A CAS trip was organized for the Grade 11
students on 16th of October’15 to JJ Colony in Bawana in association with
Habitat for Humanity India. The students painted a few of the houses in the
slums of Bawana and also interacted with the community members.
Students were able to interact with the
locals and fathom how they live in unfavourable and difficult conditions. After
observing the surroundings many students reflected on how fortunate they were
to get the chance to offer their services to them:
I remember feeling a little nervous and a
lot excited when I arrived in BAWANA. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But
as we met the habitat staff, things seemed to just fall into place. The entire trip was exceptionally planned. I
was at first a bit nervous about my health as the area wasn’t clean and the
smell was excruciating.
Students were divided into five groups,
each with a particular task given to them. For all groups, the main focus was
to paint. We together as a group were trying our best to contribute our efforts
to the local community.
Everyone was given instruction on how to deal
with equipment and beware of the surroundings. Every group had a leader to lead
the team with a teacher. I was the leader of group 2 and I had the
responsibility to maintain the discipline and coordination in the group.
Group 2, had the task to paint a room in
the community hall of J.J colony. My whole team was worried about their health
as we were working in a surrounding which wasn’t properly maintained and very
unhygienic. We were quite happy as we got mosquitos repellent, mask and gloves.
Habitat staff then gave us sand paper and
taught us how to use it. It looked quite easy but it wasn’t. Rubbing that sand
paper against the wall to take out the previous paint was a tough job. The room
in which we were working became full of dust. One of my friend was having
asthma so it was my job to take him to a safe location where the dust couldn’t
reach him. After sometime everyone finished the first task that was to take out
old paint. Each of us were tired and our hands were paining.
As the second task began, the other groups
also joined us. Every student was doing his/her task to the fullest. We
completed our task on time.
In my opinion a field trip like these is
very essential. It provided an excellent
opportunity to know what is going on in our society. Moreover, I found out that
even though we have different cultures and we come from different backgrounds,
we can still communicate and work together to achieve our common goal. The
efforts that I put in helped me to get more lessons than the contribution that
I was putting in was less and that I should help the other communities with my
resources and efforts. I believe that helping the ones in need is a global
requirement and always begins with a small initiation like this one
Himank Goel
Grade 11
Last Friday, the
16th of October 2015, the students of Grade 11 embarked on a CAS trip to the
North-West district of Delhi, to a census town called Bawana. This town has
been assisted by an organization called Habitat for Humanity for over 7 years
now and in the duration of this time, they have built over 500 houses for the
inhabitants. Before we left from our school we had been briefed on what the
expected outcome was.
We were to be divided into 5 groups and each group would
be given a specific task to complete. Our job revolved around the replenishing
of the walls in their community, by applying coatings of paint. 3 of the groups
were allocated houses and two groups were assigned to the community hall. The
idea of renovating houses for a day and being rewarded with dominos pizzas
thrilled most of us. However, after the completion of our tasks we were left
with much more, to be delighted about.
We were able to interact with the locals and fathom how they live in
unfavorable and difficult conditions. After observing the surroundings we felt
fortunate to get the chance to offer our services to assist them. It was a
tremendous experience and I am certain that the whole grade wouldn’t pass up
another opportunity that would allow us to contribute to the wellbeing of the
society. We might have not built an entire household for the people of Bawana
but even the slightest involvement gave us immense satisfaction.
Jahanavi Datta
Form 11
