My name is Sazan Khalid, and I am a third-year student at Georgetown University studying economics and computer science. I wanted to share with you my weekly logs from my LiA project, for which I have been privileged enough to work with Sajhe Sapne as a volunteer this summer. Sajhe Sapne is a non-profit that helps rural women of India earn employment within India’s modern workforce. Their center is located in Kandbari, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, a small village amongst the overwhelmingly powerful and beautiful Himalayan mountains.
I spent the first week mainly getting to know the students and their learning habits. What went particularly well was the strength of the relationships I built with them and the facilitators alike. Their early morning English sessions were informative to me, as I noticed weak points and started building a syllabus from these observations. I had fewer concrete roles to play than anticipated and was encouraged to figure out how I can best help that would be both a learning experience for me and the students, which is an important aspect of leadership in Sajhe Sapne. What could be done differently for next week is setting concrete sessions for which I will be teaching so as to ensure that these short 6-weeks could contribute positively to their journey.
The most exciting part is living with the girls in the hostel. The stay has involved adventures diving into freezing waters as the snow from the mountains melts, and late-night English sessions in the hostel as the girls excitedly ask grammar questions as well as questions about Iraq. The students are mainly from villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, so they have had no exposure to English or a white volunteer. Next week, my post will include details on my educational and pedagogical observations as I fit into my role as the English Madam and teach algorithmic thinking.