Educate Children Living on Construction Sites

Dear Supporters,

We hope you are having a great week! We appreciate your consistent support towards our programmes, and it’s extraordinary that most of you have not seen how MMC works but believe in the work we do and have supported us through our journey in the past months. We sincerely appreciate it and for all the trust that you have bestowed on us, this report is an attempt to take you through a journey; a sneak peek into an MMC centre.

A Day at an MMC Centre

Before any student arrives, our teachers arrive at the centre. The centre is a small structure created for temporary use. It is divided into three rooms a crèche for babies who are under 3 years old, a balwadi (pre primary) for children aged 3 above to 5 years and a classroom for providing after school support to the children above 6 years. 

08:45 am 

Mothers come to the centre with their children in hand. They feel comfortable leaving their babies in the caring hands of our experienced teachers. Older siblings say goodbye to each other as they go to their separate classrooms, happy to be free of their premature parenting responsibilities for some time! Upon arrival, crèche babies are cleaned, powdered and have been given a fresh uniform to promote proper hygiene. 

9:00 am 

The children have free-play, and get the opportunity to unwind by playing with simple toys. During this time, our teachers prepare breakfast. 

9:30 am

Each child is given a warm breakfast of porridge made from finger millet and milk, along with a drop of multivitamins/supplements to provide them with even more nutriments.

10:00 am

Free play continues for the younger children and they have the opportunity to choose from games such as water play, doll houses, picture books and sand play .

The children in after school support classroom begin their learning by working on math and language skills in fun and interactive ways

**The public schools run in two shifts, one in the morning the other in the afternoon, the children who go to the school in the morning come for the after school support programme at the centre in the afternoon and vice versa.

 10:45 am

Children are given a toilet break and served a mid-morning snack of egg or fruit. Attendance is also taken to keep track of all our children.

11:00 am

The morning continues with activities such as physical and language development games for the crèche children and on the monthly Prakalp theme for the Balwadi (pre-primary) children. Children engage in songs and conversation about the topic.  The older children dive deeper into skills such as reading, writing and maths. 

11:30 am

Balwadi children now gather for school preparedness sessions, when the teachers indulge them in reading, writing and storytelling.  

12:15 pm

Story-time/Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R) - Books are the main focus at this time. For the younger children, a story is chosen and read out loud by the teachers. The older children pick their own books and read independently or in groups.While the children read, our teachers start preparing lunch in order to ensure that our children are eating clean and nutritious food.

12:30 pm

After a morning of fun and learning, the children eat the tasty lunch of khichdi or dal-chawal (rice and lentils) or dalia (bulgar wheat), freshly cooked by our caring teachers.  We also receive part support for our nutrition programme, at 16 of our 23 centres from the governments’ Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) which covers children from 3-6 years of age.

1:00 pm

Most of the children head home to spend some time with their parents, who are now receiving their lunch breaks.

During this time, our teachers follow up on things they need to do such as: meeting the contractor about the power supply and reminding the mothers about the doctor’s visit. Afterwards, they quickly have their lunches and get a brief respite from a long morning’s work. 

1:45 pm

The children return to the centre after having spent some quality time with their families. The balwadi have free play, arts and crafts while the crèche babies play with the toys.

The older children continue working on the studies which in include, English and Math.

2:15 pm

The Balwadi and older children’s classrooms become vibrant during this time of the day as they engage in innovative arts and crafts sessions like drawing and painting, clay work, puppet making, craft work, collage work, hygiene session, respectively from Monday to Saturday.  

3:00 pm

The older children’s classroom focusses on the monthly Prakalp theme, engaging in conversation and activities revolving around the theme. 

4:10 pm

The crèche babies are awake, they are given milk and changed into their regular clothing, while all the older children are fed an evening snack of sprouts, chickpea etc. All of the children prepare to head back home.

4:30 pm

The children have departed and the teachers tidy the centre in preparation for tomorrow. All is quiet in the centre until the next day…

Hello Friends and Supporters,

Here we are again with our latest report on what’s been happening at MMC! The first few months of 2014 have been busy, as always. Today, we are happy to share with you a glimpse of a latest event – the ‘Alumni Meet’, which thrilled us by revealing the extent of impact of our work!

The most challenging area of MMC’s work is due to the migrant nature of construction workers, who move in and out of the construction sites erratically, often at a day’s notice. Our research shows that 62% of the children attending our centres do not remain with us for more than 6 months as their families move from one site to another in search of work. Thus, organising an Alumni Meet was a challenging thought on its own, but we were delighted by its success. The Meet was set for 1^st February, 2014, with an aim to build a platform for ex-students from MMC’s daycare centres. 18 of MMC's alumni attended this meet.

The participating alumni were excited to be a part of this initiative, which gave them an opportunity to bond with each other after a gap of several years. They shared their life stories and the significant role MMC had played in it. It was satisfying to know that despite many hardships, many of them are now doing exceptionally well in their respective fields, moving beyond the walls of the construction sites.

In the words of alumni, Rajkanya Bhokare, a 21 year old Law student:

“Both my parents worked in construction site. There was no one at home to look after me and my siblings. That is when our parents enrolled us in the day care centre run by Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC) on site. When I was 6 (six) years old, MMC teachers enrolled us into the nearby Municipal school. After that I attended private school and continued college education too. Currently I am studying law and will complete my course in the next two years. MMC has always supported me at different stages in my life. Even today I am very closely associated with MMC through various activities. I have spent my childhood with the teachers of MMC and hope to get their support in future as well.”

The active participation and enthusiasm among the alumni during the day, especially during the group activities, was truly inspiring. They were eager to extend support in expanding the network and came up with different ideas on how to do so.

The alumni network was named “Hamara MMC (Our MMC)”, and MMC created an exclusive Facebook page to facilitate communication amongst the group. This network will now be a platform for our alumni to share their experiences, give information about opportunities and help each other to progress while inspiring a new generation of MMC children. These empowered individuals serve as agents of change in their own lives and in their communities today. MMC has now formed an alumni network data base with their updated contacts and hopes to expand its members.

With the generous support of donors via Global Giving, MMC continues to work toward leading such vulnerable children into a brighter future, like the alumni featured today.