Life Skills Education Toolkit

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA• 23

ACTIVITY NINE

I Belong to a Community

Group check in

1. Introduce the activity by saying that we all live in a community. Ask the children who they know in their
   community. They will probably talk of the shopkeepers, neighbors, police, doctor and similar others.


2. Ask the children to draw themselves in the center, and make three circles around it. The
   nearest circle stands for the people of the community they are in close contact with and like
   being with. The outer circle represents people they are not very close to and may even
   sometimes create trouble for them.


3. If the group is small, they can share with everyone. But if the group is large, ask the children in
   pairs to discuss what they have drawn with the group.

Review

Discuss with the children:

• Why are they close to some people?


• What qualities do they have?


• How does the child contribute to the relationship?
  With those they are not close to, why is it so? Is there anything about how the children behave
  that may be affecting the relationship?

Linking Learning With Life

Ask the children to think about any one way they can make the relationship better and one way

they can change the relationship they are not close to. The facilitator may have to help and

intervene to make sure the plans are realistic.

If many children have difficulties with some community members, the children as a group can

work out a plan. The idea is to take positive steps. For example, the street children can put on a

show for the children of police or invite them to an event they are organizing or write get-well

cards if someone is ill. Street plays can be organized as well.

Experience from the field

With street and working children, the sense of belonging was absent as there is no community that they

can identify with. That is why community can be used in a broader context – the drop in center, the place

where they go to eat, and the temple where they sleep. (PCI, Delhi)

Tips for the facilitator

In a shelter, the people who come – the teachers, the cook, the helpers, the postman, the garden next door,

the school they go to, their neighbors – these are all part of the community.