Provide Nutrition to Migrant Children For a Year

Introduction

A new city, new friends, and new experiences sound exciting to many of us. Well, we wish it is true for the 4 million migrants working in the construction sector in Bangalore. But the reality is they are completely invisible in the city to access their basic entitlements on health, education and nutrition.

Parents migrate to the city to earn an income to manage their debts, are working the whole day and children are left to themselves in the labour colony. Migrant children live in unhygienic surroundings with no proper access to water and sanitation. This leads to lots of health issues and undernourishment. Children also lose out on their education when they move around with their parents to different places of work. With the absence of social networks and lack of knowledge in the city to access the entitlements for children's health, nutrition and education are neglected.

Sampark creche interventions caters to 1,500 migrant children through 26 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. 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.

Sampark based on its core women empowerment values, realized in cities, women primarily need support through childcare services to enable them to join the labour force and earn an income to contribute to their family income.

Location

There are multiple labour colonies spread all across Bangalore. <span "="">This report particularly provides you the progress update of the below 5 centres.

Name of Crèche & Address of Crèches

1. Mahaveer Ranches

Mahaveer Ranches, Site No. 95, Hosa Rd, Sai Sree Layout, Choodasandra, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560099

2. Prestige Golfshire Club

Prestige Golfshire Club, Nandi Hills Road Karahalli Post, Kundana, Taluk, Hobli, Devanahalli, Bengaluru, Karnataka 562164

3. Hoyaslanagara

 Hoysala Nagar labour colony, Ramamurthy Nagar junction, T C Palya, Hoysala Nagar Bangalore 560016

4. Prestige water ford

Prestige Waterford, ECC Rd, Pattandur Agrahara, Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560066

 5. Suncity Ibbulur

Suncity Ibbaluru near Indira Canteen BBMP Ibbaluru Doddamma temple Bangalore

Enrollment 

As of June 2023, there were 202 (104 boys and 98 girls) children enrolled in these centres.  During the reporting period, 145 children are new joinees, 109 children old students who returned back from their villages, and 293 children moved to their village. Migration to and fro to village is the very nature of these children families, which makes to difficult to access their basic entitlements

 Nutrition

Sampark set up the crèche keeping in mind that migrant 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. Sampark team monitored the height and weight of the 312 children aged below 5 years regularly. Out of them, 79 children were undernourished. A special protein mixture was provided to these undernourished children. 62 children showed improvement in their weight.

A detailed analysis of Suncity Ibbaluru center children, shows that 11 children were identified as undernourished and were put on special diet. With regular monitoring and good diet for four months, 7 children improved their height and weight. 4 children remained undernourished. 1 child lost weight and moved from normal nutrition grade to undernourished grade. This shows that 65% of the children progress with good health and growth in the creches.

 Health Checks

40 Paediatric health camps were organized in the 5 centres. 1120 children (587 boys and 533 Girls) were screened, and 176 (93 boys and 83 girls) children were provided age-appropriate Immunization. Vitamin A, Measles plus, Vita A dose1, measles plus vita A TCV3, Booster MR DPT and deworming medicines were also provided. The common physical ailments that were identified in children during the health camps were cold, cough fever, anemia.

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 

Fun and engaging activities related to Fruits, Vegetables, Water, Village and City, Rain, Life skills, my Country India, Plants and Trees, Domestic Animals and Wild animals, Birds and insects were discussed and taught.

Community Interventions

In an effort to ensure regular attendance to creche and learn and follow good ygience, discipline and healthy eating practices, Sampark team regularly interacts with parents.

9 parent meetings were conducted and topics including Importance of Age appropriate child immunization, Age appropriate Children’s development, Nutrition, and Cleanliness Part 1 and Part 2 were discussed. 499 parents (80 males and 419 females) attended the parents’ meetings.  

18 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted to discuss children’s safety, immunization, and nutrition. 641 parents (107 males and 534 females) participated in the meeting. 

255 parents participated in the nutrition camp arranged in the creches to share with them tips on how to make nutritious food such as Sweet Poha, Ragi Malt, Fruits salad, Sprouts, sooji Ladoo, etc

Special Events and Festivals

Children look forward to fun celebrations and we make special effort to take them to many events which gives them a lot of experiential learning and exposure. The centres celebrated the below 

Special Events:
1. Independence day
2. Children’s Day
3. Children participated in the “The Festival of Inclusion” - Tandav organized by Smileys India. Children experienced different dance forms and participated in various activities.
4. Republic day

We would like to highlight to you a story from one of our centre, where a simple timely intervention helps the vulnerable

Fathima an unemployed migrant woman lived in Hoysala Nagar in Bangalore. She has a 7-month-old daughter Mahabi and lived with her husband Abdul who worked in the nearby construction site. They lived in extreme poverty and feared the future of their child.

Fathima came across Sampark in the labor colony, where she admitted her daughter into the crèche. Initially, Mahabi was not able to adjust to the creche. The teacher explained to Fathima that she cries a lot and has a lot of health problems. The teacher asked Fathima to stay with her for a few days until she adjusts to the crèche.

Mahabi before joining the Sampark’s Crèche had problems with eating and hence didn't receive proper nutrition. After joining the crèche, with the nurture and care received, she started showing improvement. Mahabi was given meals three times a day and regulary attended the health camp and received proper treatment for her illness. She is now 2.3 years old, eats properly, is calm and composed. She also looks healthy as said by her mother.

The income of the family has also significantly increased as Mahabi’s mother started working, the health and well-being of their child is secured the family is now doing better and are also financially more stable.

We look forward to your support and contributions to keep this important and essential work going to save our future generation dispersed and migrated to different cities.