by anouradha bakshi | Nov 26, 2019 | Anou's Blog
For the almost 10 years now students of the senior classes of Gefion Gymnasium upper secondary school Copenhagen have been visiting Project Why every year to spend some time and interact with our children. This is part of their annual study tour to India. Their teachers felt that it was important for the students to see more than just tourist spots, and learn about the real India. This year we were privileged to welcome the students and teachers of class 2 L to our Okhla and Yamuna centres. The students not only learn about India before coming but raise money for Project Why. They work in their free time in shops and restaurants, in amusement parks and football stadia, in bakeries and cinemas, babysit and clean homes to collect money for Project Why.
A big thank you to Ellen Klebak, Ellen Eva Balshev, Anna May Marsh, Emilie Kroyer Kopek, Frida, Hannah, Freya Gudkov, Frida N Vangsbo, Kamille, Otto, Clara Engmark, Sander, Thamea, Haralld, Freya Stage, Julius, Laura, Casper, Albert, Thea and Emil. We are truly grateful and deeply touched and humbled by your love and support.
It was fun and laughter as children from two worlds came together for a few hours, blond heads mingling with dark ones, building invisible bonds of love and compassion. A few bubbles and balloons was all it took to create true magic. I watched from the wings with moist eyes.
I have tremendous respect for Gefion Gymnasium as it truly understands the meaning of education and imparts values like compassion to their students. I know that this will make their students better human beings. I hope they all fulfil their dreams .
It was wonderful to see Ask again but we missed Mette. We do hope to see them all again in 2020.
by anouradha bakshi | Nov 19, 2019 | Anou's Blog
Last Thursday, November 14th, was Children’s Day. In every school celebrations are planned with fervour. At Project Why we had planned a Sports Day for the Govindpuri and Giri Nagar centres and essay and painting competitions. In CSKM, Utpal’s school it was the annual fete with rides and fun activities and of course scrumptious food stalls! By the 13th evening everything was organised and everyone was looking forward to the next morning. Late in the evening an announcement was made by the anti-pollution authority: in view of the very severe pollution schools would remain closed on the 14th and 15th.
I immediately called my staff and told them to cancel the Sports Day and some time later we got a message fro CSKM that the fete stood cancelled! So much for Children’s day.
Closing schools because of pollution may seem the right thing to do as you would think that children will spend the day within their homes with air purifiers but what about the slum kids. They do not have rooms where they can sit comfortably and breathe pure air. These children live in tiny spaces and spend most of the time ‘playing’ on the highly polluted roads where cars and trucks whizz past. A holiday means more time on the street. Closing schools does not help them in any way. It would be better if the state mandated all schools, particularly state run ones, to have air purifiers and even extend school hours! But that is not the way it is. Every thing is tailored to the needs of one side of the divide.
My heart goes out to the boarding school kids who wait for the annual fete the whole year. My heart goes out to all the persons who set up their stalls and rides in the hope of making some money that would fill up their empty coffers and who see their much awaited source of income vanish for no fault of theirs. My heart goes out to all the children of the other side of the divide who will spend their day(s) breathing in more fumes.
What makes me sad and angry at the same time is the that that this scenario happens every year, with obsessive regularity. Come September and we all start talking pollution. We vent our ire. We take out processions, write articles, rant and rave. The authorities kick in knee jerk measures that have scant effect on the pollution. Construction is stopped and hordes of workers are without income. For a daily wager it is disastrous. The ad hoc ‘labour’ markets that appear every morning at specific locations lie empty. This is where skilled and unskilled workers congregate in the hope that some contractor will pick them up for a day or more’s work. Some must have returned to their villages; others huddle in circles in the smog playing cards to while away time hoping that construction will resume soon, before their meagre savings are over.The odd even car scheme kicks in and everyone complies. Courts intervene and admonish the authorities while passing strictures that often go unheard. And then as winter passes and the pollution dips all is forgotten till next year when the whole drama unfolds again.
How long will this continue? When will we understand the gravity of the matter, the fact that pollution kills or maims for life. That children who breathe toxic fumes will suffer lifelong ailments. When will we understand that no authority holds the magic wand to set things right. That it is for each one of us to play our part and change our mindsets. This is a million dollar question.
Children’s day 2019 was a sad one indeed. Schools were decorated with balloons and streamers but remained eerily silent as not a child entered their portals. No sound of laughter or giggles, no songs or dances. Just the stark realisation of how we adults had usurped children of their right to BREATHE. Unless we remedy to this now, we will never be forgiven.
by anouradha bakshi | Nov 12, 2019 | Anou's Blog
For the past weeks now Delhi has been akin to a gas chamber. The levels of pollution have gone beyond imagination. The air is heavy with pollutants of all kinds. There is a terrible sense of deja vu as I read a post written exactly one year ago which still relevant today. It is as if time had stood still. I chose to share it with you again today:
Come November and the pollution levels in Delhi run amok.This happens year after year, and year after year knee jerk measures are taken to be forgotten when pollution levels drop. Crisis management is what we thrive on. Long term measures are not the preferred route.
November brings its heady toxic mix of stubble burning and festive crackers laced with unfavourable weather conditions and thus aggravates the situation forcing upon us the short term measures we have now become used to. Construction has been stopped for 10 days, stone crushing and other polluting activities have been halted. Crackers sale is prohibited till Diwali day and then too burning of crackers have been limited my the Supreme Court for two hours on the festival night.
The air quality is extremely hazardous and Delhi feels like a gas chamber. Political blame game is at its peak as citizens are coping in the best way the can. The privileged simply chose to leave the city for healthier spaces in or even outside India, those who cannot leave sit in their homes with state-of-the-art air purifiers and travel in air conditioned vehicles. But there is a vast majority who have no option but to carry on their activities as it is a matter of survival. They do not have the luxury of taking off or sitting in a air purified home. They just have to breathe and exhale whatever quality the air is hazardous or unhealthy.
And for many all the measures taken to better air quality translates into loss of work and livelihood. With construction work at a halt, thousands of daily wage labourers have no source of income and will have to dig in their meagre resources to survive till the ban is lifted. My heart goes out to them. Theirs will be a dark Diwali.
The question that begs to be asked is why do we have to face this situation year aft year and what can be done. We seem to believe that it is for the government to weave a magic wand and clear the air. None of us is willing to assume responsibility and see what each one of us can do. Climate change will affect us all. The day will dawn when there will be no place to run and when all the money in the world will not be able to buy us a whiff of fresh air.
Charity begins at home it is said. It is also said one must lead by example. So let us do some soul searching and see whether we are playing our part. How many of us have given up using plastic bags? How many of us segregate our garbage? How many of us carpool? How many of us use public transport? How many of us save water? Not many. We all behave like ostriches, wishing that things will improve on their own. But that is not the way things happen.
Why do we need the highest court in the land to tell us not to burn crackers? Can each one of us not take this wise decision ourselves? The same goes for plastic and water and all other environment related issues. We need to be proactive and take matters in our hand. We need to raise awareness and teach our children to be environment conscious. That is what we strive to do at Project Why each and every day. Delhi 6 November 2018.
Nothing has changed. The words of a post written a year ago ring true. No lesson has been learnt. None of us realise the magnitude of the problem. Year after year come November we make the same noises, express our concern, our worry, make empty promises. That is all. Once the situation improves all is forgotten. How long will it take for us to realise that nothing will change unless we change!
I wonder if next November I will be again writing a blog with the same words.
by anouradha bakshi | Nov 5, 2019 | Anou's Blog
A very irate daughter came to me one evening last week as she has just heard from her Personal Trainer who wanted her to do ‘functional training’, something she does not like, the next morning. This is normally scheduled for Thursdays and the ‘next’ day was Monday, the day after Diwali. The reason he gave was that is was Vishwakarma day, a day on which Hindus worship their tools and do not use them so the PT did not want to touch weights, bars etc. Sounds logical but wait there is a catch: the PT is a devout christian, the kind who fasts during Lent! Confused? Do not be, this is India where respect for all religions is ingrained in our DNA and festivals are celebrated by one and all with the same fervour.
On that day all the sewing machines of the Project were worshipped by people of diverse faith. The machines at the Khader Centre were all cleaned and laid out ready to be worshipped. That day they would not be used but staff and students turned up in their Sunday best to take part in the ceremony. As I happened to be in the centre I was asked to be part of the prayer too! At the vocational centre of our special needs section, Geetu and Shalini had organised their ceremony and everyone participated with joy and fervour.
Recently a donor from France visited a government school and was perplexed to see that the morning assembly began with a religious prayer. In France religion is kept to of schools and to him seeing this was confusing. We had to explain to him that in India religion was ingrained in every activity and prayers from different faiths were sung in school assemblies across the board. It is also the country where the auto rickshaw driver begins his day by praying to the image on his dashboard and the shopkeeper too begins his day with prayer. Our brand of secularism is one that embraces all faith and celebrates all religions.
I was taught this early in life as a child growing in different lands by parents who were deeply secular. So I found myself going to church in school, fasting with my Muslim friends or celebrating the Sabbath with my Jewish ones, all with the blessings of my parents.
At Project Why we strive to teach our children to respect all religions and celebrate all festivals. That is what India is all about. That is the India of my dreams.
by anouradha bakshi | Nov 2, 2019 | Whats new
At Project WHY, our greatest assets are our teachers. By adopting a teacher for just INR 10,000 (USD 145 or Euro 130), you enable a good teacher to reach out to 50 underprivileged children that need educational support to complete their schooling years. Without good teachers, this is not possible.
Help support our initiative by adopting one of our teachers as an individual, or a group of friends.
To know more and see the teachers you can adopt click here
