Sometimes you do not have to look far to find things to celebrate. You simply have to look with your heart. I sometimes kick myself for not taking time to simply stop and savour things around me, more so because I’m blessed to have Project Why which is a constant source of celebration. This week I did just that by slowly browsing the pictures taken in the last seven days.

There was much to celebrate, from the birthday party of a young girl who has chosen to mark her special day year after year by giving a special treat to the students of our special section.

Let us shift gears and peek at the little ones. Silence please, kids at work. Some are creating,

Child labour is cheap. A child is submissive, and can be made to work under poorly lit and poorly ventilated spaces.
A child can be used for stitching, embroidering, weaving rugs and carpets, making matchsticks and firecrackers, and rolling beedis in backbreaking conditions.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 is being amended and is now in Parliament. According to Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, two of these amendments may defeat the very purpose of the Act. 


The first is the one allows children below 14 to work in family enterprises.

Helping out after school is acceptable when it is truly a family business, but what stops anyone from exploiting this law? Anyone can claim a child as ‘family’ in the Indian poor classes, and even if a child is truly family, it is hard to ensure he or she will be sent to school once this amendment comes into force. Most of the children that land up in big cities are often brought by ‘uncles’ from the village who turn out to be middle men and traffickers. When Project Why opened our Yamuna centre we were faced with parents coming during class and asking for the child as she/he was needed to pluck vegetables. It took us a long time to get make the parents understand.

Another amendment is even more detrimental to child rights.  At present, Child Labour law prohibits employment of a child in 18 occupations and 65 processes. The proposed new amendment reduces the prohibited occupations to three: Mines, Inflammable substances and Explosives. So the children under 15 working in ‘family-run’ businesses like domestic work, bead-making, carpet-weaving will be legal.

The question that needs to be asked is whether the child making beedis in his family business will be able to go to school? The only caveat one can think of is to define ‘family’ and limit it to parents and legal guardians, but in India, where the record of implementation is very low, that seems impossible.  Children can help their families and even learn their skills but this should not come in the way of their health, education and leisure time. But these options aren’t available to the poorest of the poor.

Sanjay, a  Project Why alumni, a gypsy ironsmith’s son, and a Project Why teacher, today walks the ramp in the world’s fashion capital, Paris. That was possible because his family allowed him to study and work in a trade other than theirs. Sanjay made his dream come true.

Project Why is a place where children are given the RIGHT TO DREAM.

Do you think that  every child has the right to dream, and dream BIG? In a country like India, should children under 14 be allowed to help in family enterprises? Should any child, under or above 14 be allowed to work in factories making matchsticks or firecrackers or as domestic help?

There is so much to celebrate at Project Why each and every day, but this week was a very special celebration: Utpal’s 14th! To the uninitiated it would have looked like any birthday with cakes and candles and singing and cheering. However, Utpal is a very special child.

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The project Why Women

Project Why is primarily a children’s organization yet right from the beginning, we instinctively reached out to women, the true game changers. No wonder then that it was a woman who helped me seed Project Why.

Mataji, the formidable local healer and Rani’s mom, whom I had gone to meet to ‘cure’ an everlasting depression post my parent’s demise did so with a few words: Do something your parents would be proud of. With those words, depression and accompanying backache flew out of the window and Project Why was born and so were the women of Project Why.

A slightly diffident and shy Rani  jumped at the chance of working for Project Why and stayed on: a sterling leader of Porject Why. Today she runs a large part of the Project. When we needed teachers, we first looked at the women around us. We found many who had several years of schooling but had dropped out because of an early marriage.

It is sad but true that the parents in underprivileged homes in India want their daughters to marry, above all. After marriage, very few can continue with their education. Project Why gave many such women a second chance at education, and more than that, at employment– something they’d never dared dream of.

Some of these incredible ladies grabbed the opportunity with both hands and went on to complete their schooling and study further. Many obtained graduation degrees. Today, 30 women form part of our team. Some have been with us since day one.

Project Why believes that women should be financially independent, so vocational courses were started at the Women’s Centre in 2006. Today over 120 women attend our six-month course on beauty and tailoring. Several hundreds have benefited and are today gainfully employed either as small entrepreneurs or employed in factories and beauty parlors. We organize regular meetings with the women where we share our thoughts on social issues like child beating, gender equality, early marriage, nutrition, women’s rights etc.

adult literacy class

We hold compulsory adult literacy classes for all women who register for our vocational courses. No one receives a certification unless they clear the adult literacy course. The literate women are given spoken-English classes.

Over the years, Project Why has reached out to women in a variety of ways. Nutrition for pregnant women and lactating mothers. Care for a woman who had contracted bone TB and would have become paraplegic unless she spent six months on a bed– today she works in a beauty parlour. Support for omen who suffered injuries and needed care, women undergoing rehab who needed a place to heal.

The women of Project Why come with different stories, but they have one thing in common: an indomitable spirit. Project Why encourages this spirit: women are given all the support they need in order to flourish in New Delhi, and this is our #PledgeforParity this year.

Would you consider helping these underprivileged women? Even a small amount goes a long way towards helping these women find a new life.

To donate follow this link!

I came across this bunch of happy kids right in front of our Okhla centre at Project Why. They were shy at first, but then it took no time for them to smile and perform for the camera. They made faces and giggled, just being kids!

Street children break my heart: the happier they look the more downcast I feel. It is the sight of such children that inspired the setting up of Project Why 16 years ago. Children have a right to their own space and Project Why is just that: a space where children can be children.

You might wonder why these kids are not part of the Project Why family. The answer is simple: our classes are full to capacity though I couldn’t resist asking whether these few kids could be adjusted in our Govindpuri crèche, the only crèche we run.

But what about the others, the ones who are not seen in this picture?

Slum kids live in environments where everything is a danger: from the rabid street dog to the speeding vehicles, from the filthy water discharged by the factory next door into the drain that runs in front of their homes, to the lurking predators in search of little hands to steal, or push drugs. This is one of the reasons we set up the Project Why Okhla centre.

Malnutrition cannot be reversed passed age 5; you cannot enter a school after a certain age; social and other skills are best learnt in the formative years. The list is endless. The child today cannot wait for tomorrow. This is why we at Project Why try and squeeze as many kids as possible, doing away with frills like desks and chairs and opting for the mats where it is easy to pack in a few more.

It takes only 100 Dollars or 7000 Rupees to support a child at Project Why for an entire year.

Would you consider donating 100 Dollars or 7000 Rupees each year to help build these futures? 

Could you give us a Like on the Project Why Facebook Page to help raise the numbers for our future Crowdfunding campaigns?

Or, if you stay in New Delhi, would you consider volunteering at Project Why to teach these kids anything from art, to English or Maths, or any other skill that you can share?

Will you help these kids claim their childhood back?