Government Secondary High School

Government Secondary High School, Paradsinga, India

I express my sincere gratitude to Lalit Vikamshi, Director - Alag Angle Studio, Nagpur, India, Shweta Bhattad, an acclaimed artist and philanthropist, initiator of I Have A Dream Project and Gram Art Project, and last but not the least Aditi Bhattad, art educator and artist, to allow and assist me in conducting art therapy workshop with Grade 11-12 students at Government Secondary High School, Paradsinga, India.

Day 1 | Government Secondary High School

This was the most serious group we catered to in the village. The first day we had a little bit of an introduction. We sensed a certain level of fear amongst the students and our aim for the group was to, first, clear the male/female discomfort and, second, to work for the betterment of the society. This age group is considered to be the most sensitive group and tackling them was not that easy.

After introduction we made two pairs, consisting of a boy and a girl each and sat in a circle. We distributed white sheets of paper and pencils and asked them to depict the problems of the society, where they live (village), what they witness by first discussing it verbally and then putting it on the paper.

It was heart touching to see that all the pairs talked about very deep rooted problems that they see on a daily basis in their surroundings like alcohol consumption, water-logging, rape, beating of wives and daughters, accidents while being drunk, drug abuse, physical abuse, mental and social abuse.

We had an intense conversation and worked around discussing these issues at large.

Day 2 | Government Secondary High School

In the second session we took a step further. The group sat with their same partner and the theme was to talk about solutions to the problems we discussed in our last session.

There were some incredible suggestions given by the students like how to get rid of water-logging and utilizing the access water in a positive manner, banning of alcohol consumption and drug distribution, making play ground for children and many more.

We ended the session by promising ourselves that we would do whatever it takes to help our community grow out from all these bad influences.

Day 3 | Government Secondary High School

We continued the third session with out intense conversations from our past two classes.

It became very heavy for all of us by the end.

Day 4 | Government Secondary High School

We decided that our last session needed to be spontaneous and fun filled, so we made a ball by crumbling various sheets of colorful papers and taping it together to form a solid round.

We then sat in a circle and asked all the students to shut their eyes. We threw the ball to one person and asked him to speak whatever was on his/her mind, to talk their heart out! This was the most enlightened experiences of all times! It was amazing to see how many students had untold stories, heartbreaks and feelings, which were locked inside their hearts and never told before. This was the platform where they exposed those unwanted feelings and embraced the new ones to come in.

Many students became emotional and wanted to physically display such sentiments and they were allowed to do so. One girl literally sang a song to inform the world that she was hurt by someone close to her and she wanted to reconcile. Another young boy was damaged by his elder brothers words and wanted to slap him to let his anger out.

By the end of the session we all hugged each other and said our final goodbyes! But the connections built through those experiences had been with us forever!

HAMIDA KHATRI

creative therapy platform