Aditya Kelekar
For quite some time now, I had been thinking of combining a vacation with visiting a social organisation. Recently, I found out about a school camp run by Mitraniketan, a charity organization, in Vellanad village in south Kerala. So in May, I packed my bags and headed to India’s southernmost state.
Mitraniketan hosts children from rural areas, providing them with school and boarding. When I visited, the organisation was hosting a summer camp for children from the local village.
Every day at the camp, the students discussed about general awareness, followed by Math problems with teachers, and later engaged with sports.
When I reached the venue, I recognised the classroom as I saw a group of children, seated in a circular area on a cemented floor. Although this small structure had a roof, there were no walls. Seated in between the children were two adults, whom I took to be their mentors.
As I don’t speak much Malayalam, and the children didn’t speak much English or Hindi either, one mentor agreed to be my interpreter. On one side of the room was a black board on stilts. I asked if someone could draw India’s map and one boy volunteered.
We then proceeded to pin point different parts of India on the map. In between this, we took a break by engaging in some exercises like squats and
swinging hands.
Later, I played badminton with the children played badminton. I then got a chance to chat with the mentors, two young ladies Sreelekshmi and Vrinda, students of Social Work, interns from Mannam Memorial NSS College, Konni, Kerala. They had been present for the entire summer camp.
I hope to visit this space again during the academic year and interact with the students and possibly assist them with math or science.
Apart from the Mitraniketan campus, I spent time at Warkala, an hour’s journey from Thiruvananthapuram. Though Kerala has a long coastline, Warkala is quite unique in that it has a nice cliff overlooking the sea, where many restaurants are located. A thin strip of pathway, meant only for pedestrians, provides access to the restaurants and souvenir shops lined
along the cliff.
I returned home with some handicraft souvenirs but the dearest gifts I carried back were the smiles I exchanged with the people I met.
(The writer is a software engineer based in Helsinki.)
