How HiveWatch Helps Me Support Students in Rural India
I have heard stories about the general work culture at startups, which include long working hours, having hard deadlines, and no work-life balance. However, despite being a startup, HiveWatch doesn’t follow the same norms. While searching for a job, the description that HiveWatch supports work-life balance stood out to me, because there aren’t many startups that say this. After joining HiveWatch I thankfully found that they don’t just advertise work-life balance to entice job seekers, they really mean it. HiveWatch knows how important it is to give back to the community, and supports individuals’ initiatives towards this.
Why I volunteer
My philosophy in life is that all living beings on earth are one, emerged from the Big Bang, and it is our responsibility to take care of each other. I feel immense happiness when I help people in need, knowing I’m helping them with their happiness. I grew up in Mumbai, India where I have seen many students struggling to get an education because of poverty, lack of resources, no proper guidance, and a daily struggle to even go to school. I was fortunate enough to be born in a good middle class family, but growing up I saw a huge gap between the rich and poor. The top 10% of the population in India owns approximately 65% of the nation's household wealth, with the bottom 10% owning just 6%. I personally feel that no matter where someone is born, one needs to be given an equal opportunity to get an education, grow up, and make their own choices in life.
Evidyaloka and me
While searching for a platform to help the future generation, I came across an organization called Evidyaloka, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on transforming the educational landscape of rural India - a cause near to my heart. In some schools in the rural part of India, students as young as 9 years old do not have teachers, so they have to study subjects on their own. As a mom myself, I know that at that age the concept of responsibly learning a subject by yourself is expecting too much from them.
I had no prior experience teaching before, but decided to take a bet as the kids were in real need of a teacher. I chose Math as the subject and was assigned to teach 7th grade by the Evidyaloka representatives. I have been teaching them since July 2022, and I feel great happiness knowing that I’m able to help these students (as a bonus, I also get to re-learn some mathematical methods and concepts that I had forgotten about!). In India, teachers are compared with gods, and I was overwhelmed when my student gave a speech comparing me to a god. In reality I am one person, but I felt that a small gesture of help from my side could make a positive impact on their lives. They handmade a bouquet for me from the flowers they picked from the school’s garden. That was one of the most memorable moments of my life.
I couldn’t have done any of this without HiveWatch’s support.
"I love that I work for an organization that finds it as important as I do to give back to communities in need."
How HiveWatch supports me in my volunteer work
The school where I teach is Pimpalgaon Kauda school located at Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra-India. The medium of learning is Marathi which is my native language, the same language in which I completed school. I remotely teach math to a class of 7th graders twice a week, on Sunday and Thursday nights from 10:30 pm to 11:30 pm PDT (Monday and Friday mornings 11:00 am to 12:00 pm Indian Time). This would not be possible without HiveWatch’s understanding and flexibility. Thankfully, HiveWatch supports my goal of teaching by letting me adjust my schedule and start my day late on those 2 days of the week.
It takes time and effort to make an impact on people’s lives. I love that I work for an organization that finds it as important as I do to give back to communities in need.
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