Working With Juveniles In Conflict With The Law

This summer, I got an opportunity to work with a Non Government Organization in India. It all started when I arrived at the country to visit my grandparents. I visited them, and asked them if they knew of any projects that I could work on, they said that they weren't familiar with any. Hearing this response, I decided to make it my job to find a project to work on in the summer. I researched on the internet about different NGO's that were looking for volunteers, I was able to find a list of them. They all stood for a variety of causes that the country was facing. The one that caught my eye though, was a NGO that worked with young children, who were in conflict with the law. These children were boys who ranged from the ages as low as 5 years old, to 17 years old. These children were usually in trouble with the law for some form of substance abuse. My interest in becoming a lawyer at that time, led me to sending an email to them asking for any volunteering opportunities. I scheduled a meeting with the person who started the organisation.

The next week, I went to the nearest spym office and I was surprised to see that the person who created this organisation was well accomplished. He had earned a variety honorable awards, even from the President of India. I waited for a while, and then he arrived. At first he misunderstood me for a college student due to my height, but after I told him that I had just graduated middle school, the first question he asked me was why I wanted to volunteer? I wasn’t very surprised when he asked me this question, because the concept of volunteering and community service isn’t really enforced on the young generations in India. I answered that I was interested in learning about these children, and making a difference in society. I also said that the actions I take now, will transform society, and even me as a person. He said that due to my age, I wouldn’t be able to work with the children, but I would be able to perform some other jobs that don’t require children interactions.

The following day, I went to the juvenile program spym. The car ride to the place took two hours, and it felt like forever. My mom came along with me, because she said that she wanted to meet with her friend who lived near the place we were going to. I walked into the building, and I was shocked to see that they were some really young kids at the place. I went to the office and met the person incharge of this project. He began by showing me around, and introducing me to the project I would be working on. He said that I would get to work on the documentation aspect, since I wasn’t allowed to meet the children. He assigned me three case studies, that were basically notes taken from counselling sessions the children had attended. He said he wanted me to convert these notes, into a story about each of these children. He wanted me to write about how they landed in this facility based on the notes.

I began writing the case study accounts, and as I was reading them, I could see the different walks of life people come from. I was able to closely look and examine the different reasons the children seeked comfort in substance abuse. I was able to conclude that the, children were influenced by their parents habits of smoking, and/or were pressurised by their peers into taking up drugs. Also, I noticed that the children were successful in picking up the habit of doing drugs, because their parents didn’t pay enough attention to them. Two of the children said that their parents worked full time jobs, and another said that his dad worked full time and his mom spent most of her time looking after his younger siblings.

After reading all the case studies thoroughly, I could conclude that child negligence was probably the main reason the children sought substance abuse.

I worked on the project for around 3-4 hours everyday for a week. I hated the two hour commute to the place, but I still woke up early in the summer and went to volunteer. On the final day of my project, the person in charge, let me observe what they teach the children. I went into the classroom at the facility, and saw that they used examples of celebrity's to teach the children about substance abuse. When I asked why, they said it was because the children could recognize the public figures, and could identify a past similar to theirs. At this point I even asked why there were young children at the facility? He answered that many times, the kids are there because they were found on a scene of crime that involved alcohol or drugs. In many cases the child has not done anything, but since they have seen what has taken place, they don't want that to influence the child's future behaviour, so the child is brought to their facility. I felt very enlightened after receiving these answers.

At the end of my summer trip, I felt very accomplished. I had seen a part of the country that most people hadn't, and the best part was I could contribute towards helping it. Picking this project up  was a great choice I made for myself. I was able to learn about juveniles in conflict with the law, and help them.

7th Grade Art Class

My exams had just got over, and summer had begun. Children, around my area would usually spend their afternoons watching television. Even I spent my first two afternoons fruitlessly watching television. After a while it got boring, the shows kept on playing on repeat, and it felt like I knew the dialogues of the cartoon characters better than the creators. That is when I got the idea of picking up a summer project. I wanted to do something during the summer, something that I would enjoy, and would not lead to me aimlessly watching television. I thought of conducting art classes in the neighborhood.

I myself, having done a three year course in art, thought of teaching the children what I had learnt. This way the children in my neighborhood would be able to “make hay while the sun shines”. This way, instead of aimlessly watching cartoons, they could spend two hours learning something new. Also, art being a subject which requires patience, would not only teach the children creativity, but would also help them develop the skills of being patient.

As soon as I got the idea, I decided to make posters and distribute them. My posters were handmade, as I wanted the children to get a glimpse of my art skills. Once the posters were done, I made a list of people who might be interested in joining. I then went door to door, with my posters, asking the people if they wanted their kids to join my art class. Sometimes when the kids opened the door, they were rude to me. One of the kids, took my poster, and laughed and threw away the poster. I didn’t let silly kids stop me from doing what I wanted to do. I went to around 7 to 8 houses, and from that only 2 houses confirmed. I had only three confirmed students, I had expected at least 4. I had also kept a small nonprofit fees of hundred rupees that would go towards the art material.

On the first day my plan was to teach my students glass painting. Since, the children were aged between six to twelve years, I had decided to use glass sheets and markers. Using glass sheets and markers would be an easier form of glass painting. At first the three children who had confirmed appeared at my door. I was going to start the class when three more children walked in. I was surprised because they had not confirmed. One of the houses that had confirmed two children, came with their mother. I understood why, how could could people just trust a seventh grade girl to each their children art? Their mother wanted to know what I would be teaching. and about my past experiences in art. I showed her some of my artwork, and discussed what I would be teaching in the three days. She was happy, and then she left her children at my house. All the children were excited to learn. There were four 7 year old girls, and a 10 year old and a 11 year old girl. The two older girls decided to draw a parrot, and the younger girls decided to draw a scenery for their glass paintings. I assisted the younger kids in drawing the scenery on paper first. After drawing it on paper, I gave all of them transparencies to trace their drawing onto. They didn’t require much help tracing. After they were done tracing with permanent markers, I handed them colorful markers, to color only certain parts of their art piece. They were done with their first piece in 2 to 3 hours. I realised that I had underestimated the time it would take.

For the next day, I had started preparing in advance, because we were going to paint. I had planned to do a painting with air dry clay. We were going to make seahorses out of clay and stick them onto a wooden board. I precut the board into rectangles with the help of the maid. The children began to arrive, and they all looked excited. We began y painting the boards pink, as a background color. This took us half an hour. After that, we opened the air dry clay and began shaping it into a seahorse. This was the tricky part because most of the kids were unable to work with the clay. I helped them in this part, and we ended up spending 1 hour making the seahorse. Then, we began to stick the seahorses onto the the boards. They all looked different, but they all resembled a seahorse. With this, we ended the second day.

On the next day, I took out a variety of poster colours, because the seahorses were going to be colorful. Everyone was excited to paint. We began painting the seahorses different colors, this only took up half an hour. After that, we let the paint dry. While the paint dried, I decided to use that time to teach them how to make gift boxes. I handed out origami paper, and we began making boxes. When the paint dried, I gave them permanent markers to draw patterns on the seahorses body. I let them look at my already completed seahorse for ideas. Some of the kids finished early, so I asked them to paint bubbles in the background. We completed painting the seahorses in 2 hours, and everyone was done with the class. I told them that they could leave their seahorses with me if they wanted them to dry, and they could collect them in the evening. The ones who had finished early took the seahorses with them, while the others left them and took them from me in the evening.

At the end I had a really fun time glass painting, painting on wooden boards, and making boxes with the kids. In the evening, when I met them they said that they enjoyed the classes. The parents liked the artwork the kids produced. For me, it was three days well spent.