By Julia DiFiori
Theme Editor
Rather than settling for a local service opportunity, sophomores Meera and Pooja Nagpal travelled 21 hours by plane to a mountain village called Subathu in India to complete their Girl Scout Gold Award project. There, the sisters taught classes on self defense and the English language to underprivileged young women.
With the help of translators, he Nagpal sisters taught at Arya Public High School from Aug. 5-26, during the school’s summer break. Teaching for seven days a week, the girls hoped to brighten the futures of their forty females students, whose ages ranged from 13 to 17.
“India is a dangerous place for women,” Meera Nagpal said. “There was an article that I read about the abuse women suffered each day, and it is scary. Uneducated women are the ones abused the most. While achieving our Gold Awards was great, helping these women is what matters.”
The Gold Award is the highest award possible in Girl Scouts of the USA. According to Meera, only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts earn this award, which requires girls to reach a minimum of 80 hours of independent planning and executing a project that will make an impact on an issue.
“A lot of people go to Africa and third world countries through organizations,” Pooja Nagpal said. “But we went to India on our own and personally organized a program there that no one had ever done before. It took me months to prepare for the trip. It was difficult to contact the schools, form videos and overcome the language barrier.”
Using the seven years of Tae Kwon Do training under her second-degree black belt, Pooja taught self-defense techniques outdoors for three hours in the mornings before the students went inside for English class with Meera. She taught the girls how to escape from holds, kicking, punching and strength building.
“I wanted to use my skills for helping the good of the global community,” Pooja Nagpal said. “After hearing horrible stories about the atrocities that occur in India, I knew I had to help. No one deserves the treatment that women receive there.”
Pooja also held discussions about women empowerment. Her topics included leadership, community service, confidence and being goal-oriented.
“The girls from the village I taught, were so inspired by my women empowerment and leadership discussions, that they decided to go out and teach self-defense to four other schools, starting a movement in that area,” Pooja said.
Meera taught students the basics of English by teaching vocabulary, giving the students writing prompts, reading stories, going over grammar concepts and playing games.
“Teaching English is so much harder than I expected it would be, being a native English speaker,” Meera said. “It was frustrating because the girls would lose interest, so I had to make things like grammar engaging. But I felt a deep sense of satisfaction whenever I saw that light bulb go on in a girl’s head.”
The Nagpals plan to continue to teach their students online through uploaded videos and raise awareness for their causes through their Facebook pages, “For a Change, Defend” and “Teach for Himalayas.” Pooja now has the opportunity to work with a Darfur refugee agency that is interested in implementing her curriculum of women empowerment and self-defense.
“I also hope to create a club at school so more students will possibly go to help those in schools in less-wealthy areas – primarily those that suffer from violence and crime and sexual abuse,” Pooja Nagpal said.
According to the sisters, Meera’s instruction increased her students’ average score on a baseline English test by ten points and Pooja’s students responded astonishingly well to simulated surprise attacks on the last day of training. The sisters said that they were sad to leave but happy with the results their hard work produced.
“It was an amazing trip,” Pooja said. I literally saw their confidence building right in front of my eyes. Their motivation towards education and their attitude toward personal goals was extremely heightened.”
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