Wrapping Up

As I sit down to write my last Choice post, I realize I'm not sure where to begin. Summing up a year's experience of anything is hard. Summing up a year's opportunity to work in a field you've been passionate about is even harder. I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I am and will always be grateful to the Choice programme of Seagull to have given me the support I needed to enter this field. I don't think I'd have been able to start working with Sanved sans a project like Choice. Yes, I'd known Sohini di much before I heard of Choice. I'd also worked as a volunteer for her and told her I would love to work for her on a regular basis. But Sanved is a small organization, and did not have the resources to create employment for someone like me. I truly believe that when you want to work in the development sector, where funds are low, and, even more so, if you are drawn to a small NGO because of the innovative work it does, it helps immensely if there is an intermediary organization/agency that acts as a link between you and the organization you want to work with. In this respect what Choice does is invaluable.

For me, the best part of being a Choice intern with Sanved was I got the chance to put into practice all that I'd studied as a graduate student. My work with Sanved was an uncanny extension of my final thesis. In my thesis I researched how performance can be used to rehabilitate and empower women who have been abused. While working with Sanved I used theatre as a tool for empowerment in my sessions with the girls at Apne Aap Women Worldwide. Almost every week I would take sessions geared towards making them more comfortable with their bodies and more confident as women. Admittedly, these were the classes I looked forward to the most. Looking back, I can think of a couple of girls who I saw transform in the course of my sessions with them. Nothing can beat that feeling when you see girls who were reserved, withdrawn and acutely self-conscious gradually become confident, articulate and comfortable with their identities. Another girl seemed to have a natural knack for acting and performing. Watching her take on roles in short skits we would stage in the class was so wonderfully rewarding.

Another reason why I will hold this year-long experience close to my heart is that it strengthened my conviction that drama therapy was the area I wanted to work in. There is always the possibility that when you actually work in the field, you realize that it may not be what you had thought it would be or that you aren't cut out for it. But during this year, I never tired of the work; nor did I feel I wouldn't manage. I kept learning on the job, thinking and rethinking session plans based on the responses I got. Gaining experience in preparing classes, changing modules according to the needs of the participants was additionally advantageous. Indeed, I think I managed to do nearly everything I'd wanted to do during this internship.

On a personal note, working with Sanved made me much clearer of my assets and shortcomings as a drama therapist (if I can call myself that). I'm a lot more confident about facilitating sessions. I don't know if I'm a good facilitator, but I know what I can do to become better. I know I need to develop counselling skills in the long-run because verbal counselling is an important part of my work as well. One of my future objectives is to enroll in a course in counselling.

In the next year, as an employee of Sanved, I hope to develop my skills in the area further and conceptualize at least one rights-based performance. I'm also looking forward to devising sessions for HIV infected children in my monthly classes with Offer, an NGO working with HIV patients. I'm sure there will be other projects that will come up as interest in alternative forms of therapy increases; I'm fortunate to be working with an NGO that is at such an exciting stage in its life. But none of this would have been possible had Choice not given me a grant to build my experience in this field. Thank you, Choice.