by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 24, 2007 | Uncategorized
A recent investigation aired on national TV brought to light the horrific reality that prevails in a government home for challenged children in India’ capital city.
One wonders why these children of a lesser God are often treated in such a way and makes us question the validity of the so called welfare programmes run by the administration. It also highlights the plight of such children in a country like India, something we have been painfully aware of, and that led us to create our special section almost 7 years ago. It also validates our commitment towards setting up planet why, a place for such children as they grow into disturbing adults.
Why is it that time and again challenged children are treated in cruel and callous ways?
For us at pwhy the special section is by far the happiest and most rewarding experience. It is a motley crew of 20 children and adults who come from different worlds but become one as they enter their little world.
Manu who you see in the picture was once begging on the streets in spite of having a family. people use to deride him and kids pelted stones at him. Today he has friends and is slowly learning to be independent.
It did not take much to achieve this. What was needed was the will to do so. At the pwhy special section children learn to read and write, to dance and play; they learn cooking, basic stitching, and have a host of other activities but above all they learn to laugh and be happy and reclaim a hijacked childhood.
You can share some of these joyful moments by clicking on the pictures below.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 24, 2007 | Uncategorized
Xabi and Marie are two simple village folk from a small village of the Basque country in France. They are not young and have homes and families. Marie is a dancer and Xabi a farmer . Some time back I got a very touching email from them which is simply said they were coming to India and wanted to spend some happy moments with our kids.
They arrived a few days back and found their way to us. It was their first visit to India and they felt that they wanted to give a little of their time, their talent and their love to less privileged children before embarking on their discovery of India.
For the past few days they have been teaching dance, and games to our special kids, and our creche children and then make the journey to Khader to spend some time at our women centre. There they play and dance with the kids and have even worked out a business deal in the spirit of fair trade: they would like to take the jewels we make as well as simple clothes that our ladies would stitch back to their village and hope to get us orders.
Xabi and Marie radiate warmth and all our children have taken to them. The reason is that in spite of language and other barriers they have opened their hearts and shared their love in abundance and in the true spirit of giving!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 20, 2007 | Uncategorized
We have been busy getting admissions for the new centre and of course children are a plenty. After asking the names and age of each kid we ask whether they are in school, and the class they are in.
We were astonished at the number of children who said: I am in UKG. Many of them are seven and even older. Now UKG is not a class in municipal and government schools. These children are in small private schools which still have up to 3 years of pre-primary classes even though the education department has reduced them to one!
To many of us an extra school year does not matter as the children get sound foundations but for little girls like the ones in the picture it is a matter of great concern. Normally these girls are withdrawn out of school by 16 as that is when they are often married. If thew were in class I or II they would have a better chance of finishing their schooling and obtaining a certificate.
A quick perusal of their books showed that what they were learning was akin to what is taught in class I or even II in municipal primary schools. The reason why private schools have more classes is evident: extra fees and the reason why poor parents send their wards to such schools is also obvious: better teaching.
Yet we feel that these bright children should get a better chance at finishing their studies so we plan to convene a parents meeting and convince them to get their children admitted to the government school in class II next March. We hope they understand.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 5, 2007 | Uncategorized
Some of you may remember the story of a desperate mother of 8 children who lived on the edge. I guess everyone has her breaking point as last week she just took off abandoning her children. The humiliation and despair had reached the point of no return.
Her children are today left alone, the elder ones having become surrogate parents in the span of an instant. The philandering father occasionally drops in and leaves a few food items.
The younger ones come to our creche and when it is time to go home, they ask in their tiny voices whether they can not just stay back. The situation at home is pathetic: when we last visited the older boy (barely 8) had fallen asleep while the rice boiled and burnt.
Today we will try and work out a solution for thee poor kids who are suffering for no fault of theirs. But no long term solution can be sought without the accord of the father. As a first step we will try and get all the kids to the centre so that they can at least have one hot meal a day and medical care as some of them are sick. Then we will try and find a long term option.
Many questions come to mind each begging for an answer hard to come by. But what stands out is the harsh fact that children often or rather always bear the brunt of mistakes made by adults.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 2, 2007 | Uncategorized
V is a beautiful autistic girl. I knew her when she was just a child some 8 years ago when her shrill voice used to echo in my home when she and her parents came visiting. Her repetitive blabber and her endearing ways touched many a heart and I use to call her princess.
Then life took its turn and we lost touch though I often remembered the lovely child.
Yesterday her father called out of the blue and gave us the shocking news that V had a tumour and was to be operated upon this week. What was heart rendering was the love of this father, as he sat and leafed through the yellowed pages of his diary looking for the numbers of all those who at one time or another had touched V’s life. His message was simple: pray for her!
V’a parent’s are extraordinary. Both their children are autistic but they never let that come in the way of their love and pride. A beacon for all parents who have special children.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Sep 30, 2007 | Uncategorized
It has been 8 years since pwhy began and it has been 8 years since I have spent almost every waking moment worrying about funding and devising ways to meet the monthly requirement to keep project why alive.
Right from day one I knew that we had to one day become self sustainable though one did not quite know how this would be achieved. Along the way we tried out a plethora of ideas, each one seeming to be at the some time or the other the right one! We embarked on many ideas from pots and bags to bio diesel plant nurseries via chocolates. But each though successfully implemented never met the required target of sustainability.
And as each idea failed, the saga of funding became more demanding as demands increased each day. It became a real challenge to find the required amount and it was anever ending race that I still run. Some time back, one struck upon the idea of hospitality as a possible sustainability option and though the idea was daunting, it seemed to be one that refused to go away, no matter which way we looked at it.
As luck would have it, a volunteer came by project why last month and was to become a catalyst in our quest for sustainability. Barbara was not only a dynamic volunter but turned out to be the pioneer of social entreprise in the UK. As we got to know each other better and shared thoughts and dreams, she introduced me to the idea of social enterprise and showed me how our idea of planet why fitted within it. It was heartwarming to feel that one was one the right rack and that panet why was actually a social enterprise.
This of course strengthened our resolve to see that planet why becomes a reality.
