"Our future is the children whom we teach"

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
We all learned this rhyme as pre-schoolers or even younger, but this bit of English is invaluable to the many poor migrant workers' children whom we taught today. A school has been founded only last semester right down the road from where I study, where these children can go daily to learn.

It gives me great joy to be going twice a week to teach migrant workers' children English, colors, numbers and playing games with them. We have a class size around 25-30 students ranging in age from 18 months - 10 years old. Today they all remembered my name which was precious. They enjoy us coming each time and greet us as teacher. “Hello teacher, teacher look”. They all speak Telegu which is the colloquial language and understand and speak some Hindi, but the English barrier can be tough which is why we are starting off really basic. I go with a group of two or three other study abroad students.

Beneath the surface of their smiling faces, you know they are living in impoverished conditions and many of them suffer from malnutrition or other diseases. The flies are rampantly making homes on the babies’ faces and I constantly shoo them away to no avail. Bhavani and a young man named Evan organized the creation of this school just this year before we came. It was their vision to provide some knowledge to the children of migrant workers so that they can enter into government public schools and continue on with their education. Currently they are in need of a doctor who is willing to volunteer his/her time to giving the children checkups and diagnosing them for illnesses all at little cost so that the school teachers can still be paid and overall, so the school can still function. I have a dream to help out even if it is through reaching out to other health professionals or teachers in the area to do something for the future of these children.