The Newsletter of Homerton College, Cambridge & The Homerton Roll

PILKINGTON TRAVEL GRANTS
Each year a number of students are awarded travel grants from Pilkington Travel and the Gates
Cambridge Trusts. Here are two examples of the excellent work done overseas by our students.
BACK PACT 2010: INDIA AND NEPAL
In July 2010, funded by the Pilkington
Travel grant, I joined a group of fellow
students on a month-long trip to
schools across India and Nepal. Our
aim was to use drama workshops and
performances to initiate a cultural
exchange between Cambridge and a
number of institutions in the area. We
devised a twenty minute performance
based on a European folktale and set
off for India. Arriving just before the
monsoon began in Delhi, our initial
days were spent getting used to the
immense heat and the culture, and
coincided with the Commonwealth
Games putting its mark on the city.
We began in a large school in Lucknow
which was funded by a British
businessman, moving on to charity schools
in the fascinating Varanasi, then the
Jamghat shelter for street-children in Delhi
and continuing to several schools funded
by British/Nepali charity initiatives in
Kathmandu. Our aim was to challenge the
imaginations of the children we met and
discuss our ideas about creative learning
with teachers. The workshops shared
drama games with children, which was a
privilege, especially an instance when a
simple call and response game concluded
with a once-shy girl shouting dance moves
to a crowd of 100 pupils, whilst locals
sat on the perimeter walls staring as we
shared the fun! I was fascinated to see
that many children who had lived in slum
areas seemed to adapt more quickly to
imaginative thinking games than those
in school.
During one game in which an invisible ball
of sound is passed between players, even
the youngest children at Jamghat were so
entranced by the ‘ball’ that they clambered
to grab it, creating new noises and
movements as it was passed. It was striking
to compare this to pupils in prestigious
schools who were adept at taking in and
reproducing information without as much
ability to think critically and creatively. It
Top Group
Singing
Right Matilda
and students at
Lucknow
often seemed that the young children
who had the need for resilience were
particularly responsive when asked for
individual, artistic thought. All the children
with whom I worked were enthusiastic
and shared their traditions with us: from
Rajasthani dancing, Indian soap-opera style
performance to colourful Nepali dress.
Having studied drama, I realise the
commonality it highlights between
different cultures. The sharing of
ideas and passions is essential for our
understanding of others. So I would
encourage people of all ages to step
beyond their comfort zone and to
share something which matters
to them.
Matilda Stickley
Education with English and Drama
2007–2010
16
Homertonian