क्या तुझे पता है की हम गणतन्त्र दिवस क्यू मनाते है?

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!!

Anvita Shukla

Small is sublime!

The family planning awareness session we conducted last Sunday witnessed an encouraging participation from the community. We would only know whether or not it was a success in the months to come, if we execute the follow-up plans. Nevertheless, 35+ women opened up about their issues in front of the lady doctor (it was rather disappointing on the male side), and many even expressed keen interest in availing contraceptives and other birth control measures. This time, the two doctors were arranged via NGO Noida Lok Manch, but we continue to stress on exploiting the existing govt channels, through which we earlier managed a clean-up drive. Here are some concerns raised during the interaction, each followed by how the doc tried to counter it (courtesy: Linkan's notes):

1. Women are powerless, and have little say in determining the number of their own children. Husbands taunts them questioning why they have an issue with more kids if the men have none in raising them.
A: It's a tough ask, but women to have to assert themselves more. Silent obedience may avert a short term tussle, but will ensure lasting pain for the individual and her kids.

2. Patriarchy: The family continues producing children until a boy is born.
A: Girls are usually more caring and likely to look after them in their times of trouble. Also, we need to identify girls who can be projected as role models from the community and drive home the point that girls are equally, if not more, likely to make a parent proud.

3. Religious blindfolds: Getting operated is not 'permitted'.
A: This is a misinterpretation. Every religion encourages kids only to the extent that enables you to ensure a quality life - not mere survival - for each of them.

4. The human resources argument: The more, the merrier
A: She cited the story of Pandavas and Kauravas to convey that it's logical thinking and hard work that take you far in life, not the number of kids. Another obvious counter is that parents have an undeniable responsibility to provide good upbringing to their kids, and that's nearly impossible with more than two children, given their limited monetary and other resources.

5. Having more sons is sometimes correlated with more strength, in the sense that the women of such families are less likely to be teased/molested.
A: In today's world, physical strength counts for nothing. It's all about your skills and values.

Action items going forward:

• Follow up individually with the list of women who came forward, esp. those that sought birth control means. Pick and take along a female representative from the community.
• Identify a role model (small-is-prosperous type) family from the community and showcase it in our informal interactions as well as events starting with Jan 26.
• Identify girls who can be projected as role models from the community, to turn people's opinion on girl children around.
• Investigate the possibility of monthly meetings of women with some of our female volunteers, so that they have a forum to voice their worries, including those on family planning.
• Since the prominent causes of large family sizes are cultural (as opposed to medical), explore a session by an activist, incorporating other gender issues too.

- Pulkit [Blog: Let's spoil Nero's party!, Gmail: pulkitparikh]