World Unite! - Sambhali Trust childcare Setrawa

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Sambhali Trust - education for children in Setrawa

Sambhali Trust, which is primarily active in women empowerment, runs a women's centre in Setrawa in the Thar desert, where volunteers/interns can also educate children. Children from the village who don't go to school are being looked after and educated (reading, writing, English, Maths, general knowledge, personality development). Children who attend school get extra classes in the afternoon and help with their homework.

The children who are up to 13 years old (boys and girls) arrive at the centre every morning at 11. It takes half an hour for the volunteers/interns to wash the children whose families don't have water at their homes.

The children attending these morning classes don't attend public school, because their parents cannot afford. Classes are until 3 pm.

There are 3 staff of local teachers teaching Maths, English and Hindi. The foreign volunteers/interns usually teach English and/or Maths, however they also participate in the Hindi lessons and for example sing religious songs with the children in Hindi. This is expected to demonstrate their willingness to integrate into Indian society.

Depending on the number of children and number of volunteers/interns, the group of children is typically split into different levels of English. As most of the children only have basic English skills, the focus is on simple vocabulary and practical use of spoken English.

At around 4:15 pm students (only girls) are coming to the centre for 3-4 hours to get extra classes or help with their homework. They come to the centre on their own and are very motivated, which makes teaching easier. There are around 20 girls which are also split in sub-groups depending on their level of English.

In Rajasthan, if girls don't match the expectation at school, they are usually released from school. Sambhali tries to achieve that this will not happen. Sambhali currently pays school fees for 36 girls.

Once per week volunteers/interns give workshops about a variety of topics that they can choose themselves, such as team building, talent, arts, painting the school, making posters etc. You can be active and creative about this.

The local teachers are professional and good and in fact don't need the help of foreign volunteers to offer an acceptable level of classes, however it is very enriching for the students if foreign volunteers/interns are present who often have different educational approaches and bring in different cultural aspects which motivate and fascinate the students.

Accommodation in Setrawa is with host families. You will fully immerse into the society, hospitality and culture of Rajasthan. During the sommer months because of the massive heat, the whole family usually sleep on the rooftop.

Rent including meals in Setrawa is only around 4000 Rupees per month. Volunteers and interns in Setrawa however regularly travel by bus to Jodhpur over the weekends where they have to pay accommodation costs, so you should better budget with around 10,000 Rupees per month.