[Update 2015] Summer Internship with the JJSS

A Youth team par excellence! And children’s camps

This summer for a whole month 15 young people, studying in class ten or above and who belonged to families of sangathan members, spent time with the sangathan doing buniyadi nirman work. Some young people from the middle class urban milieu also joined us and this is how the summer internship invite shared the idea of the internship. These young people were first trained in some basic children’s activities, and then went as one team to a sangathan village where they did a children’s camp. In this camp the interns played games with children, on the same lines as the children’s camps that had been initiated in 2014.

Back at the Araria JJSS centre the interns discussed their experiences of these camps, of being in different villages, having food in different households and travelling from one village to the next, many times having to do long foot marches.

Then they went back to the villages in smaller groups and when they finally went back to their village they were ready to do a children’s camp alone in their own village. Further at the centre we had discussions, activities and films, which helped the young people talk about issues of equity with regard to caste, class, gender and minorities (religious, sexual, language etc).

When the young people went back they had in practice broken the taboo of eating in Muslim households, even today inter-dining is uncommon amongst hindus and muslims!

The most recent exposure for the intern group was when Manira, from Youth ki awaaz trained the interns to make videos. Two videos that she has edited and are up on the youth ki awaaz site can be viewed here and here.

As an effort to build a larger understanding of the work the sangathan does sangathan karyakartas have been going to Sambhavna, this year Brahmanand and Jiten had a chance to visit Sambhavna for a 15 day course.