Bal Mela

Bal Mela was just a one day event organized by our school for thousands of underprivileged kids coming together from different government schools to enjoy and indulge themselves in different activities that included creative and physical activities both.Precisely 1500 kids were invited and the event was organized in such a manner that it was like a flea for these kids wherein they were switching places to attend all the activities that us volunteers had organized for them.I was a student volunteer for one such activity which was musical chair.Kids were quite enthusiastic to participate in the activity, grown up kids were reminiscing about their childhood and younger kids were having fun at the same time on our station.

LO1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

 One of the most crucial learnings for me was identifying my areas of strength and possibilities for growth. I realized that one of my problems was communicating with people from other backgrounds since I was unable to convey the rules of the game to them in a way that was both clear for them to understand and engaging. Yet I knew that I needed to get better at managing large groups of people. Although managing a large number of people was difficult(there were 1500-1800 children, the experience helped me develop my organization skills.   Besides these limitations, I was able to focus on my strengthened areas as well, which were my interactive and cheerful connections with the kids. This fostered an enthusiastic environment for the kids and us volunteers as well.

LO2 -Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills.

Facilitating the game for theses kids was a challenging task in itself however,communicating with them was bigger challenge.I and the other volunteers,all three of us didn’t know the language they were comfortable having conversations with so it was difficult for us to explain them the rules of the game,we had to take help form the teachers of their school.It was difficult for us to conduct the games as we had to cooperate with the children according to their needs and demands.But,volunteering for the bal mela helped me work on improving my leadership and communication skills which can further also help me in life.Keeping order was a difficult job as they were a huge crowd and volunteers were less in ratio.This showed that the another significant learning outcome of CAS that I demonstrated was the capacity to take on challenges and develop new skills in the process.

LO5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

I was participating in an activity which required me to work collaboratively with my other two volunteers and work in synergy with the kids as well.I and the other 2 volunteers, we had divided our roles equally to make sure that the game ran smoothly and our lack of collaboration was not a hindrance to the kids who were actually playing the game with too much of enthusiasm.We had to make sure that there was no break to disrupt the flow of the game.We as volunteers were also taking turns for the roles assigned to keep the interesting for us as well.

LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Bal mela was an opportunity for me to engage with issues of global significance as volunteering for an event that promoted the rights to learn and enjoy knowledge,bringing the kids together in unison, each from different backgrounds and skills, to gain knowledge with the help of different activities.Except for just academics people tend to miss out on giving  extracurricular opportunities to these children and bal mela helped them enjoy such activities. By participating in the event I contributed to the learning of these children, adding a little bit of significance to society.Spending time with these children helped me gain understanding about the privileges that I have and why I should not take them for granted. Joy comes from the little things in life is what Bal mela taught me as a volunteer.