Asha had an extremely busy two weeks when teams of students and teachers from Methodist College Belfast and Ballymena Academy visited in October. Both the schools visit Asha regularly and have supported its work over the past many years.
The Methodist College team worked at Asha’s center at Kalkaji slum colony and Ballymena Academy worked at Asha’s Tigri slum colony center. The teams painted the children’s resource centres, the computer rooms and Bal Mandal meeting rooms in vibrant and educational underwater and jungle themes. These newly painted centres were inaugurated on the teams’ last day in the slum.
During their time here, the teams were engaged in a wide variety of activities with students. They organised English conversation workshops with the college and high school students and art and craft for the younger children from the slums. These sessions help the Asha students to develop their English language skills and give them a chance to learn about different cultures.
The students also visited some of the children in their homes. They were amazed to see first-hand the challenges each student living in slums faces on a day-to-day basis. The experience left the students feeling appreciative for the many blessings of their own lives. They also got an opportunity to attend Asha’s Celebration of Learning 2013 and were moved beyond words to learn about the stories of various Asha students.
Even before they arrived, the teams worked very hard to organise their trip and fundraise for Asha. Asha is humbled to have the unwavering support of such wonderful and giving friends and looks forward to having them with us again.
