This year, for the Rural Immersion program, 2 classes from our school were taken to a nearby village, Sankheda, Gujrat. There we participated in activities like, farming, milking, Visiting local area and homes, spending time with under-privileged children, served food and spent time with the gram-panchayat (local government) of that area. We spent a total of 6 days in the village, and got to know much about the lifestyle of the people living there. This trip really gives and idea of how blessed we are with the daily comforts of life we have, and also helped me realise the potential in small local areas and the people living there, and the wide range of challenges the community is facing over there, from poverty, gender inequality to drug abuse. During the course of the trip, there were a lot of activities like farming and milking where I got the first hand experience of the activity, and truly understand the essence of the same. I did exploration of many learning outcomes and learnt a lot of things from the trip, that are going to stay with me for life.

LO1 + LO2: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth + Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills.

Firstly, I realised that Gym strength and normal endurance has little to no correlation to strength and endurance needed in a farm, standing for long hours in the sun, along with constant sitting and standing was a challenge. Using a different tools like hoes, shovels and tray’s to carry plants, fertilisers, water buckets all the basic essentials of farming was a different experience. At first it easy to use it, but as time passed, It did get a little tiring. It was also a challenge to sleep on the floor in the very chill and during the day hot weather. However over the course of the 7 days, by day 3 I was pretty accustomed to this form of living. Over the source of the trip I also developed good communication skills with the local people living there. There was pretty good scope for improvement in my physical caliber Our modern adaption of Gujrati (local language) is very different to the communication style of the villagers, understanding the original use of the language and communicating with the local villagers and kids was also a delight. This enabled me to make proper use of the language and help me scaffold my communication and critical thinking skills.

LO5 – Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively.

Over the course of the whole trip, we were constantly divided into groups so that multiple people get to explore different aspects and reflections can be shared later on. Working with new sets of people in separate situations was a defiantly something I did not anticipate. However working collaboratively collaboratively with people enabled us to divide work accordingly and complete tasks like plowing the field, interaction with local people, carrying items, exploring different sites much easier and simpler. Working in a group helped us complete tasks quickly more efficiently and also at the same time explore different set of skills in a short time, that would otherwise not be possible. On the 6th day we also went on teach and interact with the students of a local school. There we served them food, taught them science concepts through practical demonstration, played games with them and also did art. During this time we were all divided into groups, which made the task easier as a whole group and also within each group, where each member will have some roles. Working as groups collaboratively helped completing the tasks effectively.

LO6 – Engagement with issues of global significance

One of the SDGs I specifically touched upon was quality education. Coming from a background of curiosity, during my childhood (even now!) I read a lot of articles and experimented with a lot of things, in the process I learned a lot of the basic fundamentals of sciences through a non-formal method, which helped me develop a better understanding of the concept. One thing formal education misses out on is practical demos (especially govt. schools), which enable critical thinking and develops a whole new set of skills essential in ones work life, to facilitate the critical thinker among the children interested in sciences of the government school. To do so, me and my friends (6 people) planned a series of practical demos and experiments for the students from the 3 domains of sciences (Physics, math, and Biology). An egg drop experiment to explain momentum and impulse, density tower experiment to explain density, burning paper through magnifying lense to explain lenses, simple lemon based chemical reactions to explain basic chemistry and few biology walk throughs. The catch was to explain all these concepts in a very simple language so that these can be inferred to 3-6th graders. Some our education system misses are practical demos, rather than bookish knowledge practical knowledge as proven to be more useful. Thus that was our intention to convey and contribute to quality education.

LO7 – Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

During the whole trip, we visited a lot of farms, crop yielding sites, dairy factory, animal houses and their local court (gram panchayat). There i noticed serval issues, like drinking, drug abuse, child marriage, and gender inequality. These issue really touched my heart and made me realise the essence of these issues. Furthermore we also visited a lot of organic farms, where I could see that farmers could obtain sufficient yield to sustain. Adapting to more organic and eco-friendly practices would really help reduce stress on the environment and encourage sustainable living. During the trip I also pondered upon many solution like vertical farming, and effective irrigation system and a good healthcare system that could be implemented to help improve the standard of living. Interacting with the rural people really helped me understand the impact of our simple actions like eating breakfast, wearing clothes, etc on the environment and helped me realise the true effort that goes into the development to these amazing amenities that we take for granted.

In conclusion, this trip was an eye opener for me, as it made me realise a lot of things, and also helped me develop a lot of skills. Given an opportunity I would again visit such villages to further explore and understand the world around me to make a positive impact.

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