Kristin Lew attends the Round Square South Asia and Gulf Regional Conference

This past week, I was fortunate enough to attend a regional Round Square conference at The Lawrence School in Sanawar, India. Five other delegates from the Vivek High School also attended the conference. The conference theme was “serve and find.” By this they meant by doing community service or helping one another, we not only benefit another person, but also ourselves.

We left on April 24, 2012 and returned the following Saturday. The Lawrence School is not too far from Chandigarh, and by car it only takes an hour and forty five minutes. To start my first Round Square conference, we attended the opening ceremony where they declared the conference officially open. Many people spoke, including the principal from The Vivek High School as the guest of honor. For the next few days I took part in many activities in my Baraza group (a small, designated gathering of students) and participated in discussions about what service meant to us. On the second evening, all the schools gathered together and performed for one another. Each school prepared a dance, song or skit and at the end we were judged on the performance.

The following day each Baraza group went off campus to different locations to perform community service. I had the pleasure of visiting a local orphanage about an hour from Sanawar. We painted the walls of their school, gardened, and white washed. The best part was at the end when we got to interact with the children and play alongside them. We would play soccer, play tag, or even just talk to them. It was just great to see their reaction and their great big smiles!

The last day of the conference we met as a group again. We discussed our experiences and had the chance to share our understanding with the rest of the groups. That evening we participated in the closing ceremony and finally a social/dance at night. Overall the conference was loads of fun! I got the chance to meet many people and make dear friends. I had the opportunity to see another part of India and gain another perspective.