Association for India’s Development

Delhi Chapter Newsletter July, 2006

Table of Contents Where is the future for them?

One day, as I was waiting for my friend to turn up at

Editorial 1
Priya, Vasant Vihar, a small poor girl came to me and
Articles
showed some drawings which her elder brother had
Where is the future for them? 1
made. She very blankly looked at me as if probably
TSR number for Delhi 2
knowing that there was no way I was actually going to
Project Updates
buy this drawing from her. At first I was ready to refuse
Timarpur 2
her as I do to all beggars without even looking. I never
AID Gurgaon 3
liked to give alms to beggars, because I always believe
Nai Disha 3
that there is always something, which a person can do,
Prayas 3
however much handicapped you are.
Khoj 4
Volunteer Profiles
But this little girl held my attention with those drawings
Vipul 5
and that languid expression. Then I realised that she was
Pheroza Parashar 5
not asking for free money, but was trying to earn money
Errata 5
the hard way. A sort of pity came over me and I invited
her to sit with me. With an apprehensive and scared
look she sat beside me.

Editorial
Life is full of joys and sorrows. Rain and sunshine co-
exist at times. As India is taking a step backward by
proposing amendments to RTI Act, AID Delhi is
moving forward with a new initiative of girls' class at
Prayas, Noida. Such is life!
AID has been an active proponent of the RTI Act ever
since it came into being last October. Coupled with the
NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act),
it becomes a powerful tool to solve many inter-linked
problems facing our country today. But perhaps the
Bureaucrats are not happy about that. The amendments
proposed to the act actually disarm it by acting contrary
to the “Knowledge is Power” doctrine. Let’s unite and
act together to oppose these amendments.
This month’s newsletter introduces new volunteers into
the publications team – Chandan and Vaibhav. We
would be glad to have more volunteers aboard.
As always, we look forward towards your feedback.
Contributed By: Riputapan
I asked her name, to which she answered with her head
bent down, "Lubina". I had to stoop my head to catch
her reply. Then I asked her if she had made the
drawings, she replied that it was her elder brother who
had made the drawings whose name was Saddam. She
and her brother both go to school - she in 4th class and
her brother in the 7th class. The drawings, which she
showed me, were very simple, a parrot and the other
was a fish. Simple, but drawn carefully. I chose the
parrot drawing and gave her the money. She first looked
at me before accepting the money, to make sure that I
was actually giving it to her. She took the money
hesitantly and looked at me again as if I was mad,
probably thinking that I will snatch the money back
from her. After making sure that I was not going to do
anything like that she ran off quickly.
After that I saw another small baby crawling on the
floor, putting any dust or wrapper into its mouth that
came into its way. I felt so sick seeing that that I
thought I won’t be able to eat again. I started comparing
between the two situations before me. There were two
kinds of people – one, the rich, born with a silver spoon
in their mouth, squandering money at movie halls, food
joints, and shopping. The other class was the begging
class for whom even 1 rupee was a grand thing.
They probably think 10 times before spending it. This
contrast really shook me up at that time.
But like all teenagers I did not give much reflection to
these ideas. So when my friend came I forgot all about it
and had a luxurious lunch, forgetting all about what had
happened just some time back.
Later in the day, when I was looking at the drawing,
everything came rushing back. And I felt ashamed of
myself. At the end of the day, I was feeling like a
scoundrel, another one of those rich spoilt brats. Many
people have said this, but I have to say this again,
because I really felt it truly today. This experience made
me count my own blessings. I felt I was the most
privileged being on the earth. I had everything, which a
teenager could want. But what about these kids? They
have the vision, the dream, but no future.
Today, while Laxmi Mittal is piling millions in his safe
with the Arcelor deal in his hand - these children are
fishing for even single rupees to make ends meet.
According to the 2005 United Nations Human
Development Report, half of the children in India suffer
from malnutrition in spite of the growing economy of
India. 2.5 million Indian children die annually. India
accounts for one out of every five child deaths
worldwide. These children also face a grim situation
with respect to educational facilities.
I know I will probably again forget all this tomorrow.
Nobody wants such depressing thoughts. But I just
want all of you to read it once and count your blessings
too and think about those kids.
In the end I would just like to quote Eugene V. Debs,
"Those who produce should have, but we know that
those who produce the most - that is, those who work
hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial tasks,
have the least."
Contributed By: Soumya Jain
TSR number for Delhi
Friends, I'm sure all of us would have faced the wrath
of the auto rickshaw wallahs of Delhi whether it is
about the use of the meter or going to a particular
destination. The solution to the whole problem is just
a phone call away now.
The new number for TSR complaint is 42400400.
AID volunteers have used this number and have
found it to be working pretty well.
The best thing is that now even the auto wallahs know
that this number works well against them and even the
sheer mentioning of the number can solve the
problems sometime (from my personal experience).
Another way of complaining is by the use of postcards
available outside New Delhi Railway Station. Bhargava
used these postcards and found that proper action was
taken.
The only drawback being that these methods of
complaining cannot be used in the rest of NCR. I
encourage everyone to use these methods of
complaining and then soon the Delhi auto-wallahs will
be well-disciplined.
Contributed By: Aparna
Project Updates: Timarpur
July 1, 2006 was a great day for the AID Delhi Timarpur
team. It was the day when one of the most challenging
hurdles of the Tirmarpur project - getting a room for
the weekly classes - was overcome. After huge efforts of
Sudipta and other volunteers, the local counselor got
convinced and gave a confirmatory answer for carrying
out the classes in the vicinal MCD godown. This was a
much awaited decision and the whole team of
volunteers got filled with excitement and optimism with
the news.
On the first day, both the classes of vocational training
as well as informal education were carried out at the
godown room. The enthusiasm and excitement of the
kids was very motivating for all the volunteers taking
the classes.
As MCD godown provides a proper and secure place to
carry out the classes perhaps we can now make
permanent clusters of students according to their classes
and can teach them different subjects separately.
Currently the team plans to take Mathematics, Hindi
and English classes for the children, after separating
them into smaller clusters.
However for vocational training, not many girls turned
up as they were reluctant to come to the godown. It was
later decided that for future classes, the vocational
training could be done at the older place and informal
education classes at the godown. Overall, it was a great
success story day for most volunteers. A new volunteer,
Amit, also joined the team.
Contributed By: Sudipta
Project Updates: Aid Gurgaon
The initiative to get two Mobile creche kids into Sankalp
(a regular school) is underway.
Children are being taught basic maths, english and hindi
and it is felt that we need start with exams or some sort
of measure to assess how much information the kids
have retained. Deepak has done a trial run and the kids
have shown good retention abilities and have as always
shown great enthusiasm.
Volunteer effort commitment seems to be a big
problem. This as we all know is across the chapters and
is not a new fact. Essentially, I am trying to get visibility
towards this issue in AID Delhi and see if it may be
useful to collect some proven methods in addition to
the intuitive ways each of us do to get folks in.
Contributed by: Karthik
Project Updates: Prayas
Prayas has added a new dimension to its already
successful night school by starting with an evening class
for girls of the community. The community wanted us
to take these classes for quite sometime now but we
could not start due to lack of female volunteers to take
the class. Thanks to Pheroza who took the first few
classes, we have finally made a foray into this initiative.
Other volunteers who have started taking the evening
classes include Harleen, Ankita, Deepali and Amita. The
classes are held from Tue-Fri from 6:30pm - 7:30pm.
The enthusiasm of the girls attending the class is
amazing and community members are also quite happy
about this class. Rahul and our existing volunteers at
Prayas deserve kudos to be able to build trust with the
community.

Project Updates: Nai Disha

Activity Highlights:

v Since the vacations were on for the students,

there was a low turn out for the classes.
v Volunteers are helping the students with their
homework and doubts.
v Neelam has decided to move on in life to pursue
higher studies. She had a long and fruitful
association with Nai Disha and will be surely
missed. The volunteers saw her off with a Health and hygiene class was also conducted by
farewell lunch at Desi Vibes. Priyanka who wishes to contribute this way in future as
v We are also conducting computer classes over well. Gunjan and his mother Dr.Kusum Sharma
conducted a medical camp in which more than 50
the weekends at Nai Disha. The regular students
children were examined. The children were checked for
are showing remarkable progress at grasping the
basic illnesses including anaemia and other respiratory
concepts.
diseases. They were also given deworming tablets and a
v Pheroza and Vipul are actively involved in the
spoon each of vitamin tonic. Selva was also present at
preparation of flip charts on Personal Hygiene
the camp besides Pheroza, Shammi, Ripu and Deepali.
as directed by Gunjan.
v One of the plans currently in the pipeline is the
We need more female volunteers for the class and also
Joy of Learning classes.
some male volunteers to escort them to the class.
v Volunteers: Shammi, Vipul, Pheroza, Peeyush,
Rajat, Neelam, Shivam
Contributed By: Gunjan, Riputapan
Contributed By: Pheroza
 Project Updates: Khoj
Khoj has seen tremendous growth in the last couple of
months. It is immense pleasure for me to share my
experience with the children of Khoj. Khoj – Steps for
Change was started at Dilli-Haat by Pawan and his
friends by grouping the kids who can be easily spotted
roaming on roads, doing shoe polish and other petty
jobs. Initially, we used to bring children from nearby
places, such as R.K.Puram, Hayat Flyover, Jor Bagh etc.
to Dilli Haat and classes were held there. But very soon
we realized that a lot of time gets wasted in bringing the
kids to Dilli Haat. We then started running Khoj centers
at four places of South Delhi: Dilli Haat, Jor Bagh,
J.N.U, and Hayat Flyover. Classes are held at these four
places daily, except on Sundays.
Pawan and Zubair are having tons of loads on them,
and I wish to share their load by volunteering for Khoj
more often. We are a team of enthusiastic volunteers
and Khoj has been extremely lucky on having Vaibhav,
Jasmine, Jyoti, and Smita Dayal as volunteers in its fold.
It feels great to be with the children. Initially, the kids
were more interested in playing games rather than
studying but the things have started improving as now
they are interested in learning as well.
Earlier, the children would play most of the time. With
the regulation of the timings, however, the children
have started taking interest in studies. They play joyfully
but they learn enthusiastically! This is especially true
about the Dilli Haat center. Jyoti is coordinating
activities at Ber Sarai, Jasmine at Jor Bagh, and Vaibhav
is extremely enthusiastic about the happenings at the
Hayat Flyover center.
These kids are brilliant in grasping whatever is taught to
them.. They are brilliant in street plays. Audience was
amazed at their performance at Operations Review. We
are now planning to go beyond non-formal education.
We are planning to have sessions on some other
engaging activities like painting etc.
We hope to develop their creative faculties through
these activities. We are planning to take this up first
with the children at Dilli Haat, since we have been
interacting with them for quite sometime now. The
other centers have just begun. As things start rolling on
at these centers, they will follow the footsteps of the
Dilli Haat center or whatever works out to be the best
there.
We are facing many challenges in running the centers.
We lack the funds, to be precise. We are soon planning
to have a dedicated set of volunteers, who can help us
in raising funds required to run the centers. We will
soon be coming up with some awareness skits to be
performed at various places. We would also be visiting
various colleges in Delhi to conduct workshops and
seminars, to elicit support for our activities. The team
has identified that more frequent presentations by
volunteers and screening street plays by the children
can prove to be good measure to garner the much-
needed support. The volunteers who find it difficult to
pay regular visits to the centers can contribute to the
initiative by collecting clothes and books for the kids.
They can also help prepare charts, playcards, and
flipcharts.
Jasmine, who is an active volunteer, took the
responsibility of preparing a questionnaire, based on
which children profiles have been created. Ritika took
the initiative of making posters and the activity is
complete. I have prepared a Brochure for us and have
finalized on the monthly budget for Khoj. It will soon
be presented to AID for getting the monthly funds
sanctioned.
A great milestone has been achieved, as we were able to
convince the parents of Sooraj and Manisha at Dilli
Haat to send them to school. The parents have also
taken up the responsibility of the expenditure that goes
into teaching the children. We intend to keep a track of
their progress and provide them with any learning
guidance that they may need. The two children have
been admitted to Class II, in a Government School,
near Dilli Haat. Talks are on with the parents of other
six kids at various centers to send them to school, and
we hope to succeed in convincing them too.
Recently, an educational trip was organized for the kids.
We took the kids to the National Museum of Natural
History. There were 10 volunteers, who took 20
children with them. Kids enjoyed the trip to museum in
the morning session as they came to know about
different animals and different kinds of forests and
other things about nature of which they were not much
aware. In the afternoon, they visited India Gate where
they had lots of fun.
“You cannot dream yourself into a character;
you must hammer and forge yourself one.”
Contributed By: Selva
 Volunteer Profiles: Vipul
Vipul is working as a Software Engineer with Birlasoft
Ltd. I have known him for over a year and a half and he
was eager to join AID India. He is a regular volunteer at
Nai Disha, and one of the most enthusiastic volunteers
on the team.
Being a South Indian, he was initially a little hesitant to
teach, as the medium of instruction at the school is
Hindi. Students at the school would often joke with him
saying, "Bhaiya, aapko hindi theek se bolni nahi aati?"
Vipul being a great sport would take these in his stride
and would go on to improve his Hindi with some help
from the children. His simple game of finding places on
the map is a big hit with the kids and is a regular event
on Sundays. The game improves children's General
Knowledge as well as their reading skills. He also helps
in conducting computer classes for the kids.
Contributed By: Pheroza
Volunteer Profiles: Pheroza Parashar
This summer when we were getting students of Nai
Disha admitted to higher classes in different schools, we
faced many practical problems. Then, I met Pheroza, a
Software Engineer at Birlasoft, Noida. She had come
personally to enquire about the ways to contribute at
Nai Disha. She has been helping students financially.
Feedback: aid.delhi@gmail.com Web: http://delhi.aidindia.org
DONATE TO AID
Online: E-transfer to ICICI Bank a/c 602201200299
By Cheque: Mail cheques in favor of AID-India to :-
AID Delhi,B121,MIG Flats,Phase-IV,Ashok Vihar,Delhi
Her zeal to do something good for the under-
privileged students led her to volunteer with AID by
teaching at Nai Disha.
She even stifled the notion about girls visiting Prayas
by visiting the center after 9 pm during the session
conducted by Gunjan on Hygiene.
She is one of most regular volunteers. She has also
taken up the responsibility of creating flip charts for
JoL (Joy of Learning) and HELP. Her ardor, sincerity,
and cheerfulness is inspiring and motivating for
others.
Contributed By: Shammi
Errata
Pheroza and Shammi were wrongly mentioned among
the regular volunteers at Prayas, instead of Nai Disha.
However, at times, they visit Prayas too. We humbly
apologize for the error and will take utmost care in
future to verify the contents.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an
ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean
does not become dirty.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Phone: +91-9213797167
Publications Team
Editors: Puneeta,Peeyush,Riputapan, Vaibhav
Designer: Chandan, Peeyush
Coordinators: Puneeta, Riputapan