Karuna's quest for learning through teaching: Stories from the Young Leaders Camp

Contributor: Karuna Lohia 

All the people I’ve met on the path of my life have something to teach me. And what can be a better way to learn than to experience?

My learning started the day I stepped in Hyderabad at Young Leaders Camp. Seventy unfamiliar faces mirroring the same anxiety and expectations. Soon we were working as a team, learning all the tactics that differentiate a facilitator from a teacher. 

The next 20 days with 850 girls aged 13 and 14 were with us staying together.

We broke the shyness and tension that prevailed between the facilitator and the students being their Akka. We also tried to communicate with them in their regional language and within a day the students became comfortable around us.

Never judge a book by its cover goes the saying. Being an urban girl I had this cliche that the rural kids had no idea about the world. But their thirst for knowledge and the mind quizzing questions they came up with broke my judgment into pieces.

There were days when I just felt broken or giving up because of the hot weather and the tiring day that starts at 5:30 am and went on till 10 pm. But the spark and energy that the students radiated and my co-facilitators who stood by my side encouraged me not the give up.

I discovered new ways to teach in a totally different place with love and joy and a total new worth giving experience.