In 2015, during my under-graduation course, I was back home during my summer vacation. At the time of this period, I had a variety of activities to choose from to keep myself occupied, but what struck me the most was “schooling or training” students. A family friend of mine told me that I would have to teach kids between 7-10 years old and I remember thinking “that would be easy”. Little did I know that my two months at Shanti School would be the biggest and most impactful life changing experience in my life. I taught bead making, shape making and block building for one of the special students. He seemed to be as lost as I was, but eventually, he got used to having me around. Children with Autism and DOWN syndrome maybe stigmatized right from birth, but they end up teaching the “mentally-stable” society a lot more. On my last day with my little 7-year old student at Shanti school, I received the best gift from him which was – “bye mama”. Those few days spent at Shanti turned out to be the best reverse learning days of my life.
- Challenges and lessons learnt and how I overcame it –
- Never assume that things would be easy.
- Patience will lead to success.
- True friendship exists, but unfortunately only “special” kids experience it without a façade.
- Express and don’t judge.
- Value your family and friends.
- Be thankful.
- Don’t run after materialistic things to keep you happy, find your happiness in small things.
- Learn something new
- Take risks and be fearless.
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