Jogeshwari Community – Our Recalls

Jogeshwari Community – Our Recalls

Creating a balance and breaking the ice

We started with a motive of getting to know the community well by interacting with the kids. To make it attractive for them we preferred the mode of games. We also tried to get into showing them alphabets and numbers but we realised getting someone introduced to these basics required sustained efforts and most of the kids used to mix up the alphabets and numbers.

The group therefore started to tell them about shapes and even more basic “holding the pencil”.

The response was good for this activity and kids loved to colour and draw shapes.

The level of knowledge & way of communication

Moving ahead we felt that we had a good mix of kids of various age groups and we were telling them the same things. As a result some found it too naïve or for some it was above their level.

The group then decided to split the kids into groups and the volunteers also started interacting with the groups and spoke to them as per their level.

We employed games, origami, storytelling, dance and acting as our mode of communication.

A good innovation was BINGO number game a customised version of housie to get used to numbers

Motivation for enrolment in schools

After spending some time in the community we now had our next target getting the kids go to school. However it was not possible without the engagement of the parents in our program.

We planned a pseudo enrolment drive and invited the parents. There we explained the importance of education and noted down the names of kids who wished to attend the school.

The kids were divided into groups and a volunteer was assigned to each group to mentor them.

Are our plans working?

After the school session started we came to know that the attendance is poor in school. It was a setback as we had worked hard and got everyone aboard.

Our group therefore proposed the following strategy:

1.       Getting the attendance collected from school every 15 days and emailed to all. So that each mentor can actually figure the exact situation.

2.       Allotment of an intern to keep moving the initiative on weekdays.

We did our best before the festive season to get the kids to school. Our group members even visited the community in the mornings and evenings to take them to school personally or to discuss the issues.

We even visited the schools and discussed the problems with headmaster to figure out a solution.

The attendance improved but still was not impressive.

What to do we feel stuck?

After a break of two months when we resumed our activities we felt stuck. We felt we are doing the same activities that we were doing few months back.

We really had to decide what to do we want? Are we teachers or just mentors?

The group decided to give it a fresh start and we started with teaching them basics. Like alphabets and numbers. We used blackboard, chalk to make the session more interactive.

The result looks to be better this time.

Getting closer

We decided to celebrate Diwali with the community this year. All of us who could make it went to the community, lit diyas, made rangolis and spread love.

We wanted to make them feel special and we hope we have succeeded. We have made some changes by being more closer to children and they hear our basic instructions on health and hygiene,  taking bath etc. they show the excitement of us being there and doing various activities. 

The Road Ahead

We wish to inspire and motivate them to realise the importance of education and try to get most of them to school.

The Thorns:

1.       Kids have a habit of begging.

2.       No one to take care of a small kid at home so the elder one misses school.

3.       Kids work and support their family so making them attend school increases burden on the other earning members.

4.       Lack on constant motivation for education.

5.       Volunteer availability.

Thorns which we can pluck:

1.       We came across a kid who was brilliant and needed tution for English. We managed it in the end somehow but we can have something better for them or else whats the use of motivation.

2.       We should filter our bright kids and run some scholarships or lets say a scheme where if a kid attends 75% in a year the parents get some money. This will reduce their financial burden will more willing to make the kids to go to school.

3.       We should have a permanent member to take care of the activities we do and we act as enablers.

4.       The permanent member should collect various datas and inform our group weekly. We never know the exact situation and our impact. We make guesses.

5.       We should let them if there is some scheme under which small kids can be taken care of like a day crèche which allows the other one to go to school.

Special Applause:

Rashmi’s friend Katyayani has really helped us in a great way by taking up the tuition responsibilities of the kid in need of it. Her efforts will surely help him ahead.

We the team:

Kaustubh, Malvika, Siddhartha, Abhishek, Ananya, Rashmi, Hitakshi, Sudeepta, Kavita Ghosh,  Kavita More, Priyanshi, Avanish and the new volunteers.

Introducing Bandra Group

The group started small with 4 people and  started learning more about volunteering by talking to other PAG members and helped New Mumbai group with summer camp helped in Click Rights campaign.

Now it was their time to start our community work.  They had 2 training sessions on dos and don’t s of the community work plus the ECCE. 

The group then decided to start the awareness programme with a small skit on the issue of immunization. Simple information of immunization can bring lot of change in the thinking of the community. So the skit was finalized and the day was decided for the big Nukkad Naatak

Practice Practice Practice

They were all going crazy learning dialogues sequence of the play and got lot of help from New Mumbai Volunteers. The Big Day came with lot of excitement they assembled community members and start performing within seconds they had a crowd to hear them.

It was wonderful feeling of getting people reaction of staying and listening to the volunteers. With every reaction and scream we gained our confidence to scream out loud our dialogues and reach out to as many as they could.

They  performed the street play in two places  in the community

Ravi Bandra Volunteer experience “It isn’t always that we get time from the hustle bustle of life and spend it to cheer other faces. Fortunately, we at CRY ‘Bandra’ - a relatively naive group in years but full of enthusiasm in ideas – happened to enlighten the Kherwadi Community at Bandra East on the importance of immunization and vaccination on the 12th of October, 2014.

They say “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one”. Pondering days on when to enact the skit on immunization in the Community, we were getting a bit late. And we finally met on 11thOctober – a three hour preparation – and all set to rock. We needed to act!!

The skit was performed at two places in the community and the response, we humbly state, was commendable. One could overhear “ You people should keep coming; no matter polio immunization has been taken care of in this country at large”. Ah! We were talking of smiles, right! How about seeing the happiness of the children through the day’s pics!!

The Bandra Team was guided by the veterans Abha Mam and Ravindra Sir along with the fantastic members of Navi Mumbai group comprising Sagar, Amey, Suman and Ajay. The participants from Bandra group were : Mohit, Madiha Yash, Rahul, Akshay, Ravi 1 and Ravi 2.

We tried our best to pass on the message to the audience of leading a healthy life, to be extra vigilant on immunization and vaccination front.

The whole group eagerly awaits our further tasks which include teaching kids on a regular weekend basis, health care among others.

Video link -- Nukkad Naatak Video

Culminating Ujjawal's 2500 km ride.

Christopher Morley once said, "The bicycle,  surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets". So, for Ujjawal’s efforts, we can surely say that it is also the vehicle of an enthusiastic volunteer set out on a journey to show that he cares

On Sunday morning of 29^th June, - Finally Ujjwal was here in Mumbai after his month long journey the Mumbai VA team with volunteers were eagerly waiting for him at Bandra so that he can cover his last patch with us . Lake City Peddlers  and Bandra Cycle group with 40 cyclist cycled around and supported the child rights issue 

The second leg of culmination was office welcome for Ujjwal 

Mumbai location was very eager to meet Ujjwal hear his story and know what was going in his mind while deciding this journey and completing it as wel on time 

A weather worn and content Ujjawal entered the office to be greeted by a thunderous round of applause. A surprise in store was waiting for him, his parents had been invited for the event as well. He was mildly flustered and greatly happy meeting them.

The event commenced with a welcome address by Abha Duggal, after that there was a short movie on Ujjawal’s trip. Mr.  Chandrashekhar Ponda , GM HO HR  gave a short speech and presented him a scrapbook that summarized his entire journey and contained hundreds of congratulatory messages.  He and his cycle companion were also felicitate with plaque. Ujjawal shared his experiences with everyone, and replied to all the questions put that were asked. Ujjawal’s   father also spoke about Ujjawal’s ride.

Ujjwal welcomes with standing ovation and claps in Mumbai office 

Many aptly utilized the opportunity to click photos with Ujjawal and his cycle. Then came the most awaited lunch session, a potluck had been planned which had each person bring something special from home that was to be shared to everyone else. The lunch break was an happy, sumptuous affair with people scuttling between tables to try and taste all the delicious dishes.

Lastly, a HANGOUT session at 3:00 pm was conducted inviting the volunteers from all over India to discuss their experiences with Click Rights event and pose questions to Ujjawal.

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All’s well that ends well

All good things come to an end. So did the summer camp that was organized by CRY for the students of Chattarpati Rajayshree Shahu Maharaj Vidyalaya. Guess who joined the students on the last day. Their parents! The parents and students seemed to eagerly wait to find out what was in store for them on the last day.

After welcoming the parents, Amey started the ice-breaking session. He made a few students stand in a row and asked them to switch between emotions at the snap of his fingers. One moment the students roared with laughter, snap and then they were hysterically sobbing, of course just pretending to sob. It got even more interesting when the parents were randomly chosen to do the same. One parent had to make the sound of a pressure cooker whistle, while another had to stick out their tongue and say oh ai, all this to the cue of students’ “Lights, camera, action!”

Next came Modern Melody’s session on singing. After 3 sessions of practicing, it was time for the students to flaunt their musical skills in front of their parents. The students faced their parents and filled the room with Aashayeinand Mera bhi toh adhikaar hai in their booming voices. The parents were overjoyed at their kids belting out the songs with confidence.

Summer camp is not just about fun, but also about learning. Sticking to that agenda, CRY volunteer Suman and Kush informed the audience about adulteration and its ill effects. The presentation began with fun interaction with the kids and the parents. They were shown fake toffees and real ones and were asked to differentiate between the two. The chocolate experts easily recognised the fake ones. They were also told about milk, pulses and other common food items that are adulterated; and were given pointers to avoid buying such adulterated products.

Children and Parents are looking at samples of chocolates and tofees and identifying asli and nakli

 

 

 

Towards the end of the event, the principal of the school expressed her gratitude towards CRY for organizing the camp for the students.

 

A peppy video presentation on the summer camp followed the principal’s speech. From the crafts session to the singing session, everything that was covered in the four weekend classes was highlighted in the presentation. The kids cheered and applauded at the end of the presentation.

The event came to an end with the distribution of organic holi colours and (Funskool’s) Lego blocks to all the students.

Prapti’s mother expressed, “It was an innovative camp. The children have hugely benefitted from it. When it is difficult to acquire skills such as quilling without spending significantly, CRY gave an opportunity to learn it without the worry of burning our pockets. ” She even added that this camp should be conducted every year. Mahadevi’s mother said, “My daughter enjoyed attending the camp. It was very convenient to have the camps on Saturday. Thank you, CRY.”

Arti Kate gleefully said, “I loved this camp. I loved all tais and dadas. They helped me make beautiful kandils.” Nagesh frankly added, “Before attending the camp, I thought it will be boring but it wasn’t boring! We would love to come again.”

The students who had become quite attached to the bhaiyas and didis came up to them and thanked them individually before leaving.

 

#Ride4ChildRights

 Ujjawal Chauhan, IIT-Kharagpur student and ardent CRY Volunteer is        embarking on what his friends are calling the 'Madness Project' but   we at CRY and Ujjawal see it as a unique #Ride4ChildRights. Join Ujjawal, his cycle and camera as they travel across 4 states and 2500 kms to capture the reality of children in #India to raise awareness and funds to end child labour. Stay tuned for more photos and pledge your support for Ujjawal here : http://bit.ly/1tJUrUo

Ujjawal Tumblr: http://ujjawal-ride4childrights.tumblr.com/  Here you will find Ujjawal’s updates and Photos along his journey being documented on a  daily  basis

Ujjawal bitgiving: http://bitgi.co/stopchildlabour  This is Ujjawal’s bitgiving page where he will be raising funds for CRY through his journey.

CRY Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRYINDIA

The link where you can collect the badge for Ujjawal. http://www.picbadges.com/badge/3651545/

(SUMMER CAMP FUN) ³

“My experience at the Summer Camp was awesome. With the kids I forget myself and enjoy being a kid .It feels good if you know that someone is waiting to meet you so eagerly and same situation is there in your mind..Every day I wait for Saturday to come whenever I think of camp just a thought brings smile to my face..”- Cry Volunteer, Suman

Day 2 of Summer camp left us wanting for more.  We had to wait an entire week for Day 3 of Summer camp. But behold! 24^th, Day 3 of Summer Camp was finally here. The kids were going to in for a shock today, we had new friends from Philips who packed quite a surprise from them.Its always nice to start our day with music, why not do the same here? Modern Melody kick started Day 3 of Summer Camp. 

  To the mild strums of guitar, the students passionately sang Aashayein and Mera bhi toh adhikaar hai. They clapped and snapped their fingers and waved rhythmically to the tunes of the song, with infectious enthusiasm.Much to their disappointment, singing hour got over, but in store for them was another one of their favourite activities.

 It was craft time! Volunteer Rasika handed out sheets and scissors and instructed the students methodically to make the kandils. The students deftly handled the sheets and made them. Those who managed to finish it quickly flaunted their kandils for the shutterbugs. It was wonderful to see all the kids so focused in making their kandils, as they squinted and made their “scissor faces”.  All in a matter of one hour there were bright, beautifully made kandils in every child’s hand, all of them grinning with pride!

After a short break it was time to let loose and do the ‘CHICKEN DANCE’! The volunteers , the kids, our friends from Philips all quacked and flapped to the tunes of the Chicken dance! Everyone burst out laughing looking at one another.

Wouldn’t it be great if your birthday coincided with the Summer Camp? One of our little girls, Sushma, celebrated her birthday with us, Philips got her a beautiful and yummy chocolate cake which she shared with her 57 new friends. What a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday!

Following that we had a presentation on our former president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by our volunteer Mohit. He gave the students the inspirational story of how hard work and perseverance made an ordinary boy from Rameshwaram rise to the ranks of President and a Bharat Ratna awardee.  Don’t we all have something to learn from that? Mohit himself had a few words to share ““It was such an overwhelming experience. The first day I visited, I saw those innocent faces coming in by the dozen. The activities started, and the response from the children motivated us. We had a schedule for every Saturday, but we never had to carry a script, it was the children who scripted the fun for themselves and we just acted according to it. Those smiling, dancing, artistic, enthusiastic faces will be the best moments of the Summer Camp and will be cherished forever. I have learned a lot in these 3 days. Initially I had stage fright so much so that if I had to speak with a mic in my hand, I would get really nervous. But when I had to present a motivational story to the children, I managed to do so with ease, because the relation between me and the children took away my fear.

If we eliminate the stress of competition among children, and the fear of losing, then the school lectures will turn into camps! Children will learn with fun. Education will become edutainment.
No child is incapable of learning, but the way to teach each of them is different. I believe there's always a fun way to teach, and that's what children need.I thank each and every single person associated with the camp for all the EDUTAINMENT they provided me. Thanks a lot!”

As the day moved on, Philips read every child’s mind when brought out a canvas and platters filled with different coloured paints. Every kid loves getting their hands dirty and that s exactly what they did! Hand painting! The dream activity for every child. 

Sagar too had his own share of wonderful experiences “Initially, when we thought of being a part of Summer Camp in Airoli, I was wondering how it would go as we were new to the school, new to the children but as the first day of summer camp progressed, I found myself in a very comfortable zone with the children. Art, theatre and singing brought confidence in children to speak, helped them to develop team work quality and creativity. It also gave the volunteers an opportunity to work with children.

Personally speaking summer camp has given me a great platform to show my leadership qualities, handling the events and coordinating with volunteers, school staff, CRY staff. Looking forward to more events like this. Thank you very much”

As we see, this had been a learning and fun experience for both, the volunteers and the children.

Can’t wait for  Day 4 of Summer Camp!

Click Right 2014

Photovoices of Children 

18 May 2014: The whole idea behind the event held on Sunday morning for the Jogeshwari Community kids was to introduce something new to them- an instrument which captures their family, friends, their likes & dislikes, that being a camera. All the kids were fascinated by the cameras. They had all seen a camera before but this time there was something different.  This time nobody was clicking pictures of them, instead they were allowed to hold this magical instrument and click pictures of their world. As we say, pictures are the way we see the world, each one of us has a completely different outlook towards the world. This outlook can be best exhibited with a photograph.

The day started with a purpose for all volunteers. The Jogeshwari Community kids were gathered together by Aakar at their office. Was it really that easy task for them to gather kids in their office room with discipline & pin-drop silence? We wondered how all the kids in one room managed to sit without making any noise. Normally, when we, CRY Volunteers, do the weekly Sunday activity with them, we need a lot of convincing strategies to engage them. But pin-drop silence. WOW! Well must say that the Aakar team is a master in this art. When the Click Rights & CRY volunteers entered Aakar office,  the kids were seated in rows and were watching their favourite cartoon, ‘Chotta Bheem’ on Pogo. Does this recall your childhood Sunday morning fantasy? It definitely did for us.Christine and Ravindra from CRY helped us divide the children into 5 groups with one CRY volunteer and one Click Rights volunteer handling each group. The execution plan for this campaign was to have the Click Rights volunteer teach kids how to operate a camera and to have the CRY volunteer understand and analyse the kid’s thought process behind everything picture he or she clicked. To divert their focus from their favorite Cartoon Superhero the kids were then introduced to the camera.

Each Volunteer group initiated their take. We first got familiar with the kids, introduced ourselves, and got to know about their family background and schooling. The Click Rights volunteers then explained to them how to hold a camera and operate it. The kids took us to their locality. Their parents had been informed in advance about the Photo Voices event. They did show enthusiasm and encouraged their children to take on the tour with their magical instruments. The kids had fun and were unstoppable. They were quick to learn and in no time managed to operate the camera with ease. This event has helped create an interest in the minds of the other children in the community and has helped encourage more children to join the weekend workshop organised by the CRY volunteers in North Mumbai. This event was a success with all the volunteers working together for a cause. It has helped us better understand our community kids with a new perspective.

Volunteers involved : Kaustub , Kavita More  , Kavita Gosh, Tarun , Prashant, Avanish  Hitakshi, siddarth , Rahul  

                       Edutainment = summer camp

17^th May 2014, Saturday

To prep up the day with not just a healthy body, but also a healthy mind, the second session of summer camp by CRY started with a Yoga session for the eager 56 students at Chattarpati Rajayshree Shahu Maharaj Vidyalaya. CRY volunteers Kiran and Suraj taught them exciting vocal exercises to get them started with some focused energy.

Yoga session was followed by a session on theatre. The hands-on practical training started with chanting of a couple of prayers. The students were taught the intrinsic difference between acting and over-acting. They were split into groups and were given 5 minutes to practice and 2 minutes to enact a realistic situation. The children were tickled to come up with their own ideas and stage it in front of everyone. The applauses and cheers kept them thoroughly encouraged!

Next up was the singing session. Modern Melody band taught the children the theme song of CRY, Mera bhi toh adhikaar hai. The touching song moved the children as they closed their eyes and sang without any inhibitions.

The art session that continued from the previous session saw Rasika (CRY’s volunteer) teach the children the art of making paper quilled greeting cards. The children had fun rolling the colourful strips of paper and carefully giving it shape, creating beautiful designs for the 3D cards they made last week.

A ten minute break was given to the students. That was followed by a small movie, Meena, the educating cartoon that taught the students about ablution, sanitation and personal hygiene.  

The session ended with Roshini and Sumit, coordinators, teaching the students to shake their legs. The students immensely enjoyed dancing to the tunes of Bollywood. 

Summer Camp 2014

 Who said Summer Camp can’t be cool?

On Saturday 10^th May 2014 , 61 kids poured into the gates of Chattarpati Rajayshree Shahu Maharaj Vidyalaya at 9 in the morning with eager, smiling faces. Our CRY volunteers, who were already there beforehand, welcomed them.

Amey and Kiran CRY volunteers conducting theater and yoga class 

The kids had absolutely no idea about the fun that was in store for them!

The summer camp started off with an encouraging speech by the Mr.  Sudhakar  S Sonawane , Chairman Education Committee  following which all the volunteers introduced  themselves to the children.

We started the day with a yoga session headed by our enthusiastic volunteer Amy, who made them get in touch with their inner self by making the child within them scream out loud. Amused to see this rendition of yoga, the kids joined in whole-heartedly.

Modern Melody Team 

Once the kids were all pumped up we had a volunteer group called Modern Melody come in and surprise them with a music session. Putting themselves in the children’s shoes, the group managed to pick the perfect songs to teach the children. They started off with Aashayein from the movie Iqbal. The children were more than thrilled to see a guitarist accompany them. The singer also gave a small speech explaining the meaning of the lyrics of the song and gave them reason to believe and hope for a better future. Following this, the kids screamed and laughed while singing Bum Bum Bole from the movie Taare Zameen Par. Sadly, this session couldn’t go on forever but the children weren’t disappointed for too long since the next session was equally fun.

Rasika conducting Art and Craft Workshop 

Our very own CRY volunteer, Rasika headed the art and craft session where the children learnt to make 3D Greeting Cards. The children were divided into groups and material was provided to them. Rasika taught them how to make the card step by step and in half an hour each of them was proudly holding up their very own greeting card.

With that we ended the art and craft session and began the introductory theatre session where the volunteers displayed a series of comical acts which the kids found highly amusing.

After the theatre session, Hersh from Kodak conducted a photography workshop where he spoke about the history of photography, the science behind the camera and how cameras help us capture different moments of our life.

Hersh Lulla conducting phtoworkshop with children 

After the brief on photography the kids were given some snacks. Then they were sent out with volunteers to click pictures of their surroundings. This was a part of Photo Voices. The children had a gala time clicking pictures in the school playground and garden. With this we concluded Day 1 of Summer camp.

A Big thank you to all our CRY volunteers for all the help and support!

Sagar, Suman, Rasika, Pooja, Mohit, Kiran, Prakhar, Rohan, Yash, Yashashree, Apoorva, Karan, Raakesh, Amey, Rajdeep, Rahul, Kush, Volunteers from Modern Melody , Hersh Lulla , Cynthia Dias, Radhika and Anuja Kothari  


Press Coverage got for the summer camp 

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=64335&boxid=9583&ed_date=2014-5-15&ed_code=820015&ed_page=3