GOONJ....
J- 93 Sarita Vihar,
New Delhi - 110076.
Tel. -  2697 2351, 4140-1216

E- Mail :- anshugoonj24@gmail.com

When Gaurav, a shy 10 years old Moosahari community boy from Munger district in Bihar, slowly got up to speak, all the 200 people in the room, watched in awe and surprise. This was the first time anyone had seen him speak in the last three days. Speaking confidently in his native language . Gaurav said- " when I started from my village a lot of people told me this is the last time I would see them since I would be sold off in Delhi. I had a great time and I would like to come back.." A loud applause and cheers by a hall full of rural and urban school children followed these few shocking words.

‘Pratibimb’ was a culmination of an dream which began with GOONJ’s ‘SCHOOL to School’ programme- to connect the two disconnected links of urban and rural school children with each other and make the interaction a learning process for both. Children from 8 villages in U.P, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and from 15 schools in Delhi and NCR congregated in Delhi for three-days. The response from the urban schools started as a trickle and turned into a very strong and positive interest in participation. GOONJ’s rural partners also worked very hard to convince parents to send their children, on what was for most, their first journey outside their village. Kids aged between 8 to 15 traveled long distances, in some instances for more than 2 days to reach Delhi.

They arrived in Delhi on 13th a bit tired but full of enthusiasm and energy.


Their first evening in Delhi started with informal introduction with each other. It was heartening to see kids from different cultures, languages and backgrounds share with us their life stories. The ease and unassuming manner in which they spoke about their work and their difficult circumstances was in itself a learning for us. A boy from Sunderbans told us matter of factly that he walks two kilometers on uneven kacha dangerous, roads every day to reach school. A very quiet girl from Moosahari tribe very shyly shared that she has indeed eaten mice a number of time in her life. It seemed like a true reflection of the ‘unity in diversity and difficulty’ that shapes the fabric of India… barriers had already started to fall, paving the way for an stimulating 3 days ahead !!

Their three days stay started in a fun filled way when two buses full of rural kids, their teachers, supervisors and GOONJ volunteers went on a day-long sightseeing trip around Delhi. The Red Fort was the first spot on the list and the kids had a good time running up and down the steps of Diwane Aam and Diwane Khas. Next came the much-awaited Appu Ghar, where every one had a rolicking time tossing and jumping on the different swings. The day was packed off with lunch at Lodhi Garden and a visit to Qutub Minar. The most beautiful part of the day was when the Tamil, Bengali and Hindi speaking kids who didn’t understand the other’s language sang their songs and entertained each other all through the journey. All together everyone had a blast !!

The idea behind the Delhi sight seeing trip was to get these kids to familiarize with a place completely new to them, and to create a sense of ease before they began interacting with new people. It turned out to be a great kick-start to the whole programme - children not only looked forward to the remaining part of their trip but their nervousness and inhibitions about meeting urban children in the next two days, came down drastically.

On the first day of the interface between urban and rural children, all the activities were aimed at getting the kids to open up with each other in an informal and friendly atmosphere, where all participants were free to speak their mind. Despite the general perception that urban children are ‘superior’ to rural ones, the latter were confident while speaking in front of a big audience. This was probably the result of the past two days environment we created to minimize hesitation and reservations and maximize exchange and sharing. Also the urban children made efforts to welcome their rural counterparts as their guests and made them feel at home. They learnt to appreciate the qualities of their rural counterparts and articulated this appreciation in a number of ways.

A discussion on ‘perceptions’ in urban minds about the rural and vice versa acted as a meaningful acquaintance building exercise, by exposing different ways of thinking, priorities etc. in rural and urban scenarios. There was a general sense of shock among the urban kids in the hall, when it was mentioned that for making 144 matchbox covers, children in Tamil Nadu get 60 paise; for making 320 bangles, children in Firozabad get Rs. 2/-; and for catching 1000 prawn threads, children in West Bengal get Rs. 7/-. The health hazards, the deprivation of not just child rights but childhood itself, and the rampant exploitation, was something unheard of for the urbanites. There were many such shocking revelations all through the programme.

The last day was a culmination of the introductions turning into friendships with unstructured sessions of just kids talking to each to other. The children simply sat together in small groups and talked…like friends do. Planned activities and workshops were all strategies and tools to achieve this, but the understanding these children had developed within just one day rendered all tools irrelevant. Even the language barrier hardly seemed an obstacle that would come in the way of their rendezvous. They found innovative ways to communicate – changing accents, sign language, drawing, finding multi-lingual people within their groups. Many perceptions drastically altered after this ‘eye-opening’ experience. The chief take-away of the whole exercise was the awareness and admiration amongst urban children towards the talent and intelligence hidden in their rural counterparts.

In an open session many expressed their concern over the lack of opportunities for rural children to tap into their full potential. The common sentiment that emerged was " we are all equal, just the same " Seeing this realization amongst urban children that " ‘rural children are no less than us, intellectually or otherwise; and that the only reason they are left behind is due to a major dearth of opportunities, which we must all try to rectify’ was in real terms watching the primary aim of Pratibimb being fulfilled "

Apart from major interactive sessions, we also offered a variety of theatrical activities, aiming at ‘breaking the ice’ and a street play on waste management, by a theatre group – Steps for Change. We conducted a few thought provoking exercises, like ‘write/draw your dream for the future’, a Bal Sabha on the issue of ‘the current scenario of our education system’. Many important issues came to fore as children eagerly and enthusiastically expressed their concerns. The most upfront statement was made by a little boy from a Delhi school, who declared " I don’t care what you do or don’t do, but if I see a hungry village child I am going to give my lunch to him "

What was especially unique were the ever present smiles on to the faces of the rural kids. Despite the immensely exploitative and harsh conditions they came from they still hadn’t lost the hope of innocence. It was this feeling of hope and their undying determination and aspirations to reach their highest potential that all their urban counterparts recognised and took to admire a great deal.

    Teachers and supervisors played a major role in this event as we tried to maximize participation by giving everyone a sense of ownership towards the event. They were closely working with us as facilitators of games and interactions. At the accommodation of the rural children, kids and their supervisors participated in activities like serving food, cleaning their surroundings, collecting water etc. Evenings at the community centre (the accommodation) were the liveliest parts of the days…consisting of games, dances, music, a lot of talking and very energetic activity. All this made them feel so much a part of the programme, that despite some logistical problems (water problem, mosquitoes or electricity problem) instead of complaining about it to us, they found ways to work around it themselves. At the venue of the workshop (St. Mary’s School) urban children also took up this participatory approach and helped in making seating arrangements. This was a joyous sight to watch! While in the beginning all our translation work was being taken care of by our volunteers, by the end of it, multi-lingual students present in the gathering happily took on the job.

The feedback that we received was unanimous! Urban students and teachers were overwhelmed by this exposure and knowledge that went way beyond books. Urban teachers thanked GOONJ.. for creating this unique platform for learning. Most expressed a desire to make this kind of interaction and exposure available to a much bigger segment of urban kids.

Most urban students confessed their initial reluctance about coming to this event on a weekend but said that they were glad they came anyway and participated in a memorable experience. A lot of students said that they not only discovered that rural children have as much potential as themselves, but were also touched by their zeal to learn and willingness to fight against all odds to learn. Remarks to the effect of - “rural children are more passionate to learn and more dynamic as individuals because they do so amidst umpteen adversities, whereas we take a lot of things for granted” flooded our discussions. Urban students threw up ideas on what they feel should be done to improve the abysmal conditions of their rural friends. At this primary level and initial stage of creating awareness, even these thoughtful ideas show that we have been able to stimulate young minds to think in this direction

For the rural children - their tears while leaving Delhi said it all - this was more than a memorable experience for them, it was, as most kids said, once in a lifetime opportunity. The love, appreciation and recognition they received had them in high spirits. They spoke to a kind of people they had never met before; saw and lived in a city they had only heard of before; and got a massive amount of exposure to a culture, which they have seen only on T.V. till now… They were given a chance to showcase their talent and voice their opinions in front of a wide audience (some students performed dances). They felt equal to people whom they always regarded as superior to them. For most, this was a chance to come out of their shells. When one rural teacher described the elation of a student " this is the first time in her life that she experienced ‘fun’, we knew that Pratibimb is definitely happening every year from now on"

From the rural teachers an often heard statement throughout the event was - " we have probably learnt a lot more than the children" sums up the impact Pratibimb had on them. A more detailed and specific response is being collected through feedback forms which will further elucidate their take away from the event. However, we did get a brief glimpse into it by what the group leader of HAMKS (Munger, Bihar) said " what you have done is amazing; there are so many Anganwadis in the villages of Bihar, and they have no clue about each other. The first thing I will do after going back is to bring them together on one forum ". This statement speaks volumes of how ideas can be shared, thoughts exchanged and views discussed, for replication of successful models in different areas. For us this was the biggest success point of Pratibimb. All the rural organisations and urban schools learnt so much from each other and took back so many concepts and learning with them to now put into practice in their own fields.

In retrospect, it seems that Pratibimb endowed each and every participant and organizer (including volunteers doing background work) with some kind of knowledge and exposure that would be hard to come by otherwise. This learning experience has offered all of us opportunities to walk this course in a more meaningful way to make SCHOOL to SCHOOL truly come alive !!!