From Child Labour to a Chance at School

• 49 children are accessing the services through the center. Out of which 07 new registrations have taken place in this month.
• 2 children stopped accessing the services in this month.
• There are 21 children in the creche, 13 children in the Balwadi and 15 children in the Bridge Course.
• As per the height and weight measurement at the centre. We have found 2 children between the age of 5 in the Severe Acute Malnutrion (SAM) category and 6 children between age of 5 in the Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) category. These children are given extra one tablespoon oil that is added to the cooked food to combat malnutrition. This practice has been advised during the mobile creche training to the teachers that takes place periodically to enhance their knowledge in this field. The parents of these malnourished children are advised to include bananas, boiled eggs (if they eat), gram flour, powdered neem leaves(sweet) etc. in the child’s diet. Rest of the children fall under the normal range.
• 21 pregnant and lactating mothers were counselled and linked to the government schemes.
• 4 children were given the doses of deworming and 20 children were given Vitamin A/ Iron Supplement/ Multi Vitamin.
• A medical check up was organised wherein 9 children and 34 community members availed check-up.
• The centre witnessed the community participation of 177 individuals in this month in various awareness activities and community meetings.
• 1 community leader was identified in this week.
• 2 FGDs were conducted on “Safety” and “Nutrition”. 17 members were present during the FGD.
• 2 parents meeting were conducted with a total participation of 25 members. The topics discussed were “Cleanliness” and “Common diseases in children”.
• 1 Saathi Samuh was conducted. The topic of discussion was “Health”. 3 people participated in this.
• 1 member was linked to the government PHC.

Creche Activities: The children were made to make different shapes out of paper. The festival of Janmashtami was celebrated through role play of Krishna and Radha. They were made to dance on the beats of a drum. They were made to play with bowls and make minarets out of it. They were made to do drawing and sing action songs. They were made to identify pictures of animals and birds through charts. They were made to identify sounds of different musical instruments through playing it.

Baalwadi Activities: The children celebrated Independence Day through singing the national anthem and performing patriotic action songs. They also celebrated Rakshabandhan by girls tying rakhis to the boys and the boys in return giving chocolates to the girls. In this month they learnt to introduce themselves in “Mera Parichay” wherein they learnt to talk about themselves and their families. They were made to sing rhymes, draw, and paint.

Bridge Course Activities: The children celebrated Independence Day through singing the national anthem and performing patriotic action songs. They also celebrated Rakshabandhan by girls tying rakhis to the boys and the boys in return giving chocolates to the girls. The children were made to read and write the words that are used frequently in routine. They were taught ascending and descending numbers and simple sums in Mathematics. They were taught English alphabets and perform drawing activities.

Other Activities:

• Celebration of Independence Day.
• Celebration of Rakshabandhan.
• Celebration of Janmashtami.
• COVID vaccination of 161 individuals from the community.
• Health and COVID check-up of 34 individuals.
• Training of the Teachers

Case Story

Name: Shivani (NAME CHANGED)

Age: 3 Years 10 Months

Village: Rajasthan

Shivani and her family belongs to Rajasthan. They used to do farming back in Dungarpur, but the agricultural yield was not enough to run their family. Therefore, they decided to move to Ahmedabad in search of better opportunities. Pappu Bhai came to Ahmedabad with his family. He used to go to the labour chowk every day to find work. After some time, he got an opportunity to work at the site of Bakeri City 2. In this way both of Shivani’s parents started working on the site of Bakeri City 2. They started earning substantially well on the site and their financial condition is improving.

Maya (NAME CHANGED), Shivani’s mother leaves her and her younger brother on the centre before going to work. Earlier Shivani did not like to attend the class and used to remain aloof in the class. But gradually she started mingling with the other kids and now she enjoys her learning. She comes neatly dressed and eats her meals properly. Her parents are also very supportive and spends time with their children to help them learn. She wants to become a police officer after growing up.

Due to second wave of Corona Virus in India. We had stopped the activities for our CFS centers due to their and staff safety. Last three months there was no activies for this project.

The classes got resumed from 1st June, 2021

The teachers of CFS centers are involved in following activites and fighting as frontline workers.

CURRENT SCENARIO:

After  a year of intense research and experimentation, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccines are here. However, the journey is long and an exhaustive one. The COVID - 19 vaccination will protect people, minimize societal and economic impact by reducing the mortality rate and hopefully streamline the lives and the disrupted economy. India started with the world’s largest vaccine drive on 16^th Jan 2021. The vaccination drive rolled out in a phased manner has managed to reach out to frontline workers and citizens of 45years and above.

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation surrounding the vaccines and it’s development. In absence of correct information, the communities we are engaged with have shown resistance taking the first jab. The first phase of Covid required focused and localized awareness camps, and now based on our experience an action plan for dealing the current crisis of less uptakes of the vaccines needs to be developed. To do so within out communities, Saath proposes the following actions: -

1. Covid Vaccine Awareness Drive: These drives will be carried out 5 areas of Ahmedabad; namely Vasna, Juhapura, Vatva, Behrampura and Old City. The Health Resource Centers operated by Saath will act as the hub for all activities, information related to Covid vaccine. To reach out to maximum residents, rickshaw mike shows will be arranged. The autos will go around in the areas on daily basis broadcasting the message for Covid Vaccine.
2. Pick up and Drop Service to Vaccine Facility:  Rickshaws will be arranged to pick people of the community from home to the vaccination center in the slum area. This facility will encourage people to participate in the drive.
3. Provision of Relief Kit: There are certain symptoms like fever, shivers, heaviness in the head that are experienced post the shot. Everyone who takes the vaccine will be provided with 4 tabs of Dolo, one packet of energy biscuits and 1 sanitizer bottle.

After partial unlock we started restricted activities for our Children programme. We were not able to take many pictures because of social distancing.

Activities at CFS

• Creche activities: The children were made to do several activities like passing the parcel, singing rhymes, making minarets out of the paper cups, solving, and organising the puzzles, playing with the blocks, and made them play games like catch the other kid who is running and jumping above and below the ropes. They were also taught to recognize the taste of sugar and salt and distinguish between hot and cold. They were made to identify and recognise sound through playing various musical instruments like cymbals, identifying the missing toy etc.
• Baalwadi activities: The children were taught to identify colours and shapes and names of the same, they were taught the numbers from 1 to 10, further they were taught to read and write the Gujarati alphabets, made to walk on a string in a straight line on the land. The teachers made them play in the doll house, the children made their own doll house too. Also, they were taught to pray. The children created items out of clay.
• Bridge course activities: The children were taught to read and write the numbers from 1 to 100 and the gujarati alphabets, join the dots and draw a picture, learn to read, and write names of the week, read, and write name of vegetables and fruits and animals and birds, made them sing songs and rhymes. Storytelling. They were taught to identify the seasons and flowers that bloom according to the season. The teachers helped few school going children with their homework.
• Due to the onset of winter, blankets were distributed at the two centres to 46 families and 50 children by the KPMG Group.
• 50 children were taken to a restaurant as a part of birthday celebration by a local group named “Karke Dekho Accha Lagta Hai”.
• Distribution of sweets and snacks as a part of Diwali Celebration to 110 children across the centres by a local donor.
• A puppet show was organised by the teachers for the children and activity through singing songs and enacting it and playing music through utensils was held at the centres.
• FGDs were conducted with the parents on various topics like health and nutrition, safety, Importance of education, and vaccination.
• Community meetings were held with the community leaders for general awareness related to mother and child health and hygiene.

Case Story Child Friendly Spaces

Name: Aasha Yadav (names changed)

Age: 03 years

Place: Oghrav village, Uttar Pradesh

Aasha lived with her family in a small village named Oghrav in Uttar Pradesh. They lived in a joint family of 16 members. Ashok bhai, Aasha’s father did not have his own land for farming therefore he used to work as a farm labourer in his village. Many times, he did not find work and due to this his financial condition started depleting. Ashokbhai arrived with his family of three children, his wife and three brothers along with their families in Ahmedabad for better work-related opportunities. He started working at the site of Savvy Swaraj. During the lockdown due to the pandemic Ashokbhai stayed at home most of the times. When the teachers at CFS approached him for the CFS activities and asked for his cell phone number Ashokbhai denied sharing his number with an excuse of not having a cell phone. Later the teachers approached one of his brothers’ and through their phone they tried talking to Ashokbhai’s wife for the betterment of their children. Due to Ashok bhai’s brother not being available every time the teachers called this solution did not last longer. Therefore, the teachers decided to visit his house and conduct activities with the children. Ashokbhai started observing his children play and enjoy the activities.

Now Ashok bhai asks the teachers to help him out with the songs and rhymes so that he could learn them and share it with his children. He has also shared his whatsapp number with the teachers so that he can receive fun learning materials on it. Ashok bhai’s wife has started giving extra nutritious food as three children in the family are suffering from malnutrition.

The child has become more attentive and has begun to enjoy the activities. The parents are very happy to observe this change in their child.

• Progress Report January, 2021 (PDF)
  

Child Friendly Spaces

The typical day at the center starts with morning prayers. Then the class is divided into three groups. Group one which is for the children who have no introduction to education, Group two where children learn basics like alphabets, words, numbers, shapes etc, Group three is where children learn how to form sentences, higher maths, English. Then for 2 hours each group do some studies. After that its snack time, everyday different snack is served as per the nutritional chart prepared by the experts to make sure proper nutrition is given to children. After snacks its play time, children play different indoor and outdoors games. This takes care of the physical activities in children.In last quarter along with Approach foundation, which is an Ahmedabad based organization, Saath has been conducting diverse activities for the psycho-social development of the children at CFS, who are getting exposure of the wider world, which will develop a broader perspective and awareness besides the classroom learning they are acquiring at the CFS set-ups.

Note:

However due to pandemic, since March, 2020 we have suspended the classes and currently there is no activities. Moreover with this community there was no scope of taking virtual classes.

Due to lockdown parents’ of CFS students faced lot of hardships, they lost their jobs and the basic survival became the problem. During this lockdown our organization, Saath Charitable Trust did some Covid-19 relief work.

Saath’s response during Pandemic:

We have supported more than 5000+ families with ration kits and are supporting nano and micro entrepreneur for rebooting their livelihoods.

• Progress Report August, 2020 (PDF)
  

Child Friendly Spaces

The typical day at the center starts with morning prayers. Then the class is divided into three groups. Group one which is for the children who have no introduction to education, Group two where children learn basics like alphabets, words, numbers, shapes etc, Group three is where children learn how to form sentences, higher maths, English. Then for 2 hours each group do some studies. After that its snack time, everyday different snack is served as per the nutritional chart prepared by the experts to make sure proper nutrition is given to children. After snacks its play time, children play different indoor and outdoors games. This takes care of the physical activities in children.In last quarter along with Approach foundation, which is an Ahmedabad based organization, Saath has been conducting diverse activities for the psycho-social development of the children at CFS, who are getting exposure of the wider world, which will develop a broader perspective and awareness besides the classroom learning they are acquiring at the CFS set-ups.

Note:

However due to pandemic, since March, 2020 we have suspended the classes and currently there is no activities. Moreover with this community there was no scope of taking virtual classes.

Due to lockdown parents’ of CFS students faced lot of hardships, they lost their jobs and the basic survival became the problem. During this lockdown our organization, Saath Charitable Trust did some Covid-19 relief work.

Saath’s response during Pandemic:

Ration Kits Food Requirement) Support for the families affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic marks an unprecedented time in modern history that will require each and every one of us to come together. Amidst the pandemic of Coronavirus, there is lack of awareness, accurate factual information and proper guidance for precautionary and preventive measures in under privileged communities. In order to combat this crisis, Saath is committed to provide this support till the last mile by procuring and disbursing Ration Kits to the most vulnerable ones.

3500+ Ration Kits have been distributed in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Palanpur and Varanasi which will provide relief to families for at least 2 weeks so far. Ration Kits to TB Patients and an initiative to distribute 15000 Sanitary Napkins in association with Sparkle Innovations has also been implemented.