Every year, as I sit in the back of an auto rickshaw in the Mumbai summer on the way to the market or to a dance class, I see young children running on the side of the road, barefoot, dirty, with innocent smiles on their faces. Their parents are either unemployed or work for very little pay. Many of their fathers are alcoholics. They, in all likelihood, have a future that looks frighteningly similar to that of their parents. The only way for these children to extricate themselves from this terrible and inevitable cycle of slum dwelling, is to get a decent education.
    Therefore, when I decided this summer that I wanted to do some social work or community service, I did not choose to travel to a foreign country with a summer program nor did I choose to stay home in Newton and volunteer here. Instead, I decided that India, my own country and one that I visit every summer anyway, was the ideal place for me to give back to society.
    The trouble, however, was picking which organization, of the thousands in India, I wanted to involve myself with. That is where VIDYA came in. Through Ranjani Saigal, my mother’s high school classmate, I came to know of an organization in Mumbai itself that was dedicated to the education of underprivileged women and children. VIDYA, which is located on the IIT Powai campus in Mumbai and also has a base in Delhi, offers several programs to the underprivileged including computer skills classes, remedial education for school children, classes to help high school drop outs receive diplomas, and employment opportunities for women in IIT Powai campus kitchens. With so many options and genuinely useful programs to choose from and with such a convenient location, VIDYA seemed to be the perfect organization for me.
    After filling out an online volunteer form, sending out multiple e-mails, visiting the VIDYA office upon my arrival in Mumbai, and working out a schedule for my two week volunteering stint, I began my work in the UMANG program, which is responsible for remedial education to underprivileged children.
    The children that are a part of UMANG range from grades two to nine. They go to school during the day and arrive at the UMANG center on the IIT Powai campus around 2 pm. They then spend the following three hours doing homework, learning basic information in their various subjects, and increasing their understanding of the information that they learn in school: all with the help of volunteers. It is essentially an aftercare-come-tutoring program.
    On my first day of volunteering, the woman in charge of the English medium UMANG program assigned me to teach basic math and English to two third grade boys, Manish and Bhavesh.
As I walked across the classroom and sat next to the boys, they instantly began addressing me as “didi” (which means older sister in Hindi) and eagerly asking me questions as I taught them how to add without counting on their fingers. They quietly (or not so quietly) discussed their work with each other to ensure that when they brought their books back to me, their answers would be accurate. They struggled to speak English with me, so I soon switched to speaking with them in Hindi.
What struck me the most about the children of VIDYA was their innocence and enthusiasm for learning. All the children that I taught and worked with were energetic, eager to please, and determined to complete their work correctly. Everyday, they asked me to assign them homework in addition to the work that they had to finish for school. When I suggested that they take a night off, they nagged me until I had no choice but to assign them problems to show me the next afternoon. Unlike my six year old cousin who constantly complains about the ten minutes of homework she has to do twice a week, these children were thrilled to be assigned more work and to practice whatever they had learned that day, whether it was addition, grammar, or geography.
It was a truly refreshing experience to see children who have so little in life, children who most would think have very little to be happy about, smile and laugh as they worked and learned. VIDYA has done a phenomenal job giving these children a venue to learn from, as well as have constructive relationships with volunteers, some like me, who are only there for a short period of time, and some who are there long term.
The UMANG children are honest, genuine, and excited to learn about the world. One day, during “circle time,” I was asked to speak about Boston and the United States. I told the children about the weather, food, and holidays. One boy named Rahul asked me how people in Boston dressed. I pointed to a fellow volunteer from the US who was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and said, “They dress just like she does.” My Hindi was far from perfect, but none of the children laughed at me or made me feel uncomfortable.
If this conversation had taken place in America or even in an upper class school in India, I am sure that the older students would have begun to snicker and have side conversations. But at UMANG, where raw cynicism and the “this is stupid” mentality have not yet reached, the children are open to education and new information. And both VIDYA and I believe that every child who is willing to learn should be given the opportunity of an education.
    

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