EXCURSION TO BHAJA CAVES

In the villages close to Yashodhara, there are very picturesque and beautiful places. Since we now have free time, we organized a trip to Bhaja Caves. They are ancient Buddhist caves located in Malavli - temples carved into the depths of the mountain. They are astoundingly beautiful, open to the sky, inviting one to be silent.

We climbed the stairs that were built to reach them, and the way up was very pleasant in spite of the heat. You could see the entire valley, houses, agricultural fields, vegetation and birds in flight.

Once in the caves, an intimate encounter between the children and the space took place while they ran around and discovered all the nooks and crannies. They would cling to the stones and a magical space for exploration emerged. Some felt the need to find a resting place; others a place where their curiosity would take the lead and let them merge with the dark labyrinths of empty rooms.

They were totally charmed by the place, happy at the freedom it offered to them; and as always, enjoying and appreciating what we share.

Eshana - Live-in Volunteer at Yashodhara Shelter Home.

PUNE STREET CHILDREN GET A 'SHOT' AT HEALTH

Pune: on the city streets, 35,000 little ones grapple with big problems every day - from basic survival to illness and physical abuse. Paediatricians who are members of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), Pune, are keen to change this. They have started out by monitoring the health of the children as part of the Child Abuse, Neglect and Child Labour (CANCL) plan adopted at IAP's national meet in Bangalore in January.

A team identifies the children, who are then given an identity card which can be used for free medical treatment and vaccination. Dr. Vasant Dhamal, IAP President Pune, says "The aim of the drive is to reach out to neglected, deprived, and abused children for their comprehensive needs including health care, education, rehabilitation and protection”. Currently, the doctors are concentrating on increasing the immunisation tally. "The children are administered a single dose of a single vaccine to cover several ailments like DPT (diphtheria, pertusis, tetanus), MMT (measles, mumps, rubella) Hepatitis B and polio. All doses are being supplied free of cost by Serum India”, explains Dilip Sarda, IAP Secretary.

A survey of street children in the city is also being simultaneously carried out. Dr. Sarda says the children are mostly part of a floating population. Since most of them are mostly runaways, they live on sidewalks, railway platforms, under flyovers; others live in shanty colonies with their families. A majority of them suffer from diseases like scabies, diarrhoea and malnutrition. "Begging and rag-picking are two occupations they take up to survive, but sometimes they pick up bad habits like Gutka (chewing tobacco) and even using narcotics", Sarda says. Serious illnesses like Hepatitis b, Leptospirosis and even HIV are not uncommon.

CANCL plans to send a batch of 50 children to Jana Seva, a city-based NGO for rehabilitation and vocational training, besides opening piggy bank accounts for those children who earn some income.

PIAGGIO and CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

We have received books for our library from the Company Piaggio Automobiles, Pune. They donated approximately 480 books - some old, some new - in three languages: English, Hindi and Marathi.

A relationship with the Company has been established. They are keen to work with NGOs, especially those involved in child education. Although the Vice-president of the Company seemed very interested, he explained that they need time to develop a plan as they are trying to work with another 8-10 NGOs. This has been their first stint in Corporate Social Responsibility.

With this liaison, we enter the realm of corporate ventures and will try to keep on establishing other similar links for cooperation, not only in kind but also in funds and sponsorship.

A NEW BEGINNING

While doing a general screening of the children from our Projects during our Immunization Program for 2010-11, we came to know the case of Sam Watson, a two year old child with severe heart disease residing in the Koregaon Park community.

The child was referred to a nearby hospital, where all the required tests were conducted. The doctors involved decided to perform an operation on the child, but the surgery was postponed until Sam’s weight increased, he overcame his continuous mild fever, and his blood volume reached the required level.

We immediately started supplementary nutrition for Sam for almost two and half months. Our Social Worker and Teacher counseled the family on how to care for the child and reported on his health status until Sam was in good enough physical condition. In the meantime, we tried to find sponsors or other resources for the operation. Our search led us to another hospital, which readily agreed to conduct the surgery and forwarded the request for the Chief Minister’s Fund. Finally, everything worked out and the decision to carry out operation was finalized.

Sam was admitted in the hospital two weeks before surgery. He successfully underwent heart surgery on 19th April and was released some time later. He is now doing well, notwithstanding his overall weak condition. His parents are taking good post-surgery care of him and our Social Worker is counseling his family regarding his care and regular follow-up treatment.

We wish success to him on his fresh beginning.

With warm regards,

Pradip Balsaraf
Project Co-ordinator
Asha-Kiran Shelters Foundation

LEARNING TO WEAVE

Now that school is out, Yashodhara children are attending a handicrafts workshop every morning at a Center located in the same NGO Campus that our Shelter Home is in. At this Center, visually impaired women are taught to weave so they can have a trade. The women, who learn to make bags, baskets, and various items made from plastic fiber, have designed workshops for the children who live at Yashodhara.

The first thing that children are learning to weave, are small rugs to sit on. To make them, the children use pieces of brightly colored cloth retrieved from tailor shops, and they are very creative in combining the colors. The next step for them will be to work with plastic fiber. As this material is not as flexible as cloth, children will have to put more effort into their creations, which will be bags for them to put their school lunch in.

It's amazing to see the enthusiasm with which children welcome any activity that is presented to them, and how they dive into learning without any hesitation. An attitude like this, open and inquisitive, coupled with the skills they are acquiring, are and will certainly be invaluable as life skills.

Let’s continue walking hand in hand with them.

Eshana - Live-in Volunteer at Yashodhara Shelter Home.

LOUDER TOGETHER

The International Day for Street Children: Louder Together was launched on 12th April 2011 - a new campaign to give a louder voice to the millions of street children all around the world so their rights cannot be ignored. Governments need to listen and we want to help make this happen.

All countries have signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (except the USA and Somalia) and have a legal obligation to work towards ensuring that all children's rights are integrated into national law. It is universally recognised that all children should have these rights realised. However, many government policies and practices still do not include street children.

The International Day is supported by Aviva, the world's sixth largest insurance group, as part of their global Street to School programme which aims to help 500,000 street children get back into education or training over the next five years.

Statements of support

Filming Slumdog Millionaire opened my eyes to the horrendous conditions that street children in India are forced to endure on a day to day basis - an unimaginable mix of poverty, hardship, cruelty and abuse. That's why I'm supporting the International Day for Street Children and the Louder Together campaign. These children need a voice and need to be heard by the international community I urge everyone to go online and pledge their support at www.streetchildren.org.uk. - Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire director.

In my capacity as UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, I am honored to lend my voice of support to the International Day for Street Children. I particularly support this campaign's focus on child participation. Children - particularly street children - are not merely victims, but are subjects of rights. They have the right to be heard, and are vectors of proposals on how to improve the situation of children around the world. - Najat Maalla M'Jid, UN Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

All children have the right to grow up healthy, happy and safe; to enjoy education, and develop to their full potential; to be respected in dignity and worth; to feel supported in addressing the unknown, and nurtured in a strong sense of belonging.
These are universal values all nations have committed to respect but they tend to fade away when the situation of children living or working in the street is at stake. Then, stigma, indifference, invisibility and fear, routinely prevail.
This International Day is an extraordinary opportunity to reverse this pattern, and to launch an era where the fulfilment of the rights of street children, and their effective protection from violence, can define their universe. Being louder together, we will make it happen! - Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children.

AN AFTERNOON AT THE MOVIES

During the month of May, children are on vacation in Pune. There is no school until June, so we have a little over a month to have fun and play. Besides, May is the hottest month of the year, so we have the fans going all day. The weather is perfect to go to the movie theater and enjoy a good movie and the air conditioning.

Today we went to the 3 pm showing. It was the hottest time of day and there was a regional film in Marathi. The film was called Bal Gandharva (Singer of the heavens), the name of a famous old classic theater actor who was born in Pune. It was a biographical picture and not too Bollywood-like. The session was very entertaining and also educational as far as traditions and history go.

The Bollywood film industry is usually fantastic and unrealistic, but this movie generated debate and questions in the children. The unusual part was that it was subtitled in English, quite an surprise for a rather provincial movie. The session was divided into two parts and we had drinks and snacks during intermission. Nice! So here we are ... enjoying the holidays and good movies.

Eshana - Live-in Volunteer at Yashodhara Shelter Home.

INTERVIEW TO UTTAM MÓDENES

"India has much to offer to the world"


Uttam Módenes, born in the Basque Country, Spain, traveled to India for the first time at age 19 and fell in love with it. He discovered mystic India, "full of smiles, colors and aromas", but also the "abject poverty, disregard, resignation and indignity" which a large part of its population lives in. He is the president of Fundación Asha-Kiran (Ray of Hope, in Hindi), which supports vulnerable children. This NGO organized a photo exhibition inRenteria, Basque Country, in March.

You claim that it is hard to know India and not question the values that drive us here in the West.

Yes, India is always surprising and its visitors can never remain indifferent to it. It is the country where more mystics, enlightened beings and teachers of the sacred have been born. Its history is one full of meditation and inner search. But perhaps it is precisely that which has created a great imbalance on the material level. There are currently millions of people who endure serious lacks of the most basic resources. India has much to offer the world. It is perhaps the only country in the world with a word, "Leela", that regards life a cosmic game, and even nowadays this view permeates the daily lives of people.

Asha-Kiran has launched the Yashodhara Shelter, two Day Care Centers and various initiatives such as the dental health program. They aim to create a ‘home’, to make it possible for children to enjoy the right to be children, to play, to be valued, to learn, to develop vitality and the ability to be happy. Is your work achieving the desired results?

The amount of social work that India needs is huge. There is an immense lack of education, and this lack is the root of many barriers to development and the balance of millions of people living in vulnerable situations, especially women and children. Asha-Kiran aims to contribute in offering opportunities for the future through projects that implement education programs, holistic health and training. It is wonderful to watch the transformation that takes place in children who benefit from this type of projects. In fact, the only thing that vulnerable people need is the chance to conduct their own development. This is what we wish to go on doing, and it is an honor for Asha-Kiran that all these children will allow us to do so.

Another opportunity that you offer to these kids are the creative workshops. Of what value are they to their lives?

Creativity is the essence of human beings and of nature as a whole. Through creativity, we make beauty evident and tune into what we are and into our source of life. There is nothing more healing, more balanced, than to channel this creative cascade that beats within each of us. And with India’s ‘lower class’ children, it is a pleasure to promote creative workshops because since they’re very young they are connected with music, dance and manual labor. They accept what is proposed to them and go to it, forgetting for a time the drama that many of them live.

What sort of welcome have the activities organized in Errenteria had?

Since we started the delegation of Asha-Kiran in the Basque Country, Errenteria was the first town where we started organizing awareness- and fundraising events. The two dinners we had at Batzoki restaurant and the photo exhibition in Xenpelar have shown the solidarity and generosity of the people here. People who have approached us encourage us to keep working and are very interested in supporting us. Errenteria was the best gateway to the Basque Country, and I am thankful for this.

You are a yoga and dance therapy teacher, and lead seminars and retreats for personal development. Do you think that Western society needs to explore new ways of being?

It is becoming increasingly obvious that there is a need for transformation in the way human beings live, far from his own nature. Mechanized life has made us forget that we belong to nature; forget what our essence is and the natural feelings that we are born with. Words like compassion, generosity, love, solidarity, friendship, have become ‘good-willed’ activities, almost suspicious and belonging to a distant utopia. An unstoppable “spiritualizing action” Is already taking place, and it will result in the checking of attitudes and the emergence of a new moral consciousness. I'm sure of it. The next adventure will be to consciousness.

SOLIDARITY PLAY IN RIBAFORADA, NAVARRA

The Valle del Ebro High School, in a joint initiative with the Department of Culture of the City of Ribaforada (Navarra), presented the play “Four Hearts with Brakes and Reverse Gear” on 17 April.

The 492 Euro collection was donated to Asha-Kiran in its entirety to support the Foundation’s social work with vulnerable children in India.

We are thankful for the work of our co-worker in Ribaforada, and the solicitous participation of both entities to present this play, which has brought together enjoyment, art and caring hearts.