A Day at Udayan Care

As part of T&F India’s CSR programme we (Anjali, Tessy, Surmeet and I) set out to spend a day (Friday 18th June) at Udayan Care’s Sant Nagar Girls Home. We prepared for the trip by getting together material for arts and crafts activities, put together a fun and interactive quiz and took along a couple of movies we thought the girls might want to watch.

On arrival we found a number of student volunteers at the home and sought their help in conducting our planned activities. We began by sitting in a circle, getting the girls to introduce themselves and tell us about their hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes. This was a fun icebreaker with answers ranging from ‘I enjoy playing football’ to ‘My hobby is fighting!’ After we’d got to know everyone’s names, we had a session where we shared how to meet and greet each other in the different languages that we knew – French, Spanish, even Malayalam.

We then asked them what they would like to do and at their request began with the quiz. Three teams were formed and the school volunteers helped their respective teams by giving hints, but not outright answers. A lot of fun and excitement ensued, with answers flying thick and fast, as the bright young girls came up with intelligent guesses (with some help from their volunteers) and won toffees and chocolates as prizes. We asked the girls what they wanted to do next and they voted to watch a movie.

It was almost 2 so we decided to take a break for lunch and sat down to eat with the girls. Conversation and information were shared along with the meal, for by now the ice was well and truly broken. After lunch we assembled again in the activity room and gathered round to watch a movie. They choose the movie from among the CDs we had with us. ‘Madeline’, the story of an orphan girl in a boarding school was their choice. The girls laughed aloud at Madeline’s adventures and cheered as the spunky little girl helped defeat the evil plan to shut down her school. The movie ended with clapping and requests for ‘one more!’

We chatted with the girls, they showed us their drawing books and charts and Tessy conducted an interactive session on France, showing them pictures of its famous monuments and cultural highlights. The Mona Lisa’s unique feature of her eyes appearing to follow the viewer wherever they stood caused much excitement, with many of the girls walking from one side of the picture to the other in wonder. They asked us to play them some music and when we asked them what they wanted to hear, ‘Waka Waka’ was a popular choice. Luckily Surmeet had it on her phone and played it for them, while they tried to sing along.

We distributed gift packets from T&F India and took some photos. This led to an impromptu photo session where the children enjoyed taking pictures of each other. Surmeet was at the centre of the photography session while Tessy helped some of the girls with their school work.

We bid goodbye to the girls, promising to return, and left deeply touched by the warmth and affection we had received from the children. While this may have been one day spent at this centre on behalf of T&F India, I’m sure I will be back again to spend more of my time with the bright young girls at the Udayan Care Home.

K.E. Priyamvada