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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...
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Corn selling experiment...

One of the biggest challenge that these children face is that from police...as soon as the police sees these children they don't hesitate throwing their stick at them or chasing these children out of the market area...the police's reason is simple - the children move around the plaza and trouble people by begging...and then if anybody loses anything then their first suspicion is these children. The attitude of the people as well as the police towards these children is quite pathetic. They are always blaming these children without realizing that at some level each of us is to blame for the way these children have become. Anyway, i have been talking to a few constables at the plaza and have been requesting them to change their attitude towards these children....some of the constables have been very understanding and have said that they would give their support while some give me a lecture as to how i am wasting my time etc but since i only request them to be a little polite, they...
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"Chhotti si asha"

So now we have a name – “Chhotti si asha”. I wanted the group to keep a name…so some of the kids and volunteers came up with their suggestions and voting was done to select the name. Some of the other suggestion for the name were – “Apna Kal”, Jeevan Safal”, “Sahara”, “Sath Sath”. Some tidbits… * the latest at our end is that we have moved from the rose garden (the kids had some problems with the police there) to the parking lot of Jan Shikshan Sansthan (the vocational institute where some of the boys are learning stitching). i have hired Baljeet to teach the kids and i also have a few volunteers. Apart from baisc numeracy and literacy, we have started teaching some craft work as well as theatre to the kids...the theatre workshops have been real fun and we all have loved every moment of it. * Recently, we have planned to put up an exhibition of all the craft work that we do (volunteers and the kids work together to make stuff that can be sold) as well as a small theatre performance in ...
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