Child Protection India Project #10289

Support a home for disadvantaged children in India

by Karm Marg

Support a home for disadvantaged children in India

Project Report | Dec 9, 2015
Karm Marg Project report July-September 2015

By Preeti Agarwal Mehta | Project Leader

Of Hope and Being Human....

Since a few months we had been worried about the funding situation at Karm Marg after going through our financial audit submission. Though we firmly believe, with proof for the last 18 years, that when you are doing something good, the money comes in...no matter what; this time the gap is substantial.

Inspite of all ups and down, recessions etc, the children have never gone hungry or wanting. Yes, we have had to sometimes restrict ourselves to only necessities but that is one of the most important lessons of life we can give ourselves and the children. There has never been any lessening of happiness and love.
Yesterday, when we heard *Mosumi had run away from her home to come to us because she wasn't happy being reunited with her family in West Bengal a month ago, we were worried sick. She had been calling us since a week asking us to get her here. We contacted the CWC but had to wait for their guidance. She had come to us 18 months ago in a completely fragile emotional state, highly suicidal and depressed. We had arranged for her to get psychiatric treatment at Shahadra Hospital nearly 2.5 hour journey, one way. With six months of regular medications, behavior therapy and the unconditional love of her peers and staff at Karm Marg, she bloomed into a happy, confident individual. No visitor would leave Karm Marg without a warm hug and smile from her. She had been rehabilitated a month ago with her family through Police's Project Muskaan.

We informed the CWC, railway police and sent our staff to all the Delhi train stations since 5 am with her photographs, hoping to find her. None of us could sleep and we had our very first corporate conference to attend for CSR fundraising opportunity. By noon we got a call saying she had been found at Old Delhi railway station by our staff. Speaking to her on the phone, when asked why she ran away, she responded very nonchalantly, "Didi, ghar jaake baat karoongi" (I will talk to you later)

Moved to tears, instead of the usual presentation, we decided to tell this story in response to a question we are often asked....Why should we support only 60 children from a small NGO when the same amount of money can impact hundreds in another bigger institution.
There wasn't a dry eye in the hall....and people were moved enough to open their hearts and wallets in their own personal capacity.

What we learnt was unforgettable. Amidst all the competition, intolerance and selfishness, there lies a heart that beats for others who we may not even know. That is what makes us human.

There are so many examples of people doing such good work, but we barely get to know about them in this noise of 'breaking news'.
We were sure we will sleep well tonight after the sleepless one yesterday, for there's hope and humanity, alive and kicking...just look around you and share the good things that you see.....

The circle of life... At Karm Marg
So it all started when one of our soft hearted staff while attending Dastkar Bangalore exhibition rescued a kitten and brought it with him to Delhi. The kitten grew up to have three lovely kittens of her own. One of whom ate up a squirrel. This squirrel had just given birth to two lovely babies who were now left orphaned and hungry.
As we tried to figure out droppers, syringes, cotton swabs to feed milk to these babies, our karm marg children found a unique solution.....

Those baby squirrels are now being fed on the same cat's milk.... The one whose kitten killed the mother squirrel...

Other highlights:

Necessity is the mother of invention. Our latest creative invention. First fun playground equipment for our little ones. Designed and made in-house, out of an old tyre. Watch this space for more such fun range coming up soon....

The summer holidays brings in it's myriad workshops to keep the kids brimming with excitement and fun. This year saw music, clay, puppet making, drawing, craft, theatre and gender sensitization workshops.

Our library project for local government school is now regularly in operation once every week. This is a project which gives opportunity to those local children who are coming from very poor section of society and do not have enough money to buy story books and neither do their schools. Through this project we want to give them more access to other books apart from their school books, so they can develop good reading habit and know more about the world around them. The children are always excited and are fascinated by the books. It is always a pleasure to see their keenness and interest.

Babli’s dream to learn yoga from a professional is coming true. Now that she’s older, we have started sending her twice in week for learning yoga at Navtej Johar's studio in Delhi. Under the tutelage of yoga expert Sunaina Arya she is really enjoying soaking up the various asanas and pranayams and is very happy to share her knowledge with the kids at home. She has been fascinated with yoga right from a young age and we are sure that her passion will ensure she excels in this area.

The rakhis made by our special needs adults for the Indian festival of Rakhshabandhan were a big hit. Trying out the market for such products was a successful idea and next year we intend to make it an even more profitable venture for them. Customers appreciated the designs and neatness of the product and have promised to even help sell them for us next year.

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