wasn’t restricted to be associated with the Foundation but extended to carrying out the brilliant concept and idea to initiate a conversation with children on these vital issues.
On 3rd May 2017, the Volunteers were requested to take a class with the students of the Foundation. The children were within the age group of 12-14 years. We were informed that some may have knowledge about the topics while many might be ignorant of the same. We commenced the class with a short game which incorporated the Introduction Round. We all formed a circle and introduced ourselves but with a twist. The twist being, to add small hand gestures/actions to define their nature while introducing themselves. It was a fun activity and the kids seemed to enjoy the same. The main objective was to break the ice and make the kids a bit comfortable with us for the next 2 hours. Following this, with the help of an informal conversation discussing the various signs/changes that take place in our body during Puberty, we introduced the topic briefly. We planned a fun way to decode the topic of the session with help from the kids. We played a game wherein they guessed the alphabets of the word “PUBERTY”, thereby decoding it. Then we asked all the kids present there to write on a piece of paper what they understood by the word ‘puberty’. This lead to a short discussion wherein we told them that Puberty was a term used for the process wherein with age the body witnesses some changes, all this being as normal as us inhaling and exhaling. To educate them on the same in detail, we showed them two videos. The first video covering the Puberty in Boys, expressing the 3 main signs and the second video covering the Puberty in Girls along with Menstruation. It was wonderful to see that the kids were participating in many ways during the session, be it by repeating after us all the new terms they were learning or even by answering all our questions mid-session and post the class in the Revision Round.
For the finale, we invited the kids to take over the class. We divided them into groups of 4 and asked them to summarise whatever they had learned during the class in the form of a small play/skit. The kids of the 4 Groups got involved in the activity happily and started preparing with great enthusiasm. At the end of the 15 minutes, each group performed a small skit put together by them. Explanation of the topics through these skits by them were phenomenal. It made us prouder then ever that we were successful in enabling them to not only understand but also not shy away from talking about such topics in front of everyone. Before concluding, they all wrote their thoughts about the entire class and gave it to us, and promised us that they would carry forward whatever they had learned by sharing it with others too.
It was a pleasure to be a part of this class and teach all the extraordinary students of the Foundation. The seeds have been sown but the real result will be awaited until they grow and transform into youngsters. These youth of our nation will bloom when they decide to share their knowledge and teach others. Thus, teach one in order to reach many!
