On-field Prototyping

FRAMEWORK OF THE SERVICE

We formulated the framework of the service going to be implemented at the Orphanage of Missionaries of Charity and discussed and validated it with their social worker. She helped in getting permission from the Orphanage head and had a session with the caregivers as well.

We divided the First Phase Implementation in two day, the first day’s session was only for the caregivers and the second day’s session was for both the caregivers and the children.

Day 1

Introduction:

The Care-Bees team will introduce themselves to the caregivers. We will explain our aim and objectives to them and why are we present at the orphanage and what is their role in it.

Ice-Breaking:

After the introduction of the Care-Bees, we will start with an ice-breaking activity called the “Candy introduction”. This activity involves introducing themselves in an interesting format by using examples of fruits and vegetables or any other edible item and associating their personalities with it. For example, a person can describe him or her through a strawberry and can say that he/she has a sweet-sour nature or a “Khatta-Meetha” nature. The caregiver will draw the edible item and will then explain their personality and will give an introduction about him or her.

This will make the introduction interesting and at the same time it will help our team to understand how the caregivers associate themselves with other things and what do they feel about themselves.

Discussion of some notable points:

After the introductory session we will elaborately discuss some notable points with the caregivers to make them understand the important aspects of being a care-giver. These points are discussed and validated with the psychologist in detail prior to the implementation of the service. The Social Worker will also have a session with the caregivers.

A video session:

The session concludes with a video. The video depicts the relationship between human beings. Through the video we will try to inculcate an empathetic emotion in the caregivers and we will try to make them associate themselves with the people in the video.

For example, we might show the caregivers a video which is based on the relationship of mother and her daughter or a school teacher and the students. The video will indirectly communicate the importance of the caregivers in the life of the children as they can associate with it and it will encourage them to take care of the children in a better dedicated way. The emotions generated after watching the video will leave the caregivers with some emotions creating an impact on their personality in a positive manner and this will be the conclusion of our session.

We used various refreshments and products to develop a bond with the caregivers and make them feel valued and comfortable.

Day 2

Introduction:

The Care-Bees team will introduce themselves to the children in a delightful manner and will proceed towards the ice-breaking activity.

Ice-breaking:

We will start the introduction of the children by the “candy introduction” and will explain our personalities with the help of edible items done with the caregivers. We will make the children draw the edible items which they associate with and will in an interesting format help them in introducing their personalities. This will help us in a non-monotonous introduction of the children and will make them open-up in a fun manner. This activity will help us in the assessment of the ability of expressing the emotions by the children and will give us an idea about how do they perceive themselves as an individual.

Your name and its meaning:

After the introduction of the children we will make them understand the meaning of their names. This activity will help them understand the meaning which their name carries, and we will associate the meaning of their name with positive and optimistic values associated with their names. This will help in confidence building of the children as they understand the importance of their existence and that their name also carries a meaning. It will make them think and realise.

Colour all-over:

This activity involves painting and colouring a huge sheet of paper with hands. This activity involves the participation of every member present in the orphanage. The sheet of paper will have bold heading – “WE ARE ONE”, or “WE ARE A TEAM”, this will inculcate the feeling of togetherness in the children and even in every member residing in the orphanage. This helps in communicating the fact that all the people of the orphanage are equally important and that doing a task together can be interesting and can lead to exchange of emotions also. This develops relationships and helps the children in understanding the importance of other people. This activity will also involve music in the background for a lively atmosphere.

Let’s plant together:

This activity will take place after the colour activity. It will involve division of children and caregivers in teams and plating a plant. Through this activity children will learn the importance for caring not only for the people but also for the society and the environment. This will help in understanding the values associated with the attitude that should be developed towards taking care of every living organism present and division and working in teams will help in understanding the process of team work and trusting others. It will also help the children in building a better relationship with the caregivers. This activity will be informative for the children as they will be told about the plant being planted and the process involved while bringing a sense of responsibility at the same time.

This activity will conclude the session of the second day and after that certificates are provided to the caregivers.

Implementation of the Service

The service was implemented at Missionaries of Charity, Ahmedabad. The first session was held on 27th April 2019, and the second session was held on 29th April 2019. A total of 9 caregivers participated in the first session. There were two sisters present in the session and the social worker was also a part of the session.

The second session was attended by 22 children of age group between 4 -12 years. Social worker was also a part of the session and the staff of the Orphanage also attended the session and participated in the activities.