The assembly of Hunar Ghar concept has involved a lot of looking outward for inspiration and in order to learn from the successes and failures of others, but the last few days have offered the opportunity to go back to Bakhel and get back to what it’s really all about- working with the villagers and the children and I’ve got to say it feels great!

On Friday the children of 2nd class went off into the village to collect the leaves of different trees that grow in the area and then told me all about how each tree is used, be it for firewood, building a home, fruit, feeding animals, medicine, flower decoration, shade etc…..I’m not sure who enjoyed themselves more, me or them!

On Saturday we had our first training day regarding the new concept of Hunar Ghar and our learning initiators already seem to have grasped the basics of the concept and the potential benefits it offers. They even came up with a set of projects around health as the first projects to be undertaken by the children- there will be 4 groups who will explore and learn about different aspects of health, undertake practical activities and then have a fair at the end to show the villagers about the things they’ve learnt and done. The 4 group’s projects still need a lot of thinking about but roughly:

Group 1- Clean water for health- this group will go to 2 or 3 homes and wells and work to create a model environment for demonstrating principles and techniques for keeping water clean and drinkable.

Group 2- Local medicine- these children will look into simple home based activities that can be performed when someone is ill before taking them to the doctor. They will also look into and grow a herbal medicine garden based around local knowledge and plants.

Groups 3 and 4 will be around animal and crop health respectively and again may involve practical demonstrations of techniques in model homes, or the creation of a play to express what they’ve learnt etc….

It’s all very exciting and I can’t wait to get going with the projects and see the potential of the community unfold!