Community Research Presentation

On August 6, 2007 the Learning to Lead 2 students presented the community research project to a room full of Akanksha staff, teachers and children from other centers. Many interesting people came to watch the presentation such as a Hindustan times journalist, a British woman working for IVolunteer, Sudi, Kaushal and Nishant from Hungama(who had made the 4mn presentation video). (Advertising the event on facebook and yahoo expat group worked!) The kids seemed excited that so many people had to come to watch them discuss their project. I was incredibly proud of my kids who truly shone on stage. They were prepared, articulate and composed! Even when a few of them forgot some parts of their speeches, they remained completely composed as they tried to piece back together what they had planned to say. They seemed so mature on stage discussing issues such as garbage, sewage, smoking, education and bullying. It was apparent that they had put a lot of work into this project and they were thrilled to share their findings with others.



As usual, in any high stress situation, everything that could go wrong did. Precisely on this day the staff of Bombay International School (where Learning to Lead meets every day) decided to replace the air conditioners which requires turning off the electricity. Even after they had apparently fixed it, every time I plugged in the projector for the video, the power went out. I hopped from classroom to classroom hoping that somewhere the lights would stay on. Then the laptop we were using didn't work since the battery wasn't charged. I had used the few minutes of charge that was left on it to test the Akanksha video and discovered that the sound on the video was flawed. I desperately called Sudi, Kaushal and Nana and begged for them to bring me a new file. So let's recap: there is no electricity, the video's sound is flawed and i have no working laptop. Can you imagine how stressed out I was? My kids had worked so hard and I wanted so much for the presentation to go smoothly. My friends from Hungama had spent hours on this 4 minute video and it was important to show it. The crowd was getting impatient and my kids were ready. Someone had brought in a new laptop and the power was working and i got a new file of the presentation. I prayed that miraculously things would work out.



The presentation was a testament to how when the heart is in the right place, everything goes smoothly. The kids were so eager to present and they had worked so hard on their projects. They took pride in their work and wanted to share it with others. Everything went off without a glitch-all the tecnical things worked out and my kids were able to demonstrate the work they had done and the learnings they gained. After the presentation, a reporter from the Hindustan times interviewed two kids, who had received a prize from me. The kids were so sweet and gave me a beautiful handmade card. The LTL teachers gave me a beautiful present. I felt so happy and fulfilled in that moment. All the hours of hard work really paid off-in that moment i thought back to the day I was throwing up all day while waiting to take my kids to visit an NGO or the thirty odd hours we spent an internet cafe while the kids typed their reports with one hand. I knew that every second of energy invested into these kids yielded thousand times the return. It was a great moment because I felt so hopeful-i was watching young agents of change sharpen their tools, gain knowledge and confidence as they go out and make change in themselves, their communities and the world.