CAPT Kamal to Bangalore 2019

This is the 4th year that CAPT is visiting, in the 4th iteration of CAPT Kamal to Bangalore, India. From the 12 to 26 of May, a team of 23 students spent two weeks working with an NGO and a charity organisation based in Bangalore.

In the first week, the team partnered with Dream School Foundation (DSF), an NGO that provides a quality education through extra-curricular education and classes for students from underprivileged backgrounds. The CAPT Kamal team, in partnership with DSF, planned a month-long summer camp that aims to expose these students to the traditional curriculum in an exploratory and engaging manner. The objective of this camp was to keep students in the education pipelines, because many of them are from low-income households and have a high risk of dropping out of school to support their families, inevitably keeping them in this vicious cycle of poverty. Through the presentation of traditional subjects like Mathematics, English, Science, and Humanities in unique and innovative ways, the camp managed to peak the interests of these students and provided a safe environment for them to explore their strengths and weaknesses in a non-academic setting. This is done by including experiments and experiential activities into the camp. The camp was planned by the CAPT Kamal team and executed by teachers and trained volunteers in India, until the final week of the camp, where the CAPTains executed the last week’s agenda on the ground in Bangalore.

In the last week, there was an additional focus on the holistic development of the student at the camp. Students had sessions focusing on leadership, communication and public speaking skills. There was also a cultural exchange between the locals and CAPTains learned about each other’s culture in a meaningful way. These interactive, seminar-like courses helped to shape each student in an all-rounded manner, better preparing them to face the greater academic and social demands of the higher standards. The CAPT Kamal team ended of their time at DSF with a morning of performances by both the team and DSF students, prize-giving sessions to motivate and encourage the participants of the camp and teary-eyed farewells to their many newfound friends in Bangalore.

In the second week of the expedition, the CAPT Kamal team worked with a new partner, Reaching Hand. Reaching Hand is a charity organisation that believes in the empowerment of women and children, to help them out of poverty so they can fight for a better life for themselves. Reaching Hand runs a children home – New Home – that takes in children below the age of 18 who have legal guardians who are unable or unwilling to care for them. Reaching Hand aimed to provide the children with a high quality of life and a high standard of education so that, despite their tough family situation, they will be equipped to strive in society. With a new campus that is just two years old, the CAPT Kamal team helped with multiple infrastructure projects such as the general painting of common areas, mural painting for the children’s classrooms, and refurbishing and organising the storage area.