by Anuradha Bakshi | Oct 10, 2009 | women centre
Megha visited the women centre some time back. She needed to write a blurb for potential donors. This is what she wrote:
Situated among the squalid gallis of Madanpur Khader village in South Delhi is located the Women’s Centre; one of the 13 centers operated by our project in the slums of New Delhi.
Unlike other centres of the project, this one is self contained in several ways. Led by Dharmendra, a man as charismatic as his film-star namesake, this centre has after school education programs for children from 1 – 8 standard, sewing and beautician courses for young women, a computer centre and a small apartment complex complete with kitchen for battered or abandoned women.
As I visited the centre, narrowly missing being swooshed in the face by a buffalo’s tail, it was a relief to step into the neat library space of the women’s centre. Young women were busy learning how to sow in a straight line, the creche was wrapping up and Meher, a child who fell into boiling hot water was being nursed after her plastic surgery to open the digits on her hands.
Dharmendra-ji invited us into his small office, offered a cup of tea and spoke about the previous year. Each time I meet him his stories amaze me; mostly because of the innovative solutions he finds to most mundane problems. The Centre opened about a year ago and one of the fastest growing aspects has been library usage. This was so popular with the children that Dharmendra-ji kept it open on Sundays, effectively giving himself a 7 day work week.
A few months ago, some books went missing. Dharmendra-ji had an idea who had stolen them but did not want to embarrass the child in front of his peers so he declared that no-one would have access to the library unless the books returned. Upset that they may not be able to use the library, the children then took initiative to organize themselves into vigilant squads. Bags were searched; entry and exists carefully monitored. And just like that, a few days later the books returned. Dharmendra-ji created a situation where the children valued a service enough that maintaining it gave them pride; so now, its the children who manage the lending and reading activities in the library giving themselves ownership of this service.
Overall, this centre is so popular that he now keeps a waiting list for students wishing to join the after school program. This is what you donor money is doing right now – quenching children’s thirst for education in a safe and loving environment!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Sep 29, 2009 | manu, okhla, women centre
It has been a long time since I have taken you on a tour of project why. Somehow the picture of little Komal peeking through the balcony inspired me to do just that. True that from the pwhy building balcony you simply see another building but that is when you look with your eyes. Try to look with you heart and suddenly everything changes.
So let us talk a stroll through pwhy. It is 8.45 am. The office is abuzz with activity as most of the teachers have come to sign in after their early morning spoken English class taken by Jillian our long term volunteer. Instructions are given and everyone sets out to their respective class. By 9 am the office is empty. A walk down the stairs and we reach our creche. The toddlers are still coming in and little shoes are aligned in a straight row. Some kids are already settled. It is toy time and every is busy with hos or her toy of the day. We tiptoe out and walk own another flight of stairs and are greeted with a loud Good morning ma’am. It is the special class and morning exercise time. Whether you walk or not, hear or not, comprehend or not does not matter, morning gym is for everyone and everyone loves it. The music is blaring and everyone is happy.
A walk across the street and a climb up two flight of stairs and we reach our erstwhile foster care. The foster care kids are now in boarding school but their special roomies still lie there. Manu, Champa and Anjali still live there but while they are in class the space gets used for other activities. We walk through the second creche and the prep class. Every one is busy settling down. We leave them to their taks and peep into the junior secondary class. A score or so of boys are busy revising for their exam.
A short drive takes us to Govindpuri Nehru camp. We alight from the three wheeler an walk through a maze of lanes and reach the tiny jhuggi. A class is going on in earnest. We continue our journey and reach Okhla. About 100 children are busy studying. Two volunteers are also taking an English class. The teachers share their concern about a wall that has cracked after a truck banged into it. The matter is serious and we will need to find funds to redo the wall. A quick drop at Sanjay Colony and we are back to Giri Nagar where it all began almost a decade ago. Today the little street is host to our senior secondary and our computer centre as well as our library which also doubles up as a primary class. Everyone is busy and we quietly walk away.
A drive takes us to the women centre. We are surprised to see how choker block it is. Over 50 women are busys with their sewing and beauty class. A few children are left in the creche waiting for their parents and over 150 kids are packed on the terrace all lost in their work. It is impressive, 150 kids almost pin drop silence. You only hear the teachers!
Yes the walk has been virtual but it reflects the reality and fills me with a sense of pride and deep gratitude.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 26, 2009 | God of lesser beings, women centre
As I writes these words, little Meher is on her way home after her second surgery. She now looks like any tiny girl and not the little ET she had been for the past three months with her huge expanders. Meher will now look just like any other 4 year old, barring a a few scars and her odd looking hands. Since her first surgery that took place a few months ago she has been living at the women centre and has walked into many hearts. Needless to say she is a true free spirit imbibed with a rare zest for life.
I still remember the day she walked into my life and my heart. I knew she had come to stay. I must confess that we were all a little taken aback by the attitude of her parents and their total lack of concern for this child. Every morning she was let out of their tiny home and left to her won device. It all seemed as if everyone wanted to wish hear away but did not quite know how. We were appalled at the lack of interest of her parents in her treatment; her mom even left her two months ago to go to the village where her baby brother was born. For the past months she was cared for by the women centre staff and every night one of the teachers spent the night with her. She enthralled every one with her antics. No one escaped her special brand of love.
For her parents she was an impediment, a burden no one wanted to carry. With her scars and her maimed hands she would never be marriage material, and was marriage not the ultimate goal of a girl’s life? But Meher is a live wire, someone you cannot ignore. She will not let you do that. Her joie de vivre is infectious and she has the ability to lift your spirits, no matter how low they are.
She has been given a new lease of life, and knowing her, she will make sure she lives life to its fullest and prove to everyone that she is worth believing in. If all goes well, she will join the little band of pwhy children in boarding school and I have no doubt that she will astound us all. Meher is a child of the God of lesser beings, just like her special pal and soul mate Utpal. They are children who have come a long way and know that life is precious.
May The God of lesser beings always walk with them!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 2, 2009 | okhla, women centre
For the past three weeks Project why has again be touched by the magic of the SARI Kids. These are a bunch of young students from an ivy league business school in France. They come each year and spread their own brand of love to the children of project why for a whole month.
Sophie, Daphne, Justine, Yves, Ted and Simon landed in Delhi on a Tuesday morning and were all set to start their work the very same day. This time we were a little better organised and had made plans for them before their arrival. Two of the four would go to the women centre and live there, and the remaining four would work in our different centres. What never ceases to amaze him with these kids is the ease with which they slip into the role assigned to them. As if it was something they had done all their lives. Never mind the heat, the language barrier, the cultural differences they are here to conquer everything with their hearts.
But that is not all, this unique bunch of kids had spent the whole year raising funds for us. We were tickled to learn that Simon had even made chicken tikkas and mango lassi at the many sales they organised. Armed with their bounty of love they set out to work. This year it is Okhla, the creche and the prep class that are the chosen destinations. Nothing is too forbidding. Never mind the heat, the flies, the torrential rain or the spicy food, these kids mean business.
Within no time at all they have comfortably set into a pattern. Every week the duo that sets out for the women centre changes. Those who go to Okhla set out with the teachers and travel by bus to the centre. Soon bonds are created with the children and the staff and smiles and giggles abound. Plans are made. The bigger children will be taken to an outing this time to the planetarium. The smaller ones will go to a park.
But that is not all. Sophie the President of the association tells us that they would like to buy us things we may need. More plans are made. The women centre decide to spent the money of extending their class by making a new shed on the terrace. Other centres want books, toys, mats, plastic stools a cornucopia of things that would make everyone happy. So it’s shopping time and we are again touched by the generosity of these very unique youngsters.
As I watch them go about their chosen tasks I cannot but wonder at what makes these kids from well to do homes and privileged lands take a whole month off their holidays to come and spread joy and love to a bunch of slum children in India? They do not have to do it, they chose to do so. Just a look at them is enough to know that they do so with their heart braving all the challenges that slum India throws at them each day. And as I watch them I wonder why youngsters of privileged India do not walk the same road. If that did happen things could be so different.
In less than a week the SARI kids will leave us and go their way. They will leave in our hearts an indelible mark and the comforting feeling that all is still well in our world.
God bless them.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 10, 2009 | manu, women centre
I am quite Frequent Reader of your blog. Seriously I want to appreciate the efforts you are making to change the world around us. Good Job! Project Why Rocks! These were the words that greeted me this morning as I sat down to begin another day. I must confess they brought a smile to my face and made me forget, albeit for an instant, the plethora of problems that plague my existence.
I am not of the generation that uses rocks and chill! But today I felt years younger. And the comment left on yesterday’s blog was like a starred report card given to your child. As all moms I tend to get terribly critical of project why and look at its tiny defects and crevices with magnifying lenses, taking all that goes on well simply for granted. But this morning I decided to look at pwhy with benign indulgence and with my heart.
Without sounding cocky or boastful I guess I must be allowed to whisper: Project Why Rocks! As I write these words extraordinary things are happening at pwhy. We have two occupational therapists from France living at our foster care with Manu, Champa and Anjali. They will spend three whole weeks helping us improve our special section. Six young and bright students from one of the top management schools of France are also spending a month at project why. They are busy teaching children in different centres. Two of them are even living at the women centre. They are the second batch of ESSEC students. We welcomed their seniors last year. Today I can say that they come to us because we do rock! And that is not all, young Elise is back to pwhy for the third time, having decided to spend her entire summer holidays with us.
Pwhy is not an easy option. To teach here you have to be willing to brave the heat, sit under hot tin roofs or in cramped spaces and put up with frequent electricity outages. And yet each one of our volunteers enjoys what he or she is doing. With schools having reopened all kids are back from the village and every class is choker block. Sometimes the heat gets unbearable but that does not deter our volunteers. They carry on with a smile on their face and a song in their heart.
I wonder what makes pwhy endearing to others and as today I have allowed myself some indulgence I will say unabashedly that what makes us rock is that we have been making a difference to the lives of others and I end this post with a quote by Forest Witcraft : “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 4, 2009 | women centre
R came to the women centre two months ago. His parents wanted him to spend the summer holidays with us. He was in class IV in a government school. According to his parents he was not doing very well. We all know that there is scant teaching in government schools, particularly those around the Khader area. R seemed an intelligent child and was quick to learn. In two months he had almost come to level with the curriculum of class IV.
A few days back R stopped coming to the centre. We wondered why and set out to find out what had happened. A teacher was sent to his home and sheepishly the mother told us that R would not be coming to the centre anymore as he was now going to a private school. His father, a factory worker, had decided to give a better education to his child. We asked what class young R was in and were horrified when we were told that he was in UKG. R had been in class IV in the government school and was 11 years old. Now he had been demoted to UKG.
Our mind went back to early times at Khader where we had found many kids in UKG matters to the notwithstanding their age or knowledge. The story was repeating itself. We tried and explained to the mother but she asked us to talk to the father. We hope to be able to convince him to put back his son in the government school in class IV.
This is the dawning of a new age in education as we seem to have a Minister willing to make sweeping changes. We only hope that he also keeps in mind the plight of the children of a Lesser God and puts an end to the multitude of teaching shops that proliferate in the city and are simply money making enterprises. What is needed is sound government schools where all children can be given quality education.
