Give Children Wings to their Dreams

When I first met Misba,9th Std, although I found her to be engaged in the activities and discussions during the session she was not serious about learning and implementing these skills in her day-to-day life. Initially, she was irregular and playful in the sessions, causing disruptions in the planned activities. In addition to this, she behaved erratically, attending other classes and activities while purposefully missing these sessions.

Misba was short tempered, often reacting harshly when people spoke about her in a negative manner. On 30^th November 2016, during the session, her potential was uncovered. As a part of ‘Reflection Time’ she shared a poem she had written with the group. The manner in which she performed her poem, took everyone’s breath away. It represented mixed emotions, ranging from anger to sorrow. We could not discuss her poem during the session due to time constraints. However, when I personally interacted with her after the session, I found out about the problems she faced. Due to her ill health, she often missed classes at school. As a result, she required extra attention in order to enable her to catch up with the rest of the class. Unfortunately, her classmate viewed the extra help she received as preferential treatment and began teasing her for the same. She further felt that whenever she tries to participate and express her thoughts during the session, her classmates ignore her and refuse to pay any attention. Consequently, she began missing the Dream a Dream sessions. Having listened to her fears, I reassured her using my personal experiences. I built her trust in me as a silent guardian, and encouraged her to attend the sessions regularly.

Intuitively, I believed she would be more regular from the next session. As expected, she turned up and was enthusiastic and interactive throughout. The session focused on identifying the positive qualities that each child possessed. At the end of it, during ‘Reflection Time’ she shared her positive traits such as her friendly nature, her grasping power and her smile. She also made a genuine statement regarding her classmate’s comments about her personality, displaying her confidence and self-assurance.

She has begun to take initiative in the different activities during the sessions and has become better at expressing her thoughts and emotions. Misba says “Dream a Dream sessions have helped me gain confidence to think differently. I have let go of stage fright and have learnt to speak up and share my feelings in front of everyone. I will continue to learn more things in my life and one day I would like to become a doctor and serve the society.”