Fwd: A DASH OF COLOUR FROM SHIKSHAMITRA (SWANIRVAR) CHILDREN
satabdi das
From: sujit 2 <suji...@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 30, 2007 8:20 AM
Subject: A DASH OF COLOUR FROM SHIKSHAMITRA (SWANIRVAR) CHILDREN
Dear Friends
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Right from the start Shikshamitra has had enormous emphasis on drawing – painting – craft work. We had a wonderful teacher Atreyee Day who "allowed and encouraged" children to do their "own" thing . There was drawing – painting-craft with stories, with music & songs , using all kinds of materials and wastes. There have always been some children ( they came to our school at age 8-14) who resented this "independent thinking" as their previous school experience had taught them only how to "copy" either from blackboards or books. After Atreyee left there was a gap in this activity for a year ; but a solid foundation had been laid. This whole idea was ably picked up and has again flourished with our wonderful teacher Maura.
A few months back the children painted in the school where each child was given about one square foot of the wall. And what a wonderful colourful strip they have made all along the lower portion of the wall in the school.
For some months the school children had been asking to come to our house. Siudeshna said they could come but had to "do" something. Now seeing what they had done with their painting, she decided to call them to our home and have a painting "class"; and let them work on some of the walls , specially the "dirty" area around the switchboards, the wall where we have our dining table and sit all the time , and the wall next to our bed.
On 11th December , 18 students along with Maura landed up at our home and were assigned wall space in groups , pairs , and singly. As they started making the outlines , I was quite apprehensive as it was not clear whether the children had any "design" in their heads or they were just going to do "something". But as the two hours slipped by the sight was stunning. This was helped along by teachers Sudeshna , Biswajit , Malasree and volunteer Rita. Some space was kept for the few students who could not come that day . The rest four came on 17th December and finished the job.
Our apartment is now transformed !
Some of the children are now ready to work their magic elsewhere. And those of you who will get a chance to come to Shikshamitra and our home will get a pleasant sense of vibrant colours. For others here are the pictures.
Sujit Sinha
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Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.
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