PLANTING SEEDS MAGAZINE

Issue (Winter-Spring): January – March 2020

Chronicles from the life of Gandhi Ashram children

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We are in the middle of a changing global landscape. While all

activity has come to a screeching halt, most of us agree that suddenly we find ourselves in
a new world. If the coronavirus crisis has brought home anything, it’s that we — each of
us, separately and together — can be the change we wish to see in the system. It was only
months ago, that the strange virus from Wuhan made headlines in the newspapers across
the world. In a matter of weeks, it took us into its fold. Is there a more powerful
demonstration of our interconnectedness? Then followed the bombardment of safety
precautions and the outpouring of information on how we should protect ourselves against
the spread by socially distancing ourselves from others. Many of us were scared for our
lives, anxious for our loved ones and yet, there was a tenderness under the surface as
stillness came upon us.
We are still in this place of silence, where our mind can be our greatest strength or our
worst enemy. It is an invitation to go inwards to embrace the fear that scarcity brings so
we can turn it with our love and nurturance, into a feeling of abundance. Our Ashram
brothers and sisters left for their native homes but continue to stay in touch with each other
through phones. Teachers, students, karyakartas, coordinators all have been checking on
each other's well-being throughout this period. We realize that we are many but we are
also one. In this crisis, we have found our unity even though we're still in isolation at
home.
This crisis has been an opportunity
to pause and reflect on our shared
humanity. May we all embrace this
invitation to step into our highest
aspirations and serve with love,
towards the collective well-being
wherever we are.
Through the bonding power of
karuna (compassion) may we
overcome the isolating force that is
Corona.

Ashram Activities from January – March 2020

The first quarter of 2020 has been an eventful period in the life of our Ashram children.
The effort and hard work that the children put in throughout the year is showcased in
events that are planned at the end of the academic year. Here are some snippets of the
same:

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Exploring Leadership at Grassroot level: Girls who were part of the leadership
teams in Grades 9th and 11th, went to a village visit in Jalalpur, Bhavnagar district. This
trip was eye opening in many ways. They stayed there for 3 days and conducted door-to-
door visits in order to understand the educational background of the residents. Apparently,
there is no primary school facility in this community at the moment. Girls took the
initiative to conduct a survey to find out the economic status and cultural perspectives of
the people and why they feel hesitant to send their girl children to school. The beauty of
the visit was that the girls self-organized to conduct circles of sharing, engaged with the
women folk in the village and organized an evening gathering where all the heads of the
village gathered to listen to them speak about the value of education, especially girls’
education. People of the village were surprised with the confidence shown by our girls and
later claimed that nothing of this kind had ever occurred in their village before this!

On the wings of Imagination through Art Carnival: One of the most anticipated
events at the start of 2020 was the Art Carnival. Girls of Vinay Mandir grades 9th – 12th
were excitedly practicing for this event throughout the year and showcased their talent on
this day. A packed auditorium filled with students, teachers and mentors witnessed the
carnival with great joy.

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A satire play on taking “selfies” and how it can lead to fatal events, had everyone laughing
in the audience because of how aptly it described our current addiction with mobile
phones. Wonderfully choreographed Garba performances by girls of grades 9th and 11th,
had everyone in rapt attention.

After this event, children also exhibited their fine art drawing, crafts and photographs of
food preparations made by them, at the HeArt Centre nearby.

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Sharpening the Mind through Science Fair: On the same day as the Carnival,
children of grades 6th – 8th, from Ashramshala put together a science fair with the help of
Agastya International Foundation and Gyan Foundation, where they showcased 25
different models of science experiments. Every model was supposed to be explained by a
team of 2 children. Many of these experiments involved explanation of physics concepts
such as refraction, optical illusion and biology. Children held sessions where they
explained the human anatomy and its importance for building immunity.

Holistic physical development through Sports: Sports Carnival is an event for

which children practice throughout the year by waking up early in the morning and honing

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their physical strength through field activities. This year 200 children from across all three
institutes participated in games such as Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, Karate, Yoga, Long Jump,
Musical chair, Pulling the thread on both sides. The aim of these sports is to build the
qualities of sportsmanship and ensure that competition is always with oneself. It’s an effort
to better oneself through the help of others. Children participated in all the sports activities
with full enthusiasm and gusto. In the overall performance, Vinay Mandir Girls won the
most prizes.

Women’s Empowerment through taking self-responsibility: For the PTC

College girls who are at the cusp of womanhood, an inspiring programme was organized
on campus in collaboration with Hira-Matushri Charitable Trust (Mumbai), wherein an
educational consultant Ms. Shweta spoke to the girls on mental health awareness, building
self-esteem and self-respect, how to keep good hygiene and provided each girl a kit which
contained sanitary pads and a booklet on simple ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Girls
gained a lot of insight on how to take charge of their own body and not be afraid of asking
questions to their teachers and mentors if they faced any physical and mental health issues.

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Donor Visit and Exchange of Ideas: When our donor families from Share and Care
Foundation paid us a visit, there was a mutual exchange of ideas that allowed for a deeper
conversation on impact to emerge. Due to this, our team also started thinking more deeply
about how to capture the nuances of the work that is happening through our Ashram
schools. The girls of PTC College interacted with the donors at Somnath Chatralaya and
were very inspired by the visualization techniques for manifesting their dreams as shared
by Dr. Jitendra Adhia, the author of ‘Prerna Nu Jharnu’.

Learning from fellow students: It is important for us that our children are open to
learning from other educational institutes and their fellow students. In order to facilitate
this, we organize learning journeys for our students to other schools, one of them being
Riverside International School, whose teaching methodologies are very different. The
students of our 9th and 11th grade, visited this school and interacted with their teacher and
students to understand the values of unity and trust through their perspective. They played
games with the children of this school and came back enriched.

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Connecting with Nature and each other: In the midst of all the studying, it is
important to take a break and connect with Nature and each other. This is what the girls
of PTC College did; they visited the Aranya Park in Gandhinagar, which is a paradise for
bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts. Spending the day together at the park allowed them
to deepen their bonding. The same evening, they visited Seva Café, which is a gift-
economy restaurant run by Ashram volunteers, and enjoyed a meal that was prepared with
a lot of love for them. This visit moved them deeply and they carried back with them the
values of giving with a full heart, wherever they are.

Welcoming International dignitaries in the Ashram Way: Whenever a foreign

dignitary visits the Gandhi Ashram, there is always a special welcome that is given to them
through prayers and bhajans that were close to Gandhiji’s heart. Our Ashram children
gave a similar welcome to President Donald Trump at his recent visit to Gandhi Ashram
with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The team of girls who sang the bhajans in the
background, were none other than our Vinay Mandir girls from grades 9th and 11th, who
along with their music teacher serenaded the President and his esteemed company while
they were paying a homage to Gandhiji at Hriday Kunj.

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Developing deeper tools for impact together: Our Ashram coordinators are an
important bridge between the school staff and the children. They help organize all the
events behind the scene and escort the children to all the important events like Eye Camps,
Dental Camps, Sports and Art events. Without them, it would be impossible to conduct
the school activities smoothly. Beginning this quarter, we started organizing weekly
coordinator meetings, wherein they could share their concerns openly with each other and
the rest of the team, seek help where needed and gain clarity on how to move forward.
In the final meeting, we also discussed about how to best move forward in the coming
academic year so that we can track children’s progress in a better manner through
important metrics that can capture their deeper transformations and awareness cultivation.
Kishan Laddha, who is an Ashram volunteer and comes from a strong CSR background
shared with the team some key ways in which we could cultivate tools to capture metrics
that would be valuable to us. We look forward to implement these tools in the coming
academic year!

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Heartfelt Reflections from the grassroots team:
In course of the daily activities, a few refreshing insights came up for the team which are
worth reflecting upon.
Coming Full Circle with Leadership:
Meena, who is our field coordinator at Vinay Mandir school, has also
studied at the same school and been in the Ashram ecosystem for the
last 6 years. Recently, when she went back to her village, she found
herself speaking on stage in front of the entire village, about the
importance of girls’ education. For her, this journey was coming full
circle from her beginning. While sharing this in the coordinator’s
meeting, the pride and joy in her eyes brought us all to tears.

Service of Love Experienced in a Village:

Nimisha, who facilitates the Ashram activities at PTC Girls’
College, narrated an incident when they went to an interior village
in Bhavnagar for an event. This village also happened to be the
native place of one of the girls who was a student at the college. The
girl’s parents were eagerly looking forward to meeting the people
who were taking care of their daughter.
Due to some delay in the trip, it so happened that the team was able
to reach the village later than they had anticipated. When they
reached the venue, they found someone waiting for them with a tea
kettle full of hot tea. Apparently, it was the girl’s father. He wanted
to show his hospitality to the team who had made such a long
journey to come to their village and the least he could offer them was home-made tea. So,
he showed up to the venue with a kettle full of it and served everyone with love. This
moment didn’t go unnoticed and floored the team who had never anticipated such a warm
welcome.
Building a lasting relationship of Trust:
Anish, who also facilitates the Ashram at PTC Girl’s College is
known to all the girls as bhai (elder brother). He takes care of
accounts and reporting at the Ashram but even after his Ashram
duties are over, he patiently makes himself available to any
concerns that the girls might have, personal or otherwise.
While sharing his heart, he was close to tears when he mentioned
how girls have so much faith in him that they sometimes share their
family’s financial and other problems with him too. One girl called
him after 2 years of having graduated from the college, when she
was heartbroken about a personal incident in her life. She confided in him that she didn’t
know who else to call in the moment and the only person whom she could think of was

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him. To him the trust and faith that the girls place in his mentorship and protective care is
a priceless gift.

Transformational Experiences among students:

The journey of transformation in the life of a child is a gradual one. There is a desire at
our end that this transformation should enable the child to become more deeply aware of
themselves as individuals and contributing citizens, especially the girls because they will
be bearing the next generation of children and imparting those values to them.
With this goal in mind, we have been exposing our school children to various leadership
experiences, learning journeys and retreats in order to hold space of their transformative
journeys to fully blossom. Some reflections on what the children have been able to
inculcate as a result of these experiences are:
Leadership Circles/Retreats Leadership Visits Learning Journeys

Activities Students could share and explore their Students could go on Students went on

in which inner selves through group interactions exposure visits to educational trips that were

the children and transformative experiences. communities that would tailored to give them new
give them a glimpse into a insights and build their
participated
different way of living, confidence to engage with
share their personal the outside world.
experiences with those
communities as a way of
knowledge transfer,
thereby allowing them to
return with a renewed
perspective of their own
lives.

Outcomes • Greater cohesion among students • Students were more • Taking ownership of
and values and mutual appreciation went up. confident about their own learning.

cultivated • Students were forthcoming in themselves when • Sense of gratitude for

creating their own rules by the they stepped out of what they have by
through
process of consensus. the Ashram premises visiting communities
those
• Students learnt valuable skills and took on that do not have those
activites
such as problem solving and team leadership roles in opportunities.
management by learning to various social events. • Participation with
discuss amongst themselves before For example, other groups of people
coming to the teachers/hostel conducting a survey outside the Ashram in
warden for resolution. in the village and activities gave them
• Election process of selection of speaking on stage in additional confidence.
team leaders taught the children front of the male
the value of secular voting. heads of the village.

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"I feel more whole when I'm at school and when I'm in the building with
my kids.” – Ila Chaudhari, Vinay Mandir School teacher
Ila Chaudhari, who is a teacher of English and
Social Studies for the 9th and 10th grade students at
Vinay Mandir School is a true example of how
much dedication and love the teachers at our
school bring into the lives of the children. She grew
up in a household that was ripe with Gandhian
values and from an early age decided to be a
teacher. Her interaction and engagement with the
children, is infectious to watch.
I spoke to her after school one day, when she was
overseeing the dance practice of a few girls. As I
apologized for taking her time after school hours,
keeping her from her lunch, she laughed and said
she was always available for anything related to the
school and on most days, she stayed in the school
until 3 pm for any additional help that the students might need from her.
Along with other teachers and staff, she started an initiative called ‘Dil Ki Dikki’, wherein
the teachers would pool in their private funds to provide for the needs of those children
who were financially struggling at home and couldn’t ask their parents for adequate
support.
When I asked her what she gained from her work at this school she said: "I feel more
whole when I'm at school and when I'm in the building with my kids. The belonging I feel
in this place is something that I have never experienced elsewhere and I would not give
this up for anything else!"
With that, her laughter rolled into the corridors of the school and as I looked into her
joyful eyes, I knew what it meant when they say that a teacher lives on in the life of a
person as a mother of a different kind. We are lucky that such teachers are in the life of
our Ashram children. We know their future is in safe hands.

Children have gone home for their long summer vacation. And the academic year will
begin again in June 2020. When they return, it will be a brand-new academic year for them
but for all of us too it will be a new world. We do not yet know how world events will take
shape by then, but we know with certainty that our role as teachers and mentors of this
generation of children, who will lay the foundation for a transformational society, is going
to be ongoing and filled with new challenges. However, we know that through the
combination of head, heart and hands, we will help the children learn by listening deeply,
acting appropriately and co-create the future through their collective presence. We thank
you deeply for joining us in this journey of collective healing towards manifesting our
wholeness through value-based education.
May Peace Be with Us All.

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