A Tribute to Sagar Chand

I remember the first time I met Sagar and other volunteers of New Mumabi. There was something remarkable about Sagar that made him stand out in the group. His vision to work for children and leadership skills was exemplary and that’s what led me to make him the group leader.

We detailed out plans and started our work in ‘Turbhe’ community and school.  This was 4 years back, since then he has been the supporting pillar for all our volunteer initiative in Mumbai as well as Pune.  He has not  only been regularly working with community and children but also became a spokesperson for the volunteer work that he used to conduct and sessions to motivate youth to be a part of CRY.

He was one of those volunteers who would support CRY team for everything starting from campaigns, events, attending government official meetings to helping us with  Marathi and Hindi translations. It’s difficult for me to even count the times he has accompanied me to meetings and talked about CRY in Marathi as language barrier was issue for us. He also used his personal contacts, resources, spaces offered by his relatives for CRY work.  It is because of him that we got Thane Municipal Corporation partnership and we did enrollment rallies in 9 critical areas in Thane.

What was also unique about him was his positive spirit and never-say-no attitude.Whenever I had any idea, I would first discuss with him and he would always say “ “Abha don’t worry we would do it”. We all would tease him by calling him Sagar Sir and on how he got marriage proposal from government school teacher .

I am sure the work he has done for children would bring the change in the lives of many. He would be dearly missed in every step we take, every change we make for children.

-Abha Duggal, Senior Manager Volunteer Action Team, CRY

The day I joined CRY, I was going through its blog and came across an article titled 'Superhero of CRY'. It was on Sagar Chand. 'Kya aadmi hai yaar ye'! I was motivated by his work. From being a techie to a teacher and an avid social worker he was a master of all. I remember the first day when I met him, It was the inception of CRY Bandra PAG, He had come to brief us on our approach and shared his experiences and you could see the amount of love he had for the work he does. Since then we worked together on various issues. He always had some beautiful and noble things to do, from celebrating Christmas with street kids to taking them to restaurants he did everything to make children happy. I have memories which would make me proud of the fact that I have worked with him. With all that I have learned from you I hope to work hard and make you proud Sagar .'Superhero of CRY'

-          Mohit, Ex-Bandra Vol unteer

 “ Perhaps they are not stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours though and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy “

      - Pratap Das, Thane Volunteer

Sagar was an excellent leader of Thane - PAG and a really nice guy, who would build plans and execute them along with the group smoothly. A man of both action and abstraction, you will be missed.

-          Manoshri, Thane Volunteer

Sagar was a wonderful person.  He is the one who started all the work in Thane PAG and motivated all of us to come for volunteering every week.  It was a good experience working with you.  We hope to keep the spirits high and continue working towards the betterment of society, we hope this will definitely give you happiness whenever you are.... Rest in peace!!

 - Harish, Thane Volunteer

Time to celebrate the Indian in us!!

The greatest gifts you can give your children is a root of responsibility and wings of independence.

-         Denis Waitley

August 15^th 1947 was the day the tri color was first raised and independent India was born. And even after 70 years the enthusiasm remains constant. On the occasion of Independence Day, our volunteers of the Kalyan PAG were invited by the school authority Jai Bai Prathmik Vidyalaya for the flag hoisting ceremony. Little did they know that the volunteers themselves had a little surprise planned for the kids as well as the teachers. Their day started way before the sun could hit us with its warm rays. Last minute work kept the volunteers busy throughout the morning. Though it drizzled in the morning but that didn’t dwindle the enthusiasm the kids and volunteers possessed.

The event began at 9 AM and commenced with students parading through the streets of Vitthalwadi, along with the volunteers and school teachers. Their voices echoed when they shouted with glee Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai..They marched towards their school where the national flag was hoisted by their senior most and lovable teacher. Later on the volunteers surprised the kids with a small skit which showcased the importance of respect towards the national flag.

The students too prepared a small speech emphasizing on India and the sacrifices made by the citizens to achieve Independence. Everybody was taken aback by the gravity of the understanding and thoughtfulness the children had about Independence Day. The volunteers appreciated the school authority that invited them to participate in this ceremony.

The event concluded with a senior teacher giving vote of thanks to the school officials, corporator, volunteers and students.

Volunteer Testimonials

Thane Enrolment Drive

It was an altogether new experience of volunteering. sloganeering on the streets for something, I had never done before.  It was fun and moreover if we could enrol even one child in school with this effort will give immense satisfaction. Looking forward to participate in the activities on coming weekends.

          - Harish Singla 

 I had an amazing experience during the Nukkad Natak and rally at Mumbra. We were basically there for spreading awareness regarding the children education in the nearby area. It seems like the school there is in a bad condition with just 3-4 kids per class. We hope the situation improves and more kids goes to school. I would like to thank CRY for giving this opportunity where I could be a part of the awareness. It was the first time ever for me performing a nukkad natak.

- Vishnu Nair

 I participated in the rally for encouraging children in Thane to go to TMC schools. I found that though our team was small our enthusiasm was enough to attract the attention of people. We found people asking us questions and requesting information. We also found them voluntarily providing information about children who do not go to school. People who have children already going to school also showed interest in the rally and heard us out. We found that people are invested in making a change and this may be a small but definite step towards that.

- Owi Wagh

July  16th, I participated in the  Rally  for education enrollment  drive along with my  co-volunteers of Thane  group.  Along with some enthusiastic  volunteers , some school  children also joined us and we managed to target  houses to find the reason for drop outs and  why children  were  not going to school. It was good  to see  that with our  Rally, we could create  awareness  about  TMC's new policies  And develop  rapport with the locals  to get a better understanding  regarding this problem. Great experience, overall..

- Khadija Chopda

Nutrition Week

Everything you eat becomes a part of not only your inner being but the outer part of your fabric as well. The food we eat have measurable effect on the body’s performance, they prove to have even more critical influence on how the brain handles its task. But today we live in such a time, where even if we want to have a healthy lifestyle, we can’t because of the heavy food adulteration that takes place in the market.

From basic salt to oil, fruits to vegetable everything is adulterated, thus taking this issue further CRY’s Public Action Group in Bandra decided to make a presentation about it and shared their concern with the fellow parents.

Enthusiastic volunteers were all eager to make a difference. The day begun with everyone giving a short introduction of themselves and later preparing themselves for the upcoming presentation with zeal and zest.

Being their first interaction with the parents there was a little bit anxiousness in the atmosphere, but like they say it’s good to be a little bit nervous.

With the last minute banter like making small notes, a final technical check, keeping all the apparatus ready for the experiments, they were all ready for what was coming ahead. Who would have thought that the things we learnt in our school days was coming in handy to reach out to these parents through the chilly brick experiment and the sugar chalk powder experiment.

At the final hour, anxiously waiting for the parents to arrive we had a lot of questions going through our mind: Did the children inform their parents about the session? What if nobody turns up? Is the timing suitable for the parents? Nevertheless these questions began to fade when the parents started to arrive at the venue. A sense of relief is what we felt when we started our session with around twenty parents.

The presentation started with informing the parents about different type of adulteration wrt to quality as well as quantity. We taught them various tricks as to how to detect adulterated food products be it milk, sugar, chilly powder etc.  We had a 10 minute break wherein refreshment was provided and also any doubts wrt the experiments were answered.  The second session started with talking about different food and the nutrient value they contain. Different components of food were explained like carbohydrate, vitamins, fats and protein. They were explained the advantages of using different types of oil apart from explaining the importance of having a healthy breakfast.

 The session concluded with a Q&A round, where various questions were raised by these concerned parents which were solved by the volunteers.  At the end the parents thanked us for holding this session and said they were looking forward to attend more of such sessions.

End Child Labour: It’s time to stop being a Silent Witness

I could throw out a bunch of statistics and facts at you right now, regarding children who don’t get the chance to be educated.

I could put one of many millions of images of children in waterlogged slums, in shoe-polish factories and cotton industries around the world.

I could share with you how at the tender age of 11, a little boy has already had a career as a miner.

I could start off with a well-meaning quote from a celebrity to put an end to child labour.
There is much more eloquent prose on the subject on the internet, than you can ever expect to read on this blog. That does not stop me from talking about it.

Because unless one talks, one can never be heard.

An issue like child labour can be completely eradicated in a country like India if every person does one simple thing: stop feigning ignorance of the reality you see around you.

Stop ignoring little Chotu who brings you your tea at the roadside dhaba.

Stop acting like you don’t see the little child who carries clothes heavier than his own body weight as your presswala.

That’s all I ask.

We write off many experiences in life as ‘the price to pay’ for our given status.

Being lonely at the top. Being harassed on the streets if you wear a short skirt. Being chided for coming out of the closet. Being married off when you’re just 14. Being made an errand boy at age 7.

Question this self-anointed price tag.

Drench yourself in the puddle of reality, rather than choosing the comfort of the pavement and umbrella.

As of today, there are 10 million children in India that work rather than study, that battle intense pangs of hunger and thirst  than struggle over simple division, that dance in the rain with no warm place to go back to.

The children are not the problem, but the solution.

That’s 10 million solutions.

Simple mathematics.

When friends ask me why I choose to go into slums with open, overflowing gutters to talk to children for a school enrollment campaign, and look at me as if I’m insane – I just smile. Because I’m too busy envisioning a world with no poverty and children happily going to schools every single day. That’s not my bold idealism talking, it’s a reality we can all create if we choose to. In fact, it is imperative that we do.

- Nitisha Pande (Volunteer with CRY)

Summer Camp - Day 2

Day 2 started with the Photography session at 9 a.m. by Anuja Gupta. Children were enthusiastic and interested to learn more about photography and see their photographs they had clicked the previous day. Children were given feedback by Anuja on the photographs and were given another assignment to shoot portraits.

After the break, all the photographs clicked by the children were shown to them and they were told where and how they could make their photographs better. The children who clicked outstanding pictures were appreciated for their work.

Children were happy and developed a keen interest in photography. Volunteers spoke about how they found improvement in the children and also their photography in the two day workshop. Children thanked the photography facilitator. The next session was a fun filled dance workshop where they began with a warm-up on a fusion of songs taught to them by one of our volunteers. Children had lots of fun dancing. A group of 8-10 girls even did a performance for all the volunteers.

The children were given medals as a token of appreciation and after that they were served snacks. The children truly enjoyed the summer camp and the volunteers also had fun teaching all the children. 

Volunteers Speak...

This summer camp has gifted me priceless feeling i.e. satisfaction of making kids happy. That beautiful smile on their face made me forget all the worries and has opened the door of happiness.

The way they address you as elder sister, treat u with such affectionate love and respect and their innocent way of asking question has created cute bond with them and I have started feeling more attached with these super cute kids.

-Prajakta 

I never thought working with an NGO would be so much of fun. The children's enthusiasm, dedication for their work, their never ending questions and innocence, everything made them very special.

- Srushti

I like spending time with kids and I got a chance to do so at Jaibai School summer camp, they were everything kids are suppose to be, you could see it in their eyes, enthusiasm, eagerness, fun and a whole lot of naughtiness. I got a glimpse of a way to have fun while I got a chance to help and looking at them I want to continue to do so.

- Clinton

Summer Camp @ Jai Bai School (Day 1)

The day started with the kids assembling at 8:30 in Jai Bai School, Kalyan eager to start the day. The volunteers interacted with the kids and got them to do energizers like “Fun Yoga”. After a short break the next session was on Photography by Anuja Gupta, a professional photographer. It was a new and highly interesting subject for the children. They were shown a few landscape and portrait pictures which the children found very fascinating. They were told the story behind each picture, how and where the pictures were taken. Anuja then took the children through the basics of photography as to how to hold the camera and how to focus on the picture that one wants to capture.

The children were then divided into 5 groups; each group was led by a volunteer and given cameras. They had to capture photos depicting what they love about their school. The children scattered around the school with cameras in their hands and a gleam in their eyes as they clicked to their hearts content. They captured trees, their school building, their classrooms, their friends, pictures with CRY volunteers while trying to be as creative as possible. 

Following this fun session, children came back and were shown photos of daily lives, these photos were shown to them so that they understand sometimes it’s not always going out for a scenic beauty and taking photos but even in our day to day life, in our vicinity we can find that life has some interesting aspects and even the little things are worthy of observing.

Volunteers then presented a fun filled puppet show for the kids. The children laughed their way through it while learning an important message about the importance of education and how important it is in life to follow our dreams, as well as to keep in touch with our old friends and keep cherishing the memories forever.

The last activity for the day was a presentation on traffic rules and road safety. The volunteers taught the kids the rules of traffic signals with an interesting game. They had prepared boards with various road signs on them. Various dangerous situations and the correct ways to act on the road were taught by acting out scenarios. In the end the kids got pictures clicked in the cutout of a car to make the activity more memorable and to add a little fun to the learning. 

Volunteers prepared a Puppet show for the children

Children participated in the Photography Workshop

Fun Session on Road Safety