Didi program : New Year’s Special
As we say goodbye to 2013 and welcome 2014, we wanted to organize a Didi program focused on resolutions to make the coming year better than the last. That is what the scholars and mentors of Rukmini foundation did last Saturday during our last meeting of 2013. For the first time, we organized the program at a new school, Setidevi School, which is in a different village. We used to have all of our gatherings at A School for Community (ASC) premises so this time we thought of doing something new and so we planned to organize this at one of the new partner schools where some of our scholars are studying.
We organized an event at our partner school, Setidevi School
We were a bit sad because not all of our Bahinis could be present due to the location of this meeting as well as their school and household chores. However, we did get two more Bahinis to participate from Setidevi School. Even though these girls are not part of the Rukmini Foundation Scholars program, they heard a lot about our Didi program and wanted to join. This made us feel very happy because as a Didi the more Bahinis we help the better.
As always, we began the program with all of us introducing ourselves and sharing a little bit about us.
The main goals of the Didi program are to promote sharing, learning, inspiring and having fun. We held many sessions this year focused on sharing, learning and inspiring so this time we wanted to do something fun. First we gathered at Setidevi School hall, and then we introduced ourselves. Our Regional Director Mr. Shashi Sharma inspired our scholars to be more active in school and to not be afraid to speak and explained why it is very necessary in today’s day.
With these inspiring words, we thought of making resolutions for the coming year to bring new changes and improvements in ourselves. While we saw most of the girls excited about making resolutions, two of our Bahnis were not sure what to do. When we asked why that was, they replied that they had no idea about resolutions and were not aware that the year 2013 was ending. Nepal follows a different calendar, but we were a little surprised that our Bahinis were not aware of the calendar followed by most of the world. We felt bad for assuming that all of the girls knew about the calendars outside of Nepal and we helped these scholars to understand the months of this calendar and also explained what a resolution was.
Having understood about the resolutions, they showed excitement for writing them down. We all sat together wrote the resolutions and shared with each other. It was amazing to see that all of the scholars understood about resolutions just in a five minutes discussion. Some said they wanted to improve their studies and get good marks, some said they wanted to build good relation with their friends and some said they would try to get rid of lazy habits and be more energetic in the coming year. Those resolutions were very inspiring.
The resolutions mentioned doing better in school, working harder, leaving bad habits, and even finding more joy in 2014
Having shared the resolutions, the Didis asked the Bahinis what they wanted to do for the rest of the Didi program. They replied that they wanted to sing and dance. After having some snacks and getting refreshed, we headed toward an open ground for dance and songs. It was a lot of fun dancing together, and we noticed a very important thing about dancing. It worked like a catalyst which made the Bahnis more open and closer with us Didis.
Dancing and singing made the Bahinis feel more open and free to share more.
We were happy seeing this and made our own resolution that we will try to organize more of these program in 2014 that will help our girls be more open and therefore would not feel hesitation in sharing problems and their feelings.
Happy New Year,
Prakriti Nepal
Didi, Rukmini Foundation
- Didi – Nepali word meaning elder sister and is how the scholars address their mentors. It is also the name of our mentoring program.
- Bahini – Nepali word meaning younger sister and is how the Didis refer to their mentees.
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