My Visit to India

Written by Arushi Agarwal

This past winter, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the centers dispersed around Bhubaneswar and my family’s own sponsored center in the Kaccabari Village near Ranchi.

In Bhubaneshwar:

At the Bhubaneshwar center, I met many of the adults who were behind making Shikhya a reality. My family and I met two or three volunteers who were actively trying to expand Shikhya into their own villages or places of interest. Soon enough, the conversation digressed into the expression of our visions for the zenith of this organization. I realized that at that moment, I was surrounded by those who not only wanted to do good but those who were active in doing good. We all knew that education is the key to survival and happiness, let alone success, and by providing children with the resources we could expand their horizons. I got the chance to meet two of the girls that I practiced English with in person, and our conversations were so free-flowing that it seemed like I was talking to my cousins and my friends. These girls took the extra step to learn more that could benefit them in the future and it was
amazing to see their strength.

Kaccabari Village:

We visited the Kaccabari Village the following week. The twenty girls greeted us with a song and flowers, welcoming us in their school. They had previously eagerly insisted that the teacher bring some more English learning materials to them. As we talked, it was apparent how easily they picked up vocabulary and sentence structure. It was a true sign of their enthusiasm to learn. I wanted to give the girls like myself the opportunity to learn all the same things that I have and will. Especially ones that want to so much.

Seeing the energy and enthusiasm of the children learning has firmly planted a desire in me to continue bringing education to all the children around the world. Through this blog post, I hope to convey this same feeling to you. Each volunteer is tirelessly creating content for the children in their native languages and traveling to remote villages to spread the opportunity. We would greatly appreciate your help in making this dream of universal, accessible education come true. Begin a chain reaction by tutoring a
child in your community or sponsoring an aspiring student’s education. Start the cycle of giving back. Once you begin to volunteer, it will seem like it would have been unthinkable not to. Especially teen volunteers, you are the ones who the students will connect to the most. It will not only be a student-teacher relationship, but also a friend-friend relationship.