We live on the edge of the beautiful Lake District national park in Cumbria and are interested in preserving our natural environment. We have spent many years involved in community projects in the UK, working creatively and therapeutically with adults, children and young people. Our love affair with India has spanned more than ten years and we have travelled extensively throughout her diverse, fascinating and challenging lands. So we were delighted to be involved in the project and to be sponsored by Jennifer Buxton, to work with the children at Madla School in rural Madhya Pradesh.

Our main aims were:-
• To raise the children’s awareness of their own local community and how it impacts on the natural environment and ecosystems.
• To introduce the children to different ways of learning.
• To engage with and create positive relationships within the local community.
• To sustain and build on existing local initiatives.
• To forge links between the Madla village school and Holme school in the UK.
• To have fun with the children..

We spent a month working with the staff and children at Madla Village School. The school has four teachers and educates a hundred girls and boys from the ages of 5 to 11 yrs. We worked with each class developing a creative art project, relating to aspects of their immediate natural surroundings, with a focus on their village, national park, forest, trees and river. To support this we visited local places of interest and taught English language through group-work and interactive games. We also arranged for an environmentalist to visit the school and give a talk (in Hindi) on how the village and its activities interacted with the local ecosystems. The children, typically educated formally, responded well to working with us experientially and enjoyed the challenge of working together as a group. We also provided some much needed resources, including art materials, paper, books, maps, a huge felt alphabet, flash cards and games.

An early morning trip into Panna Tiger Reserve and Information Centre, followed by an interactive session with a naturalist from Ken River Lodge and a quiz, proved to be both rewarding and educational for a group of older children. Another group visited a local pottery, where they had the opportunity to watch the potter in action and make pots or objects of their choice. Many of the children made animals from local clay mixed with cow dung; these were later fired, painted and displayed in the school. We were joined by inquisitive villagers and children who don’t go to school; they sat, watched and sang tribal songs relating to the lack of rainfall in the area and its catastrophic effect upon crop growing.

The project proved to be successful, we were certainly able to achieve most of our objectives and it was enjoyed by everyone. We were accepted and supported by the local community, who offered their services as interpreters, guides and drivers and often invited us into their homes to drink ‘chai’ and meet their families. The children were a joy to work with; they showed great enthusiasm and initiative and engaged well in experiental learning, as well as grasping some basic English language. We were delighted when both parents and teachers became involved in the group-work and mural painting. We were able to introduce the children to Holme School in Cumbria, by showing each class photographs of the school, the children at work and some examples of artwork and poetry produced by their English counterparts, as part of the “Save the Tiger” project, started by Jennifer. We will be visiting Holme School in the UK early in 2008 to share our experiences with the pupils there, along with the many photographs we took during our trip.

For us, the project has been an immensely enriching experience, we’ve started the process of raising awareness amongst the children, but there is still much to be done. We would like to return to India and continue to develop the relationship between Madla and Holme Schools, broaden our activities in Madla Village, and to include those children (and their parents) who do not attend school for (often) economical reasons, via a series of community workshops.

We would also like to say a BIG special thank you to those who supported and co-funded the project; to Jennifer Buxton for her energy, enthusiasm and dedication to the project, to Vinnie and Bhavna at Ken River Lodge for hosting us and their massive support, to the lodge naturalists and especially to the LOCAL PEOPLE & THEIR CHILDREN, for welcoming us into their lives.

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