By Divya & Bhuvaneswari | Program Manager & 2016 Cohort Fellow
During the recent academic year, our students along with their mentors, Program Manager Divya and Bhuvaneswari explored ideas on oppression, what it means to them through a Student Leadership Retreat.
Here is what Divya Bharthi has to share on their experience...
ABOUT THE STUDENT LEADERSHIP RETREAT
7 Days...
13 Children...
1 Performance towards change....
5 Teachers....
From shout-out walls to reflections to vision and goal wall and reading corners/fun corners and Content wall - the retreat ensured children had access to learning from the physical space as well :)- The retreat happened at one of our Fellow Krishna’s house.
The retreat was a 6-day event where children explored the different types of oppression in the world around and in their communities through various experiences and shared the voices of the oppressed through a slam poetry on January 1st, 2017 at Besant Nagar!
Day 1 - Delving deeply into the 3 core values at the retreat – Courage, Compassion and Empathy.
The student leaders visited the Pediatric ward at the Egmore Cancer hospital and spent time interacting with the children with cancer – it was heartwarming to see our students sing songs, read out poems and stories to the children.We went on to debrief this experience through the lens of Compassion, Empathy and Courage!
Day 2 - Exploring Gender Oppression
The student leaders visited an NGO founded by a Transgender - Swetha Ma’am - and interacted with them through the morning understanding what gender oppression looked like for a group of people who weren’t even given a gender identity. This was followed by a session on gender discrimination in various phases of life right from birth to careers. We watched a documentary “It’s a girl” on female Foeticide followed by a debrief of the day thinking about their role in their community to question Gender Oppression!
Day-3 - Religious Oppression
Day 3 included exploring what were the various communal riots across India and what impact they had on people – we started with the Partition and went on to the riots within India – it was wonderful to see children revisit their emotions towards Islam confessing they don't know the reason that gave rise to such emotions and we went to explore the Baha'i Religion at the Baha'i centre where children explored their philosophy and asked various questions to understand what “all Gods were one” meant.
Day -4 - Racial Oppression
Day 4 comprised of delving deep into what Racial Oppression looked like in the Global and National Context. We explored many things including the story of Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, the North-eastern Indians and Africans in India (with the help of Ishu Miss).
Day -5 - Oppression due to Caste
Day -5 Included delving deep into Manual Scavenging and the role caste plays in it – a real time experience was when students were asked to flush the toilets used by another set of children. As we debriefed the experience, we watched the documentary “Kakoos” and understood the work of Bezwada Wilson – It was disorienting for us to see children tearing up when they watched the documentary!
Day -6 - Skill and Script development
Day 6 included skill development by Ishvar, from a slam poetry group named Mockingbirds, who worked with the children on vocabulary and expression :)
Day -7 -The Performance, fun and close-out !
Children performed and shared their poems and reflections at the Besant Nagar Car free Sunday - they are compiling their book of poems - Vizhithal - which will be shared soon!
Here is an excerpt from a poem "Transgender" originally written in Tamil (translated version below) by Manoj, one of Bhuvaneswari's students:
"I'm not like men and women
My heart is saying I'm the in-between something
I, like you, had a birth na?
My Voice - Thirunangai
Thirunangai is my name
that's right,
Even the Ganga runs away
at my sight!
I clap my hands,
And seek alms,
To pacify my hunger;
I wonder why
You go up in arms
And chase me away in anger!
Neither like a man am I,
Nor like a woman am I,
My heart tells me that
Somewhere in the middle am I;
You called me this, and that
And what not!
But please do tell me,
How am I at fault?
I am, but a fellow human being,
Am I not?
- By Divya (Program Manager) and Bhuvaneswari (2016 Cohort Fellow)
This is a short glimpse into what our students are seeing, feeling and perceiving about the world around them. Do support us to enable us to amplify this impact on more students!
By Roopa Sundararaman | Teach For India Fellow
By Ranjani Ganeshmurthy | City Development Associate
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