Hindi Lessons

Seemapuri is a slum in Delhi where we are volunteering with Pardarshita, an NGO focusing on empowering the poor. As part of their mission, Pardarshita has weekly sessions for volunteers to teach slum kids. During my trip to Seemapuri, we did a tour of the slum, which was eye opening. These people are not only poor, but living in terrible living conditions that are crowded with sewage, garbage, and other filth everywhere. It was also loud, with bells ringing, kids playing, machinery being run, and god knows what else going on. Despite the horrible living conditions, the children still seem to be happy and made us feel very welcome. They seemed proud to give us a tour of their home. 

 After the tour, I lead a group of 4 girls in a basic computer literacy session. It felt odd to be focusing on computer literacy when kids living in the slum lack things that I take for granted like sewage and clean water. The girls in my group spoke zero English which gave me a great opportunity to practice my Hindi. I had them create a presentation with an introduction of themselves including their favorite color, what they want to be when they grow up, and of course their favorite Bollywood stars. The girls presented in front of the larger Pardarshita program participants. I think more than computer literacy, these girls gain a huge amount of confidence from the weekly volunteer sessions.