We do not find opportunities to celebrate; it’s just that the right reasons and right people collided for yet another eventful afternoon, on 26 Jan 2010.
Prayas’ new centre had been bustling with activity from past two three weeks. Reason being the approaching republic day, and we had planned a small celebration within the community for the same. The focus idea was to reach out to more people in the community, and also giving the community members an insight to the growth of the child, post enrollment in Prayas. The show was hosted and presented by the children themselves. From patriotic songs to one act plays, to individual speech, we had it all. Where the evergreen patriotic songs talked about the efforts of freedom fighters, the mono act plays talked about the reason why we celebrate the republic day, and highlighted a very essential issue of “Child marriage”. It has been the because of the combined efforts of children and volunteers that we have been able to come up with a pool of students, impeccably clean, and are able to face the crowd and stage, and talk in English.
Our children always work as a catalyst for our spirits. Seeing them putting extra hours after the regular school hours, to prepare for the Republic Day celebrations made us work with all the more zeal! No wonder our teacher Mrs. Khare could not deny children to join the choir and sing (though those extra kids had not prepared for the song, just heard and memorized them watching the elders in their batch perform!!). Seefat and Parveena almost knocked off the microphone, thanks to their enthusiasm. A few of the elder children came up with their 3 year old experiences related to Prayas. Since this time almost every event was put up by children, so we had few of our budding speakers coming up with their experiences. And the surprise package was Julekha’s impromptu speech! From a hesitating dull child, to a bright student, a beautiful girl, and a super enthusiastic and a confident kid, the transformation was something which made a few reach out for their handkerchief. And none of the children seemed to have the thing called “stage phobia”, which makes several grownups shudder at least once while holding the microphone. I believe these transformations are the results which have been desired for long by dedicated AID – Prayas team.
Two children were picked up from each of the three batches to reward for their energy, efforts, regular attendance, cleanliness, and academics performance. The names of these children are Sajjad, Soobi, Gulsed, Gudiya, Parveena and Sonu. Needless to mention that the tradition of “laddoo” and banana distribution was also a part of the celebration. We had parents flocking in for enrollments after the function. Anuradha took care of all enrollments.
The volunteer team is working on making the I-card for every child enrolled in the center. We have also diversified our efforts, by organizing a family planning session. Linkan, Charu, Aakanksha, Darshan, our new teacher Mrs Jyoti Khare, and Nakul, all these people worked tirelessly to make this event a success.
More to go, more to explore, and more to conquer.
Jai Hind!!
Prayas’ new centre had been bustling with activity from past two three weeks. Reason being the approaching republic day, and we had planned a small celebration within the community for the same. The focus idea was to reach out to more people in the community, and also giving the community members an insight to the growth of the child, post enrollment in Prayas. The show was hosted and presented by the children themselves. From patriotic songs to one act plays, to individual speech, we had it all. Where the evergreen patriotic songs talked about the efforts of freedom fighters, the mono act plays talked about the reason why we celebrate the republic day, and highlighted a very essential issue of “Child marriage”. It has been the because of the combined efforts of children and volunteers that we have been able to come up with a pool of students, impeccably clean, and are able to face the crowd and stage, and talk in English.
Our children always work as a catalyst for our spirits. Seeing them putting extra hours after the regular school hours, to prepare for the Republic Day celebrations made us work with all the more zeal! No wonder our teacher Mrs. Khare could not deny children to join the choir and sing (though those extra kids had not prepared for the song, just heard and memorized them watching the elders in their batch perform!!). Seefat and Parveena almost knocked off the microphone, thanks to their enthusiasm. A few of the elder children came up with their 3 year old experiences related to Prayas. Since this time almost every event was put up by children, so we had few of our budding speakers coming up with their experiences. And the surprise package was Julekha’s impromptu speech! From a hesitating dull child, to a bright student, a beautiful girl, and a super enthusiastic and a confident kid, the transformation was something which made a few reach out for their handkerchief. And none of the children seemed to have the thing called “stage phobia”, which makes several grownups shudder at least once while holding the microphone. I believe these transformations are the results which have been desired for long by dedicated AID – Prayas team.
Two children were picked up from each of the three batches to reward for their energy, efforts, regular attendance, cleanliness, and academics performance. The names of these children are Sajjad, Soobi, Gulsed, Gudiya, Parveena and Sonu. Needless to mention that the tradition of “laddoo” and banana distribution was also a part of the celebration. We had parents flocking in for enrollments after the function. Anuradha took care of all enrollments.
The volunteer team is working on making the I-card for every child enrolled in the center. We have also diversified our efforts, by organizing a family planning session. Linkan, Charu, Aakanksha, Darshan, our new teacher Mrs Jyoti Khare, and Nakul, all these people worked tirelessly to make this event a success.
More to go, more to explore, and more to conquer.
Jai Hind!!
Anvita Shukla
