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Social Work
Over the last five years, work in India has been concentrated on establishing an educational program to meet the needs of “slum children” who do not have the benefits of early preparation for learning, stability of family life, regular nutrition, health care, and/or support of parents. Although improvements and changes are ongoing, the school is now well established: teachers, separate rooms for classes, increased subject areas, daily schedule of classes and activities, five hours of instruction daily, exams for all children in all subject areas, and skill development in three areas. Our social worker, Vinita , has by necessity been involved primarily in teaching and health maintenance. Now that the school is well established, Vinita will be turning her efforts more towards family issues. Addressing these issues will assist the children to meet their educational potential. The staff of One! identified areas of concern and potential issues for all of the children (dyslexia, FAS, learning disabilities). We then conducted interviews with each of the children’s parents to establish their goals for their children and for the parent’s to practice self-identifying their own family issues. This was a test of responsibility for the parent’s; the attendance of the parent’s on the day they were called was fantastic!
This base of information will now allow Vinita and the teaching staff to better support the learning experience for the children. For example, two of our Canadian volunteers (Audrey and Louise) developed a basic information kit on the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and strategies for use in a classroom setting. The Indian teachers were very appreciative and have implemented some of the strategies to help the children.
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 Our three full-time teachers: Sushma (behind) Ajeet (left) Sandeep (right) |
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Staff Extraordinaire
The current staff of One! is like a dream come true! Everyone seems to get along fantastically together and to top it off work is at its ultimate in efficiency and productivity. There was one week in May, where the whole team didn’t hesitate in doing more than two weeks of work in one. Our team has four parts aside from Tania and Vinod. Vinita, our social worker as mentioned above, has learned to balance giving families the support they need while also laying down the rules and not get pushed around! Sandeep has transformed from being an OK teacher to a fabulous One!. He now involves all areas of learning into his classes and tries to make them as fun as possible. Ajeet and Sushma have been with us for a short time, but have already developed their skills and grown confidence in the classroom. |
Volunteers Go Beyond
Our volunteers of 2006 have all come from Canada — fabulous Canadians! Ninotchka of Nova Scotia was the first to arrive in January and volunteered until the end of March. She had an amazing dedication to her job and mixed fun new ideas with awesome discipline. The children quickly respected her boundaries and grew to love her greatly! Famina of B.C. arrived next in late January. She brought her five years of experience as a Kindergarten teacher in Vancouver to the table and was able to make huge inroads in helping our Indian teachers learn new methods of teaching. Famina has an infectious smile and the children forgot all of their problems when they saw her in the doorway. Chelsea of Alberta was next to arrive in May, but had to leave for personal reasons only three weeks thereafter. Chelsea brought new energy and new ideas quickly, and we hope that she is able to return in the future. Nedi and David of Alberta also arrived in May and will lovingly give their maturity and professionalism over the next two months. 
 
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