Due to lockdown, people could not manage to speak to the children of their house help but I somehow managed to get in touch with three kids and collect the primary data over a call.
Lavanya is 12 years old and the eldest amongst the three and Anshuman and Aayushman are 8 years old and are also twins. I asked most of the questions from the questionnaire.They started by sharing their routines. Lavanya told me that she approximately uses 2 buckets of water and the most amount of water is consumed while bathing. they have a water filter at home and no leaking taps.She has studied about water conservation in school and is quite conscious about adequate consumption of water. She added that her brothers tend to waste water sometimes but they do not understand the seriousness maybe because they are very young. The boys spoke very enthusiastically that they are taught to “save water” during their science lectures and would like to volunteer to do the same.
In this class we were explained the final project at length. We were asked to keep certain points in mind while developing it-
- 20 mins long activity
- Sensitive towards their social background
- Interactive
- Practical
We were also shown the Savlon ad, where they added soap to the chalk itself for better hygiene purposes in order to get an idea for our modules.
Process: list down the objectives, make them think more and give them a practical experience of what it is like.
Objectives-
- Fitting an interactive activity in their daily routines and not expecting them to do something extra
- An activity that keeps their social sentiments in mind
- Making them realise how much their individual contribution counts
- Making them more conscious and aware about the careless water wastage in their daily routines
- Addressing the need for water conservation
Reflection: The ad made me realise that it is better to add a module/activity in their existing routine rather than making them do something additional to conserve water. Talking to the children while collecting the primary data made me realise that the younger kids are often not made to understand the seriousness of an issue like water conservation because of their age.
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