by Anuradha Bakshi | Mar 9, 2006 | Uncategorized
Welcome to why house – for want a better name – this where we will soon be moving, or at least part of us.. this is also a transition time for pwhy.
We at pwhy have always held that children from all walks of life should attend regular school. schools run by the state as that is the only way of ensuring that every child born in India can have access to its right to education, one that the constitution guarantees.. we have more than once voiced our concern at the slowly emerging pattern of privatisation of schools and setting up of parallel second rate systems for the under-privileged child.. that is why we ensure that all our children are mainstreamed into the existing system.. our task his to help them succeed and hence contain drop out rates..
Our first task was to prove to ourselves and others that we could do this with resources drawn from within the community we work with and; it is a matter of pride to say that we had a 99% result in the 6 years of our existence.. It is now time to fine tune our model.
why house will house our babies and special kids but all our primary centres will now be in the field, so that we can slowly create new ones and reach out more children with minimum costs.. taking us slowly to the day where we hope the community will raise the basic costs and we will act as a training-cum-monitoring vehicle.. and provide the add ons..
Our secondary outreach which will soon become self-sufficient will continue where it is.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Mar 8, 2006 | Uncategorized
Jump for my love.. said the pointer sisters in their famous song!
Wonder what A is jumping for…
A is an autistic child and lives locked in his world that no one understands.. not even his own family.. his mother loves him but does not know how to, his father does not have time for his antics..
At pwhy he is happy because we make an effort of entering his world and we do not check him for what may seem strange to others.. we know it is just his way of expressing himself.. for some time now we have been aware that A sometimes does not know how to deal with his abundant energy.. when a friend asked us if there was anything we would like to have, we thought of a trampolin knowing that the kids would love it..
At first hesiatnt the children soon caught the trick but it was A who took to the trampolin like a fish to water.. and he jumped, higher and higher, finally finding a way to release all that pent up energy, one that would not entail any censure or reprimand..
by Anuradha Bakshi | Mar 4, 2006 | Uncategorized
I have always been fascinated by the theory of synchronicity. One of the definitions I like is the following: ” Synchronicities are people that come your life to help you evolve or to place emphasis on something going on in your life. “
I sat this afternoon taking a break from things and zapping TV channels.. two of them caught my attention and interest: the replay of Dead Man Walking and an interview of Dionne Bunsha on the relase of her book: Scarred – experiments with violence in Gujarat. In the former Susan sarandonm was desperately trying to find some way finding a shred of good in the condemned man, and in the later the young journalist was trying to expain that even the worst perpetrators of injustice were convinced they were doing something good. “They are people who see themselves as some sort of Robin Hoods working for the betterment of their religion.”
The little hands in the picture are today raised to show off the paint smeared on them after a fun painting session.. tomorrow the same hands can lend their support to fight for justice like jessica lal’s or to lend support to some destructive mission fuelled by misguided robin hoods! Lst week, when we asked who George Bush was, little 10 years olds said in unison: an international terrorist.. the reason being the innumerable posters plstered all over the slums saying so.
Every day one is made aware of the frightening reality of young people becoming prey to misguided propaganda. This more so in urban slums where life for young boys is not easy and tentations many so the lure of a mobile phone, a bike, a CD player, a credit card can make regular kids into potential criminals… We have seen this happening with dubious pyramid selling agencies who seek out the most vulnerable and offer them the moon!
There is an abundance of energy that exists in kids living in the highly charged atmosphere of urban slums, an energy that is ready to be tapped.. and many are aware of this. It is never the leader who pulls the trigger or plants the exploding device.. they neeeds hands to do so.. hands that today maybe smeared with paint but who knows what will happen tomorrow..
It is our duty as a civil society to do something today and now!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Mar 4, 2006 | Uncategorized
It has been some time since I wrote about nanhe.. so here is some news.. he has been back at pwhy and thrilled to be with his friends.. and rearing to make up for lost time..
Since his return he has had several outings and no sir not only to the hospital: Nanhe visited Qutab minar and went for a birthday lunch to Dilli Haath!
Last week, he even cleaned the coriander that was used in the lovely pullao that the special section made for all the staff…
But little Nanhe and his smile have a long way to go.. another surgery lurks in the corner.. one that needs to be done to remove the many stones in his kidneys..
some people wonder why fight for a child like nanhe.. the answer is simple.. no matter how short the life of a child is.. we at pwhy believe that it should be lived to its fullest.. and nanhe today is doing just that!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Mar 1, 2006 | Uncategorized
It is always very difficult to find the right birthday gift for your adult child.. you are either likely to go wrong or land up giving something they already have..
And yet each parent wants to make the right choice.. Steve and Sandy oudid everyone and found something very special for their son.
Hello–we are the parents of Taylor McHolm, who volunteered at the crèche in Delhi during the six month he lived in India. (In Nov. of 2005 you had a picture of him in your blog, which made us cry, and made us very proud—so we sent it to all our relatives!) My wife and daughter also visited the school with Taylor when we were in India last November. Taylor’s birthday is March 2, and we would like to adopt the crèche where he worked for a few months, in his honor.
Taylor is an exceptional young man, one his parents can be proud of. In his short stay with us he made a big difference and everyday we cannot but think of him when Lali smiles, or the twins walk.. he would be happy to know that Manoj is getting better and that many of the children he loved are learning new things. And kudos to Steve and Sandy who could not have found a better birthday gift: one that will not only bring joy and a lovely smile on Taylors’ face, but one that will for months to come, ensure that over 20 little children can come to play school, play with their pals, giggle and laugh, and of course, learn new things.
So happy birthday Taylor, we miss you and love you!
Note: lali is the one carrying the placard and manoj waves from urmila’s arms
