Manav Sadhna
- Hannah Boggs
- Aug 17
- 3 min read
It's hard to even think of where to begin when discussing this most wonderful organization. On paper it is a non-governmental organization located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; however, I now know that Manav Sadhna is a family and a place of pure heart and compassion.
Manav Sadhna is an organization that provides people in marginalized communities access to education, food, and opportunities they would not otherwise have. There are over 40 projects that Manav Sadhna oversees to help their community, and by association, the global community. Some of these projects are related to education, while others are related to health, and some provide job skills or opportunities to women whose husbands cannot work.
Manav Sadhna also has international volunteers who stay anywhere from a month to years to volunteer on these projects and live in free volunteer housing. The volunteers pick a project to dedicate their time to and work on that project for the duration of their stay. The project can be something they thought of that could help the community, or something that is already in place such as assisting teachers in the school centers.
On our first day in Manav Sadhna, we had to opportunity to visit a center where women whose husbands were not able to work were provided with job opportunities related to recycling, bagging and selling fertilizer, and bagging cotton wicks used for Hindu offerings. Here we also saw where they were using old bottles to grow spinach and other vegetables to use in their homes.
After visiting this center, we were able to put our educator skills to use and provide a three hour teacher training related to Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL is a topic that is growing rapidly in India; however, access to materials and online resources is still limited in some parts of India. The teachers started off a bit confused and nervous about this new topic, but by the end they were engaged and excited about the prospect of utilizing these skills to address and solve issues in the classroom.
We were able to work with these teachers over the coming days, primarily at the Manav Gulzar center which serves a beautiful community of Muslims and Hindus coexisting together and even celebrating each other's holidays. We got to know the students here and I was able to serve them food, play games with them, and even gift them friendship bracelets that my 4th and 5th grade students back in Virginia made for them. The students' English was very limited; however, with the help of my new friend, Shifa, we were able to translate between English and Gujarati. We were able to visit more educational centers in Ahmedabad and even sit in on some lessons to observe the teachers here.
It was an incredibly unique experience and I left feeling like my cup was full, but my heart still ached for more. I vowed to myself that I would return to Ahmedabad to serve Manav Sadhna's students and teachers in any way possible. I am committed to providing teacher training and resources from afar and hoping that I can help in any way possible. I have to thank the lovely staff at Manav Sadhna and our wonderful host, Nilam, for this life changing experience.
Check out Manav Sadhna's website here to learn more about their projects and how you can help.
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