Support a home for disadvantaged children in India

The highlight of this quarter was our participation in the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. This was also our first ever experience of online crowd funding. It coincided with our festive season peak production and sale of Jugaad products. As a result we were crazily busy and super stressed, but a great deal wiser at the end of it. We managed to raise 10 lacs which we believe is very good for a first timer. But more than that it came as a reassurance, that people trust and believe in us. Indeed, our team is getting stronger day by day.

This would not have been possible without the energy, time and effort of many friends and supporters. We are particularly grateful toBrinda Singh, Geetanjali Krishna, Jiten Suchede, Mahima Mehra, Meeta Mastani, Meenakshi Ogra Mukharji, Preeti Agarwal Mehta and Shweta Tandon for supporting and raising funds for Karm Marg.

Success story

Virtha, a young girl joins us in 2015 at the age of 14. She is from Assam, in the eastern part of India and had been trafficked and made to work as a labourer. It soon tuned out that that she was suffering from chronic anemia.After two months of care, hospitalization and blood transfusion, she completely recovered.

In the beginning she was very insecure and afraid to talk to anyone. Her Hindi was also weak, making it more difficult for her to integrate. Very slowly she started talking to the other children and to participate in the activities at Karm Marg. Schooling however remained a problem as she had difficulties adjusting to formal school. We enrolled her in an alternative learning process and she showed an interest and aptitude for stitching. Shabila, the main instructor at the stitching unit has been her main guide and mentor.  In two years we saw a huge positive change in her, she is now a confident, smart and joyful girl who knows how to speak up about her own rights and also to help others.

Donors and Supports

More than 200 people donated to Karm Marg under the Airtel Delhi half marathon fund rising campaign. It is difficult to list the names here but we are so thankful to all of them who trusted and supported us.

A special thanks to Amana Singh, Monika Krishna, Peter Eicher, Simon, Snigadha Shakher and Sonali Singh for helping us financially.

Heartfelt thanks to Albatros Company, Sweden (under CSR project) for helping us and giving gifts to all the staff and children on Christmas time from last four years. This year they helped us to reconstruct one of boundary wall which fell down due to heavy rain.

A big thank you to Anurag Kumar, Himani Sharma, Arjun,  Abhijit,  Manju Sharma and Dr. Sahay for arranging special meals for kids.

News from Home

Beneficiaries at Karm Marg

No of children staying at thehome – 63 (including 4 children under short stay project)

No of Young adults enrolled in our skill training project – 20 (16 after school training and 4 full time training)

Job placement – 2

Library project - 180

The Airtel Delhi half marathon was held on 19^th November at Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium.  Our work up to the event started in the beginning of October as we got active one social media to reach out to potential supporters. At the same time our young adults enrolled themselves to run for KM, three of our special needs youth also ran in the marathon. We were a group of 26 runners, including children, staff and friends run for KM. It was amazing to see the spirit, energy and enthusiasm in every one. Our kids did quite well.  Anmol stood 5^th in the 6 km race.

Our dear friend Tanu Singh organised a children’s’ carnival on 9^th November.More than 200 children from different NGOs as well aschildren from destitute backgrounds participated in the carnival. There was lots of fun as the children were given the platform to showcase their skills. KM children presented two shows about child labor and how plastic is affecting our day to day life. Also our dancers (who are learning dance under Himani, a Delhi based yoga and dance instructor who voluntarily teaches dance to our children) performed a show which was appreciated by the audience.

Our long term associatesArt Reach organized an exhibition cum workshop to explore various forms of Art at Karm Marg.

A puppet making workshop was organised by Preeti Agarwal Mehta, it was a day long workshop where children learn how to make basic puppets for storytelling.

From the 27^th till the 30^th December Agastaya international Foundation conducted a science workshop at Karm Marg.

Exposure visits

Teena and Ajay went to Bangalore to attend LSUC (Learning Society Unconference) along with Rihana.  This was organised by Shikshantar an Udaipur based organization to give a platform to meet likeminded people working in different parts of India. It was a unique for self-leaning and to learn from others. People came from many different backgrounds, NGOs as well as, alternative ways of living to share their experience.

In the month of November,  Virtha, Tara and Shama who are enrolled in our skill training project went to the Trade fair  atPragati Maidan with Shabila to expand their knowledge and understand different kinds of handicrafts which can help them to improve their work.

Festivals

Diwali the festival of light and Christmas was celebrated with full enthusiasm.

Volunteer

Gilda, a young volunteer from Netherlands stayed with us for a week. She spent most of her time at the stitching unit and taught some basic design techniques and different kinds of knot making. She also helped usin the production of candles and other products for the Diwali festival.

Jugaad

Like every year, the month ofOctober was dedicated to Diwali preparation, designing, production and marketing.  Diwali related products such as bamboo candles, coconut candles, planters, garden flags, torans and many more product were made and sold. It was  heartening to see the positive response from the buyers.

This quarter we plan to expand our skill training and income generation programs to include  one more village. We went there on a filed visit where after field visit and found that they can benefit from our program. We trained 15 women and who are now ready and participating fully in the production process. This is a great opportunity for them to earn some money and strengthen their family lives.

Jugaad also conducted a jewellery making workshop for three weeks for a group of 20 young girls from a remote village near Mathura. This was a part of the income generation program in collaboration with Kadam Haat.