Why not for education… #GivingTuesday#India
Government to enlist gurus for organ donation campaign is a recent headline. The article goes on to say: "The health ministry plans to rope in spiritual gurus to help dispel myths about organ donation". This is undoubtedly a good move. Organ donation is a noble cause...
Celebrating Independence Day #GivingTuesday #India
Project Why children celebrated Independence Day! There was the flag hoisting in all centres, the regulatory speeches, the patriotic songs and of course a lot of Bollywood dancing. The children enjoyed themselves and the celebrations ended with the ubiquitous...
It simply does not know how to fall upwards #Giving Tuesday
The rains have created havoc in the city for the past days and yet nothing unpredictable as it is monsoon time and a good monsoon is what everyone hopes for. Vladimir Nabokov said: “Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall...
The caveat that defeats the purpose #GivingTuesday #India
The Upper House of the India Parliament passed a Bill to Amend the Child Labour Act 1986. The amendment prohibits the engagement of children below the age of 14 in all occupations and processes so that they are able to enjoy their fundamental right to...
Ribbons in her hair #GivingTuesday #India
Kid Speak is cute. There have been TV shows like “Kids Say the Darndest Things’” or books like “Children's Letters to God” that always delight us and warm our hearts. But the kind of Kid Speak we share today is the one that puts a lump in your throat and...
To do or die #GivingTuesday #India
This week's blog has to be written in first person as it symbolises the very spirit of Project Why. For the past weeks as we set out to 'makeover' Project Why to make it presentable to a wider audience I have been asked the question about whether we want to increase...
Good touch Bad touch #GivingTuesday #India #children
Statistics show that over 8000 children get raped in India every year. Wonder how many get sexually abused and yet the state is unwilling to include sex education in schools. Perhaps it is because it is thought that this would not make a difference. An incident...
She begged so that children could eat
I fist heard of Sindhutai many years ago when I was researching 'good news' stories for a friend. Her story was a true inspiration more so when I felt reluctant to 'ask' for money. I wrote about her way back in 2011 and...
..but for that child the world will change #GivingTuesday #India
Clarisse and Xavier have not 'adopted' Utpal legally but are nevertheless his French 'parents', and do everything a 'parent' would : loving him unconditionally and being there for him. Nothing proves that better than the story of a cricketer of yesteryear who...
She is back #GivingTuesday
She was barely 5 when she first joined the special section. It must have been in 2004. She could barely walk or talk. She was like a tiny frightened bird that needed to be tamed. As days went by and we got to know her better the smiles came hesitant at first then...
It’s never too late to do something #GivingTuesday #India
'The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something' wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wise words indeed. Words that remind us of forgotten intentions and unfulfilled dreams. This post was written after a visit to the Kalka Temple where getting to the deity...
It is time we look at our education policy #GivingTuesday #India
The new education policy is in the anvil. The recommendations of the committee set up to look into the issue are ready. Two of the recommendations are close to our hearts. The first is to reinstate detention beyond class V and the other to set up a cadre akin to the...
Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime #GivingTuesday #India
Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime. Scars heal but the pain never goes away. And yet child abuse is on the rise. Recent studies show that there has been a 50% rise in the crime against children rate. Increased urbanisation seems to be a contributing...
To the manor born
Our dearest friend Kabir of Azure Hospitality conjured another miracle. This time an invitation to a 'posh' lunch at the new Mamagoto in Connaught Place. For many of us lunch at a restaurant is a mundane affair. This is another story. Most of the invitees had never...
They came, the saw, they cared #ThrowbackThursday #India
Today we would like to walk down memory lane and talk of all the visitors we have had over the years. In most cases they return more than once. That is the magic of Project Why: once you walk in you leave a little bit of yourself and take a little bit of us.We have...
The Numbers Perspective #GivingTuesday #India
Secondary Class at Khader The Numbers Perspective! Sounds like a title of a Robert Ludlum thriller doesn't it? Come to think of it is is a thriller in its own right: the numbers referred to are the (ill)famed marks that a student secures in her or his class XII...
The dentist comes calling #ProjectWhy #India
The dentist comes calling It was dental checkup time for children from the special section, the creche and the primary section. This was the first dental check up at Project Why and was made possible thanks to our friend Neena Gulabani from the Anubhav Learning...
From Germany with Love #ThrowbackThursday # India
Project Why's relationship with Germany began way back in 2007 when Hans Emde, a rather forbidding person with a heart of gold, visited Project Why and decided to set up Project Why Deutschland e v in Köln. From that moment the doors flew open and Project Why's...
He who opens a school door, closes a prison #GivingTuesday #India
He who opens a school door, closes a prison.Victor HugoThe little beds in this picture take us back to a childhood fairy tale where a little girl 'dared' to sleep on a bed only to be chased away by a family of bears. The Project Why fairy tale is a little...
Sadafulee so that Project Why children bloom
Her name is Kashmira. She lives in the US and though she has never visited Project Why in person, she had been one of its staunchest supporters. She has walked into Project Why's heart through a screen! Over the years she has supported our work financially, but more...
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much #ThrowbackThursday
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” Helen Keller How true these words are and Project Why is a proof of this. It was in very early days that Anou decided to source 100% of her team from within the community. The decision was instinctive....
BEIRUT CALLING #GivingTuesday #India
It has been International Month at Project Why. First we had visitors from France, then from Japan and now hold your breath… from Lebanon! A group of twenty young girls from the American Community School: Beirut came to visit Project Why shepherded by our...
One year of the Yamuna centre #ThrowbackThursday
The Project Why Yamuna Centre is one year old! A simple look at the smiling faces in the picture is ample proof of the fact that we got it right. Only a little over a year ago Project Why came to know about the existence of the "Yamuna Kids,” a bunch of happy...
有難う 御座います Yoshiki San #GivingTuesday
Yoshiki San and DoraemonProject Why has a Japanese connection. It goes back to 2003 when Naoko San visited the Project why with the Japanese Volunteer Group. A connection was made, one that lasts till date.Thus began a relationship with ladies from the...
Things never get back to the day they were #ThrowbackThursday
There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were wrote Dwight D. Eisenhower.One of the most difficult moments we have had to face at Project Why was the death of a child. But sadly children die. Over the years we have...
Project Why’s French Connection #GivingTuesday
It was French Week at Project Why. A group of members of Enfances Indiennes, visited Project Why and gave its children a French Break!Project Why's French Connection is strong and steadfast. Not surprising as its founder had deep links with France! But the real...
Into the twilight
Six years ago, I gathered the courage to write a requiem for a dream. The dream was Planet Why the guest house with a difference that would have allowed Project Why to be sustainable. In a nutshell, Planet Why was a guest house indeed, but would have also been home to...
Damyanti (w)rites for Project Why #
Project Why has taught me two values often forgotten: compassion and gratitude. If one is the art of giving, the other is that of receiving. When we talk of giving, our minds tend to veer towards money; often charity is equated to funds and undoubtedly it is a huge...
Gypsy Souls #ThrowbackThursday
If we exist then He exists; if we do not then how can He!(on the existence God)Tau Head of the Rana Pratap Lohar Camp“Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you’ve met them before?” wrote JoAnne Kendrick. This is exactly...
Mercury Rising #GivingTuesday
waiting for waterThis picture was taken near the Project Why Okhla Centre at the time when the tanker delivers water for an entire community. This is when children dash out of class to reach the tanker in time, having already placed their buckets or cans well in...
Project Why’s Women centre # Throwback Thursday
The Project Why Women and Children Centre saw the light of day to answer yet another deafening why. It was 2006 and we had two women in a desperate state who needed help. One woman was ready to get out of rehab and needed a safe place to stay, a kind of midway...
India’s shadow education cont #GivingTuesday #India # Education
Recently some of our secondary Govindpuri children informed us that they may have to stop coming. Why?These were some of the brightest of the lot who attend government school. The reason they gave was shocking. Their school teacher had told them that unless they...
Project Why’s Neverland #ThrowbackThursday
A toddler tied up to a charpoy with a scarf: a sign of love and also one of desperation. This image was one of the first resounding WHYs Project Why encountered and we responded by creating the creche.We realised this was a daily routine: the mother would pull the...
India’s Shadow Education Centre #GivingTuesday
Why is Project Why even necessary?Sadly, this is a question we often get. There are many reasons, but the main reason is to provide shadow education to underprivileged children, an education that has become sine-qua-non to success in India.Shadow education is a...
Project Why’s very special class #ThrowbackThursday
This is Project Why's special class as it is today. And here is how it looked in earlier times.To be disabled in India is a misfortune but to be disabled and poor in India is a tragedy. If you are a girl it is further compounded. So, when a lady came with four special...
Project Why’s water warriors #GivingTuesday
(All pictures in this post were taken by project why children during a workshop on Respect under the section Respect for Water!)Did you know that 5,000 children die everyday from water related diseases?There is an odd phenomenon at Project Why where children, often...
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a memory is priceless #ThrowbackThursday
Someone said: "a picture is worth a thousand words, but a memory is priceless.You don’t just take a picture with a camera, you take it with your heart".The story of the Project Why Okhla Centre is the story of two women: Sophiya and Pushpa. Sophiya and Pushpa must...
Spair Grace soup and Lemon Grace Tea #GivingTuesday
Spare Grace, Lemongrace, Red Cabies and Badycon were the words proudly displayed by the local vegetable shop now catering to the growing expat clientele. To the uninitiated this translates as asparagus, lemongrass, red cabbage and baby corn!India is a land with...