By Feba Aranha | Writer
Since the lockdown in March, due to the pandemic, most of our opportunities for improvement and growth were driven from “within the Campus”. Here are a few things we undertook.
Kitchen garden – With time in our hands we decided to put our energies into cultivating organic vegetables like beans, radish, tomatoes, leafy veggies like red and green spinach for our children.
This benefits us in two ways:
Waste disposal – We decided to find a solution on campus for our dry waste (paper and the likes) by making an incinerator on campus.
Manure – With the development of our kitchen garden, we realized we needed to purchase manure from the neighboring village if we did not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. This became a regular necessity, so we bought to campus our very own little calf (one) and sheep (one). Our need for manure was satisfied and the children got an animal to bond with.
Solar energy – We are trying to reduce our electrical expenditure by slowly transitioning to solar power. In the last 6 months we received and installed 12 solar panel streetlights (donated) on campus but we still need a significant amount to become completely solar powered.
Trainings and Webinars – We had scheduled webinars and internal training sessions for the children, focusing of various topics. Two examples such webinars are mentioned below:
Practicing self-care does not mean you are choosing yourself over your loved ones but being mindful of your own needs as well. Children were taught techniques based on
· Breathing
· Gratitude
· Expressing through art
Mental Health is stigmatized and not many are aware of the signs of a mental health issue.
This webinar aimed at discussing:
· Mental Health for children and how it applies to them
· When & How to seek help
Challenges:
Along with the above opportunities, we also had to face a few challenges during the last 6 months.
COVID19 – All our children had to be home-schooled, which added immensely to the workload of the staff and mentors on campus.
Rains, Drains and Bore wells – We had to get some cement work done to our drainage system, the bore well and some parts of the kitchen walls that were getting damaged during the rains.
Medical Challenges – A home with just two children often have visits to a doctor, imagine a home with 50 children!
Staff – It’s always difficult to find people who are passionate, kind and loyal to become a mentor to our children. We had to fine a new male mentor to replace an old mentor during the pandemic. The new mentor joined in August 2020.
Increased Electric Bills - COVID brought about unexpected spike in our electric bills.
WIFI – With the all classes being held online during the pandemic, we needed to ensure we had a good wifi connection, so our children’s academics did not suffer. Since our campus is located away from the city, in a remote area, we had to get an Airtel dedicated internet lease line connection to be able to get uninterrupted internet.
CCTV Cameras – To abide by the government regulation of a children’s home and to ensure the safety of our children and we installed CCTV cameras all across the New home campus which cost us a significant amount.
Planned activities carried out during the last 6 months:
We planned a few activities on Campus during the pandemic
Children’s Day – We decided to have a Sports Day incorporated into our children’s day celebrations on 14th Nov 2020. The physical activity challenged the kids and the competition to win races help to mentally stimulate the kids to form teams and strategies to win. We organized running races, relays, football, and spoon and lemon races for the younger kids, among other games.
Christmas Celebrations – The children organized dances, a drama, a mime, beautiful singing, lots of games, treasure hunt, a cute fashion show, and ended it all with a good Christmas lunch.
Motivational Village Trip – Our founder heard about two toppers in Karnataka - Mahesh and Deepti (state and district toppers) who came from very poor households (with just one light bulb for the entire house). He decided to take our children to visit their homes and village so they could be motivated and inspired to study and do well.
Cause for Celebrations
Toppers – We are very proud of two of our children (Sarasu and Dayanad) have become topper in their class (junior college - 12th grade) in Psychology and Accountancy.
Sarasu - came to us in 2008 at the tender age of 4, when her mother died and father abandoned her. Her brother and grandmother brought her to our home. Sarasu has now grown into confidant young woman, often hosting our internal events and competitions. She loves directing dramas and skits and paints beautifully. She has shown interest in media studies for her future and has topped in Psychology in her junior college.
Dayanand – joined our home in 2012 after his father passed away. His mother was a domestic help and could not afford to take care of or educate him. Today, Dayanand is one of our brightest students, he loves math and has topped Accountancy in his junior college. He aspires to become a chartered accountant.
Areas for Improvement :
Improvements in studies – Moses, Janu and Tamana, a few of our younger children struggled with their academics due to certain learning disabilities. They have been given special attention by our staff and volunteers during the pandemic. We have seen a significant improvement in their most recent exam results and hope to see consistency towards their educational excellence.
New Joiners - New two little girls (Angel and Hemalatha, ages 7 and 12) have joined the home and are slowly picking up written and communicative English. Our mentors and senior children are helping them with their education.
Conclusion
This year we have four children appearing for their 12th standard board exams and are expecting them to be among the top scorers in their respective schools.
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