Support a home for disadvantaged children in India

On 7th February 2014, Karm Marg completed its 17 years of journey, it is time to analyse our vision and we all are very satisfied that we are headed towards our vision with many ups and downs along the way.

Main Highlight

Total Beneficiaries this quarter: 52

Total Number of kids staying (Dec 2013): 39 (19 girls, 20 boys)

New children: 4 (2 girls , 2 boys) for short stay; 2 long stay( 1 girl, 1 boy)

Children restored with their families: 3 girls

Young adults who got jobs and are living independently: 2 boys

Other developments:

Karm Marg has always been in need of a counsellor from a very long time and we weren’t able to find one to take one on as staff due to various reasons like our rural area, long travelling distance, funds etc. So we decided to go for counselling training for our existing staff through Sarthak (an organization working with mental health issues). 

Education

• All the children have cleared their examination and moved on to the next class. Extra tuition classes had been organized for those who are appearing for class X and XII board exams. Results are awaited for them.

• We have two students who need to plan for further education after school. Shayra wants to work in healthcare or as a secondary school science teacher. Vipin is still confused so we have given him 3 months’ time to explore and decide. Till that time he has been interning with an animal shelter home.

Activities and Outing

• Four children participated in a workshop at the Khel Mel Goand Painting workshop at the Craft Museum

• unManifesto outreach program was organized by the NGO Pravah, a group who are addressing youth issues at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra on 28th of March. It was an all India youth program to raise awareness about political and electoral processes. 

• We have appointed a new dance teacher to teach different kinds of dance forms to the children for two days a week.

• Picnics cum activity outings and painting workshops were organized for all the children 

• Children also went for their annual shopping, buying new clothes and shoes at the we outing we organized to Sarojini Nagar market. We think it’s a great fun way for them to learn how to manage a budget.

Exposure and life skill training

• We delegated the responsibility to Tara and Babli for managing Jugaad stall at Dilli Haat. exhibition.

• Vikranta and Rajkumar completed their training in housekeeping from GMR and GMR did a placement for them at Fortis, a well-known hospital. Both of them are still under probation and we hope they will enjoy their new jobs.

• A Flag hoisting ceremony along with disucssions were held at Karm Marg on Republic Day.

• We celebrated Lohri a festival of harvest and marks the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Children danced around the bonfire and enjoyed eating traditional revari, popcorn and nuts.

• Holi, the festival of colours is the most favourite festival among our children. Everyone looks forward to playing with the organic colours we make from flowers every year for this festival. Our staff and children made gujiya (special sweet made on this day) and lunch for everybody.

Volunteers and Visitors

• Our oldest friends and supporters Steve, Debra and Marika visited Karm Marg. 

• Young adults from SOS Greenfield, Faridabad a NGO who work with children and youth visited KM for interaction with our children. 

• Shri S.L. Gupta and his wife, our Chartered accountant and well-wisher Mr.Sunil K Gupta along with his family visited Karm Marg and spent time with the children. They organised breakfast and lunch for the children.

Collaboration

• Thomas, Soren and Nazir from the Danish company “Albatross travels” visited Karm Marg. In 2012 we collaborated with “Mountain adventure” a Delhi based travel group who work with Albatross travels, to generate fund for Karm Marg. On this visit they gave 10 lakh rupees to KM which they generated through their clients from last one and a half years. They made people aware about child issues and problem in India and how they can help them. It was a big help for us at a time when we needed it the most.

• Karm Marg received a donation for four laptops from a corporate group called “Everest group”, Gurgaon.

Working with Government Authorities

•  A meeting was held at the DCPO (District Child Protection Officer) office. A Complete data on all the children of Karm Marg was submitted to the DCPU office.
• The procedure for CCI (Child Care Institution) license renewal was the main point of discussion at the meeting. The license we had obtained from the government to run the home has run its course (1 rear) and now we have filed for a renewal.
• State level inspection from the government department was done in February 2014. ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme), ICPS(Integrated Child Protection Scheme), JJB (Juvenile Justice Board, ) CWC Chairman(Child Welfare Committee), DCPO (District Child Protection Officer) from Head office visited Karm Marg. They were very satisfied with the documentation and the upkeep of the children. No major shortcomings were reported from their end.

• ICDS/DCPO organized workshop on POCSO (Protection of Child against Sexual Offences) act for CCIs’. Amrendra and Divya Prakash attended the workshop on behalf of KM.

Jugaad

It has been a very busy time for Jugaad with visits from buyers, new sampling, and a number of exhibitions. Our regular buyers from abroad and some new buyers also visited us.Our long term associates Shared Earth, UK and Maria from Italy gave us her new order. They were very happy after interacting with the children.

• Prestigious design college, NIFT students visited Jugaad for their educational trip. They were fascinated with the work at Jugaad.

Youthreach members visited Jugaad for product making, marketing and also to explore the possibility of getting their people trained at Jugaad.

     Our Intern at Jugaad

• Sarjana an intern from Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur, had come to Jugaad for four months. We plan to utilize her experience and expertise in designing our catalogues and improving our products.

     Exhibitions

• This quarter we had series of exhibitions, we explored new markets to sell our products and to spread awareness about the issues of disadvantaged children and about Karm Marg.
• We had our exhibition all over India – Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Lucknow and in Delhi.
• These exhibitions are great ways to provide exposure and training to our staff as well our young adults to deal with money, sales and marketing, effective communicating with clients and raise awareness while providing information on Karm Marg.