A walk through the slum

Location: Kader Sheriff Garden (garden being a misnomer)
Mission: To plan community work for the betterment of the slum children
Mission partner: YWCA
Team: Yet to be decided

We (here I mean the firm) are partnering with YWCA for the first time this year to be involved in some of their projects and help out in every possible way.
Every year when its time for community work, I choose to be a volunteer, however this time I decided I'd take part in the planning and organising as well. As a part of the team captaincy, I got a chance to meet up with the board of members of YWCA. This was a very sweet and enriching experience. There were in all about 12-15 ladies, well past their middle ages - former principals, professors, college founders who have come together with an aim to make a difference. Listening to each of them speak about their experiences was just so motivating.

The YWCA Bangalore project list among many things includes:
~ A lower primary school in the KS Garden slum
~ Day care centre for young children
~ Free computer course for girls from low income families
~ Leadership training for women from diverse backgrounds
~ Learning centres, hostel facilities, free counselling sessions
The list thus goes on....

Since our project mainly has to do with the slum children, we drove up to KS Garden. We could have reached the school from the main road but we wanted to walk through the slum to see for ourselves - the slum-dwellers' way of life.
This slum has about 1700 families living together in such pathetic conditions. No proper housing, no good sanitation facilities, hardly any space to even walk, dodging and ignoring all the dirt and the filth. What would life be living in such a condition. I again reiterate the fact that we take too many things for granted in life. In comparison to such a life in the slum - we are all so much better off, yet we complain about mundane and trivial things.
We reached the school which had just 2 rooms. Room = 4 walls, no proper lights. There are two blackboards on opposite walls of the class. Half the children face one board, while the other half have their back turned towards the other board. Thus 2 classes are conducted simultaneously in the same room. The other room for the older children was even more dingy with no light at all. Despite all things - one thing to be noted is the smile that all the children had on their faces, the jest with which they answered our questions and their dreams of making it big in life. Their lives revolve around the slum, they have no clue of the evil that awaits them in the outside world, but they have it in them to become 'somebody'.

Once we had visited the two facilities, we started planning our work. It would mainly involve:
~ Moral education classes for the children
~ Basic health and hygiene lessons
~ Personality development and other useful tips for the older children
~ A day excursion to the planetarium.

The basic plan has been drawn - the hows, the whats, the how manys are yet to be decided. This should be a real good experience.