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Middle School: A Charity Trip to Indigo Workshop

November 29, 2016

Middle School: A Charity Trip to Indigo Workshop

In life there are those who are healthy, and there are those that are less fortunate. Some people around you have mental disabilities. Also known as indigo children, they have autism and other illnesses, making it hard for them to express themselves. Indigo Workshop is an organization that takes these people in and gives them a chance to develop themselves. At Indigo Workshop there the “indigo children”, who are taught how make soap and thus get a chance in society.

Last Friday, Nov. 25th, 10 student representatives went on a charity trip to Indigo Workshop. Missing the third and fourth class, the students went to the small workshop to learn more about how their soap was made, how it helped the people who got treated, and to simply learn more about the patients.

As they entered the studio, the students were first given a small tour in the room that held all the soap. There the leader of Indigo Workshop explained how their soap was made, and talked about what makes it special. The students were given a chance to see and touch the soap for themselves. The purpose of Indigo Workshop is to aid autistic people in their development through letting them make soap. This specific activity is beneficial in several ways. Firstly, making soap is a very meditative process and commands and improves one's concentration, a quality that autistic people sometimes lack. Secondly, when the patients witness their own hard work leading to a successful outcome, in the case of Indigo Workshop, the creation of their soap, they can feel a sense of achievement that can boost their confidence. Thirdly, by having a place where autistic people can come every day and meet and interact with others like themselves, they can live and grow in an environment where love and care is present and they are not attacked everyday.

After the tour ended, the students and the patients interacted with each other through giving out the donations, and took a couple of photos together. Then each patient introduced themselves and talked of their hobbies and talents. After this, all the patients sung together then each had a turn for a solo. This was an extremely enlightening experience. In watching the autistic people sing and perform what they enjoyed the most and did best, the students of SHSID got to see a bit more of the common bond between all human beings, how seemingly big differences really don't need to mean much, and truly understood the meaning for why they stood in the very studio. We weren't at Indigo Workshop to act as if we were great, generous benefactors. As Mr. Ni said, we were there not to "give our love", but to pay respect to a greater kindness of the leaders of the studio and the autistic patients.

(Written by 8(9) Yilan Picture by 8(6) Joyce Supervised by Zhu Lei)