September can be terribly hot and humid in our place, and yet we thrive in the mental comfort of the Jeevanshala. Here, we constantly work with our children to cultivate ideas of compassion, care, trust and support them to build their capacities to be self-actualized individuals. At the same time, we bring academic rigor by creatively focusing on the three Rs: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. To meet these two connected goals, our classrooms are uniquely designed to involve peer learning, teacher-learner guided learning, and self-study and learning. September, 23 was no different 🙂

One interesting theatre workshop that happened on a saturday was with a group called ‘unknown revolution’ . This group uses techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed (TOTO) to work with people. They spent the day playing with the children, and the plays that came about of the theatre that happened, helped children grapple with their day to day realities in meaningful ways.

At the jeevanshala, we have been trying to lead a sustainable life. Our rooms are mostly made of locally sourced eco friendly materials, like mud and bamboo. We have a cold compost to convert our bio degradable waste from the kitchen and dining area into manure. And the recent addition to this effort is the mini-solar plant, set up by Desi Power Foundation. You can read more about this plant, set up at the Mosamat Budhiya jeevanshala, in the article on the Renewable Watch website at https://renewablewatch.in/…/decentralised-growth-case…/

This month saw a visit by Prof Shishir Kumar Jha, of IIT Bombay. He interacted with the older children about the various options that open up for them if they have had a chance to pay attention to their learning. The interaction with the older children was interesting because they got a chance to meet somone who was part of an educational institution, but a very different kind from where they were. In his interaction with the TLs (Teacher Learners) Shishir bhai talked about the need to listen to ‘silence’. He talked about the need for pauses and giving the learners a chance to fill these silences with meaningful inputs, which sometimes we tend to miss in our rush to ‘teach’.

The theatre workshop this month helped children once again look at where they felt most comfortable, and it even challenged their ideas of what dress was identified with which gender. This was for the boys a especially interesting experience, because girls have often got into t-shirts and trousers, boys have rarely put on clothes marked “girls clothing” but they did so and many threads and discussions flowed from this experience in the discussion time.

One of the other workshops this month was on the theme of observing nature, making notes and coming back to report to the collective our own observations and descriptions of what we observed. This varied from observing the papaya fruit growing on a tiny papaya tree to observing the birds on the bamboo thicket. It is such efforts that have helped children have a less anthropocentric view of the world and love all creatures, giving a small space for love and kindness, the kind that prompted Taufeeq and a few others to rescue and care for this little bird, which had hurt its foot and was unable to fly away and another group of children, releasing a baby rabbit they had found scared and trapped at the jeevanshala.

At the Jeevanshala, every occasion is a learning occasion, so the mango and litchi season became a chance for the children to practice their counting skills, as they collected centre grown mangoes and counted them. Litchis also came to the jeevanshala from a well-wisher and were similarly, counted and then distributed

We started the semester on 2nd May, with the Ahavaan project – Sisters Vedi and Pakhi Sinha, and Sumant. They took the children through an interesting journey of Kabir. The children for the last two years have been singing Kabir songs, one of the favourites being ‘zara halke gaadi hako mere rRam Gaadi wale’. Vedi discussed what we saw as Ram in this song and slowly went through the lyrics. The melody and the meaning slowly filled the air with a light fragrance of a spirit of sorority and fraternity. The group also included some children from the neighbouring Araria Public School.

After the break

After a break when students come back the jeevanshala, usually the saturday workshop uses theatre to unwind and readjust to the jeevanshala, which is now home for the children for the coming semester. These saturday workshops in May focused on bullying, education and health.

Shramdan is an integral part of being in the jeevanshala. In our cultural context thought women do back breaking labour, they are not given access to the ‘skilled’ part of unskilled labour, but here our young girls lead the digging of the compost pit, with a ‘kudal’ (spade).

This was a month of send offs, as we said bye to Tannu, Priyanshu and Sachin who stepped out into the world to join different schools. The children shared little little things which made them bond with the students who were leaving and the TLs also presented them with flowers and wished them the very best. A collage of photos was screened and a melodious and moving song played in the back ground “छोड़ पेड़ की छाँव मुसाफिर….” reminding all of us that the students were leaving behind the rest and comfort of the jeevanshala while stepping out into the world of unknowns and that one day everyone will walk this path

Every year the jeevanshala faces a crisis of firewood in the monsoons, this year we added a firewood shed and collecetd the firewood way in advance. As the tractor pulled in and all forms of firewood was stocked, the children played a pivotal role and in putting the firewood in place, with their sharmdan

Classroom innovations continued and children learned in the usual fun ways by doing and being with nature

The Puppetry Workshop

The Mosamat Budhiya Jeevanshala, did not close in the coldest period this January because we had a workshop with Katkatha, from January 2 to 5, 2023. The facilitators Anurupa and Asha, made it to far off Araria, in spite of missing their scheduled train. Despite the cold all the children were excited to learn a new way to tell their stories.
Tha Katkatha team, wasted no time in getting the kids thinking about what they wanted the children to tell the world, through shadow puppetry. The whole experience was fascinating.
It took the children three days to come up with their stories and then the dialogues and puppets ready. They performed their first in the presence of the katkatha team, for their parents, our neighbours and some members of the youth team. What was really impressive was that the whole process of making the puppet show and the performance has gave the children immense self confidence and also brought out their creativity. Some of the children who are introverted, found a whole new medium of saying things that fascinated and interested them.
Thanks to Sanjeev Marskole, who was present for the entire period, we have a short film on the workshop experience. https://youtu.be/j6frKtatpXg

What more can you want, if a student sees an unclean space, she just goes out there and does a bit of shramdaan and no one has to tell her to do it

Republic Day Celebration

The month started with about a thousand books being unpacked. These were mostly English books for children sent by friends, who were running a library in Dumraon but for various reasons found it difficult to continue the library there and decided to donate the books for the Jeevanshala children. The TL team patiently documented all the books and unpacked them.

Coping with Loss

We lost Nisha, one of our first TLs (Teacher Learner). She joined us with a high spirit, though she was fighting an undiagnosed illness, which led to high fevers, fatigue and weight loss, she stayed with us till she could, making Teaching Learning materials, bringing innovations to the classroom and coping with her studies.

The children talked about Nisha didi, the little things they remembered most about her, the spices she got to class when introducing them to different kinds of spices, the small goodies she stole into the centre to share with the children, her frustration with them, when they were being difficult, but above all her love and commitment to them. We had a small remembrance of Nisha and visited her grave where holi, was celebrated with her, not in her form but in spirit. The children laid gulal and flowers, where she rested.

Shadow Puppet Show 1 @the centre

About 60 students of classes V and VI, from the neighbouring private school Araria Public School (APS) came over and the jeevanshala students did their first public show for an outside audience, but in their home turf 🙂

Shadow Puppet Show 2 @ the neighbouring Government School

The second show was at the local Government school, where the audience was over 200 school children from classes 5 to 8. The challenge was an allien surrounding, an audience with a very short attention span, but the Jeevanshala children completed their performance unhindered by the chaos and noise, from the audience and so we have conquered the non-home-turf space 🙂

Shadow Puppet Show 2 @ The Vidya Vihar Residential School Parora, Purnea

This show at the Vidya Vihar School was very challenging. A bus ride of two hours took us to the school. The bus ride was fun and all 45 of us TLs and students enjoyed playing antakshri and looking at the semal and gulmohar in full bloom, along the highway. But in the school auditorium the sheer size and high tech set up was intimidating. However thanks to our very friendly hosts, their wonderful refreshments and a beautiful audience of over 250 school children we really enjoyed the show.

In the audience were also our young friend Sameeksha and her mother Daisy ji, who kept our morale high. Sameeksha also took wonderful photos, which you can see above.

Parents’ TL Meet

As we ended the academic year and children headed back to their villages we organised a meeting with the parents. Each child’s parents were met separately and their child’s strengths and prospective areas of development were discussed. We also met collectively, watching the puppet shows the children had prepared and then discussing what were some of the things we needed to keep in mind as the children headed home to be with their families – controlled access to devices and junk food, focus on physical and mental labour equally and other such things that are emphasised daily at the centre. We ere again reminded of the hard lives our children faced, as most father’s could not come to the PTM because they were away from bihar doing migrant work in different parts of the country

Selection of new Students

As our old students stepped out of the Jeevanshala, ready to take on the outside world, after having completed their VIII standard exams, they made space for new students. We have a group of bright children joining us this semester. Assessment of the child’s learning abilities and their own and parent’s interest in the child’s education were assessed at the Jeevanshala, in interviews and assessment, that lasted for two days.

Yoga Session

We had a four day yoga session, with Jogendar ji, an old friend, a yoga instructor and nana ji to the children at the Jeevanshala. The children participated enthusiastically and their flexible bodies took easily to the Yoga Asans. We are sharing some photos of the sessions below. Anita ji was also with us all days of the sessions, helping the children. She is a yoga practitioner herself.

What a year we have had! So much learning, unlearning, re-learning, and co-learning. This year, our children have surprised us, strengthened us, and sustained us. And we hope that they continue to flourish in years to come…

A highlight of this month was the sports day. We value sports at Jeevanshala not just for the physical stamina that it builds, but also for the team-spiritedness and sense of equality sports can foster among children. Here are a few photos of the sports day this year:

Another important year end activity at the Mosamat Budhiya Jeevanshala was the disability sensitisation workshop. For sometime we had been planning this workshop, building towards inclusive education, but we soon realised that our resource persons, were finding it difficult to reach this far away place, and our team stepped up with help from Kshama (a TISS alumni and active member of the Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal ). Kshama gave us an online training and a team of the Jeevanshala TLs and a parent, came together and conducted a day long workshop where children went through four different rooms, where activities were set up for them to experience first hand what it felt like to live with a disability. We ended the day with watching Satyamaev Jayate episode on disability

Also following up on an earlier TOTO (Theatre of the Oppressed) workshop we did another workshop. Our experience has showed us that when children seem to act in ways that are contrary to the accepted rules of the Jeevanshala, it does not always help to have discussions and lectures, but to have them play out what is happening with them and TOTO gives us the space to do this. The day of making freezes and images with TOTO techniques, goes a long way in reflecting on what is happening and why we are engaging in it.

Following our annual tradition, the MBSNS Jeevanshala celebrated Christmas with everyone together. We talked about why Christmas is celebrated. The junior grouping had made a tiny Christmas tree and Vibhore got some candies for the children, which they picked up and gifted to someone in the group saying “Merry Christmas” till everyone in the hall had candy and a tiny taste of Christmas 🙂 

Puttu gave birth to six little ones and the children are spending a lot of time loving them and caring for them.

Ambedkar Nagar NFE centre continued, with children moving to written work, along with a lot of play, reading and activities.

I hear… i forget
I see … i remember
i do … i understand

And we had are usual share of arts and crafts, in the Saturday workshops.

The month of November was full of usual activities mixed with a few extraordinary ones. We welcomed the students back on November 15th, and all students lined up and cheered for each other as seen in the photo below. It is this kind of togetherness and solidarity among students that keeps us going.

Have you ever been frustrated with the excessive wastage that cleaning supplies generate? We were and so we recycled our old mop by reusing its metal and handle and replacing the cloth section with discarded clothes. See the photos below. It turned out great!

Now, some glimpses of the usual (or are they? :)) activities at Jeevanshala, the Ambedkar centre, and around.

Last but certainly not least, on Constitution day, our students performed a play at a nearby school. A proud moment for us!