CHILDREN PROMOTING CHANGE

Summer is at its peak, touching 45 degrees in the afternoons in this part of the world. The fields all along the way are barren and the trees sparse as the sun blazes mercilessly above our heads.

Most villages on the way seem to have gone into a hiding behind mud walls, but Liya seems to have found life even in this scorching afternoon. Everybody is headed to the village primary school. The largest classroom of the village is filled to capacity with children, women and a few elders. Men are crowded outside the door and windows stretching to get a glimpse inside.

Amidst this anticipation and curiosity, young Neeta stands up to address the crowd. As she elaborates the findings of her children’s group on the condition of the school, involvement of the teachers, violence, places which scare her and her friends, most elders look at them patronizingly. However, this is where Neeta surprises them. She looks up at them and asks “what will you do about these problems? How will you help us?”

Silence envelopes the room; for a while no one has answers. And then a few parents wonder aloud what they can do about what is happening in the school. It is then that a young lady finally raises her voice and says “We will have to go to the school and talk to the teachers, and we will have to do this regularly; they should know that society is watching the school.” All this while, Neeta waits patiently for the elders to give their opinions and draw out a common action plan.

Even as the meeting begins to disperse after a couple of hours, a grandmother says that never in her life time has she seen such an event where children have led a meeting like this. The ball has been set rolling. One after the other, children stand up and raise issues of child labour, water, sanitation, environment, nutrition and health and give the elders a chance to voice their own opinions and action plans. The children insist on commitments from village leaders and villagers alike.

By the time the meeting was over at this school, the sun had turned into mellow gold, but the winds of change had started blowing.

Source: Child Rights for Change

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

As an example of another initiative to improve the skills of slum dwellers,
Asha-Kiran has reached an agreement with the Department of Urban Community Development of Pune, by which they provide, free of cost, a tailoring and design course to the women from the Koregaon Park community.

Deepmala, in charge of cleaning our office in Pune, has signed up for the classes. She says:

“Up to now, I have been working as a part-time maid and as a helper in several places. This is good, but learning how to sew and design clothes is better because my chances of getting a good job increase. Also, I like being a seamstress. I could work for a tailor with experience in the business or maybe I could get something started with the other women in the course.”

Classes are from Monday through Friday, last three hours each, and the course is three months long. We wholeheartedly wish success to these women who have the drive to become more autonomous and better providers for their families.

ADULT LITERACY CLASSES

The traditional definitions of adult education include the ability to read and write, the use of literacy skills in managing one's life, and continuously upgrading skills so as to enter the mainstream of adult development processes. Adult illiterates, being mostly also the very poor, view upgrading skills and income-generating opportunities as immediate needs.

Asha-Kiran has launched adult literacy classes in Birazdar community in order to

• enable adults to become competent in reading and writing letters, words and sentences
• teach them basic arithmetic skills
• show them and expand the possibilities of bettering their lives through education

To date, 17 men and women have signed up for Adult Education Classes. Since all the participants work during the day, we have scheduled the lessons around their work hours. A local Volunteer, a student from the Social Work College, will participate in the Program. We hope that more adults will join this initiative so that its benefits will reach as many people as possible.

THE CITY HALL OF TORREJÓN DE ARDOZ AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE BACK YASHODHARA ONCE AGAIN

For the second year in a row, the City Hall of Torrejón de Ardoz and the University of Seville have chosen Yashodhara as the recipient of their respective awards for international Aid to Development Projects.

The 2011-2012 period is especially important for our Project because we have added a new component to it that will make it possible for us to reach out to more vulnerable families. The aim is to ensure that all children who come to Yashodhara with a need for protection receive the specific attention they require. There are many cases of extremely impoverished mothers who approach our Project to give their children a better quality of life. As Yashodhara has a limited housing capacity, this new element of external support will allow us to work with mothers and their children in their own communities, counselling them and giving them the necessary tools take proper care of their families.

The City of Torrejon de Ardoz has backed Yashodhara with a grant of 5500 Euros, while the University of Seville has awarded us 6000 Euros, doubling the contribution they made last year.

The link between the City Hall and Asha-Kiran will also allow us to support awareness-raising activities done by the Department of Immigration in events such as Children's Day and Youth Week.

Our sincere gratitude to both entities for their ongoing support on our way to achieve a more just world for children.

YOUNG TEACHERS

Education is a key element for change and ongoing self-improvement. After starting to work in the slums of Pune and assessing the needs of adults and their response, we opted to take adult education to Yashodhara Shelter as well, where the beneficiaries are the caretakers, the cook and the driver.

The way to implement this Program involves

• teaching reading and writing in Marathi, the local language
• teaching basic maths
• adjusting study time to the staff’s work hours
• promoting relaxation in learning so that education may flow unimpeded.

A particularly interesting point is that the teachers are the children of the Shelter who are in higher grades.

Thus, this teaching-learning process is a continuous cycle that enriches all of those involved – on the one hand, the children are nourished by the friendly presence of the adults around them, their care and the food prepared for them. On the other hand, the staff acquire practical and useful skills that will contribute to their self-esteem and autonomy, while the children consolidate their knowledge and have a chance to pay back the attention and affection they get.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF NON-VIOLENCE

The International Day on Non-violence is celebrated worldwide coinciding with Ghandi’s birthday. But even though many events are organized of this date, we tend to lose sight of the objective throughout the year and violence goes on unabated.

Douglas Roche struck the nail on the head when he noted that “the world is experiencing a fundamental crisis... We are at the point where we are capable of destroying life on earth, while the culture of peace offers the vision of global ethics toward life in full vibrancy”.

Gandhi is admired worldwide for his principles of nonviolent protest to achieve political and social progress, but admiration is not the solution – the application of his ideals is. This work cannot be left to governments or international organizations alone. Peace may be achieved around the negotiating table, but it is sustained around community tables. Peace starts with people – it flows from the hearts of committed women and men. Communities, families, and individuals all have a critical role to play in defeating violence and creating a culture of peace.

Unless every individual takes the message of peace to heart and applies it to himself in his daily activities, violence will continue to destroy our people, and our planet will be in danger. Let us work together to use the great force of non-violence to build peaceful and just societies for ourselves and for our children.

Sources:
http://www.un.org/en/events/nonviolenceday/sgmessages.shtml
http://www.mauritiustoday.com/news/articles/16046/1/The-International-Day-of-Non-violence/Page1.html