By tanya alag | Head Resource Mobilisation
Introduction
Apna Ghar Children’s Home was established on January 17, 2000 as a full care residential shelter for children in need of care and protection. Operating in Pahar Ganj area of Delhi, the Home provides residential care to runaway and missing children and those rescued from child labour, beggary and other vulnerable circumstances. The children at Apna Ghar are provided, health, education, vocational training and restoration and rehabilitation services. Apart from above mentioned services, counselling and mental health support is also given to the children. Additionally, children who are about to step into adulthood i.e. turn 18 are linked to jobs. Providing full care residential care, Apna Ghar serves as safe, secure and an enabling place to live for children rescued from streets. Recognised as Open Shelter under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, Apna Ghar team works with a rights-based perspective. The team’s key goal is protect and realise the rights of children, keeping in mind their best interest. Currently, the Open Shelter caters to 25 boys in the age group of 5-18 years.
Supported Project
Apna Ghar literally means our home. Children living in Apna Ghar often have no recollection of their own families and homes. For them, Apna Ghar becomes their home. Thus, it is critical to transform an Open Shelter into a child-friendly, happy and lively place. Often a first step towards this, is to ensure adequate and quality infrastructure. Under the supported project, critical infrastructural improvements and renovation work are being undertaken at the Apna Ghar Home.
Since Apna Ghar has been functional in an old yet sturdy building, regular repair and renovation work is fundamental to make it completely fit for children. The Apna Ghar team has been struggling to mobilise funds for the renovation of the Open Shelter. Thus, the valuable donor support and funds have been a shot in the arm for Apna Ghar team. The next section provides a progress update on the repair and renovation work being carried out at the Open Shelter under the project.
Progress Update
The construction and renovation at Apna Ghar is in going on in full swing. Following activities are underway: • Access to safe electricity: The wiring in the Apna Ghar building has become old and dated. Old wires are both inefficient and unsafe for electricity transmission. Therefore, all wiring at the home is being replaced with new ones. The new underground wiring system will be instrumental in ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply at the Home and minimise any short circuits and other glitches. • Improving appearance of the Home: To improve the overall appearance of the Home, whitewashing of the walls and ceilings is being done. The bright and clean appearance of the Home will be pleasing for both children to live and team to work. • Wooden work: Furniture and closets are an important part of the Home, they are used by the children on a daily basis and undergo wear and tear. Thus, their repair is
required to ascertain that they are fully functional and safe to be used. This essentially means they do not have any sharp edges and are easily accessible to children. • Toilet availability: To promote sanitation and hygiene among children, it is important that they have access to fully functional toilets. Towards this end, repair work is being undertake in two bathrooms. It will entail constructing a new pipeline passage and installing new pipe. In addition to this, flush systems will be installed in each of the bathrooms. In one of the bathrooms, a new toilet seat will be fixed. To improve the overall appearance of the bathrooms and for ease of cleaning, floor tiles will be laid out. All the above mentioned repair activities are extremely crucial for smooth functioning of a Open Shelter. Both children and team are extremely excited and happy that their home is getting revived with a new and improved look.
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