April 2014
| Making Progress | Welcome to another release of PTW magazine. It has been a very busy period between February and April for Project Third World, and will only pick up from here. Over the month of February, Project Third World made ways to purchase over 400 text books and over 600 exercise books, along with clothing and food donations to our three projects: the Tumaini Drop-In Centre of Eldoret, the Rescue Centre of Eldoret and the Little Angels Public School of Faridabad. From here, Project Third World will be working with the managers and staff of the various projects to develop and establish better educational assets, as well as healthier school environments. As we continue to develop these schools and orphanages, we are also looking to expand on our reach of help. We are currently in the process of deciding on our next project which will be set in Australia to help severely disadvantaged children. Of course, non of this would be possible without continuation of ongoing support and increasing support. In Bendigo, we started the year by hosting our first Movie Night at the Bendigo Cinema. Thanks to the great help and support of our Bendigo Team and members, we raised over $250. The fitness classes in Bendigo have also started and increasing numbers has resulted in the opening of a new fitness class on Mondays following the Easter Break. This means that Bendigo will have fitness classes on Mondays and Wednesdays during the university year. In Melbourne, the Sunday fitness classes are still continuing but there is always room for more. If you are finding it hard to get motivated, come down and give the class a go. No age restrictions, no athletic or physical capabilities required; just come down and give it a go! The Melbourne Movie Night will also be held on the 27th of April and will be hosted by
Camberwell Grammar. Please come down for what will be a fun and sociable event. In Eldoret University we are currently processing students to start volunteering and assisting in our project schools there. We thank the students who have put their hand up to help their own people and community and are very proud to have such enthusiastic students participate in Project Third World’s initiatives Project Third World is steadily developing and growing. It always great to have people put their hand up to volunteer and assist with our work. To those who ask the question “how can we help?”, the answer is quite simply to be active in our events and keep up-to-date with our activities, and most importantly, embody our philosophies and principles of living a healthy and well-educated life.
April 2014
-Project Third World
VOL. 1, NO. 3 |2013
4| The Naked Chef: Jamie Oliver is without doubt the greatest ambassador and pioneer of simple, healthy and tasty eating. We pay tribute to him by highlighting 2 of his most simplest recipes. 6| Influenza: Probably the most common disease and you might not even know what it is.
8| Anxiety and Stress: One of the greatest threats to your health and wellbeing; we’ll show you simple ways to manage it 10| The Roger Federer Foundation: We sat down with the Swiss Master’s foundation manager to find out what goes on beyond the court.
13| Tennis: This is a game that should be played, not watched. 14| Cover Story: By the time Kyle Smitley reached 30, she achieved more than what most do in a life-time. We sat down with her to find out how and why she has achieved so much for others. 20| Little Angels Public School: Find out more about our Project in India and what really lies within India; behind the glitz and glamour of Bollywood and a culture full of colour.
The Roger Federer Foundation is celebrating its 10’th birthday. We thought we’d take a look into what they have done in that time, and what they will do over the years to come. April 2014
Jamie Oliver has made a name for himself as a world-renown chef, a campaigner for health, advocate for fun and model for active and positive change. This month we decided to pay tribute to the legend and learn a few simple, easy and healthy recipes from him. April 2014
Jamie Oliver’s Simple QuickFix Recipes will have you enjoying food longer than cooking it. Corn salsa Ingredients: 4 corn on the cob ½ a bunch of fresh coriander ½ a fresh red chilli 4 spring onions 3 ripe tomatoes sea salt 2 limes 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1. Place a griddle pan on a medium-high heat to warm up. 2. Once hot, carefully add the corn and cook for around 15 minutes, or until hot through and lightly golden all over, turning with tongs regularly for even cooking. 3. Remove to a chopping board and leave to cool slightly. 4. Hold the charred corn steady on the board using a tea towel to protect your hand, then carefully run a knife down the sides to cut off the kernels, then put the kernels in a mixing bowl. 5. Pick and roughly chop the coriander leaves, discarding the stalks, then add them to the bowl. 6. Cut the chilli in half lengthways. 7. Hold the stalk end of each half steady, then run a teaspoon down the cut sides to scoop out the seeds and white pith. 8. Finely slice half the chilli, place in the bowl (save the rest for another recipe), then wash your hands thoroughly. 9. Trim and finely slice the spring onions, then add to the bowl. 10. Chop up the tomatoes and add them to the bowl with a tiny pinch of salt. 11. Cut the limes in half. 12. Squeeze all the juice into the bowl, drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil and mix well, then serve. Tip: Using the palm of your hand, press and roll the limes around on a work surface before you cut them in half – it'll help you to squeeze lots more juice out of them.
April 2014
Kiwi fruit, ginger & ba- Do You Have Your Defenses Up? Influenza nana smoothie Is Coming Back On Attack. 3 kiwi fruit –Lauren Simionato, Medical Editor 4 tablespoons organic porridge oats Influenza is a seasonal infection, caused by viral strains that circu1 banana late through an annual influenza cycle. It is a highly contagious air8 ice cubes borne disease that can cause a highly variable illness – from a mild 200 ml organic milk 250 g organic fat-free natural yo- fever and cough to respiratory distress and death. ghurt ½ cm piece fresh ginger, finely grated 2-3 teaspoons honey, to taste Smoothies are usually the easiest way of encouraging your kids to try different types of fruit. Simply decide on a good combination of flavours, whiz it all up and drink! Kids will love to get involved with making these as well because they can chuck it all in and blend it up themselves. Once they know what to do, put them in charge of making smoothies for the whole family at breakfast time. Top and tail the kiwi fruit and stand Typically, flu symptoms progress over a few days and include the them on their ends. Slice the skin off in following: cough, fever, sore throat, muscle and joint aches and vertical strips with a sharp knife. Whiz pains, headache, fatigue, runny nose and red watery eyes. The the kiwi fruit with the remaining ingre- cough is usually dry and may be associated with chest pain, the dients, apart from the honey, in a is usually frontal, and people may also experience pain blender for 30 seconds and pour into 4 headache and aching in their eyes. The fatigue is often severe, preventing intall glasses. Sweeten with honey, if you dividuals from performing their normal daily functions and are oflike. ten unable to work. Symptoms usually last for 3-5 days, however tiredness can persist for over a week. A dangerous complication in the elderly is the development of bacterial pneumonia in the weeks following an influenza infection.
Diagnosis of influenza infection is predominantly a clinical one, however testing can be performed on throat swabs to diagnose the condition. Most patients benefit from simple bed rest. Occasionally antiviral medications can also be used, but are only effective if administered within 48 hours of symptom onset. They do not “cure” the illness, but may help reduce the duration and severity of illness. The most effective treatment of influenza however is prevention, through yearly vaccination. Each year, the vaccine is produced to protect against strains most likely to cause infection during the upcoming winter season. Vaccination does not only protect the individual, but also the spread of disease amongst the wider community, particularly to those most vulnerable – children and the elderly population. The vaccine becomes effective approximately two weeks after administration. The vaccine itself can cause some symptoms of the flu, such as mild muscle and joint aches, however it does not cause the flu itself. These symptoms are transient and are not a contraindication for receiving the vaccine. Having the flu can be terribly miserable and fatiguing, the best treatment being rest and TLC. Avoiding the flu all together is the best strategy to avoid these symptoms, primarily through yearly vaccination in the time leading up with winter (which is now!). April 2014
April 2014
Anxiety and stress are increasing in our society, yet it still remains a very closed-off topic. For your health, it certainly isn’t something to keep inside. Here’s just a few simple ways of relieving that unhealthy tension. Regena Margaret– Wellbeing Editor “I was about 9 when I first felt it. I’m in now in my late twenties and am only just learning how to control it.” Maria 28, Narre Warren. “It happens to me when I have to speak in public. The first time it happened, I honestly thought I was having a heart attack.” Mark 45, Pakenham. “My hands sweat, my heart pounds, my breathing slows and quickens at the same time.” Raquel 32, Bundoora. Feeling anxious in situations such as a first date, the first day at school or a job interview is perfectly natural, and is in fact the body’s way to keep you slightly alert during what it perceives to be a stressful period. When anxiety begins to impede on your everyday life and interfere with your activities, however, is when it is time to take control of your anxiety rather than letting it control you. As anxiety itself is a combination of different reactions, both physically and mentally to a situation it is hard to pin-point an exact definitions, however there are a number of similar symptoms that people who suffer from anxiety experience. The most commonly reported physical symptom of anxiety is a drum-like thumping of the heart and a rising in blood pressure. Rapid, shallow breathing follows and many people also experience sweating in places such as their palms, brows and backs. On a physiological level anxiety can cause your Sympathetic Nervous System to “kick into over drive” and enables the body’s fight or flight response. Chemicals such as adrenaline and catecholamine are released into the body allowing for a quick response to a stressful situation. Anxiety and anxiety attacks are commonly used as interchangeable definitions in everyday discussion; however there are distinct differences between the two. Feeling anxious can have effects on the body such as described above and can also include trembling, shaking, tightness in the chest and stomach and other symptoms which vary from person to person. An anxiety attack is a much more severe physiological reaction to a situation and can encompass all of
the aforementioned as well as lead to a person having trouble breathing to the degree in which medical professionals need to be called, or they may even fall unconscious. Anxiety is most commonly treated as a learned physiological reaction to external stimuli and there are many ways to begin to move through it. Within my own client group, the most shared feeling towards anxiety is a loss of control. There are numerous methods I use with my clients to help them to overcome these emotions, and I hope that by sharing them that may help you too. The first activity is a preventative measure. It is a very simple activity which only needs to be prepared once and can then be carried on your person for when you feel the signs of anxiety begin; I call it “The Calm Card”. Get a piece of cardboard and cut out a business card sized rectangle. On one side write down your three most noticeable anxiety symptoms – for example; drumming heart, lip biting and shallow breathing. On the other side write down a way to counter each of these – for example; counting slowly to 60 with a clock or watch (this helps to modify the heart rate and reduce the pace), taking some deep calming breaths and going for a 5 minute walk if possible. You can put as many as you can fit on your card and then simply place it in your wallet so it will be accessible at all times.
April 2014
Another way to counter anxiety is to use mindfulness. This is an internal process in which a person focuses their attention and awareness on something specific and allows other thoughts and feelings to come and leave, as they do not have your full attention. Mindfulness takes practice, yet it is a wonderful tool and can be used in many ways in a variety of situations. My preferred method of mindfulness is to create a ‘happy-haven’ in the mind wherein a person can go when they are feeling anxious. My happy-haven consists of rolling green hills, weeping willows, animals and birds, and the sound of light falling rain as I read sheltered under a tree overlooking a lake. It is important to find the right happy-haven to suit you as not everyone will have the same or even similar needs. Visit your happyhaven when you are feeling the anxiety begin to overwhelm you, and then come back to the here and now once you feel your body begin to relax. There are other ways to combat anxiety including walking and general exercise, reading or writing in a journal, talking to a family member or friend, listening to music you find soothing, meditations and guided visualisations, self-pampering and bubble-baths, and of course there is always the option to speak to a professional with experience in assisting people overcome their anxiety and stress. Beyond Blue - http://
www.beyondblue.org.au – is a wonderful resource and information site which offers tips and counselling to assist you in overcoming stress. If you are between 5 and 25 the Kids Help Line – 1800 551 800 – is a great service for people with anxiety and can offer confidential support, refer you elsewhere for specialised support and is a free call. If you are feeling anxious or stressed reach out, because help is available. The main things to remember when you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed are to breath, take a few moments to think, refer to your Calm Card and talk it over with someone.
April 2014
Roger Federer is probably known as the greatest tennis player of all time, but to those who know him well, being the greatest Tennis Player isn’t all that defines the Swiss Master. We thought we’d take a look into how our idols find time to help the world, and why it so important. We sat with the manager of the Roger Federer Foundation, Janine Händel, and found out more about their work
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“Roger started by registering his foundation ten years ago in Switzerland. When he won his first award as a sportsman in Switzerland, he put his prize money into instilling his foundation. During the first years we started as a donation-based charity where we supported financially one organization in South Africa. In the beginning it
the field but we are not conducting the activities ourselves. Our programs are running in villages that are very disadvantaged and rural. We work with the educational institutions themselves including the preschools, kindergartens and school and improve their quality of education. That way all children who come to that school are bene-
efforts and impact. We do not conduct volunteering activities with international volunteers. Volunteering is a very complex issue. We aren’t cleaning parks in Melbourne- if it was something like that then volunteering wouldn’t be an issue. In our field of action, if international volunteering isn’t done properly, it can do a lot of harm, so we decided not to start in that very tricky and very complex area. The local villagers and local people are our volunteers. It doesn’t make sense for us to fund and send people from Switzerland to go to Africa and have a good time in bush-parts of Africa. It is the locals who should volunteer and work towards the solution of their own problems.” Many sports starts find ways of helping others by promoting their own sport, but for Roger, promoting tennis is not really where he felt help was needed. Instead, he chose to help the world through education. “When you do private philanthrodidn’t take a lot of time because fiting. like this, it is important to take our engagement was limited to a Last year we helped 86,000 chil- py something you can identify with. financial contribution. It started dren, and by 2018 we want to Needs are everywhere, prosmall and grew a little over time, reach 1,000,000 people. Over the grams and good partnersgood are all but it wasn’t until 2010 where the first phase of a new program, we over the world, and needs are in all board made the decision to become always try to find out if our ap- kinds of topics. I always advise the more effective in what we are do- proach is really helping or not and private donors to find something ing and we started a professional having an impact. If we find the they are passionate about- whether promotion and grant-making foun- right approach, only then do we it be health or education or child dation. We became partners with scale up in a second phase. It is soldiers, it doesn’t matter. It dethe organizations that we are pro- exciting to see that we are at that pends on your personal story and moting in a comprehensive way, stage in several programs, which is your personal ‘gousto’ as well. Edand not just donors; and that’s why why we feel we can double our ucation is something Roger can the time engagement that Roger and the rest of the foundation puts into the foundation went up a lot in 2010. The board is mostly the Federer family themselves supported by foundation specialists or Roger’s manager. We partner directly with local organizations in different countries in Southern Africa and Switzerland. At the moment we are partnering with 13 organizations and our partners are implementing change in their countries. We help financially and also through mentoring and coaching. We are there for the strategy, the due diligence and learning in April 2014
identify with and is logical to him, and Southern Africa is a place he feels home. He says “if I invest in education, this is something sustainable”. Sports is not an essential engagements on its own. It is a side-activity within education or physical health. Where we help, they don’t need the physical aspect of sports because they walk 10km every day. For them it is about promoting the values of sport, such as rules, playing fairly and teamwork and not necessarily about implementing sports. The quality of education is so low and lacking, that the promotion of sports themselves is something that has a lower priority for many years to come. Roger wanted to do something at the very fundamental level and not just about promoting the sport he does. Tennis might seem like the closest
something you like to do, or something that is important to you, you will always find the time- it is a matter of priority”. It’s not that he goes every year to visit the project either; he is very busy with his agenda and the tennis timetable and concentrates more on strategic discussions and decisions throughout the year. For Roger it is important that he is a role model for younger players. If Roger has time to help, then younger players should have time for it too.” Roger was fortunate enough to have mentoring and advice from his parents, coaches and other athletes in regards to being a complete person, which is why he also feels it is important for other younger people and younger tennis plaything to Roger, but that doesn’t ers to broaden their horizons too. mean he will tell people that they need to play tennis. He’s not a missionary kind of guy.” Every year Roger competes in all the world gram-slams, spends hours on the court training, and also takes care of his wife and two children, so it’s often difficult to figure out how Roger could possibly have the time to run his foundation. As Janine told us, it’s all a matter of priority setting: What is the most important thing to do in your limited time. “Instead of spending time on the red carpets or doing other activities he invests time in philanthropy. Roger always said “if there is April 2014
“The Foundation is a very typical representation of the person who he is. The wish to give back is an old wish by Roger because this is how Roger is educated- if you are well, you need to share with others. For him, it was important to start early. Many start their philanthropic engagement at the end of their career, and it was Andre Agassi who told Roger “If I could have done anything different, it would have been to start my Foundation earlier in my career”. Federer found that doing this kind of work makes you a more complete person and not just a “tennis player” in an isolated life. It is important for the younger players to have other aspects in life and other values; and that makes Roger the person who he is, because he is very fair and more than just a tennis player.”
The benefits of tennis can be found on the court, not on the TV
-Jay Himat, Sports & Activities Editor
I don’t know what it is about Tennis. I love it once a year for no longer than two weeks. It’s normally around January, and once that two week block is over, I forget about my dream to win Grand Slams and earn millions hitting a tennis ball; I focus on my so called ‘career’ (whatever that is!) It’s the Australian Open- That two block period during the middle of January when I lose all senses and I forget my surroundings. I’m awe inspired by channels seven’s ability to make a wet tennis ball bounce in slow motion with Aero Smiths’ “I don’t want to miss a thing playing”. It’s magical. Truly. Media has the ability to capitulate, inspire and energize any normal being to believe that even the simplest things in life are truly wonderful.
ity to walk for the remainder of the ball flying over the net. All these week). factors come together every time you hit a ball – helping synchronize movements with body parts I remember that the change of di- and require a full range of motions rection, the ability to sprint repeat- to develop strength, flexibility edly, jump when needed and con- and coordination. centrate for long periods was some aspects of the game which made it difficult. Worried about your bones as you get older? Well, exercising regularly can increase your peak bone Surely my 16-year-old, 55kg mass and can slow the rate of bone frame was getting some benefits mass loss over time. Tennis is a from all this hard work? So what sport that has minimal contact & are they? Well, these benefits can allow participation regularly. have been researched for some According to America’s National time. In fact back in the 80’s the Institutes of Health, bone mass peaks around age 30 and begins to decline past that age; they believe tennis is one of the weight-bearing activities well suited to building strong bones.
Oh, a bit of tennis is played as well; but for the most part, it takes a back seat. Well for myself anyway. I’m not interested in the hard work needed to achieve access to a grand slam, the hours of preparation by the athletes to compete at such a high level, and I’m most definitely not interested in the ‘teams’ ability to glorify an athlete; for what? Hitting a ball over the net? What nonsense! No, wait. I’m not so blindly in love. I played tennis back at school. No media were present, no inspirational music between matches and most definitely no support from people around the globe. It was simply tennis in its purest form, and… It was hard! I remember telling Dad to massage my cramping calves on Saturday nights and mum to get to work on my hamstrings (more to feel like a semi – professional athlete and partly so that I could have the abil-
As a person who plays tennis, I personally think that tennis helps concentration. Having the ability to repeatedly perform actions under pressure is incredibly mind bearing and concentrating is a focal point College Alumni Health Study for many athletes. Normally the showed that overweight men who athletes that have the mental stamburn at least 2,000 calories per ina will overpower the weak mindweek through exercise have lower ed. To me, hard work is 90% in death rates from heart disease the mind – the body is only in concompared to those who do not. trol of 10% of all effort. They also live longer on average. Tennis can certainly help a long way towards this goal and most Wow! So let me recap. You can likely push past it quite easily. earn millions playing, have numerous health benefits, have supporters from all over the globe all for The benefits don’t end there. Ten- being able to consistently win nis is a sport that requires the co- points from hitting a ball over the operation of the whole body. Your net? Sounds easy! I’m capitulated, feet maneuver you into the right inspired and energized (and it position, the arms and hands posi- doesn’t even have to be January!) tion the racquet to make contact Get out there, have a hit & most with the ball, and the torso and importantly enjoy this great sport! legs provide the power to send the April 2014
By the time she was 24, Kyle Smitely had established and managed her own multi-million-dollar company, and by the age of 29, she had established and run her own not-forprofit-school. Both started in the aim of helping others. Naturally, PTW wanted to talk to her and find out more about her impressive story.
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Kyle was an incredibly ambitious girl from an early age. This ambition partnered with a strong awareness for business started her on a path towards success. “I’m original from a small town in the state of Ohio. I went to college and studied philosophy and geology- both of which are very different and very unemployable in America, so I decided to take an internship in Washington DC. Long story short, I started working for a consulting group that wanted my environmental science background to look for kids’ products. In that time, I noticed a huge gap in the market of companies that were: environmentally responsible, did good things in the world rather than bad, were transparent and had really affluent standards. I started this company called Barley and Birch by myself at the age of 23 on the premise that parents and children deserve better. Originally I was the sole-founder and soleinvestor, but we ended up with a staff of approximately 35. My goals when I started were to just make it for a year, donate enough money so that kids in Central America could afford school supplies, and just give parents a better option. In reality, I never expected it to be a big thing and I never thought I would be any good at it either. Over here we are taught that unless you study business and go to a great business school, you aren’t going to hack it in the business world, so the idea of it succeeding never crossed my mind. I thought I would just raise a small amount of money and go from
there. I did a lot of research and simple searches on how to do things, along with making phone calls. I was naïve enough to think that everyone I call would be willing to help out and give information; but on the whole many people did help point me in the
right direction. The best way to learn was to make mistakes and just ‘fall flat on your face’ and see what works and what doesn’t work.
In my second year at Law I was interviewed by Inc Magazine which is the top magazine for start -ups in America. They named me one of America’s top 30 entrepreneurs under 30, which shocked me because in my mind I was just a total idiot who was just barely figuring it out; I did have a couple of celebrity clients and things were really picking up but the interview did make me feel like maybe the company was April 2014
working. We helped in Central America whilst I was running Barely and Birch, and I found that a little bit of money can go a really long way and make a huge impact. We did a lot of small grants for different things like community groups that needed money. In Haiti we also funded and built a school and built a children school and funded the running of them. We donate half of our profits at Barely and Birch to the areas we help It is a grind to really make it work and people underestimate the emotional toll and the energy it takes to do something like this; it becomes a double-edged sword. You end up having an obsession for what you do and at the same time, this obsession ends up taking over you and you end up working unmeasurable hours. A lot of people really wouldn’t want that kind of life. I was also a full-time Law student which made things thatmuch harder and so I had no life for 3 years; no events, no parties, nothing- even when the business was successful. Being an entrepreneur can have so many different forms. You can still we working a nine-to-five job and still be an entrepreneur in other aspects of your life; not just working life. You can be an entrepreneur in your personal life or in volunteering and more. It is good to be multifaceted but the best way to learn about business and to figure out what works for you and how business works is to work retail for a large company. I think it’s good to try something from scratch when
you are young because you don’t have the responsibility of an adult life; but there’s also invaluable merit and gain to be had from watching others and being part of other companies who have done it already. By the time I graduated from Law at the age of 22, the company had grown into a multimillion-dollar company and it was donating a lot of money to great places, which I was excited about. A year after I finished Law school, I was able to join with my fellow young entrepreneur in this network where there are a lot of parties and fan-fairs, and it was very self-congratulatory. I felt something was missing in this world where we were just being congratulated on making money, so I began throwing myself into the places we were helping. One of those places was a school in Chicago where there are many people who cannot afford good schooling for their children, and is a place where there was a need for better and accessible education. After a while, I didn’t feel happy with this lifestyle that I was in, and so I decided to sell my company by the time I was 28 and move to Detroit and just volunteer or donate money to a school similar to the one I helped with in Chicago. I see education as a great equaliz-
er, but I really questioned why schools in poorer areas were so much worse; I felt that education in America was a big anomaly and unbalanced. In developing the school, it was logistically and legally a great battle. Originally we were rejected and written-off, but after a while the officials came back to us and felt that we could do it. Then other small and technical difficulties were constant. Everything from staffing and building was difficult, adding onto
the fact that Detroit is poorest and most dangerous sub-code in the state. I found out that education statistics are quick scary in Detroit too. I found out that only 4% of students are proficient, meaning that only 4 out of every 100 are on grade-level and satisfactory. April 2014
From that I felt that I should start a school. There were a lot of businessorientated people that knew how to build and run schools and were taking a lot of money out of the schools for their own personal gain; so I felt that there was a lot of room for improvement and it was something that I could
do best. It was definitely a risk and great battle apart from one aspect- the embracement of the neighbourhood. So many people welcomed us in and welcomed our idea. With racial tensions in America, people thought that we would be treated badly and inhospitably, but that definitely wasn’t the case. It is very much apples-and-oranges because places in the third world like Haiti are much easier to volunteer in and have no infrastructure whilst in the USA it is the other extreme where it is overly combust behemoth of an infrastructure. In the third world, it is so underdeveloped whilst in the States it is so overdeveloped that no-one can change anything because there is so much Law, and Unions and lobbying groups making everything so prohibited. To raise money we had a small amount of state funding, but not much at all. We did everything we could to raise money including asking for donations from friends
and family and the neighbourhood. Our first rdday of school was September 3 2013, we currently have 40 students. We are one of three non-for-profit schools in Detroit and Detroit also is the lowestperforming district in the country. Many of the families are below the poverty line. We started at kindergarten and grade one to establish a level of learning. We also wanted to feed our schools good food like granola, strawberries and yoghurt; not rubbish. America also has an extremely high level of obesity and we wanted to teach them about eating good food and eating properly. The biggest costs are pay -roll and rent for the school. The kids tend to choose what they want to learn. At the moment the children have a fascination with snakes so we teach them about snakes. They feel that they’re in control of what they’re at school for so they enjoy learning. Our students are all AfricanAmerican which is the majority in Detroit, but for the rest of the United States it is the minority. Some of our students live in stable households whilst some are completely homeless. It’s really great to see that the kids love school. The parents ask us “why does our child come from school and want to play more school?” All our kids and parents are very happy with the school, which is very encouraging. We’ve had a lot of ideas and theories for a long time and it’s finally great to see them work-
ing. The school is free for all the children and families. We also have great volunteers who help with administration work like looking after our donated library and painting the school. We’ll be taking on a new grade next year which will be exciting and we will keep growing bit by bit. Next year we will need to find a new location because we are outgrowing our space. We want to be the best school in the city, state and country and show that doing things for the right reasons, and not for money or fame, will help us achieve a lot for our children and change the game.” Now that Kyle has turned 30, we thought we’d find out what the
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next decade of her life will bring: “I’m toiling around with the idea of writing a book. A lot of people don’t understand the politics of education in America, so I might right about that. Other than that, I am trying to just live a really normal life now and settle down a bit, have a boyfriend, have a friend, not keep flying everywhere all the time and just be a normal person. I’m getting the business itch again but I feel like I need to calm down and just focus on the school more.” Kyle went from an environmental student, to a legal professional, to a multi-millionaire and CEO, but found education was where she gained the most. We asked her what the reason for this was: I feel education is everything and is the only way people can make a meaningful life for themselves. A lot people have this mentality that education equals to success and fortune, whilst really education is really the ability to follow your hopes and dreams and achieving your own goals. The power of education is being able to give people the tools to let them follow their own path. For some people, education is about getting a nice house and car, and that’s fine; whilst someone might be a brilliant artist and completely broke and that is still lovely when they’re also happy.
Nine Weeks With Little Angels -Katherine Singh, India Projects Liaison Nine Weeks with Little Angels Katherine Singh When you really think about it, the decision to volunteer abroad is in actuality quite a selfish one. You plan, and book, and travel to a far off destination under the optimistic pretence that you will be selflessly and unconditionally “giving”; giving time, money, resources, love. And while this isn't a misguided or inaccurate assumption, we are naive to think that what we give can in any way equal or surpass what we receive in return. Volunteering is selfish in that no matter what or how much you “give”, what you receive from the experience – the people, the places – is infinitely greater. Like many great cliches, my decision to volunteer initially arose as the optimistic means by which to fulfil the ever elusive and ever present task of “finding myself”, a duty I know to plague eve-
ryone no matter their age, and one which can never fully be realized. Having talked and listlessly dreamed of volunteering before – all the different and unique experiences and people you'd meet – nothing had ever come to fruition, with “real life” always seeming to get in the way. But after a particularly difficult year in my life, volunteering abroad came to me more as a necessity than a decision. After blindly following the pack for my first twenty years, I finally came to the realization that what I thought I should be doing wasn't what I needed, and wasn't making me happy at all. I needed to find my own happiness, however that may look, and ultimately needed to put things into perspective. A tall order, I needed to relearn how to appreciate the simplest things in life, and enviable trait we all possess as children and lose somewhere on the way to adulthood – and I needed to do something “bigger” than myself, bigger than my own problems, bigger than what I was accustomed to. Furthering my desire to volunteer was a love of working with children, as well April 2014
as a belief in the importance of education. Having a father who grew up in a developing country, I've long been told about the importance of and difference a good
education, and a dedication to education can make. And it is with these factors in mind that I found myself on a plane this past January – armed with a minor Mother Theresa complex, a copy of Shantaram and no teaching experience whatsoever, headed for India. Much like my decision to volunteer, my choice of India was deeply personal – holding both a familial connection through my ancestors as well as an irresistible allure. As a country of contradictions, India and its different cultures did and still do fascinate me, and I wanted to wholeheartedly immerse myself in the communities and people. But what truly drew me to India was the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, the glaring disparity I'd heard of from relatives and secondhand sources, but had yet to experience. It was baffling to me that a country of such beauty – vibrant colours, enticing scents – could also house such ugliness in the form of intense poverty and unimaginable
living conditions for many of its people, a disparity I would soon witness first hand, Having chosen to volunteer through International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ) and partake in their Slum Teaching program, I was both nervous and incredibly excited for what awaited me on my first day. The area the school is located in is Faridabad, Haryana – a city just outside the bustling metropolitan of Delhi, but more evocative of rural India with its traditionalism and conservative culture. Assigned to teach at Little Angels Slum School in sector three, the other volunteers and I were immediately thrown into the thick of daily life in the slum. Just off the main road and haphazardly placed overlooking the “river” - a generous term for the unmoving brown and garbage strewn water which ran alongside the embankment- the brick and wood houses of the slum are painted tropical colours – the lightest of turquoises and pinks – more reminiscent of Caribbean beach homes than its actual use. Within the main road through the slum, cow paddies line the sides of the walkways as bare bottomed children run in and out of houses. Women stand outside in the most brilliant coloured saris, tending to children or animals, their heads covered, arms stacked and clinking with bangles. Everyone is outside, most are smiling and everyone is extremely friendly, smiling and waving as we walk past. Nestled between these homes, down one of
the numerous unmarked alleyways, is Little Angels. A two room school with two chalkboards and almost 100 kids ranging from age three to fifteen, Little Angels is the epitome of organized chaos. Working in the younger class, where the youngest of students is barely potty trained and largely interested in colouring and teething, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – if not the most rewarding. Taught by an eighteen year old girl who herself lives in the slum, the class is a mismatch of varying levels and capabilities, with many of the older kids at lower levels than their younger counterparts. Arriving the first day of class, I was impressed to see the kids copying and reciting English words off the blackboard; so it was shocking to discover, upon going over their workbooks with them individually, that many of the kids in actuality didn't know what the words meant. Having memorized “cat” and “boat”, when asked to identify the individual letters, they had no idea that “cat”| starts with the letter “c”, and were unable to identify the letters of the alphabet. By no means any fault of theirs, this seemed to be a constant theme throughout my time at the school, with the kids repeatedly writing the same set of English words for weeks on end, but without actually learning how to properly spell them. Further constraining was the ratio of kids to teachers, and April 2014
the lack of a lesson plan. Artie, the teacher, works incredibly hard and is so dedicated to the kids – but not having much of an education herself, and with the wide range in student's comprehension, is unable to properly employ a lesson plan – which leaves a large number of students sitting around doing nothing for most of the day, as the volunteers try to work individually with each student. The language barrier – and my terrible Hindialso proved to be an inhibiting factor with both the teacher and the students, as it made it difficult to communicate and get points across. In essence, the resources just aren't there for this school, and many other like Little Angels. In a somewhat tragic cycle – various people from the teachers to the volunteers to the local community are working incredibly hard to help these kids, and most of them are so eager to learn, but there seems to be countless inhibiting factors in the way. From not enough workbooks to electricity and filtered water, the school and its set up has so much potential, it just needs a bit “more” - more volunteers, more donations, more love. As frustrating as some of the circumstances may be, there is too much life and too much invested in these kids to chalk it up to just another “slum” school. I have never felt as fulfilled nor felt so much love as I did with those kids and in that community. Getting to know them individually was amazing; from Pawaan, the future Bollywood actor who was always singing and dancing around the class, to Dev and Ankit – the smartest
boys with the brightest smiles and an eagerness to learn, to Chabhi, the ever giggling three year old who always seemed to have something in her mouth – be it chalk, an eraser, or someone else s' pencil, to Karishma, the sweetest girl who was always kissing you on the cheek and offering you some of her lunch, though she herself didn't always have one – it's incredibly difficult to meet these kids and leave them unaffected. Rajesh Mishra, the local man who has set up the school, recognizes the potential of these kids, and the benefits of having a school such as Little Angels for them to attend investing his own time and money for the past four years. For all its shortcomings and struggles, if anything, a place like Little Angels offers a sense of structure and normality in these kids day to day life, as well as surrounding them in an environment with people who care – care about their education and care about their happiness and success. Because though all the volunteers may not be extremely qualified to teach, one thing they can do is care, and love these kids – which I believe to be equally if not more important. For all its frustrations and tribulations, my two months at Little Angels were undoubtedly the best of my life. Volunteering al-
ble – like the honest beauty in something as simple as playing with water, and brings you face to face with unforeseen sadness, like the subtle shame of not knowing your age or the familiarity of coming to school without lunch. Volunteering is important because it puts you outside yourself and involves you in something bigger, something beyond your problems, and puts true priorities into perspective. I believe it's important to volunteer to become aware of other places and cultures, to learn acceptance of the unfamiliar, and to truly experience the world the way it was meant to be know, through experiences and relationships with its people. I have never known the true power of a simple smile until I met these kids; never before have I searched for a smile lowed me to be simultaneously and felt so fulfilled when I reselfish and selfless, opening my ceived it. These kids have given eyes to more in two months than me so much love and fulfilment in I would have ever experienced in a mere two months, imagine what a lifetime back home. I left home they could give you. with the ambiguous and grandiose goal of “finding myself”, and while a tall order, I do feel as if I have honestly found a better version of myself – as cheesy as that may sound. I gave a small amount of my time and love to these kids, and in return have gained so much more. Which is why I am and forever will be a big advocate of volunteering abroad. As selfish as it may be, it's also infinitely important. It helps you broaden your horizons and scope of vision – opening your eyes to places and experiences you may never have imagined. It challenges you and your sense of comfort in the best way possible – you don't know how strong you can be until you've been defecated on by a three year old and been locked in a rat infested train for fourteen hours. It helps you to learn some lessons you never knew to be valuaApril 2014
Assisting The Tumaini Street Children’s Drop-In Centre where homeless, street children of Eldoret in Kenya have the aability to receive education in maths, English, sci-
ence and Swahili; whilst so receiving lifeskills and basic facilities to eat, wash and engage in games and activities.
Assisting The Rescue Centre of Eldoret where orphaned or abandoned children are given assistance to go to public schools, and given education assistance at the cen-
tre, along with a place to live, clothes and food. Agricultural, sporting, recreational and educational activities are all embodied at the centre.
April 2014
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