Everyday Lessons

as mentioned in an earlier entry, "chotti si asha" was on a look out for a new place...our old place (in sector 38 of chandigarh) was too far off from the new location that the children had moved to (naya Gaon - outskirts of chandigarh) so our attendance had really gone down. Once we started looking for a place, we realized how expensive Chandigarh's real estate and rentals are!! So we gave up the idea of renting our own place and started talking to the chandigarh administration. The response was quite positive from their end. But before they could intervene and help us, we found a place in the heart of the city - a location that works perfectly fine for all the children at NO COST!! It turned out that there is a government building in sector 15 (very close to sector 17 where all the children come to work) where all kind of non-profit activities take place like drug de - addiction center, yoga classes for senior citizens, library, exhibition hall etc. A few years back the...

yesterday, "chotti si asha" celebrated Independence Day at our old "adda" - rose garden...we got together and remembered the old days when we used to sit under the tree and study and listened to stories or played games. We also played our favourite game - "Dog in the bone". The kids simply adore this game and rarely miss out on the opportunity to play it when ever they get a chance. Jaspreet had joined us so we did a few minted of meditation also. There were some new people who had come to meet the "chotti si asha" gang...while the circle of introduction and sharing was going on, it was quite amazing to hear some of the kids talking very honestly about themselves and what they have learn't or have not been able to learn in this last one year. it was really heart warming to see that most of them recognized their shortcomings and had the realization that they lack focus and they get bored very easily. Acceptance is the first step to improvemen...

For the onward journey of "chotti si asha", please follow the blog - http://chottisiasha.blogspot.com I will continue to write about other things on this blog. enjoy...

Anike, Aakash and Bobby joined Sikhya last month...the initial few days were very tough for them as well as for me ...i was nervous that they would not get up on time so I would call their Uncle (Anike's Uncle is one of the smart members of their community...he is responsible and is working diligently with us on making bags and luckily, he also owns a cell phone) early in morning and ask him to wake the kids and then he took the responsibility of dropping the children to school on a cycle rickshaw that we rented. The first day was the toughest...the kids came back and called me that they would not go the next day...and gave me various reasons...it seemed that they had a fight with some other children of their class and they also felt quite alienated with the whole environment...the problems were simple - they didn't know that after the bell rings, a new teacher would come to teach a new subject. So after each bell-ring, they would think that it is time to go and so they would ...

now that the team is all pepped - up, i am looking for avenues to market the stuff that these boys are making enthusiastically and am also looking for more easy designs for bags, cell phone covers, aprons, wall hangings, file covers etc. please pass on any ideas that you might have on this… meanwhile, i am also trying to send some of the younger boys to school. i have been working with these boys for the last one year but i have never directly talked to them about begging...i knew that the elder boys usually controlled one or two younger boys (generally their siblings) and made sure that the younger ones begged and gave their money to them or their parents at the end of the day...the elders also tried to earn by polishing shoes or begging but of course, are not as successful as the younger ones. i also had quite some idea as to who controls whom. so last week, i thought that it is time to do some plain talking as well as to experiment to send some of the younger ones to school. i start...

Now that the exhibition is over, the team is all pepped up for the next step…I do plan to continue the crafts and am working on marketing the stuff that we make. I am talking to a couple of stores where we can keep our stuff for selling and also, plan to do regular exhibitions till we come up with some solution that would ensure regular flow of income for these boys. Apart from the work, I am also trying to convince the elder boys to start sending their younger sibling to school or to bring them to us. This will take some time because the younger siblings do the majority of the earning (begging) and if they go to school or come to “chhotti si asha”, they will not make as much money. I am making these boys aware of the exploitative cycle that these people have created for themselves where they were exploited by their elders and now they in turn are exploiting their younger siblings and how they can break that cycle for their younger ones. For me to be able to convince them, a regular in...