Elementary, Watson. Elementary.

“If help & salvation are to come, they can come only from children, for children are the makers of men!” – Maria Montessori

Lessons from my volunteering stint

Few things just happened in my life. Volunteering is one of them. Looking back, I don’t know why I started volunteering in the first place. I had not the slightest vision when I joined Bhumi, a youth volunteer non-profit organisation providing supplementary education to disadvantaged children. I never imagined that I would be involved in teaching children.

I really did not picture any fancy destination during the initial days of my volunteering, but I was quite content with the journey. So I continued. I started teaching, learning, making mistakes, working with younger and older peers, sharing perspectives, experimenting new ideas, celebrating little successes and what not. Doing all this for about 5 years made me learn many things the hard way.

There are four important lessons that I wish to share. I sincerely hope that you will find them useful.

I strongly feel that any volunteer should overcome the below four “emotions” to give his/her best and do justice to what he/she is involved in.

1. “That’s so sad”

Yes, it’s not a great sight when you enter a home for the disadvantaged. You don’t want to be in that state ever. So you start pitying them. The ripple effect is deadly. Let me tell you why:

When you start pitying the children for their plight, you tend to go easy on them. You tolerate unacceptable behaviours. That implies that you have no control over your wards. Children can’t identify the purpose of your engagement, or they misinterpret it. Then you begin to panic as a teacher. Whatever you teach goes over their head. Sometimes children won’t even be there for you to teach. Without your own knowledge, you start teaching through ineffective methods that don’t garner their interest or kindle their curiosity. Then you begin to question the effectiveness of the syllabus that is being followed. Some of the volunteers would have had enough by this time. They will move away. The team may then start to look out for an alternate and “engaging” curriculum. That’s when it gets “really sad”!

It is very natural for anyone to sympathize with a less fortunate person, but the catch lies in overcoming sympathy with empathy, and focusing on pushing the limits of imagination, skill and learning among the children. For this, you really need to have class control.

2. “I want to see the children happy, so I’m going to distribute chocolates! They will be happy!”

I once asked a child, “Are you excited? Donors are coming and they will bring a lot of goodies!”
She replied: “I really wish they knew what we actually need.”
“What do you need?”
She said: “We have our exams in a month and all I need is someone to encourage me!”

I have come across many volunteers who think that if they gave away chocolates, children will be really happy. I have seen this thought process to translate while teaching as well. Looking back, I feel sad that during my initial teaching days, I never asked my children what they would like to know about. I would decide on the topic without their consent, and expect them to listen to me and learn the way I wished. Over time, I realized that however good the presentation of the content is, it must still be something that children want to learn.

Do not assume that “what you assume will make them happy will indeed make them happy”! Take a moment to digest this.

3. “There is no impact!”

There are a few things that leave a memorable footprint on the rest of your life – first love is one, first day of teaching is another! The most deceptive picture that I have come across is the class photo, or the photo of a young happy teacher with his/her cute wards! In such pictures, the teacher is seen smiling generously and looks extremely happy.

I’m not saying that the teacher is faking it, but an onlooker will definitely not know the struggle and the effort that is required from a teacher behind the scenes, which is way different from posing for a picture. He is definitely likely to fall for this trap: “Wow! How cute! Even I want to teach and spend time with these children!”

He decides to enter the scene. The first class is always rosy. Not much is expected out of anyone. Problems are neither witnessed (in most cases) nor addressed. Nobody wants to discuss the classroom challenges at least at this stage. Over time, the real picture unfolds. Without a doubt, uncertainty is the most certain thing in classrooms. Not at all times can you move at the pace that you have planned to. Supplementary programs are not one-day programs to create the world class leaders. Continuous and vigilant engagement is the mandate. Don’t mistake impact for a moon cycle. Don’t enter into a classroom with the notion that you can turn things around in a jiffy.

If you want to make a difference, be prepared to be patient!

4. “What a noble fellow!”

Once you start volunteering/teaching, you will hear people praising you very often. Don’t get carried away. Every time someone praises you, try to take your effort to the next level rather than feeling content with what you have done so far.

Why? The below quote might help us see the light:

“The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”
― Norman Vincent Peale

Ceasefire, folks. Enough said.