Nurture 75 vulnerable children in the RedLightArea

“There is a beautiful sense of satisfaction when my child comes home on the weekends, and says ‘water’ and ‘toilet’ in English. Sometimes, I watch her talk in English with the people around, and a smile comes about on my face. I am extremely proud of Akshara* for becoming such a smart and sensitive child.”

– An Umang beneficiary’s mother.

Outreach: The toddlers of this community are susceptible to many forms of violence and abuse, such as being used as pawns for gambling and drug peddling, physical fights, harassment of their mothers or other female family members, and sometimes even being assaulted themselves. Considering such an exploitative environment, our outreach team is the first and usually preferred point of contact between Apne Aap Women’s Collective and the community inhabiting Kamathipura and Falkland Road, the red-light districts of Mumbai.

With the aid of our dedicated outreach team, this quarter saw about 14 new members joining our Umang program.Upon enrollments, these beneficiaries have access to education (Balwadi), all forms of assistance with their health (ex: referrals, camps, nutritional support, etc.), therapies, interactive activities, exposure and recreational visits, and rehabilitative measures like night-shelter house amongst other general support and aid.

Education: ‘We have designed a new timetable this quarter, wherein we have incorporated smaller 15-minute breaks between each educational activity for the children to absorb their learnings. These breaks have been quite useful for the children to calm down and start each session afresh.’ Stated the Program Manager (Umang) with a certain satisfaction in her tone. 

This quarter, our Umang beneficiaries continued to learn alphabets, numbers, colors, shapes, basic English and Hindi poetry and other fundamental literature of a kindergarten. About 30-35 of our Umang beneficiaries were involved in monthly academic assessments in the last three months. Most of our beneficiaries did well in the assessments, and some have even developed their understanding of alphabets and numbers better because of illustrated charts and regular poem practices.

Our long-term associate and a specialist in preschool curriculum, Ms. Marina Dutta also continued with her zestful activities, which include interactive games like puzzles, matching cards, role-playing, building blocks etc. Such activities help in developing fine motor, cognitive and social skills.

Apart from these assessments and activities, we have also maintained our regular garden visits- while constantly introducing newer games and activities to maintain their attention.

One of the highlights this quarter have been the introduction of e-learning classes for all the Umang children. Having begun as just using interactive CDs and laptops, the positive feedback has motivated us to include presentations on larger screens, more variety of educational DVDs and introducing them to other technological aids.

We also introduced the ‘Best Student’ chair, to inculcate the habit of healthy competition and positive reinforcements amongst our children. At the end of each day, we select a well-behaved and hardworking Umang student and give them the access to a special chair, which they can use during study time the next day. This is accompanied with applause and cheers from the rest of the Umang students. Since the introduction of this activity, we have seen a growth in mannered behavior and increased interests in the academic sessions. Along with this, such an activity is beneficial in instilling a respect for resources in the children. In this age, such a respect for material resources is imperative to create a future of sustainability.

Health and Nutrition: At AAWC, we place utmost importance on the health and nutritional aid provided to our beneficiaries. Acknowledging the fact that all of our members are from a highly vulnerable and marginalized community, and live in environments that often trigger ill health- our activities range from spreading awareness on general hygiene, sanitation, and required medical support to holding quarterly health camps targeting specific ailments. We have also arranged periodic supply of sourdough breads, healthy salads and sandwiches, which complement the beneficiaries’ daily meals with varied tastes.

Along with this, we aid our beneficiaries with specialized awareness programs for their mothers (ex: neonatal care, medical treatments for contagious diseases, seasonal healthcare, etc.), routine medical referrals, nutritional aid provided through a well-designed diet chart, multivitamin and protein supplements, following up with hospitals and doctors, etc. This quarter, around 30 total Umang members benefited from our monthly medical check-ups.

Nutritional aid in the form of healthy and warm meals, protein and multivitamin supplements, moringa (drumstick) seeds and soymilk was also continued to be provided on a regular basis.

Counseling: Acknowledging the fact that most of our beneficiaries are born into single parents, violent or broken family structures- their first contact with society, we recognize the fact that these toddlers may not have formed satisfying relationships or learnt to emote transparently in their earl childhood. To combat further development of their emotional instability and prevent any mental health crisis in the future, we hold various therapy sessions with our Umang beneficiaries. These include one-to-one mentoring/Individual sessions, dog therapy, art therapy and referrals to external experts for aid with severe mental health issues.

While the dog and art therapy sessions are held weekly, the individual sessions and referrals to external experts are held as per requirements. In the dog therapy sessions held this quarter, the therapists aimed at working on hyperactivity, discipline, emotiveness and social skills of our Umang beneficiaries. Through Tesla- a cuddly beige Labrador, our beneficiaries also continued to develop their sensitivities and empathies towards another being by brushing Tesla’s coat, feeding, playing and talking to her.

This quarter, one Umang beneficiary has been diagnosed with autism. She has been attending appropriate therapy sessions, and is still in the process of a final diagnosis at a renowned learning disability center of Mumbai.

Umang Mothers meeting: This quarter, we focused on ‘a safe space’ as the theme for our regular mothers’ meetings. As is a common concept with the mothers of the community, they often abandon their children in either paying-guest houses / neighbors at nights. This is because the women cannot keep their children in the brothels at night during trade, and have no homes of their own. Unfortunately, these spaces are extremely shady, dangerous and away from the supervision of the mothers. Hence, the meeting held by AAWC addressed how the mothers could find better spaces, rehabilitate the children at our night shelter/associated boarding homes, or keep the children with more trusted members.

Udaan Umang sessions: Having noticed that the Umang beneficiaries are closer to the adolescent girls (Udaan beneficiaries) who are members of AAWC, we realized that designing a few sessions between them may lead to positive changes in both sets of beneficiaries. This quarter, the Udaan-Umang sessions included storytelling and games on the themes of discipline, morals, and kindness. Our Umang children had a resourceful and interesting time at these sessions, and have been displaying small gestures of positive behavior like sharing their food, putting their peers to sleep, taking care of their younger friends, and helping out the teachers in managing discipline in classes etc.

As assumed, these sessions have led to higher bonding amongst the children, with the Umang toddlers finding role models and mentors in their older counterparts.

Social skills sessions: We introduceda new activity on social skills this quarter. These sessions are aimed at educating the young Umang children on behavior aspects and routine formation. From teaching the children about washing hands regularly before meals to toilet training for the extremely young, these sessions are imperative in creating a fundamentally healthy and socially adept child.

Night shelter: We also run our own rehabilitative night shelter for the most vulnerable toddlers and adolescent girls of women in prostitution. Acting as a safe space away from the disturbances and brutalities of the red-light district, our night shelter provides a home for a lot of young children who have never known the comforts of a family and healthy living. With a capacity of almost 35 adolescent girls and 25 toddlers, the members of the night shelter have access to all the other Umang activities like education, health, empowerment, extra-curricular, recreational and exposure visits, and celebrations held at our centers. Around 4 new Umang beneficiaries were enrolled in the night shelter in the last 3 months.

Recreational Activities: Activities such as indoor and outdoor games, arts and crafts, story-telling sessions, watching quizzes on television, etc. were held this quarter for our Umang beneficiaries. A few of the indoor activities include footprint-painting, playing ball for developing motor skills, origami making, clay modeling, spray painting with toothbrushes, etc. All of our beneficiaries have enjoyed these activities, and often look forward to more of these due to the fun and informal nature of such events.

'I loved the Kangaroo race!' said an excited Riya*. '...and I won the running race teacher.' chipped in an equally excited Priti*.

This quarter, we celebrated Annual Sports Day for all our Umang beneficiaries, wherein they participated in many kinds of races, won stationary kits and board games for prizes, and even enjoyed some refreshing snacks at the end of the day. This was a successful activity to share with the children about ideas of competition, sportsmanship and team building. All our children had a rather fun time participating in these races.

Celebrations:“Teacher… I want to fly the kite I made yesterday evening!” giggled a proud Mukta*, our 4-year-old Umang beneficiary while smiling contently at the kite she had created the earlier evening.

On the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti (popular Indian harvest festival), we took all our Umang beneficiaries to a local garden as part of the celebrations. They had an exciting time trying to the fly kites with their tiny hands- especially because they had made these kites themselves.

We also had a story-telling session wherein the Umang Program Manager and other kindergarten teachers taught our children about the importance of Sankranti, while emphasizing on the plight of farmers and agriculture in India.

After the kite flying and story-telling sessions, one of our Umang beneficiary also served the rest of her Umang friends some festive special snacks- Til laddoos (sweet balls made out of Sesame seeds) and jalebis (famous Indian street sweet). Such little activities help us in sensitizing Umang beneficiaries about the realities outside of the red light district, while trying to help them heal within.

Along with the Sankranti celebrations, we also held Republic Day and Holi celebrations at our center. At each of these, our children were involved in activities that explained the reasons behind these celebrations. Often in the form of arts and small theatrical plays, our Programs team ensures that the children understand these celebrations and their socio-cultural contexts. Holi celebrations also saw a grand meal of Kheer and Chicken biryani that was highly appreciated by all the children.