Unleashing inner creativity as a therapy – Workshop at Amar Jyoti – 12th Feb 2011
Nothing is more powerful than the smile on a child’s face. Now multiply this by 129, and you will get a small sense of what SETU staff and volunteers experienced on February 12th!
In order to interact with the kids and to help them discover themselves, SETU team conducted a workshop for the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust’s kids on 12th of Feb 2011. One of our leading volunteers was Hetal Shah, fellow of indicorps, a USA based organization. Around 129 children ( inclusive of physically & mentally challenged kids) attended the highly interactive and fun loving session.
The workshop comprised of two activities “Speak up!” and “vegetable block painting”. The first activity “Speak up” was an ice breaker activity, aimed at bringing the children out of their shells, to build up their confidence level and to make them aware about their inner self so that they can be clear about what they want to be in the future. As part of the activity, children were provided with small pieces of paper with numbers from 1 to 5 written on them. What the kids had to do was to open the paper and tell as many things about them as the number. Initially, the kids were a bit shy about the whole activity; to remove their hesitation SETU team and volunteers helped them out and also offered kids with chocolates as incentive.
A child’s imagination is full of colors, and to add more colors to it, especially in the lives of these differently-abled kids, we planned a “vegetable block painting” activity where the children were asked to paint using different vegetables and a brush. The basic purpose of carrying out this activity was to introduce the kids to their creative side which is necessary for a child’s all round development. For the task, they were provided with vegetables like, potatoes, okra, carrots etc. cut in different shapes, color plates and pastel colors. Kids were asked to dip vegetable in the color and make an impression of it on the paper. Result was incredible! Children made beautiful drawings, high above the expectations! With beautiful flowers, houses, faces, landscapes, we were thoroughly impressed by their creativity, one of them even made SETU’s logo!!
SETU team and volunteers along with teachers at Amar Jyoti, assisted children in the activities. In order to increase participation we distributed chocolates and snacks among the kids.
The best part, of course, was seeing the 129 smiles as each child left the room. We hope to do more activities like this with Amar Jyoti in the future. It was a day to cherish forever!
“Do boond zindagi ki” (Two drops of life) 23rd January 2011
Under the polio eradication program, an initiative of the government of India in collaboration with WHO, 23rd January 2011 was celebrated as `polio ravivar’ (Polio Sunday). SETU team observed the day by participating in the program along with the government health workers. In the program, Children of up to 5 years of age from birth are given polio vaccines. The program was carried out in five urban slums of Gwalior city.
Four booths were setup in different areas. On each booth two health workers, were appointed to do the job.
SETU team along with the workers of health department went to the houses of people and encouraged them to participate in the event. A total of 298 children were given polio drops. SETU team co-ordinator was Mr. L.R. Kaushal.
Prevention of child labor
SETU consortium emphasizes on child rights. A child unedated means a nation lost. A child should be provided with a loving & nurturing environment, with opportunities to play, learn and grow with dignity and without gender biasing. No child should have to work for earning a living. Following these principles, SETU makes sure that all our partner artisan groups say no to child labor. The importance of child rights are stressed to them time & again and marketing opportunities are provided to only those who abide by these principles.
Girl child awareness programme at Dahod, Gujarat
SETU sponsored an educational awareness program for the education of `Girl child’ amongst tribal community the villages of Dahod District.
The program was brought into action through one of our artisan groups in Gujarat. In the program, the campaigning team interacted with various girls where the team explained the benefits of girl child education not only to the girls but also to their mothers. Initially the mothers were slightly skeptical about the idea of girl child education and were not sure about it as they were of the view that its better that girls should do household work as this only will help them once they get married and there’s no use of educating them. Also if the girls get educated, it would be difficult to find a suitable match for them. These all doubts were cleared by the team and ultimately the team got them convinced.
Universal Children’s day at Madhav Bal Niketan
SETU had organized a two days program on the occasion of Universal Children Day / Child Rights Day. These were conducted on 18th & 20th November’09.Children’s Day is an event celebrated on various days in many places around the world. Universal Children’s Day is on November 20 (although other countries celebrate a local ‘children’s day’ on other dates). On 20th November, United Nations General Assembly adopted the `Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ in 1959. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was then signed on the same day in 1989, which has since been ratified by 191 states. That is why this day is also well known as “Child Rights’ Day”.
Education is essential to every child and every child has a right to it, is what SETU believes in. `Madhav Bal Niketan’, a local orphanage, also emphasizes on the importance of education, that is why they manage to send all their children to school and they were happy to be a part of our campaign of creating awareness for education. The orphan children in our program have faced many difficulties in their young lives. SETU initiated to offer them some support and encouragement they need to develop and grow. The basic aim of organizing the camp was to make children and their guardians aware of their right to education; make them realize that education is a way to achieve their dreams.
Following objectives were covered in the camp:
- To motivate children towards education.
- To develop Social interaction skills within them.
- To involve them in Fun activities.
- To spend time with the orphan kids and make them all feel special.
- To extend their exposure to outer world.
- To motivate them to enhance their imaginative power.
The orphanage houses 30 children including both girls and boys. Out of which only two are boys and the rest girls portraying the real picture of the Indian society. SETU Team including Society’s President Mrs. Rashmi Dhariwal and a special guest from Brazil, Ms.Mariana Oliviera, spent time with the orphan children on this day.
The sessions were designed more as a fun interaction and the concepts were delivered in playful ways for better understanding of children. In the beginning, children felt shy in opening up, they showed a kind of resistance in answering the questions about them and their likes & dislikes. This was due to their limited exposure to social interaction. But with continued dialogue, they soon developed interest and started opening up. They were asked to think & depict “what they want to became in their life”, all of them actively participated in the theme and showed their beautiful and colorful dream worlds in response.
In between the session, prizes were distributed for motivating them to increase their participation in the session, which of course results in the desired outcome. They were also asked the ways they would like to opt to achieve their dreams. The whole session made them think and set the goals for them and to perceive education as a basic necessity for achieving their goals. The aim to fill them with zeal was achieved to a great extent.
Chocolates and fruits were served in the breaks in-between sessions.
We had distributed Coloring books and other vocational books like mehandi design books along with water paints and wax crayons. Children were encouraged to draw & paint to unleash their imagination and have fun. All of them loved coloring the brand new books which were hardly accessible to them otherwise.
Dolls & Toys Distribution
Mercy Kits
SETU distributed dolls and toys to children in different orphanages in India. Most of these kids are girls. This is a sad reality in India & many Asian countries, where families rejoice when a boy is born but mourn the birth of a girl. Many kids have suffered from malnutrition or severe illness since before they got there. This has affected them to the point where they have permanent physical or mental disabilities. Overall, the orphanages don’t have enough resources to support many children, especially ones that need extra medical care and good nourishment.
In the past, we have purchased big-sized Candy dolls that can wrap their hands around the kids, for the girls, and cuddly Winnie the Pooh Teddy dolls for the small boys. Older boys got Laser Tops and pull-back cars, and the infants got rotating musical toys. “The children were ecstatic to have them, especially since the brand new and fresh, colorful dolls were uncommon for them,” comments Rashmi Dhariwal, President SETU Society. In addition to the toys, we gave the children ice-creams, biscuit packs and bananas.
The greatest challenge the kids face is that of being placed in a safe home. Many of them are just “dumped” by their parents at the orphanages when they are very young, without any legal papers. The parents may come back, even years later, and demand them back. The orphanage authorities cannot afford to fall victims of any legal/controversial cases, so they have to give them back to the parents.
Vidya Archana
A compound word, Vidya_Archana stands for worshiping knowledge. Its meaning is derived from the Hindi language words “Vidya”, which means knowledge, and “Archana”, which means worship.
We believe that education is the key to a better life and a better society. Therefore, Vidya_Archana was started as an effort by SETU to share and spread knowledge. This program is aimed for the children of the underprivileged section of society who have all the will but no means to fulfill their education needs.The program focuses on collecting used books and stationary from donations and raising funds. They are then redistributed to economically disadvantaged children who want to study but don’t have the resources to continue their education. Financial aid is also given to students in terms of scholarships, merit awards and sponsorship for higher education. Vidya_Archana is currently being undertaken in northern India, helping more and more kids each year.
