Steven Y. ILR'22 , Education Project at the Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning

Creating a Science Textbook and Teaching English

The Summer after my freshman year, I boarded on the Emirates for my first journey outside of the United States. After a semester of preparation in Indian history and culture, I set off to the beautiful city of Mysore, where I spent two weeks touring the city and taking educational classes at the SVYM office. My project location was Hosahalli, the most rural and isolated, with the Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning, a tribal school that welcomed students from the elementary to college level. Did I mention Hosahalli was located next to the Tiger Reserve Forest?

My project was to create a Scientific textbook that would be used by the 7th and 8th grade teachers for future classes. I reported directly to the principal at the time, Mr. Gopal, and worked with the science teachers on both campuses (middle - college level, elementary level). I was tasked to review the current 7th/8th grade state textbooks, remove irrelevant topics and create lesson plans that would be catered to the tribal students. This required me to work closely with the teachers, as I would review a chapter, incorporate photos/ vernaculars that would be easily recognizable and draw out a lesson plan that included activities. Additionally, I supported Olivia, my cohort member, in co-teaching English to a group of college students. This required us to create English songs and games that incorporated the student’s backgrounds and identities, and spend time with a class of 30 daily students. Hosahalli was lively and beautiful. I remember attending entire school meetings, similar to an American pep rally, where all the students would sit together and sing songs. I spent a large amount of time interacting with the teachers and staff, as they were extremely welcoming to me and Olivia. I recall the meals that we were served and learning how hard the school worked to grow and prepare all the food themselves. With little technology and limited internet access on campus, it was beautiful to see the joy that the students had just playing with a plastic ball that they made from some recycled material. I learned how incredibly resourceful this village was and am truly grateful to have had the privilege to serve SVYM. Video of the team arriving at Hosahalii for our first visit.

Video of the drop-off when team departed and the project started.

Brianna R '22 Soft Skills Training For People With Disabilities At Sneha Kiran, Mysore

Namaskara! My name is Brianna Ramos and I am a rising junior in Cornell’s ILR school. My Global Service Learning Project was to develop a handbook detailing different games which can improve the soft skills of students with disabilities, as well as a pamphlet for employers explaining the importance of employing people with disabilities. My project site was Sneha Kiran in Mysore, a school for children with cerebral palsy and other mental and physical impairments. The school provides educational services, therapy, and pre-vocational training on-site. My project focused on older students who were enrolled in pre-vocational programs who we believed would be eligible for employment. I chose this project because I am passionate about creating a more accessible world, which begins by both giving people with disabilities the tools they need to be successful and educating others about how they can make any space more accessible.

The students I work with are aged 15 and up, and most are enrolled in both academic and pre-vocational courses. It can be daunting for parents of people with disabilities to think about what happens once their child ages out of school, employment may not be a thought at first, however from my research I was able to find companies who are adapting to include a more diverse number of employees with mental and physical impairments. We were able to visit Vinyas, a technology company located in Mysore which employs people with a range of disabilities. They have made adjustments to their training programs and provide both written and verbal instructions which are helpful to all employees, not just those with mental impairments. Making a space accessible benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities.

This program focuses on soft skills, which are a group of interpersonal skills needed to be a successful and satisfied worker. The four skills I focused on were communication, concentration, teamwork, and problem-solving. By using games, I aimed to create accessible and fun activities that would strengthen these skills. The students were by far my favorite part of working at the school. Each student has their own way of doing things, and the confidence that they built in themselves and each other by cheering everyone on was inspiring. I learned a lot about perseverance, confidence, and teamwork by watching the students help each other and the way they interacted with me. From my first day at work, the students referred to me as Akka, which means elder sister in Kannada, welcoming me to their family at Sneha Kiran. Their trust in me and cooperation helped me to overcome the challenges I faced, such as having to adapt games on the spot to be more accessible, because I knew that they believed in me.

I will forever be grateful to SVYM for giving me such a warm welcome to India and Indian culture, Cornell for partnering with SVYM and giving me the chance to go across the world to learn lessons about development and inclusivity, and of course Sneha Kiran for trusting in me to develop a program for their amazing students. This experience has challenged me to go out of my comfort zone in many different ways, and I am leaving India with more confidence in myself and a passion for creating positive change wherever I go.  

This is a picture of the students I ate lunch with everyday in the courtyard. Their ages range from early teens to late twenties. Eating lunch and playing games after was one of the highlights of my experience at Sneha Kiran, and it allowed me to form close bonds with many of the students.

Alena M. GH'21 Kenchananhalli Livelihood Development Center

My name is Alena M., and I am a Junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from Cleveland, OH majoring in Computational Biology with a minor in Global and Public Health. 

This past summer and winter*, I lived and worked in Mysore, India for a grassroots NGO called Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM). During my time working with SVYM, I lived and worked at their Viveka Rural Livelihood Center, helping marginalized women of tribal populations start businesses using the Rural Social Business Unit (RSBU) model. During the summer, my project partner and I started by visiting all of the RSBUs and meeting all of the women who run the units and their stories. In order to help the women increase sales, my partner and I put their products on e-commerce platforms like Amazon India and Flipkart, helped them develop new products to create, and generated a following for them via their own website store and social media accounts. When I returned to India again this past winter break, I worked with SVYM to continue to establish the foundation of the RSBU’s production workflows and marketing strategies by writing two detailed business process manuals, as well as began the planning for the launch of the one of the RSBU brands, Totally Tribal, into US markets (check it out at https://www.totally-tribal.com/ if you’re interested!). 

GSL team with SVYM staff.

Women receiving tailoring training a the Livelihood Center.

When I decided to go to India for the summer last January, I had no idea what path I was setting down. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be going to India not once, but twice, and that I would now be a partner of SVYM and a co-manager of the US hub for Totally Tribal, I wouldn’t have believed you. A year ago, I still thought I was going to be an engineer! I am still reeling about how perfectly SVYM, Kenchanahalli and all of the people have met along this journey has seemed to so effortlessly extract passion from within me that I didn’t know was there. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have discovered this passion over the past couple of months, and have been able to align it with a public narrative that actually matters in the grand scheme of things.

I have learned so much from my time working in India with SVYM, one of the most pertinent things being that no matter where you are from, humans are human. We may live and act differently but deep down we are all the same. India will always have a special place in my heart, and I encourage all people who have a chance to study or work abroad--do it! You will learn so much about yourself and about life that you didn't even know was possible.

*Note that Alena took Dr. Balu's course in Fall 2019 and then applied to the SVYM Winter Break Program.  She returned to Kenchenhalli to assist SVYM in refining the the Totally Tribal marketing project.