Kuch Karo

 
We arrived at Lead High School in Nazimabad No. 4 a good half hour before the kids were supposed to show up. This gave us plenty of time to take deep breaths, compose ourselves and put some final touches to the Idea Room. 

Carpeted with chattais and with walls lined with chart paper, chipboard, and both blackboards and their fairer cousins, the Idea Room is where the magic happens. "This will be their space," Maliha had told me earlier. With most surfaces in the room pen-friendly, the concept of this space is to allow the kids to write, visualize and then collectively appreciate each others ideas. 

At around 10:15, they arrived. I had (almost) imagined the earth shaking slightly and the door frames trembling to signal their coming, but the 16 students who walk in are super well-mannered, docile and, of course, at least as nervous as us (which was quite a bit). 

As an ice-breaker to kickstart the workshop, Maliha asked the group to share something "cool and weird" about themselves. (For instance, Maliha has the uncanny ability to recognize fonts, be very picky about them, and, thus, become offended by a piece of text regardless of what it says.) This attempt was not very successful. It was probably the kids' nerves that made them quite unresponsive. 

Things, however, began to look better when the group was asked what they thought they would like to be when they grew up and write their thoughts on a blackboard.  


 
This is it. The weeks and weeks of planning, writing letters, sending frantic emails, budgeting, revising the budget, and then revising it again for good measure have led up to this. 

Community Action Workshop 2012 begins tomorrow. We're all excited and nervous to meet the kids and see how they interact with the Workshop. 

Fingers crossed!

- The Kuch Karo Team.