– Kunga Wangmo
I joined this short course of Community Initiatives in Inclusion Education through Empowering the Vision in January and so far, my journey here has been nothing short of adventurous learning. It has been an intensely experiential one. Right from the introductory session to the field visits, every bit of the course is designed in a way that we are constantly involved in learning new things. For me, this is truly an eye-opener in many aspects.
As someone from the teaching background, I was particularly drawn to visiting different amazing schools working toward differently-abled people as it has given me a lot of hope and encouragement to create changes in our community. Most importantly, meeting a lot of uniquely wonderful people who are working tirelessly to bring change in the lives of many children has inspired me immensely especially their approach in making education accessible for differently-abled kids in one of the biggest slum areas in Asia, is another level of work which takes a lot of time and passion.
This course has also helped me gain a better understanding of inclusive education and disability. Apart from all those, I gained a lot of practical hands-on experience in conducting surveys and home visits to do case studies. The participatory activities, presentations and discussions here have helped me a lot in enhancing my learning and gaining confidence. Also as we interact with other participants from different Asia Pacific countries, we learned to build bridges of trust, respect and understanding across cultures. All in all, I can confidently say that here I found another home where everyone feels accepted for who they are regardless of their differences.