out for summer in India right now, so sadly I do not get to be “Teacha Beka”
this month. Even though the kids are not there, I still get to be involved with
a school… We just spent a week refurbishing an existing building for slum
children in the Bangalore area. Lighthouse Learning Center is a preschool and kindergarten located in a home with 50+
students, run by a very caring and professional couple.
Our team
came in this week to give the building a facelift for the kids to return back to.
As with all of our projects this year, we were working with an extremely limited
budget, little resources, and strict guidelines against permanent
fixes (such as paste). Coming from a design background, it was challenging at
first to accept the fact that we were going to have to accept the somewhat
‘unprofessional’ look.
Without
paste or trim for edging, we overlapped padding and laminate flooring, using scotch
tape for seams. The material would not fit under the door, and we were not
allowed to modify the door, so we simply cut a quarter circle out of the floor for
the door swing. We mixed the paint color ourselves, creating many different shades
on a single wall. I’m not going to lie; the presentation of this project was
pretty unsettling. Then the principal told me something I will never forget…
“If the kids come back from summer break to
color on the walls, and padding under their feet… They will be thrilled. This
is a luxury to them.”
My
attitude instantly did a 180.
project had nothing to do with me, or the pride I take in my work.
This was about the students. These kids live in the slums of India. Their homes
consist of a dirt floor, and maybe a cement slab. Who cares if there is no
trim, the edges are uneven, and there is a bump in the middle of their
classroom where the laminate overlaps? The kids surely don’t. All they know is they
are living in luxury of having padding under their little
feet.
My dad is
an electrician. I’ve worked alongside him all my growing up years, and he has
been a great role model for going above and beyond for his clients. He’s always
taught me to not just do something, but to do it right, and then extra. Even the
tiny things… Like making sure the screws for the switch plates all face vertical.
There is a lot of integrity behind quality work.
The lesson
I learned this week: Quality work does not have a set standard. It is deeper than the outer
appearance. If you are working with one role of padding, sheet laminate, scotch
tape, children’s scissors, and directions not to use paste of any type, the
outcome will not look professional, no matter how much improvising you do. Success
of a project is defined by whether or not needs are met and the client is blessed.
In this case the clients are the students, and they could care less if there is
scotch tape instead of trim. All that is important to them is a soft floor. To
the best of our ability, that’s what they got.
If one of
my college instructors at Ai graded this remodel, I would most definitely receive
an ‘F’.
When the
students see their school, I guarantee they are excited and jump for joy at the
changes. I would love to see the reactions on their faces the first day back to
school.
start, this project was humbling to my design talent. By the end, I realized
that it has NOTHING to do with ME or MY abilities, and everything to do with
using your resources, padding children’s feet, and brightening faces of 50 little
pre-scholars and kindergarteners.
