Great Experience!

I spent one week working with children at this center through VWI in February of 2015. This program is my favorite program so far at VWI ( I have also done 2 weeks working with Elephants and 1 week working in the women's program.)
While I was there, there were about 7 boys at the center of ages ranging from 6 to 14.
The boys come from being rescued from child labor in factories throughout India. While I was there one little boy had just come from Bangalore. Sometimes these children are kidnapped and forced to work long hours for food. Other children were given up by their families due to extreme poverty and inability to feed and care for them.
It's an extremely sad situation, but when you see the transformation of the boys first hand from when they arrive, to after being at the center for a few days it is so worth it. The boys stay at this center until either the organization can find their families, or if it was their family that abandoned them, they find a permanent facility or foster home for them. So boys are always coming and going.
I feel like I have had the most impact in this program than any other volunteering I've done in any other country.
As a volunteer, you are picked up in the morning and head off to the center. Govind is usually the interpreter, and he's amazing with the boys! We usually started by playing some classroom games with the boys, like duck duck goose or the hokey pokey. Afterwards we'd go over English (this is a bit tricky as you are dealing with a wide range of ages and abilities.) Mostly you go over the alphabet, we would also have them name animals or objects that started with that letter in English. We'd also go over English names for colors, and have the boys find things in the room that were blue or green etc. We'd spend some time on math as well by just writing out problems on the board and helping them solve them.
After a few basic lessons, you can do some crafts or coloring with the boys.
It's a good idea to either purchase some things for crafts at the market or bring them with you from home.
I brought some washable paint, fabric markers, and workbooks/coloring books from the dollar store back home, as well as a soccer ball, some jump ropes and crayons.
This is a charity organization, so while supplies are provided for you, they are usually fairly used and beat up. The children loved the soccer ball, as their old ball had a leak and was pretty much a flat ball they would kick around. Anything you can bring is very helpful and greatly appreciated.
We also bought some things from a local market in Jaipur, some wooden stamps, dish soap to make bubbles, and plain t shirts for the boys to decorate.
One day we had them use the fabric markers and write their names on the plain shirts and then decorate them with stamps and drawings. It was huge hit. I don't think many of the boys had much if anything that was theirs alone.
Another day we made bubbles out of dish soap and play in the yard with them. We also did jump rope, colored, played soccer, and had a silly string fight.
After the boys play in the yard, they are served lunch. The man that makes lunch may pull you and have you help him prepare the food. This is pretty easy and kind of fun to do. Then you bring the boys into the bed room area pass out rice, dal, and chapati for them and supervise them while they eat. If there is time while you are waiting for your ride back to show up, the boys usually appreciate if you draw something on the board for them to copy and color.
This is a great program. The boys are amazing, and it's a wonderful feeling to be able to help a child who has just come out of a horrible situation have fun, grow, and learn. Please consider this program, even a week is so worth it!