- Goa Sudharop
This is a positive space, one where kids explore the dynamics of their mind, where children learn to understand their personalities, irrespective of the environment they live in, and where they smile and greet their teachers with a cheery “Good morning teacher.” This is a space where children, from underserved communities of Mapusa, Goa, who do not have access to an education, come to school every day, eager and willing to learn. Mango House, which is run by The Mango Tree Trust, provides pre-primary education and afternoon tuition classes which ensure that disadvantaged children have access to, and stay in, school. Nutritious meals and medical care are also given to ensure children are fit to learn.
Mango House does not just provide pre-primary education to children, but instills lifelong behaviors to help students sustain academic excellence and a healthy living. This gives them a competitive advantage in society, academics, and their careers. Mango House is right by their side, providing them with tools and resources to succeed in college and their careers. Mango House gives them access, an important word for the sustainability of an equitable society, to education, nutrition, mental health care, and skills that will help them beyond school.
As I sat in between benches with children, observing, learning, and watching classes my first few days, I began to understand the dynamics of Mango House’s lesson planning and operational protocols. They provide individual attention to each student, analyzing their learning styles and behavior, to ensure that no child is left behind.
Although I sat in many classrooms, I was drawn to Teacher Deepti’s class of upper kindergarten students (2-5 years old). Every morning she would greet me with a smile and say good morning. I was drawn to her class for many reasons including the fact that I could converse with her in English. Since this was a Hindi, Marathi, and Konkani medium school, all students spoke these languages as a first language and most teachers came from similar language backgrounds.
Deepti put 120% of her energy into her learners, speaking to them in both English, Hindi, and Konkani. In the afternoons, she would tutor 6-8th graders, where she would put more energy into engaging a child to learn. A job as a teacher at Mango House goes beyond the job of a public school teacher in California. I know this because I have worked for the Californian public school system for three years. I have continued my work with public schools as a volunteer in Oakland, CA, which has some of the highest need schools in the state, apart from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
Just like LAUSD, Mango House does not have a full staff of efficient and equipped teachers to work with 200 kids every day. Instead, they have 6 teachers who teach and tutor all grades. Resources are low, but the teachers are never disheartened—they teach, feed, nurture, and engage all learners with tenacity. I was impressed with their level of engagement and teaching. Given that, as a child, I went to some of the best schools in Goa, I never got individual attention and certainly no tender, loving care. Mango House is one of a very few schools that serve underprivileged children and low-income families in Goa. With more resources, they would be able to do a lot more. My goal is to continue my partnership with them, to give them access to a lot more to align with the needs of each child.
The learners at Mango House taught me more than what I could teach them. Their personalities and conversations made me dig deeper into my roots of understanding community and service. They helped me think about my core values and how Goa gave that to me whilst living there, where I was rooted for nine years of my childhood. For the first time in my professional career, I took a backseat, observing, learning, and watching myself grow as a person, while I looked into the eyes of each student at Mango House. Every personal and educational journey starts with one step. Volunteering at Mango House, watching each child’s educational journey, was an important and unforgettable step of my journey.
I want every individual to experience such steps in their personal journey. Mango House offered me insight and introspection to an individuality and goal that was always there, but never grounded. The adults who worked there, from the cook, to the administrative staff, to the teachers, students, social worker, and the parents who dropped their children to school—all helped me become a part of my community, grounding me to understand my bigger purpose.
If you would like to have a similar, yet different experience while giving to Mango House, please contact me. My partnership with them is ongoing. Moving forward, I am helping them secure donations and volunteers from the local community in Goa.
- Goa Sudharop
Dr Anibel Ferus Comelo, a sociologist from Goa who with a group of American students from William and Mary College, West Virginia tours through Paroda teaching the students to weave a mat of reed and witness a traditional fugdi by the womenfolk. NESHWIN ALMEIDA catches up with the American crew and Dr Anibel on a lazy Sunday afternoon
It’s 10.30 am and it’s a slow wet Sunday. Through sheets of rain, we witness a group of 13 American students who’ve travelled a long way from West Virginia hurdled together besides a palm thatched roof learning to weave a mat from river reed and grass, while they learn how tight to pull the shaft and how to inter-twine the reed through palm string and prepare a perfect hard mat.
As tradition with the women in Paroda, weaving is an activity they carry out on a makeshift loom while tending to the fields and after they’ve collected enough river reeds to make mats for their homes. Interestingly Dr Anibel Ferus Comelo, a Goan by origin, associated with the William and Mary College is the one communicating between the American students and the women of Paroda explaining their instruction from Konkani to English and translating the students’ questions from English to Konkani to seek answers from the women teaching the weaving. Dr Anibel annually brings students from West Virginia on their summer break to learn and understand the culture of Goans and gives a tiny part of Goan history and culture to the world.
“From spice farms to Goan cuisine to the architecture at Old Goa and meeting historians and photographers of Goa, these children who are not on a holiday but on a visit as a part of their curriculum, learn and experience Goa and they even get credits in their marking system while they see a so much of Goa,” explains Dr Anibel as she’s co-ordinating the fugdi dance performance by locals, led by Amelia Dias in her backyard in Paroda. She explains to the American kids the fugdi and the mando and the stories told through song and dance.
Gul Ozyegin, a Turkish Professor of Sociology in Gender, Sexuality and women’s studies, accompanying the students as one of the faculty of William and Mary College, West Virginia explains that it’s a whole different insight that the students get from a study tour like this while they interact with local Goans of different walks of life. She says that the students are grateful to Dr Anibel who meticulously plans these tours through her contacts and tours like this goes a long way for the American students.
Similarly the womenfolk of Paroda, who nowadays give up their dance and weaving antheir traditional occupation for more lucrative jobs which ultimately leads to a huge loss of tradition and traditional methods, are happy that individuals like Dr Anibel gives them an impetus to keep their ways of their ancestors alive and it means a lot that someone appreciates their work and learns from it.
“I pick and choose the locations I take these children too or the cuisine and dishes of Goa I want them to learn and cook. I want these kids to get a whole different experience and take back these stories of Goa to their homes and friends. These are students of various walks of life from students in public policy to medicine to political science and they watch and observe our Goan women and their art and tradition and it’s heartening to give Goa to others,” explains Dr Anibel as she arranges a finishes mat to be displayed to the kids so that they get a real feel of the reed mat.
“From learning Konkani words to working with Goan spices to getting a feel of the fresh mud and the monsoons, I am so happy to be on this study trip of Dr Anibel’s,” explains Hannah Richman while another student Adriene Thompson appreciates the efforts of Dr Anibel to plan their stay in Goa and give them a mix of everything from religion and architecture to dance and art. He feels that she also had planned the distance well and it’s a rich experience to carry forward.
- Goa Sudharop
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. When my husband Ernest had two surgeries, my friend suggested that I enroll him for adult day care so that he could recuperate in an exercise program and also enjoy some company. That was when I found out that there was no such facility in San Leandro.
So when I was appointed commissioner of the Commission on Aging for the City of San Leandro, CA, I proposed that we establish an Adult Day Care Center in our city. The other commissioners agreed. It took us several years to bring this idea to fruition as we could not find any non-profit organization to take up the project and no one was willing to fund it. We spent years writing to the City Council, to the Mayor and to anyone who would listen to us. Finally, we approached Wilma Chan, the Alameda County Supervisor, who convened a meeting of likely stakeholders. Organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association of East Bay, East Bay Community Service and the Center of Elder Independence were represented at the meeting.
Finally, the Center of Elder Independence agreed to open a Medicare/Medicaid/Private Pay Program of All-inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) Program Center. The program consists of an Adult Day Care Center with a medical clinic, among other services. This program helps seniors to live in the community instead of living in a nursing home. To get this project going was a long, uphill task. It was a team effort of the Senior Commission and I am glad I was part of this team. The Center of Elder Independence recently signed a lease in a facility close to Kaiser Hospital in San Leandro. It will be a legacy gift of the Senior Commission to the seniors of San Leandro, CA.