Shades of Happiness!

Spreading More Smiles with The BlackBoard Project - Priya Thomas 
(*Priya Thomas, Intern at The Ashoka Tree,  was volunteer-in-charge for an anganwadi on the BlackBoard Project)

On the 16th of July, 2016, The Ashoka Tree with the little Picassos & DaVincis of Global Public School set out on a mission to paint blackboards on the walls of six Anganwadis that The Ashoka Tree works with.  Now, that’s a date we’ll never forget - for the impact it had on each one of us!

This bright sunny day began with two cans of yellow and a can black paint, with eager GPS students all set with aprons and old T-shirts, ready to get started on The Ashoka Tree's BlackBoard Project - a fun way to paint the walls of play schools, and a lot on themselves, to look like genuine painters. 
The scene was soon filled with laughter and paint, lots of it on old newspaper lining the floor and much more all over us!  

We spent time with the children at the Anganwadi we were painting as well, recollecting nursery rhymes and playing with them, all of us thoroughly enjoying ourselves. 

We bonded in a way that would not have been possible otherwise and, as a result, were able to refurbish the walls with bright yellow paint and a thick border of black chalk paint, literally painting huge smiles on their little faces too! 

There is no reason for boredom to be a concern here, now that they have enough blackboard space to have fun with chalk and stay occupied through the day.

The Teachers at each anganwadi made sure none of us volunteers or children left without a cup of tea and 'payasam' or a snack they personally made.  We walked out of those Anganwadis that day with happy hearts and joyful smiles - with a sense of having actually done something worthwhile, a morning truly well spent and cherished by each of us for a lifetime.

We look forward to working with The Ashoka Tree again on more Projects like this one, painting happy smiles across the country! 
I, personally, can't wait to get started!
Let's Spread More Smiles!
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