Building HOPE with Women in Tech in India

Our Women in Technology (WiT) group, though fond of building projects and products, opted to build “Hope” this time.

A whole new assignment to our Women in Tech (WIT) team – to provide school kids from two shelters with hope to realize their dreams.

Planning:

When we checked the needs of the shelters, it surprised us. They didn’t want any food or clothing. They wanted goal guidance, talk time, and a change in their routine schedule.

Some of our male colleagues also volunteered to join this activity.

A dozen WiT volunteers met the kids on a Saturday and fixed the venue as a shelter with the school. When we arrived, the kids were already at the venue decked up in their best smiles, eager to talk to us, curious to know about our work, and wanted to share their thoughts and queries with us.

We organized the 60 kids into groups of 10 and allotted 2 volunteers as mentors to each group. We started talking to them about their life, studies, and goals, and we shared details about our life. The mentors were asked to jot down the goals and draw an achievement path for every kid.

Implementation:

After the icebreakers with cookies, milkshakes, and games, we learned more about their goals.

There was an aspiring language teacher who had already started reading classic prose and poems from her school library.

We met a budding artist who could draw and paint per the scenario given to her.

There was a promising choreographer who could shake her legs to all the new song numbers.

A potential photographer who had already started checking out to assist candid wedding photographers.

A patriotic soldier, a bold police officer, a reformative government administrative officer, a philanthropic medical practitioner, a passionate singer, a unique musician, a stand-up comedian, an enthusiastic application developer – we could see them all in the kid’s group.

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Delivery:

We shared our nudges (yes…that was all they needed) to make them better prepared to achieve their goals in small steps. Some of the volunteers agreed to meet them regularly, some decided to extra coach them in languages and math, and some agreed to direct them to art institutes and academies.

Most of all, we could see the hope gleaming in the eyes of the kids as we departed from the venue.

Our hope was to meet those kids someday after realizing their dreams and achieving their goals.

The day ended, fulfilled and purposeful for every one of us.

Impact and Feedback:

The WiT team had a quick meeting the next working day to retrospect the activity.

All of the volunteers felt proud of their well-spent time. They were overwhelmed and were staunch in keeping up their promises to the kids. Everyone started appreciating the little things they had taken for granted till then.

They had collected additional information to be shared with the kids meticulously, which was passed on to the kids sincerely.

Just then, the WiT team received a call from the shelter coordinator, stating that the kids felt immensely happy about our visit, and they felt hopeful about realizing their life goals through the path we had laid for them.

The WiT team stood convinced to have delivered HOPE exceptionally well, and their clients – the kids, had appreciated their good efforts.

Help leads the way; hope goes a l….o….n….g way!