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| Ekal Vidyalaya Visit: Aryan Kumar |
Aryan Kumar
07/25/2019
Finally, the wait is over, after planning for months and traveling across the world, the day came when I would visit the Ekal Vidyalaya schools located in rural Haryana. Before traveling to these schools, we meet with an Ekal Vidyalaya volunteer and our guide for the day, Mr.Vijay Sethi. Mr.Sethi was waiting outside in the blistering Delhi heat, for our arrival. Throughout the trip, Mr.Sethi was very nice to us and his unselfish dedication for Ekal was shown to us throughout this experience.
Traveling to these schools was extremely difficult as for nearly 20 miles we traveled on unpaved rocky roads. Although the roads were very bumpy, the view was incredible as on each side of us we saw miles upon miles of luscious green fields with people and young children working them. Suddenly the car stopped and all around me I saw cattle, in the clearing I noticed a makeshift building. A few moments after I exited the car I realized this was the Ekal school, I would be visiting. At the schools, all the children were sitting on the floor outside in the humid and hot environment. I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that children somewhere in the world would have to go through so many hardships just to receive a basic education. Once we stepped outside of the care we were greeted with a royal welcome, as both schools treated us by placing religious items on us such as tikkas and a flower necklace. At these two schools, the students also demonstrated their daily routine and wowed me with their extraordinary passion and dedication to learning even with all the hardships they have to endure in their daily lives.
Once, they demonstrated their daily activities it was my turn to discuss oral hygiene. As I presented the students became very curious about some of the things I presented especially floss. All of the students I met today had never seen floss before in their lives and were impressed that there is a tool that has the ability to efficiently take out the food stuck in between teeth. These students were also shocked at how important oral hygiene is to the body, as when I shared the diseases that can be caused due to a lack of hygiene these students could not believe it. After I discussed with them the importance of dental hygiene I handed out toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste to each student, I was able to do this because of the generosity of dentists all across Massachusetts. Unfortunately, on the way back one of the volunteers fell off of a motorcycle and she hit her head on the road. This unfortunate incident reminded me how unselfish these volunteers are as they work extremely hard at this job just for the betterment of the children of Ekal, and I salute them for this. After this unfortunate event, I started to think of how much just donating one dollar means for these children, as this one dollar allows them to go to school and get an education that they might have never gotten if not for Ekal.
Overall, this experience has motivated me to become more and more involved in Ekal Vidyalaya and help raise more money for them as each dollar matters for these children. I am looking forward to expanding my initiative theforgotten32 and meeting more and more fabulous students, thanks to it. I cannot wait to come back next year! I would also like to thank the Ekal Vidyalaya leaders, back home who believed in me and my initiative and encouraged me to try and tackle the India's epidemic.
About Aryan:
Aryan Kumar currently attends the Advanced Math and Science Academy in Marlborough. He will be going into 10th grade. This summer he had the opportunity to go and visit a couple of Ekal Vidyalaya schools in the state of Haryana, which is located in northern India. At these schools, he taught the students the importance of oral hygiene as well as the problems that people face if they do not have good oral hygiene. In addition to this he handed out dental materials that he received from local dentists in MA, such material included toothpaste, toothbrushes, and floss. He believes he has started to help out these underprivileged children, as throughout their young lives these children have faced many hardships, and if he can alleviate one of these hardships from them it can make a big difference in their lives.
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