Savarkundla is a small city in Amreli district known mostly for its wildlife sanctuary of Asiatic lions. There have been numerous instances of lions and other animals falling inside the local wells of Savarkundla and dying. To prevent this from happening in the future, a social enterprise named Rural Pleasure has taken an initiative to build covers for those wells. Led by this venture, we the students of grade 11 had taken up this project to build a fence that covers a well from the top out of scratch. This included performing manufacturing processes such as cutting, welding, and drilling.

My goals included:

• Gather information about fabricating equipment and learn how to use them effectively.
• Learn how to work as a team and cooperate with everyone.
• Build a functional well covering.

Learning Outcomes Achieved:

• Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process. Using the tools is what most of the students found difficulty in, but at the same time, it was the most compelling thing that we did over there. The fact that I was a rookie didn’t do any good. It was a really challenging experience for me as well because I had zero experience for the same. There were two things that had to be taken into consideration, firstly the safety measures which involved wearing gloves and eye protection and secondly the specific and precise tricks to hold and operate the machines. Both of which I learned from the experts over there. Following these two measures, I was able to overcome this challenge. It’s necessary to have basic knowledge about how these things work and so I am glad that I got the opportunity of learning it while working for a good cause.
• Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively. I immediately got tensed when I found out that we all had to work as a team in making this fence. I am not fond of working collaboratively with other people as I like to get things done my way. But I knew that I had to deal with it as there was no way out. I heard what everyone had to say. We worked in an organized manner and so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact working as a team was better than working individually mainly because we were able to procure more innovative ideas and were more productive.
• Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth. I realized that I am not comfortable in working in extreme heat and this what I will have to work on because weather conditions cannot be controlled. I also discovered that I am an active listener, while the others were busy doing their own thing I heard all the instructions that the experts gave and so I had no difficulty in using the equipment.
• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance. Extinction of animals is a universal problem. It hampers with the food webs and disrupts the ecosystem and so it is necessary to protect such endangered species. There are only 523 Asiatic Lions alive and by building covers for the wells, we helped in decreasing the extinction rate.

What learner profile characteristics did I develop in this activity? This project involved a lot of risk-taking. Another learner profile characteristic I developed was being a communicator as the key to successful teamwork is communicating.

In the end, it was a very fulfilling experience for everyone as we weren’t even aware of this issue earlier and now that we contributed in resolving it, it feels really great.