'Cherishing Lives and Promoting Growth' A young girl's journey as she serves to enrich destitute girls in two Homes in India

In the summer of 2015, Amrutha. Chatty, a junior, studying in South Brunswick High School, carried out her community service project at Rainbow Homes, Hyderabad, India. Amrutha was going to deliver her project for her Gold Award for Girl Scouts, in partnership with Cherish International Inc. Her project titled – “Cherishing Lives and Promoting Growth’, involved creating a ‘Basic Skills Intervention Kit for English Language Arts’. The kit would help students learn to read the language efficiently with the help of Phonics, Guided Reading and Comprehension. Since most of the girls had very poor or, absolutely no foundation in English, yet were expected to be educated in mainstream English medium classrooms, the need for intervention in this form was highly expressed. Through Cherish International Inc., a non-profit organization established in U.S.A, Amrutha was able to establish contact with Rainbow Homes and the project commenced.

Here are some excerpts from her thoughts that she penned together :

“I am absolutely blessed. This is the conclusion that I have come to after spending two weeks in Hyderabad, India teaching underprivileged girls how to speak and read English. Although the word ‘underprivileged’ seems appropriate, considering the heartbreaking stories of the young girls I worked with, the first thing that I learned was that they were so much more than that.”

“Our schedule was routine and regular. Everyday, My aunt, my mom (Co-founders of Cherish International Inc.), and I would go to each home in the morning to train the teachers with the materials for the lesson of the day. We would go back in the evening to model the lessons with the girls themselves. Though hesitant at first, I gradually became confident about communicating in the local language -Telugu and taking charge of the project, and we shared many wonderful moments together”.

“While I encountered many moments that were inspiring, the most emotionally moving moment for me was with a teacher. There is a large difference between the American and Indian learning systems: Indian Learning systems are memorization based and, American Learning Systems are Comprehension based. Therefore, many of the concepts were new to them, though they adapted very quickly. After introducing the lesson in the morning, my mom and I went a little later to the home that evening. The lesson was going on in the room and I thought my aunt was running it. As I looked at the corner to find the instructor, I noticed that it was not my aunt, but the young teacher that I had trained in the morning. I remember so vividly, one of the girls going up to the game-board to take a turn, with a picture of a ‘ball’ on the card. The young teacher guided the little girl by saying “ B..b..b..ball”, and the child repeated “B..b..b..ball”, as she placed her card on the right spot. Yet, hours before, this same teacher had sat with a few others in a circle trying to understand the concept of ‘Beginning Sounds’! I had taught her an unknown concept, which she had fully absorbed and was now transferring it to the girls who really needed it. My tears started and I had to leave the room to take a deep breath and just process the event that had just occurred”.

“I know that rhyming words, beginning sounds and other concepts will not help their difficult life situations. But perhaps, it can help them learn, grow and educate themselves, thereby ensuring a bright future that will make up for their very unfair past. Just by observing her deliver the sound ‘B..b..b..ball’, I was able to grasp the whole idea of the project. It was beautifully emotional and the epiphany I had gave me a moment that I will hold for the rest of my life”.

“My expectations before I went, were very low. Although my groundbreaking moment was with one of the teachers, the essence of the trip was for the girls. As soon as we entered the homes on the first day, the girls surrounded us and, they started to call me ‘Akka’ (sister in the local language). We were strangers entering their world, but the love and respect that they treated us with, is unmatched. They even shared their snacks with us. Though their living conditions were poor and they had barely any material items to call them their own, they were filled with affection and love. Separated from family members and their homes, through many smiles and even wit at times, they shared their stories with us. So many of them drove me to tears. Their ability to touch people literally and metaphorically is unprecedented, and I began to feel their stories as if they were my own. I went there as a teacher, to show them a path for a better future. However, I came back more learned than I was before. There is no way to quantify what I learned in those few weeks, but I am honored to have experienced such an enlightening journey with such beautiful minds.”

Cherish International Inc. is a non- profit organization whose mission is to help in the growth and sustenance of women and children and to empower them with self- reliance. Cherish International Inc. supports a few Homes in India and a few communities in U.S.A, including the South Brunswick. For further information, volunteering opportunities and other activities, please contact:

Anuradha Angara ( President),

Ph: 980-228-0668. e-mail: cherish@cherishintl.org