“Our time with the kids is very pious – we look at it as a space for healing”.

The Patel sisters opened up the Saturday circle with some incredible stories on their experiences with children. For the last few years  through their journey with Shwaas, they have had opportunities to learn, more than teach.

They shared how the initially, they would get bogged down by instances of kids displaying greed, but soon decided to work on it, one seed at a time. From inviting a Gift Economy Rickshaw driver, to getting kids to gift away handmade bags as part of the Joy of Giving Week, both Riddhi and Siddhi have been constantly blown away by the natural tendency of kids to start giving.

As their journey with the kids continued, it didn’t just stop at generosity; they even learnt lessons in detachment. Recently, due to complications they had to let go of their self-designed space in the school. Ironically, the kids bounced back before all the volunteers, coming up with creative ideas to work out of new spaces.

As Riddhi put it, its amazing how a kid in such a harsh environment can wake up, do the household chores, go to school, work for a living and then come in to Shwaas to inspire us.

Watch more from the interaction here:
 

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Saturday Stories is a space held together at the Moved By Love Terrace in the Gandhi Ashram. Once a week, a beautiful soul drops by to share their journey with a few others. We sit in silence for 20 minutes, followed by a brief 20 minute talk by the speaker. We later open it out to a formal QnA session, followed by a more informal discussion. 

Posted by Siddharth Sthalekar on Sep 11, 2012 | permalink