Each year,
students from Grade 11 have a CAS (community action support) trip to Savda
Ghevra in association with Habitat for Humanity India. Savda Ghevra JJ
Resettlement Colony is one of Delhi’s most recently established resettlement
colonies, and is located on the outskirts of Delhi. It was established in 2006
to allocate land to the displaced residents who were from Yamuna river bank and
alongside Indira Gandhi air strip. It was done then to accommodate space for
the 2010 Common Wealth Games that India had successfully bid.
Stepping
out of the bus, one of the first things we say was a huge tank filled with water
and a line of people in front of it. Miss Indira, one of our teachers in
charge, later told us how there is a shortage of water there and that everyone
carries cards to pay for that water. The idea itself was so shocking and
surreal to us, especially since we were provided a large number of bottles of
water for our 2 hour stay there. We were split up into groups of 8-9 and
assigned a house to paint, and on the way to the house assigned to us, I
noticed something else that shocked me. All the roads, except for the main
road, were insanely narrow and the houses were all cramped against each other.
In each house, there were at least 6-7 people, spilling out on the streets and
staring at all us in our masks, gloves and brushes in hand.
We started
by painting the inner room on the ground floor; there was no light in there,
only a cot propped up on bricks, a small dresser and a stool. With only the
lights of our cellphones, a few brushes and baby pink paint, we painted their
houses and tried to brighten up their lives. Afterwards, we got to interact
with some of the people who lived there. They talked to us about their daily
lives and the obstacles they faced. Some of them worked to empower the women in
the society by teaching them things like sewing and saving money to contribute
to anyone going through hard times.
These
people with barely any education and so little to their name still give so much
to their community; their words and actions truly inspired me and everyone
else. Our short time in Savda Ghevra taught us so much about community,
compassion and kindness.
