The Kullu Project was invited to India’s first National workshop on children in institution and their mental health. 3 of us could go, Ankit was one and he wanted Fiona as she had been a part of the Kullu Project for a long time. So it was Kitty, Eloise or I to be the third person. I said that I didn’t have to go (even though it would be great fun!) as I have been to a similar thing before with Rafto; Kitty and Eloise were to decide between themselves. I was so surprised one morning when we had breakfast when they said that they had decided that I ought to go, but so grateful.
Evening 5th of November Ankit, Fiona and I take the bus to Delhi. The bus was all right, but not great, because when sleeping I would sometimes wake up in midair landing hard on my seat again and again. But, we got there and the place we stayed in had a shower with hot water! We came in the morning, had some breakfast and when I took a shower there were proper green parrots flying outside the bathroom window. One of those moments that you imagine before coming to an exotic foreign country. (Or, what at least is exotic for me as a Norwegian)
The Workshop worked like this; there were presentations from different organizations, very seldom people would ask questions, but many took notes. The presentations discussed a lot about how to recognized children who had been traumatized by different situations such as parents being murdered, tsunamis, child soldiers etc. Then, it went on to talk about how to deal with these kinds of things and how to help the child develop in a ‘normal’ way as traumas affect the biological and mental development of a human being.
Different methods were discussed as well. For example, one lady talked about how the use of games and toys can be used in treatment. She had two main categories; organized games and free games. Organized games are when the psychologists (or whomever) participates in the playing and steers the direction of the game to find out more about the mind of the child. Free games are when the psychologist is purely observing, the lady presenting found this method as the best one. Personally, I would say a mix is good because in free games you will guess a lot (most probably you will guess right though seeing as you are an educated person in the field), but in organized games the child might not be able to express him or herself freely and you will lose much valuable information. Therefore a mix is good so that you can make sure your data is correct.
The second day the audience was much more interactive, but a lot of it was in Hindi. Many had PowerPoint in English, but presented in Hindi. This was good because then we all got something out of the presentation. In the end the workshop came with a declaration that they want to present to the government on children’s rights. It was an all right declaration in my opinion, but they did not want to define their words. Someone suggested that they ought to do it, but they said they were not lawyers and therefore not suitable to do it. In my opinion, if you make a declaration you ought to define the words you are using so that the declaration will say exactly what you want it to say. Everyone can define what they mean with their words; we even do it in our daily language when misunderstandings occur or whatever.
The workshop was really helpful for the understanding on how to go about when changing the Bashing Orphanage, and we got some really good contacts as well. I could probably write pages and pages about the weekend, but I think I will stop here so it doesn’t get too much to read.
Evening 5th of November Ankit, Fiona and I take the bus to Delhi. The bus was all right, but not great, because when sleeping I would sometimes wake up in midair landing hard on my seat again and again. But, we got there and the place we stayed in had a shower with hot water! We came in the morning, had some breakfast and when I took a shower there were proper green parrots flying outside the bathroom window. One of those moments that you imagine before coming to an exotic foreign country. (Or, what at least is exotic for me as a Norwegian)
The Workshop worked like this; there were presentations from different organizations, very seldom people would ask questions, but many took notes. The presentations discussed a lot about how to recognized children who had been traumatized by different situations such as parents being murdered, tsunamis, child soldiers etc. Then, it went on to talk about how to deal with these kinds of things and how to help the child develop in a ‘normal’ way as traumas affect the biological and mental development of a human being.
Different methods were discussed as well. For example, one lady talked about how the use of games and toys can be used in treatment. She had two main categories; organized games and free games. Organized games are when the psychologists (or whomever) participates in the playing and steers the direction of the game to find out more about the mind of the child. Free games are when the psychologist is purely observing, the lady presenting found this method as the best one. Personally, I would say a mix is good because in free games you will guess a lot (most probably you will guess right though seeing as you are an educated person in the field), but in organized games the child might not be able to express him or herself freely and you will lose much valuable information. Therefore a mix is good so that you can make sure your data is correct.
The second day the audience was much more interactive, but a lot of it was in Hindi. Many had PowerPoint in English, but presented in Hindi. This was good because then we all got something out of the presentation. In the end the workshop came with a declaration that they want to present to the government on children’s rights. It was an all right declaration in my opinion, but they did not want to define their words. Someone suggested that they ought to do it, but they said they were not lawyers and therefore not suitable to do it. In my opinion, if you make a declaration you ought to define the words you are using so that the declaration will say exactly what you want it to say. Everyone can define what they mean with their words; we even do it in our daily language when misunderstandings occur or whatever.
The workshop was really helpful for the understanding on how to go about when changing the Bashing Orphanage, and we got some really good contacts as well. I could probably write pages and pages about the weekend, but I think I will stop here so it doesn’t get too much to read.
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