Nimesh Patel, also known as “Nimo,” is one of the founders of Manav Sadhna, an NGO in Ahmedabad. His life’s mission is to contribute as much as he can to society, and he is committed to doing whatever it takes to do so. He works full-time as a volunteer for this Organisation and encourages others to do the same. Via mutual friends, I was introduced to him. They all worked together to arrange this trip to Manav Sadhna, and they all encouraged me to go. That was one of the best decisions I had made because of all the things I could learn from the community there, and how everyone involved in the NGO gave from the bottom of their hearts.Â
- LO 2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
As we only had two days scheduled, the only difficulty faced during this service was trying to complete as many activities as possible. We attempted to fit as many plans into a day as we could because we only had a limited amount of time there. This made the day rather exhausting, but in the end we had fun and learned a lot of new things.
- LO 4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
When we got there, the first thing we did was explore the interior of Sabarmati Ashram, where we spent the majority of our time giving out food, interacting with people, and playing team games with the kids who made the gifts that were sold in the Ashram’s gift shop. On one of those days, in addition to getting to know the children, we helped them in creating the items for the gift store where they would sell them. As we went to the community center, we were greeted with friendly smiles and a batch that had been made by hand and was ours to keep as a remembrance of the trip. On our second day there, we got up early to assist the local volunteers who picked up all the plastic waste along the roads and in the surrounding region. We got to know them and witnessed the amount of effort they put forth each morning to do their tasks on their own. On that particular day, we went to Manav Sadhna, where all the students ate lunch together and were served by us as we talked to them. We also took a tour of the entire facility, viewing all the classrooms and the library that were created using sustainable building techniques and recycled materials.
- LO 5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
To be able to make this service trip to Manav Sadhna successful, my friends and I collaborated as a group. To take part in all the events taking place there, we all coordinated and worked together as a team. We prepared particular games and activities in order to let the children play together and have fun.
Our journey was altogether a heartwarming experience that was absolutely worth the time we committed. The experience was fantastic since we went there with the intention of teaching the local kids and community something about giving back, but we ended up learning so much more.
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