Rural immersion was a trip to Kada dam near a village and wildlife. The trip allowed me to explore the lives of rural people by visiting villages near our camp site. We did activities like visiting villages and interacting with the village people knowing their lifestyle. Then we went to a village school where we played with the kids there along with talking to them. We also see how they do cow milking. We learnt to make baskets from bamboo and cooked dinner on the last day. We also did Zipline and river crossing. I enjoyed many more fun activities during this trip which helped us learn and explore a lot about rural life and wildlife. We also learnt how we can stay with nature without disturbing nature and the wildlife.

The learner profile and attributes I demonstrated were knowledgeable as I learnt a lot through this trip, Open minded as I was open minded and listening to the thoughts and accepting the lifestyles of the villagers, Inquirer and I was questioning regarding the lifestyles of the villagers and knowing about the wildlife along with the balance that was created between the wildlife and humans living together.

LO1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
While performing these activities I got to explore myself. As during cooking dinner I learnt to make a few sabjis that I can also make at home. Now after the activity of cooking dinner I am capable of cooking dinner on my own at least the dishes I learnt to make during this activity. While making the basket I realized that I can grasp new things quickly and learn quickly as after showing onces how to make the basket I was able to make the basket with my group.

LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
During Zipline and river crossing I was scared of height and the risks that were with the activity but I did Zipline and river crossing to learn the skills. Also I am an introvert so during the visit to village school I was not able to communicate with the students at first but then my teammates helped me and I started to communicate with them and slowly I mixed with them and played games with them.

LO3 – Initiate and plan a CAS experience
During rural immersion we planned games and activities to play with the children when we visit the village ‘s school we also danced and enjoyed the evening with them playing different outdoor games and doing ice breaker activities to bridge the gap between us and start communication with them.

LO4 – Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
For this trip we were far from our home and parents for 7 days. Out of our comfort zone living in a campsite between the woods. At first I was feeling uncomfortable living in such a place but as the trip passed I encouraged myself to live outside my comfort zone and slowly I started to enjoy the trip.

LO5 – Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
During the trip we were divided into groups of 10 each and we performed all the activities with that group. On the first day we went for a village visit to interact with the villagers but the villagers were communicating in Gujarati language so during that time my teammates helped me in communicating with them and understanding the conversation. Also during basket making whenever I needed help my teammates used to help and teach me steps further. We also cooked dinner in groups and my group was allotted to make rotis so we all divided the task and cooked around 180 roties in one hour. During this I understood that sometimes working in a team can make the work effective and quick. Also working in a team can help you in avoiding your weaknesses and working properly.

LO6 – Engagement with issues of global significance
During the trip we worked with lots of UNSDGs like quality education where we went to village school and taught them, played with them. We took our resources to play as they have limited resources so we shared our resources with them. We learnt from them how they play even with less resources. We also worked with decent work and economic growth where we learnt about the schemes that the government provides them for financial aid. We also worked for life on land and learned how we can stay with wildlife. Also we engaged with the SDG peace, justice and strong institutions as we were at a place with a old thought process of child marriage, no education and they don’t trust on the healthcare system. We learnt about the actions being taken by the leader of the village to change the mindset in the village.

LO7 – Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Ever since I was a child I have been listening to the moral of being thankful and happy with whatever you have and during this trip after exploring the lives of the village people I realized even with less resources and privileges they live happily. They have a lot of issues because they are not privileged but even while discussing their issues with us they had a smile on their face. I learnt that we should be happy with whatever we have and learn to stop complaining every time. I believe we need to learn a lot of things from the village people’s lifestyle and during this trip I learnt a lot of life lessons that might improve me as a person.