Provide Nutrition to Migrant Children For a Year

Introduction

Young children playing and roaming unsupervised is a very common sight in Bangalore. With both parents working the whole day, children are left to themselves or an older person keeping tabs on all children. Migrant children are extremely undernourished and live in unhygienic surroundings. Their safety is under threat all the time. Children also lose out on their education when they move around with their parents to different places of work. Migrant women are not able to go to work leaving their children alone in the labor colony and even when they go to work their focus is always on the safety and nutrition of their children.

Sampark realized in cities, to enable migrant women to join the labor force and earn an income to contribute to their family income, they need support through childcare services. With the absence of social networks in cities and to focus on children's health, nutrition and education, Sampark runs 22 crèches in various locations in Bangalore. The children are provided with a safe and fun place to play and learn basic languages, numbers, and arts and crafts. Most of the children are under-nourished and the health and nutrition requirements are secured by providing them breakfast, lunch, and snacks in the evening. The crèches work from 9.30 am to 5 pm. Children as young as 6 months old are taken in, Balwadi consists of children from 3-6 years and Non-formal Education from the age of 6 to 12 years.  

Location and enrollment

There are multiple labor colonies spread all across Bangalore. Thubarahalli labor colony is one of them. This report brings to you all the updates about Thubrahalli creche. As for the last quarter, the total number of children was 87 (34 females and 53 male) who received the services in this creche. 10 new children (8 females and 2 males) enrolled in the creche and 3 old children returned from the village. Additionally, 13 children were identified who were eligible to enroll in a government school. Out of which, 11 children were linked to Government schools! 2 children were unable to enroll in government schools as they had gone back to their villages. 

Nutrition

Sampark set up the crèche keeping in mind that children’s nutrition should be given utmost priority. The team provided eggs, bananas, chikkis and cooked hot midday meals (Kichidi) every day as per the planned schedule to all the children. The team also monitored the height and weight of 37 children under the age of 5 years (crèche and balwadi category) regularly and made them follow a strict diet plan. Further, 11 children were identified as undernourished. A special diet (Anaz mixture) was provided to these undernourished children. As a result, 08 children showed improvement in their weight. 

Health Camps

One pediatric health camp was organized in the crèche. A total of 46 children were screened of which, 17 were female and 29 were male children. About 04 children were identified with illnesses. The common physical ailments that were identified in children during the health camps were cold, cough fever, anemia

Sampark team members were also able to link the children to the local Primary Health Centre at Thubarahalli. These linkages helped to provide age-appropriate immunization. 63 children ( 26 female and 37 male children) accessed age-appropriate immunization. 

Learning Activities

Crèche caters to children under 3 different categories. Creche: Children above 6 months to 3 years, Balwadi- children between 3 – 6 years, and Non-formal education for children above 6 years. Activities related to overall development such as cognitive and physical development were implemented on the children in the creche. The topics covered during the reporting period were My Family, Life Skills, My House & Village and City, Domestic Animals, and my country. The methodology used to teach these topics included: discussion about free drawing and worksheets and showing pictures

Community Interventions and Special Events 

Focus Group Discussions, Nutrition camps, and meetings with the parents were also conducted as a part of the project. Further, Ambedkar Jayanti, environment day, and yoga day were also celebrated with the children in the creche. 

All these activities ensured the holistic growth of the children of migrant workers at Thurbrahalli creche. 

Links:

• For more information visit our website www.sampark.org