(completed CAS trip along with all 3 objectives, Creativity- creating warli art, wall painting, Activity- trekking, Service- donations to schools over there)

This is the most impactful CAS experience that I have had. At the beginning of the year when rural immersion was introduced to us, I was very frustrated to step out of my comfort zone and live for 6-7 days in a rural area without all the services that I usually get at my home. However, spending time in Dang, Mokhamal has taught me so much about life. This experience was truly my favourite. We all went to Mokahmal to stay for 6 days and learnt to live like a Dang native. From being welcomed in Dangi way, to eating the local food, exploring the local market, trekking, visiting Panchayat, Milk Madli, the schools taught me life skills.

The most important thing I learnt from my rural hosts was how to live a simple yet fruitful life. These people live far away from the city and have no cars, or wifi or AC and yet are so happy. While in the city we spend years learning about sustainability, all of the new innovations of sustainability simply exist in their homes from a long time ago. The rural people apply more science than I ever studied. The material chosen for their house, the amount of space in their kitchen for the oxygen to pass through, the natural ingredients they keep to keep the mosquitoes away, these things fascinated me. The relationship they have with the nature is beyond understandable.

The people were all so welcoming and treated us as their own family. They allowed us to take part in their daily chores such as farming, cracking nuts, tribal haat and so much more. We were even presented with the opportunity to explore the Dangi dance which is usually done at Holi and paint on the wall of their homes and school. Another part of the rural life that I loved was trekking. We took multiple treks, one in the day where we explored the forest and learnt about different animals/insects, and one in the night where we did star gazing. Far away from the city hustle, watching shooting stars in the quiet was my favourite part of the trip. Furthermore, I also indulged in services like donating clothes, and making meals.

LO1- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

During this trip, I was forced to reflect my strengths and weakness while engaging in different tasks. I recognized that my art skills will be useful in Warli Painting and Wall painting at school. We did Warli Painting at a local’s house and I took the lead to draw out the whole thing and initiate the painting. And the school we visited had very rough plain wall and the students seemed to be full of passion and therefore, we offered some areas to paint to them while the rest of the wall was covered by us. In both of the situations, I was able to showcase my creativity. However, this immersion had a lot of adventures such developing some agriculture skills where I succeeded after multiple tries.

LO2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

The most challenging thing in this trip was to accept the place mentally. The place where we stayed was no hotel, with no AC, no devices, the food that we ate was not like home, and staying in that isolated area for 6 days was not easy but as we moved ahead in the trip I realised that the place was amazing and now I miss it. To be honest, the food tasted really good, and the people were so full of love that we did not feel like leaving. Other than this, there were a lot of hurdles in my way such as developing skills of agriculture, walking for a long time, understanding their panchayat system and many others. But all of these enhanced my abilities and gave me an insight of how any challenge can be overcomed with the right guidance.

LO4- Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Despite all the obstacles that gave in my way and the cultural differences I was fully dedicated to participate in all the activities and learn different skills. Each day was filled with unknown adventures and interactions with the locals and I committed to it.

LO6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The rural immersion presented me with the opportunity to step outside my world and look into how the rural life is. I was able to connect with different issues that hold global significance such as quality education. The village did have schools but the condition of the school was not so good. The teachers did the best that they could but the maximum standard that the school had was 5th. The students could not gain education above that. And I still can’t get the sight of the hostel of these children out of my mind. The way that they live bought tears in my eyes. Interacting with these children, we developed an emotional bond and therefore each one of us made a personal contribution to select books, pencils, erasers and food for every student present in the school. Rural immersion helped me understand that how we have lost cultural diversity, rise in poverty, need of quality education and sustainability. This experience also made me realise how privileged I am to be able to get quality education and that I should be highly grateful for it all.

LO7- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Living in a rural setup for so many days, there were a lot of ethical choices that were made. The very first one was being respectful to their opinions. Since both of us come from different backgrounds, we will definitely have different opinions about different things such as clothing and it was important for us to understand that we were staying in their homes and we needed to respect all of their choices. Other ethical actions were being grateful and showing gratitude towards the locals as they let us (some strangers) get along with them for a few days, as a result we should also help them in their work.

To conclude, this trip was more than just another CAS experience. Rural immersion helped me develop so many new skills and truly changed the way I am. Just stepping into their lives for a few days made me realise how grateful should I be to have such facilities. I am thankful to all the farmers that work hard in broad daylight to provide foods on our table, to those locals who welcomed us in their home and those children who interacted with us as friends.