Volunesia Diaries – Creating Beautiful Dustbins Out Of Waste Cartons
Sayantani Bhattacharya, a first-time Volunesian at Brindavan Tent School shares her Volunesia experience.
I really don’t know where to start as the experience I had with Volunesia is something that would keep me happy for days to come. Interacting with kids was not exactly a new thing for me. I’m closely associated with a group named Rongin Sopno (translates to Colourful Dreams) in my hometown, Kolkata, where we work with the underprivileged. We used to visit the kids often, and gift them new clothes, stationery etc. The joy that you get by interacting with kids and giving them a reason to smile is hard to describe.
However, Volunesia was different!
Whenever you interact with kids, there is so much to learn. Their energy levels, their innocence, their ability to not-judge people, their ability to accept you as you are, their positive nature, their ever-smiling faces… the list goes on and on. And I experienced all these instances last Saturday at Brindavan Tent School.
First Day At Volunesia
When I reached (sharp at 9!), I was welcomed with a beautiful name tag. We had to wait for a little time as a family had come to the school to gift new school shoes and socks to the munchkins, and they were so happy with their gifts. Their excitement reflected when they started wearing the new shoes and socks immediately. We were glad to help them with it! It was a realisation to me how when you lack basic essentials, even little things make you happy and so the wait was definitely worth it. After the donor and his family left, we got our chance to interact with the kids, something we were waiting impatiently for!
Creating Dustbins Out Of Recyclable Cartons
Our basic idea was to make the children of the Brindavan Tent School (a 2-room school for the underprivileged) aware about hygiene and cleanliness. We decided to teach them the importance of having dustbins and using them to collect waste. The children already had a session a couple of days ago regarding the same topic, and they had a fair idea of what we were trying to explain. So this Volunesia was all about making dustbins with recyclable materials like cardboard and newspapers. The Volunesia Team (of which I’m a member now too!) had all the raw materials ready for the dustbins.
There were around 35-40 students and we divided them into 5-6 groups according to their ages. Each group consisted of 5-10 children and two of our members. We had the dustbin framework ready and we asked the children to show their creativity on them. They were given water colours, crayons, coloured papers, etc. to decorate the bins. And I have to say they were so creative and enthusiastic!
My Experience With The Kids
The children met me for the first time, but it seemed like they had known me forever! They never made me feel like someone who doesn’t belong to their group. I was having a great time!
The kids loved colours so much. They tried their best to decorate the dustbins and did everything with so much patience… something I should really learn from them! There was this little girl who was not very interested in what we were doing. She sat in the corner and did not participate with the others. When I asker her she said she doesn’t like all this. I felt bad seeing that she is feeling left out. I made heart cutouts from the colourful papers and asked her to colour them. And she actually liked the idea and started participating! I felt great to enable her to be a part of all this.
Thank You, Volunesia!
There’s so much that we have to learn from these kids, the main thing being finding happiness in the most simple things!
I joined Volunesia as I was looking for a platform where I could connect with like-minded people, and I guess I have been successful in doing so. Volunesia means- “When you forget you’re volunteering to help change lives, because it’s changing yours!” and I truly experienced it and am looking forward to learning more through this wonderful initiative.
I don’t know whether I’ll be able to change the lives of these children (though I genuinely hope that I’m able to do at least something to make their lives better), but I’m sure these children would help me become a better person. Thank you, Volunesia for giving me this chance to be happy! 🙂
Link to album with more pictures!
You can sponsor one child from this school for a year for INR 1400, which includes the basic cost of stationery, books and other materials that will be used throughout the Mentor India course.
Liked reading this? Then you might also like to read Volunesia Comes A Complete Circle – Find Out How!
If there’s any story that needs to be told, we will tell it. Write to us at contact@knowyourstar.com with your story lead, or contact us on Facebook or Twitter.
