Friday, October 3, 2008

Come…Let me help you!!!..You need help!!!


I registered as a volunteer for the “Teach India” project initiated by Times of India on the third day of the scheme being launched. I really loved the spirit behind the project and was looking forward to being an active volunteer.

I was allotted as a volunteer to Kotak Education Fund. I attended the first meeting in July in which about 15 to 20 like minded people from various professions were present. We had all opted for volunteering on Sunday mornings. So here we were together under one roof. In the adjoining room were a bunch of young 16-17 years old both boys and girls who had scored above 80 % in the STD 10 board exams and had secured admission in various colleges in the vicinity.

The project was ‘mentoring’ and each one of us had to ‘mentor’ the students on a one-to-one basis. We were supposed to help them learn ‘spoken English’ thus helping them to face the outside world. The thought behind this project seemed to be noble…..to teach them conversational English thus bringing them at par with their counterparts in college. This would also help them to have a level playing field in the job market once they had graduated. I am sure the officials at KEC would have had a number of brain storming sessions before launching the project.

My mentee was a boy who had just passed Std 10 with 86% marks. He had secured admission in good college in Std 11 and I was supposed to help him speak English, discuss various career options and generally boost his morale.

The actual scene…..I had one introductory session with him on 20 July and then a session in the second week of August after which I have had no sessions with him. For reasons best know to the concerned people, no sessions were fixed until Sunday the 16 September when I received a message from KEF…'Dear mentor we hope to see you on Sunday at 9 AM. Your mentee will be waiting for you'. My enthusiasm had died by now. I had really wanted to do something for children who have the capability but do not have opportunities. I felt I had not contributed much in that direction.
Nevertheless, I felt responsible to keep up my commitment. I reached the KEF’s office at 9.15 to be informed that my ‘mentee’ had not yet come but had confirmed that he would be coming. I sat down and patiently waited for him. I picked up the previous day’s ‘Mumbai Mirror’ and started solving the sudoko (the number puzzle) At around 10, a volunteer of the KEF informed that my mentee was on his way and would reach any moment. Simultaneously another mentor who was waiting was informed that his mentee was ‘sick’ and so was not coming. I kept myself engrossed in the sudoko to keep me busy. By 10.40 I had solved the puzzle but my ‘mentee’ had still not reached. I approached the volunteer and informed her it would not be possible to wait any longer. I had waited for 90 minutes! Believe me she was more than relieved! One person less to deal with!! The poor girl was under so much stress….explaining her stand and also narrating the steps that she had taken to inform the mentees. A number of volunteers were still waiting when I left at 10.45.
While going back home a few thoughts came to my mind
Do we ask the person if he needs help or do we ‘assume’ that he needs help and that we know the best way to help?
Just having good intentions is not enough…

1 comment:

K said...

Nice post. Especially the title & the ending (Could relate to the title once I read the entire piece). I could partly relate to your problem as a friend of mine runs an NGO focused on education and he too faces similar challenges inspite the best of intentions. I think its important that such programs are designed or run in conjunction with people who come from backgrounds similar to whom the program is addressed to (the mentees in the case). But yes - this is easier said(or written) than done. Else, the ability of the teacher to 'unlearn' becomes much more important than the student's ability to 'learn' !