In a couple of weeks time I’m going to be embarking on my new adventure in Nagaland (a State in North East India) and it’s one I’m so excited to be able to share with you all.
I went to Nagaland at the beginning of 2013 and fell in love with the place and the people. Although I was only there for 5 weeks, I had the opportunity to meet many families. Among those families were a few with children with special needs and I was able to talk to them about what life was like for them. These children were not allowed to go to school, because schools refused to accommodate them and the parents struggled to make ends meet as they had no outside support. Having worked with children with special needs here in England for a number of years, I was only able to imagine how much they struggled and it was then that I decided to make it my ambition to get back out there and help them one day.
Returning home from Nagaland, I tried to figure out what my next step was. I applied for uni and another couple of trips abroad, but nothing came of them and I decided to stay home and work. It was then that I received an email from an English lady that I’d met in the middle of the mountains of Nagaland. She told me about this school and when I contacted them, they asked me if I had any experience of working with children with Special Educational Needs. When I replied with a yes, they said they’d love to have me work with them and from that moment on I started focusing on getting out there and making my dream become reality.
So, about the school: The school is being set up by a husband (who’s a Naga) and his wife (who’s American). It’s starting small, with only kindergarten and first grade coming in for this year, but every year they will add another school year to the bottom. At the moment there are about 15 children lined up to start at the end of January and 7 of those children will be boarding in the residential part of the school, set up for orphans and children from some of the villages. I will be working specifically with children that need extra assistance in class, and I’ll be living in the residential part of the school as a kind of house mistress.
At the moment my expectations are to be able to build up good relationships with the children and staff in the school, and to be able to offer something different to the school as I work one-one with some of the children. I hope that during the six months that I’m there, I will be able to pass on some of my skills to the local teachers and show them that children with additional needs can and are to be loved and included in all the day to day activities. I hope that when I return home, these children will continue to develop, be taught, and be treated with respect and love. I also hope that this opportunity will give me more of an idea of what areas I need to study and develop in so that I will one day be able to help the children of the town that I met there last time (8 hours drive away from this school).
It’s been an interesting four months preparing for the trip, but it’s finally happening!
The preparation and fund raising was a struggle at times, especially as I lost my job soon after hearing about the school. I was so desperate to fly out before the start of the new school year at the end of January, and it’s only because of the generosity and support of the Hazel’s Footprints Trust that it’s actually happening. So, I want to say a big thank you to Bill and Joan and all the rest of the HFT’s trustees and I look forward to being one of your Footprinters… Thank you!
