We are Marthe Kiesler and Charlotte Mertz, 2 volunteers from Germany, working in a shelter for underprivileged children in Hesaraghatta, a village on the outskirts of Bangalore City. The shelter, called “Nisarga Grama” is one of 6 shelters that belong to the organization “Sparsha Trust”, founded in 2005 by R Gopinath.

Apart from providing children with a life of safety and security, the various projects of “Sparsha Trust” aim to give children the possibility to receive a good education, develop their creativity and self-confidence and raise public awareness for child labor and children’s rights.

Our day in “Nisarga Grama” begins at 6 o’clock in the morning, when we get up with the 133 children living in the shelter and attend the daily assembly and the morning yoga. After having breakfast together in the large dining hall, it is our job to make sure that every child gets ready for school, wears its uniform and prepares its lunchbox. While the children are in school, we attend Kannada classes and try to make ourselves useful by doing some administration work and help in the kitchen.

Our main work begins when the children come back from school. According to our timetable, we take English and Computer classes to children from 5th-9th standards. Even though we really enjoy reading texts, talking about the meanings and messages with the children and discussing their own experiences, due to the topics of the texts, it can get really hard to control the children after a tiring day at school, especially if the children cannot understand English very well.

But working in a shelter does not only mean teaching children. It is about spending time with the children, developing their creativity through activities and programs, and creating a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

One experience that really formed a strong connection between the children and us was the Diwali celebration. After a day full of eating together, playing, chatting and having fun, somebody turned the music on, and everyone started dancing wildly. That was a great party!

As we sat in the bus to go home, exhausted from dancing till the sun went down, our drive was not very long. After just a few meters, we needed to leave the bus again, because one wheel had broken down. We stood in the dark for some time, chatting and watching the fireworks. Finally, a new and much smaller bus came by, we had to squeeze in, and everyone fell asleep leaning on each other’s shoulders.

We are excited for the time to come and are looking forward to collecting more amazing experiences with the children.