Avalahalli School Project
October 2017
We wanted to personalize the school campus for the children and teachers in a way that could give expression to their imaginations and make school more inviting to them. The simplicity of the school walls as a medium and ease with which it can display realities for the children motivated us to start this project.
Many thanks to the Headmistress Mrs. Umadevi Y.N., who was very welcoming and excited to work along with us to give us a head start.
Preparations
Beginning of October 2017, we conducted drawing competitions on some chosen topics like “Swachh Bharath”, “Protect nature”, “Village scene” and “My dream” to understand the children and their ideas better.
The school children participated in the competitions with a lot of spirit and enthusiasm.We were delighted to see the narratives and creativity the children displayed through their drawings. Their attention to details, strong sense of imagination and use of space was pleasantly surprising.
The drawing with the most stories to tell on the chosen topic was picked to be depicted on the main wall along with many other strong motifs from the drawings of other children.
Fun with Paints and More…
We planned and prepared for the big day only to see the sky overcast with clouds with a forecast for rains. However the headmistress insisted that we start off since it was an auspicious day. We couldn’t say no to her excitement and enthusiasm.
Children get their hands dirty, be it doing base coat or actually painting murals. Children who did well in competitions were picked for the ease of management
Teachers involved in drawing murals, choosing quotes and taking charge of writing them on walls.
Some transformations before and after
To involve as many children as possible and to make this a complete celebration, we requested that they come up with other forms of performing arts related to the same topic. It was amazing to witness the school playground turn so festive with children and adults, paint, sing, dance and simply have a lot of fun.
Children gathered to make the whole experience festive
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
As reduce, reuse, recycle was the mantra which we wanted to practice and propagate within and outside our community, we organized a colours drive to collect used colour pencils and crayons to use during the competition.
We even gathered the left over paints, brushes from various houses within the community before we considered buying new paints.
Community and Beyond
We were overwhelmed with the response from our community. They were quick to deliver used/unused stationary and also got their children involved in sorting and organizing, making it a community event.
Many from the community readily extended their support for the cause, some coming forward to volunteer themselves and others by providing required items. We even had a young student volunteer from the community during painting as well. It was great to see our community coming together.
This effort attracted people beyond our community though it started off as a community group which was really amazing.
The Experience
A skit about “Beti Bachao”, melody of patriotic songs, the picture of the girls singing “Mudal Kunigal Kere” while dancing in perfect rhythm and grace, are some of the moments which all the volunteers will cherish for a long time to come. Not to forget their curious questions, appreciations, feedback and suggestions with their sparkling eyes. Also, we were satisfied to over hear their discussions about each and every small things on the painting. I am sure we have managed to ignite few things in their young minds. It was also good to see the teachers get nostalgic about painting after a long time. We were touched by the affection of the teachers who served us daily treats of refreshments. A special mention about headmistress getting home made treats for us.
By the end of the project all of us without realizing had made a strong connection with the children. Even the children were looking forward for our arrival with paints. It was quite an emotional moment on the last day to bid them goodbye.
Some moments with the team
Formal closure of the project with Headmistress
Challenges and learning
Being our first project and the school being large with lots of children from class 1 to 8, we did have our share of challenges. It was very hard to manage their curiosity and enthusiasm to know and get involved in what we were doing. Saying ‘no’ was always a tough task. Also, we learnt a lot on how children open up at various stages or get easily bored :). It took longer than we thought and overshot our budget for paints. This was a self-funded effort by the group of volunteers. There are lot of things to look back when we would take up the next one.
It was indeed commendable that we conducted competitions for around 200 children in 3 days(2-3 hour each day). The actual painting took 6 days (3 – 4 hours spent each of those days) over a span of 3 weeks with a total of 13 volunteers on an average of 5 – 6 volunteers per visit. Apart from this we spent quite a bit of time planning and organizing the whole project.
With all these experiences we are looking forward for the next project….so stay tuned…