MORE GIRLS AND MORE TREES

In an arid town in the Indian state of Rajasthan, girls are welcome into this world with an earthly and lasting ritual: the planting of 111 trees in their honor. “We take care of the trees as part of our family because they are the fruit of the earth and because they will also give us fruit to feed our daughters”, says one of the women of the village of 8,500 inhabitants who benefit from the project.

For the last six years, the mothers of Piplantri have been able to join the Yogana Hadhi Kiran initiative voluntarily. By joining the project, the families are responsible for the planting and care of 111 trees for every girl born at home. Also voluntarily, parents are committed to providing a fixed deposit of about €271.5 for the future of their daughters. "The rest of the people contributing to a total of € 400 for each child. If families are unable to provide the highest amount, it would be the responsibility of the community, "says the mayor and project creator.

Shyam Paliwal Sundal conceived the idea when he was in charge of the Department of Sanitation and Environment Piplantri. "Kiran Hadhi Yogana benefits everyone. More than 60 families have joined the program and have planted 285,000 trees in an area of 2,000 hectares, "said Shyam, who says that families are now more willing to accept the birth of a girl for the economic aid that it entails.

The conception of a girl in India is a setback due to the constraints of a patriarchal and patrilineal society. Males are the mainstay of the domestic economy while daughters are married prior dowry, which involves an expense sometimes difficult to face. Atavismo the permanence of this leads in many cases to female feticide. For children under 6 years, there are only 888 girls for every 1,000 boys, when the natural sex ratio favors females.

The project Piplantri is paying off. According to Shyam, the proportion of children has been reversed in the last six years to reach 48 boys and 52 girls. In addition to improving the natural environment, planting trees also prevents child marriages, one of the social ills of India. To join the project, a couples is committed to keep the deposit granted until their daughter turns 18, when they can use it for her education or her dowry.

The Indian government has rewarded the initiative because it fosters a clean environment and the rights of the girl child, with some experts describing this movement in terms of eco-feminism. However, the project has not stopped at that, as some Pipilantri women have organized cooperatives for the production and sale of the aloe vera that grows amidst the trees. This, in turn, has made the cooperative think about the potential uses of wood and bamboo to make home-made home furniture, thus providing jobs and generating income for other village women.

Source: elpais.com

TEACHING AND LEARNING LIFE SKILLS

The topic for this session was Understanding Life Skills, the abilities that enable individuals to deal with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Every education system has a duty to support the development of life skills in order to enable youngsters to function effectively in society.

At the Community Project, we teach children psychosocial and interpersonal competencies that will help them overcome difficulties, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, empathize with others, and cope with life’s challenges in a healthy and productive manner.

LET'S HELP THEM HELP THEMSELVES

NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND CHILDREN

The new course IT Classes began in September and have been running since. A total of 28 children signed up -16 girls and 12 boys. There are two different batches to accommodate the children’s school schedules, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

These sessions are especially important for school-going children because their IT classes at school were cancelled due to technical issues. The children enjoy the computers very much as they find them more interesting and entertaining than books and, at the same time, they are acquiring the necessary skills to feel comfortable with and use computers to their advantage.

LET'S GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO FUNCTION IN THE WORLD OF TODAY

A MOBILE SCHOOL FOR STREET CHILDREN

Mukti Gupta’s innovative social venture, a mobile school initiative in the city of Kolkata, is literally reaching out to street children to ensure that they are able to rise both socially and economically.

As Mukti hails from an affluent family business, signing off checks to NGOs working for underprivileged children could have been an easier option, but that was not the solution for her. She says, “It has always been my wish to help underprivileged children in the field of education; I believe that education is the only way to give them a better future.”

The school now gets over 200 admissions and students are taught using innovative techniques. She set up a six-machine computer lab to that end. Understanding the importance of extra-curricular activities and sports, she started swimming classes in a nearby pond under the supervision of a national swimming coach. In fact, talented children could either qualify for district level championship or make it to good schools with sports quota.

Throughout the day, the bus is busy collecting street children for their ‘school time’. “Our objective is to bridge the gap between mainstream education and street children”, Mukti says. To make way for a spacious classroom environment inside the bus, the seats have been removed and carpets put in their place. A plasma TV hangs on the wall to enable audio-visual learning. To make the classroom more child-friendly and attractive, there are a lot of soft toys and games & puzzles. The bus exterior is very creatively and colorfully done.

 “We teach with the help of audio-visuals to make learning a fun experience for the children, and make our classroom interesting by showing them cartoons, kid’s movies, rhymes & stories. We also take them for excursions”, Mukti explains. Ayahs (helpers) have been appointed to scrub clean the children daily and put on their school uniforms before they begin their classes.

Vocational training is also imparted, partly as an incentive for the children to join, and partly to make them ready be self-sufficient and to be able to live a life of dignity. The parents of the street children attending this unique school were initially skeptical about sending their children here, but have now become active supporters of it.

The unusual education drive is already en-route to success as two students have been admitted in a boarding school and a few students have been selected for government schools. Also, the Oriental Bank of Commerce has announced a year-long support for the mobile school. Mukti hopes to expand the scope of her work with this monetary support. “We are planning to launch two more buses so that we can reach more locations and educate more children,” she says. Clearly, the mobile school bus is going full steam ahead and is setting an outstanding example for other entrepreneurs with similar social aspirations.

Source: thebetterindia.com

FUN FOR COMMUNITY CHILDREN

Asha-Kiran and Impart Artists at Work Production (AWP) organized free time leisure activities for the community children. This group of volunteers has been working in Delhi for the last couple of years and now they are also working in Pune. AWP is made up of students from Ferguson College, some of them artists, some musicians, and some students who have good managerial skills.

In Delhi, AWP works with a number of Shelter Homes where they bring free music, dance and drama, drawing and painting sessions to children. At our Community Project, AWP conducted their first session on music therapy followed by an art session which 52 community children attended and were delighted by.

JOINING THE HANDS AND HEARTS OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN