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

(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!

                       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

Superheroes at CRY

This is Sagar. Sagar is a typical software professional like many of us. He enjoys watching television, hanging out with friends and going out for movies like most of us. But unlike most of us, Sagar is secretly a hero. His super-power? He makes time for those kids that you and I ignore. The kids living in the slums who don’t know that they deserve better. Every Saturday morning, while you and I are shopping at the best sales, or trying to rid of a nasty hagover or just enacting the ‘Lazy Song’, Sagar is teaching around 25 kids at a slum about half an hour away from his house.

“It is a challenging task to keep up the routine when you have a busy life like mine, but I make it a point to miss as few days as possible with the kids. I love it.” His fellow volunteers are all equally busy. There are doctors and engineers among the handful of volunteers who go regularly like him.

Sagar has also been part of the recent CRY campaigns done in malls and other places around the city. Before starting to volunteer at CRY, Sagar used to volunteer at orphanages in his area. “CRY has given me more exposure than I thought possible.” He says. “I have met a lot of different kind of people. We plan activities, make modules and create innovative ideas to keep the children interested and make the best use of our time together”.

International Volunteer Day Celebration

On January 12, 2014 the International Volunteers’ Day was celebrated at the CRY office. An enthusiastic group of twenty seven of CRY’s old and new volunteers from various PAG areas (New Bombay, Andheri, Kalyan and Bandra to name a few) attended the event. 

The event began with an introductory address by Abha Duggal (Senior Manager, VA, West) welcoming all the volunteers and thanking them for taking out the time to be present for the occasion. The group was then taken on a brief, yet informative tour of the office premises acquainting them with the various departments, their nature of work and a general understanding of what everyday work life at CRY feels like. The volunteers were also happy to interact with staff members from departments such as RG (Resource Generation), CP (Corporate Funding) and Admin, which gave them an opportunity to understand various aspects of CRY.

The office tour was followed by an address by Kreanne Rabadi (Regional Director, West) who spoke to the volunteers about the invaluable support that their work provides to the organization. A PowerPoint presentation which described inspiring work that volunteers across the country had brought about was also shown to the group, along with a video clip of the CEO, Pooja Marwaha, thanking all CRY volunteers for their endless support and commitment over the years.

After this, the volunteers were requested to share their personal experiences, comments, complaints and expectations regarding their association with CRY. This received a great response as many volunteers came forward to share their thoughts. It was a heartfelt moment as the volunteers praised the organization for the work its goals and dedication to the cause of Child Rights. 

“It is changing our lives for the better.”

They expressed their hope for a regular and consistent volunteering body and showed immense amounts of 

spirit and excitement for future activities with CRY. 

This was followed by a presentation made by one of the interns (Rohit Sahasranamam) for this occasion, showcasing the invaluable input that volunteers provide to all of CRY’s initiatives. Some of the volunteers were then felicitated for their consistent effort, after which small tokens of appreciation were given to all the volunteers. The CRY staff took turns in handing these over and personally thanking the volunteers for their work. 

An interactive activity had been planned for the volunteers next, for which they were asked to write down their strengths as a volunteer on a piece of paper. Once they had written these down, each one of them posed with a photo booth of a superhero. It was an extremely engaging activity in which the volunteers participated with great gusto. The CRY staff was asked to do the same and some interesting new superpowers were discovered that day.

“Dedication and commitment for child rights.”

“Talkative, friendly.”

“Art…for child rights”

“My belief that children are the most important people of all.”

This was followed by a closing address from Pooja Marwaha (CEO) who thanked the volunteers for their commitment and time and voiced everyone’s thought when she wished aloud that next year’s celebration see many more faces along with the present ones.

The event was then concluded with a feast for all the volunteers including a delicious chocolate cake. It was a very warm and special occasion for everyone and a lovely way to thank all the volunteers for the tremendous amount of support they have been providing to CRY through the years.