The village of Haipi in Senapati district, Manipur, is like a picture postcard. Pine forests, green hills, paddy fields, wooden houses, clean roads. Emmanuel School caters to children from around 200 households here and those from surrounding villages.
Kimi Kipgen, the Principal, was very keen on initiating a SOLI Hub Project for her school. In a place blessed with nature’s bounty but limited livelihood options it is difficult to dream. She wanted to ensure that her children are able to think independently and dream big. And grow up to be confident young women and men concerned about their community’s wellbeing.
We finally got started in the month of April 2022 with students of Grade 7. Out of 39 students in the class, a total of 35 expressed their desire to participate in the project. However, the entire class participated in the following sessions.
Discussing the things children would like to work on, they pointed at shopping centre, tree-felling, water scarcity, and the state of roads. Finally, they decided on a swimming pool.
The nearest swimming pool is in Churachandpur, around 100 kms away.
The children wanted a pool in the village so that they could learn how to swim and swim with their friends. So, it needed to be a big pool! Talk of thinking big!
Hatneichin Leivon and Haogoulen Kipgen are the coordinators for this project.
