Siddharth Jain - 39

AUG. 11, 2020

Curtain Hug

The story starts in 2016 when I was in 10th grade and we were given a task to teach a minimum of 2 underprivileged people. To be specific, we were asked to teach basic English alphabet and numbers to our household help. At first, I was extremely reluctant and uncomfortable in teaching the kids because our conversations were minimal but then I saw many of my friends who did an amazing job with helping their help. I got motivated and went to the market and bought some basic alphabet books.
I decided that I would teach basic math to my housemaid. I chose this because I found mathematics to be the most relevant topic back then. I realized that she didn’t understand basic operations like addition, subtraction and was completely dependent upon her daughter for all money related issues. I felt that I could change this and help her with the same. So hence, I began my first ever experience as a teacher, it was very challenging for me in the initial phases and I would often give up. My grandmother constantly supported me and made me realize that I was trying to bring about a change in my maid's life.
I used to teach my maid once every 3 days and I also managed to give her small assignments that she could complete before the next session. Two weeks into the teaching, she started understanding basic addition as well as subtraction, eventually, within another week, she was able to go to the grocery store and bring back groceries without any confusions in the amount of money that was to be given, how much money she should bring back, etc.
After seeing how much she had improved, it was a very beautiful moment for me and I still cherish the same whenever I’m reminded of it.