MAD with SPACES!! – Dream Camp!!

Dream Camp organized by M.A.D

A dream indeed, not only for the thirty five to forty kids present there, but even to us at SPACES who got the opportunity to interact with them. They were the most charming and intuitive little bunch of  people that we had ever come across. None too as innocent as they seemed.

SPACES as part of the MAD event organized a small workshop for the kids aptly named “Little Farmers”. All of them were super excited and running about with increased energy, increased adrenaline, climbing every tree top they could sight with the pretext of getting more green leaves or plants or saplings.In fact, I met a mentor who seemed to be in-charge of just that – getting the kids back to the original place. 🙂

The whole day was enlightening and in retrospect we were very much in awe at the level of interpretations of some of the kids and their ideas and thoughts. There were a few instances where we were completely mind blown at their creativity and ability.

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

MAd camp – ECR – conducted by spaces

As soon as we were ushered into the lovely In-Deco resorts at Mahabalipuram which had a very lush green outdoor, we quickly gave a brief talk on the current scenario, what the children could do to preserve the environment and some basics of gardening, waste disposal and recycling. What followed next was the outdoor session where the kids learned how to compost, what were the steps involved and more importantly they all learned how to plant a sapling along with a small exercise in recycling.

Hands down, the recycling part of the workshop was the most favorite, even the mentors got right down to the nitty-gritty. Where paints and brushes were involved, the children went to a happy place and got real serious. We got to see some beautiful pieces of art, very tastefully and creatively done.

There were a lot of chaotic moments, sweet ones, thick friendship, loyalty, naughtiness, every possible trait we could think of, we got to witness in that short period.  SPACES had an awesome time and hopes to meet the kids again real soon. Usually, these sessions with children often works out the other way around.We are the ones who take back a lot more than we expect to give!

Vidhya School, Medavakkam – Environment Awareness Workshop

Our biggest take-away from the workshop – No matter how much you prepare, the kids shall outsmart you! 🙂 

 

So, there we were unassumingly getting ready for what was going be our best experience so far interacting with children, checking and double-checking all the things to be taken to the school for the Environment Awareness Program scheduled on the 30th of November.

When we arrived, the children had already been assembled in the long hall, easily accommodating around 150-200 students at a time. There was an atmosphere of anticipation, as we tried to get comfortable and get on stage and on with the show. This was also our first time with such a big audience. So, understandably, we went in with some butterflies,but once we found our groove, we were all able to connect with the students.

Here are some of the pot-shots from the day:

The children, clearly amused by what they were hearing! 🙂

Eager to volunteer to answer.

Uma, passionately explaining about gardening.

Time for the next batch.

Driving a point or two about chemical abuse in the form of pesticides.

Students, rapt with attention.

Shainika, having a bit of fun with the audience.

She had the toughest job, handling the older kids. 🙂 Looks like she did pretty well.

And then our most favorite section, the career possibilities.

We ventured opinions, aims, dreams and aspirations. No prize for guessing, more doctors ,engineers and scientists in the making. 🙂

But amongst all of them, remained only one soul who wanted to become an agriculturist. But it did turn out her relative was in the same field.But hey, she at least knew it was an option.

The correspondent later told us that he was approached by a student, who had asked him, sir, all this information is incredible, but seriously, how will a kid from a government school know of so many possibilities that he/she could pursue?? we were baffled at the depth of insight , that this kid had, barely out of his high school.

Below are our favorite moments. Totally unplanned and came up with it at the nick-of-the moment. We made all the kids stand up, raise their hands and take an oath.

“To save the planet. to protect  and to nurture it.”

Well, the day had just begun and we came bearing tree saplings , around 400 of them, to distribute it to the students. The school made it into a competition, an ingenious idea that, to make sure none of the tree saps were neglected.

And made all the students pose with their new-found treasure 🙂

I must stress at this point, the kids have a lot more pocket-money than we ever did, all of them flashing their high funda notes and asking for seeds worth 10 bucks. Our cashiers had a tough time sorting out the ‘change’-issues 🙂 Kudos to them though for handling all that pressure.

These two pretty ladies seemed to be deliberating for a long time, deciding which seeds to buy.

Us, getting ready for the next item on the agenda, the demo session, which included parents.And enough break time to take a few more group pics.

Uma, a force to reckon with during the demo session.

Parents , patiently hearing us out. A lot of them came and told us that they really enjoyed it and were eager to know more.

We made sure, they took a look at our posters explaining a lot of things, including, home composting, and essential herbal plants etc.

The stalls were a huge hit. We had throngs and throngs of kids and parents alike , wanting to buy us out. 🙂

Of course, at that point of time, i took over as the photographer, and it seemed, i was in demand too, of course scorned by my fellow mates, that i got the easier job. 😛 🙂 The boys and girls were more than happy to pose,proudly showing what they had bought.

And soon it was time for the bell to go off, and the school yard was absolutely teeming with children and their saps and their products. and I was in the middle of it all.

Hopefully, we had made some kind of impact on them. All we wanted them was to go home and do something worthwhile of the day spent getting so much of information and ideas.

But it seemed like , even after the last bell, the kids were still swarming the stalls. Some of our fast-moving products turned out to be the seeds and when we ran out, we got some extra packets and packed it on the spot and sold it to them. In fact it looked like, as one of our team member pointed out,  “a chef barking out orders and the cook preparing them and bringing it out to the customer”. Our well-oiled team did a fine job, under the intense crowd and satisfying most of them.

The spearheads, during the stalls. and it happened to be a Navin’s first stall experience too, and what an experience that 🙂

So after a pretty long and satisfying day, things came to an end, our seeds box were next to empty and the last of the batch of kids had just emptied the school yard. Heaps of thanks to Mrs.Kalarani and Mr.Vidhyasagar (Correspondent of Vidhya school) for all their support and encouragement.

What would make it more interesting is if each and every one of our readers too would take an oath that the students took, SPACES included, to protect,nurture and preserve the environment and decided to follow through. That would be our biggest achievement and success and nothing else, none of these workshops,demos,presentations or awareness programs. Simple mechanism. Be the change you want to be.