Maria returns from eight weeks teaching in India
DUNDALK student Maria Dawe has returned from a ‘ tough, but inspiring’ voluntary project, teaching in an Indian school, as part of a voluntary project run by Irish charity Suas.
A student at Trinity College, Dublin, Maria travelled to Kolkata, a rural part of India with a group of Irish students to volunteer as a teaching assistant in some of the most disadvantaged and under-resourced schools.
‘I spent eight weeks teaching the most beautiful, loveable, lively and inspiring children that I have ever met,’ said Maria.
She added that since returning home ‘not a day goes by that I don’t think of the children that I was teaching and the people that I met in the village that I was living in. The whole experience made a profound impact on me.’
But, she admits ‘It was tough work! Myself and my teaching partner taught in the same school We taught the same group of children each day too and they ranged from 3-11 years old. Class sizes were big and classroom rules aren’t really a thing in India!! So we had to lay down the rules from the beginning.’
‘ The level of English in my school was quite poor for the most part so we had to start off with the basics and the abcs! By the end of the 8 weeks, the kids knew the Hokey Pokey off by heart, were confident having a basic conversation in English with one another and even learned the phrase ‘Mon the town’!
She thanked ‘absolutely everyone who supported me over the last few months in any way. Your love and support allowed me to invest time and effort into these children’s lives and to give them the confidence and encouragement that they unfortunately don’t always get, but need going forward in school.’
‘I will definitely return to India sometime in the future! I have never felt so welcomed and appreciated within a community, and was constantly thanked by the locals for the work that I was doing with their children. Everything about the country was amazing - the culture, the food, the relaxed and laid-back attitude and especially the people!’