SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2024
Tallulah D'Silva
When the lockdown was enforced, we were stuck en route from a camp site we were engaged in developing way down in Sulcorna, Quepem. We had no option but to take up the offer for help from friends and family and decided to camp in a quaint neighbourhood in Nagalli, Dona Paula. Raising a teenager and a pre-teen is an extremely challenging responsibility with each day throwing a new challenge of parenting, disciplining, teaching, counselling and learning! But sharing this journey with friends, family and in turn receiving support from them has been such an enriching experience. Like one friend asserted when I thanked her, ‘Hey Tallulah, remember, it takes a village to raise a child!’ Yes it does! Thank you for that, Gayatri!
The lockdown has had its own challenges but has been, so far, the most happy and peaceful experience for us. Being on our own, managing our time, is not something that has been alien to us. Keeping ourselves continuously engaged, exploring the outdoors almost every day, camping, trekking, travelling, etc has been an integral part of our lives. And this taught us life’s lessons. In our backyards, off line!
Many children and students we have worked with before reached out to us during this lockdown, with schools shut and managements trying their bit with launching online classes that do not match up with class interactions, discussions and meaningful learning experiences. Far worse is the fact that both students and teachers are struggling with basic access to internet and communication online. Many do not have access to devices or the money to buy these. Some schools that have launched an online platform are very amateurish in trying to replicate the in school schedules. This pales in comparison to the sea of phenomenal information, videos, DIY portals and data already available.
Shavvi and Sweety were the first to reach out to us saying that they were missing school and were super eager to learn. They had sourced old text books from their friends so that they could begin learning. Then came Rakesh and Sachin. And then Kumar and Bheema. We quickly looked at their syllabus and then reorganized the programme to suit learning from the backyard! We have been promoting learning outdoors for several years with the Travelling Dome initiative and this backyard class model was something that we had been toying with since the first day of the lockdown. My friends Arnaldo and Vishal have been rethinking education over the years having worked with many underprivileged children and fine tuning the programme that would simply revolutionize the way we are taught at school by empowering students and honing the skills they already have. ‘Talent in You’ founded by Arnaldo Carmo Lobo, is something that is based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and he has already helped many students, parents and teachers connect with their inherent intelligences and choose careers of their choice and be successful and happy with the outcomes.
So how does the off line, backyard class work? We identify the backyard and explore by observing it every day. Our first backyard class was on observation. Where are we? What is the topography? What do we see? What do we hear? What do we smell? What do we feel when we touch the items in our surroundings? What does it taste like? The next class was on biodiversity, another one on flora, fauna, and one on pollution. So in effect we explored the laterite rock sada or plateau as a sample backyard or habitat. The silt had collected in the crevices of the porous sedimentary rock, some had collected in little ponds and depressions. The otherwise dry and rocky terrain was lush with green grass. On closer inspection there were a variety of grasses and wild flowers. Rakesh pointed out one leafy shrub informing us that his grandmother uses the mildly bitter leaves as a medicine for certain ailments. We found Kantam berries and tasted the sweet and sour fruit with absolute joy. We also tasted amla leaves, kokum leaves and fruit, kumyo too. We discussed the benefits of seasonal vegetables and fruits in our diet. This led us to understand about biodiversity and ecosystem benefits. We discovered a red-wattled lapwing nesting with an egg inconspicuously lying on a small patch of dry grass. We were lucky to spot the Jacobin cuckoo, the harbinger of rains and a migratory species that visits the plateau annually. Our little reptile and amphibian expert, Vikram had surveyed the backyard and showed us saw scaled vipers, skinks, geckos, millipedes, snails and frogs in the area. We discussed their role in nature and our responsibility to conserve the web of life like forest/ traditional communities do. We saw caterpillars, cocoons and discussed about metamorphosis. We also met other resource persons. Ceceille talked to the students about garbage, filling up of fields and its impact on agriculture, food security and flooding. We discussed issues of sewage pollution in fields and creeks. We also discussed about mental health, corona virus and its vital connection to nature. With destruction of our environment in the false guise of development, we have distanced ourselves from nature. We live in homes that are like boxes and cages with no interaction with nature. We study from books with no parallel learning from nature. We are connected to electronic devices with no real connect with a living soul or living nature. Let this disconnect not further alienate us. Let’s lockdown with our living backyards. Let’s go offline and do backyard learning.
(Tallulah D'Silva is an architect and features in the Top 20 Golden Door Awards 2020 shortlist of international writers and agents of truth and integrity.)
