Ten days in a village school

After my final trimester exam I had plans of going on a pan India tour. But then I saw an email from the social responsibility forum of my college, the mail was from an NGO looking for a volunteer to teach computer at a school near Lonavala for a week. For the last 9 years I have lived in big cities, I always wanted to see the rural life in India. So I decided to take up this opportunity. I cut short my trip by 8 days and mailed them confirming my participation as a volunteer.
The school is run by an NGO named SAMPARC, providing education to around 300 students from Std V to Std X. It is also the only school till Std X for the neighboring 10-15 villages. It is a completely residential school for both boys and girls. The school is located in a village named Bhambarde about a 35 kms from Lonavala. Only 4-5 buses go there in day, there is no other means of transport. The school is in a valley surrounded by hills on four sides, making it an extremely beautiful place but the hills also obstructed mobile signals. After reaching there I realized I will not have any mobile connectivity during my stay here.
Teaching there was an amazing experience, I was training the teachers on MS-Office, internet and few other basic things. Most of the teachers were quite elder than me, the school had only two computers donated by students of IIT but that didn’t stop them from learning. They would always pose me with questions regarding the problems which they faced while using computer and my solutions would make them happy like a child. Their joy on sending their first email made me immensely satisfied.
I was given accommodation in their school guest house; the room was twice the size of bedroom in Mumbai. The food at their hostel mess was quite good. Every evening after teaching I would go out to explore the area, I discovered a small hill where I could get little cell phone signal. So every evening I would climb that small hill to get in touch with the outer world. I also went to the villages along with one teacher, the villagers are extremely poor, most of them are farmers but due to lack of irrigation facilities they can grow crop only once a year. The NGO is doing amazing work over there; they have provided a health centre which is the only one in that area, they have provided tube wells. The education, hostel facility, food, books, clothes everything is provided for free by them. The school has hundred percent pass record, the students regularly win prizes in sports and science exhibitions. It is regarded as a model school in that district. Without this school most of the children would have ended up as child labour. The NGO has few more schools like this in different parts of India and all the expenses of running them are raised by donation every year.
On my last day I was given a shawl and a letter of appreciation for my small contribution. While leaving I felt sad as I would miss their love and hospitality, I would miss the kinds who were my company in that one week, I decided to come back again later this year.