Reflections on a Kolkata Education: Children

After school this afternoon, we took some taxis down to the Kolhagadt police station to walk further into the red light district and meet the founder of New Light and the children who attend school there in the evenings and at night. Walking into the neighborhood was a blast into another world, one of the poorest of the poor and a section of Kolkata that is very destitute. We traveled down some pretty rough streets and then took a turn through a side alley where working ladies stood at the entrance to the alley and as we walked, small rooms lined the alley with a bed and small cooking stove inside and maybe a few blankets. We continued down the alley past the goats and kids, turning through a small doorway and up some stairs.

At the top of the stairs was an oasis of laughter, children, and learning. As New Light was described to us by the director, it began in 2000 due to random chance events. Previously, she worked for a large foundation and after many years of glitzy fundraisers and turning away those who needed help from their gates, she wanted to do something to make a difference. After a few boys approached here about helping their football team find uniforms and supplies, she took 10,000 rupees and started New Light.

New Light takes in the children of the sex workers and provides them with three meals a day, yoga classes, education, and opportunities for advancement and success. Many of the children that started with the organization are now completing college and working in nursing school, on higher education, and other things. These are the children that the rest of society has discarded and abandoned as insignificant and worthless. Their mothers recognize the opportunities presented by New Light and there is now a waiting list to be one of the 215 children at the school/shelter. Students visit with their mothers during the day and are in touch with their families. Local merchants supply food and supplies to the group. The community gets to reap some of the benefits of educating these children and the ripple effects have been felt throughout the community, city, and world. When the US Secretary of State travels down back alleys to visit your organization and Ambassadors come to call, you know that something is going right.

This group is making a difference and it shows in the faces of the many children in the center. Tonight, we spent several hours at the site talking with the children, working with them, and just interacting with them. Interestingly enough, they wanted to know all the Spanish that we could conjure up, so that was quite fun. I had some good conversations with some very intelligent and engaged students. It was one of the best experiences of my trip here so far.

Students here are very bright and engaged in their own education. They are very curious and recognize the opportunity that they have to escape the cycle of sex trafficking and the sex trade. I was very happy to see that they are focused on both the boys and the girls since both are part of the solution. There was a genuine respect for each other throughout the center and a comradely that was very warm and welcoming. I saw some parents bringing their children to the center and stay for a bit to observe. Students take turns doing yoga while others watch and play different games. Meditation is a key component to the evening assembly and allows time for students to collect themselves, reflect, and find that serenity that comes with being in a safe haven.

After waking up early again this morning, I headed out to the village outskirts of Kolkata with the girls and 3 teachers from my school and 2 of the teachers who came with me from the United States. It was a very enlightening and insightful day. The girls go out to the government schools in the villages every six weeks and teach the children in various villages outside of Kolkata. Some of the villages are right off the main road, while others are a 20 or 30 minute walk in from the road. The bus (no AC) drives along the road and drops off a few of the girls at each village, sometimes with a teacher, and they walk into the village and work with the children there on math and English.

I interacted a lot with the children of the village, taught a few lessons to give the girls a break, and generally just watched what was happening in the classrooms and in the village. Got quite a few good snaps today and saw another side of Kolkata that I had not seen before and definitely had some experiences that I would not have gotten any other way. Watching the village children today was a lesson in how to make learning happen with nothing except minds and a willingness to do it. These children have nothing and yet I saw them learning multiplication, translate Bengali into English, and demonstrate true comprehension of what they were taught. Recitation and group learning appears to be a key component of how these students are able to recall information in detail. I am seeing many things, learning much more, and contemplating how to incorporate some of the best that I have seen into my own classroom when I get back.