After volunteering with Vibha at the Dallas action center for the past 4 years I finally was able to visit a project in action (at 2 centers) this Summer on my visit to Hyderabad, India. It took couple of emails and phone calls to get the visit coordinated and then I found myself at large commercial construction sites. Seeing big commercial buildings in the places where there used to be fields and villages really struck a nerve with me.
Aide-at-action is a non-profit that shares similar mission as that of Vibha’s in changing the world through providing education. Vibha funds and supports Aide-at-action’s three Child Care and Learning Centers (CCLC) in and around the Hi-Tech city areas. The locations are to help children of construction workers for obvious reasons when one thinks of the exploding Tech industry in this city.
I took my 8-year-old daughter and my 22-year-old niece with me. I wanted these ‘only-child’ kids to realize how privileged they are. The two coordinators, Padma Rao and Bhikshapathi, showed us the way and led us to the 1st CCLC. It was tucked in the labor colony quarters where the rooms are made from aluminum sheets. A strong pungent odor of feces was what I first experienced as soon as I got off my air-conditioned car. As we stepped into the center we were greeted and welcomed by all the kids, almost 50 of them. The kids gave us beautiful flowers made from color paper. Although the center is in a not so hygienic location, the interiors are very clean and colorful. The center had art and educational work displayed not only on the four walls but also to the ceilings. The kids had broad smiles and I was introduced to Sujatha, the teacher and the facilitator at the center. Apparently, she has been with the project and the center for the past 3 years. She helps and trains other new facilitators at other centers. I asked Sujatha what made her choose this line of work instead of choosing to teach in other better places. She said there are others to look after other kids, but she likes to tend to these neglected and underprivileged kids. I was later told that she herself comes from a very remote village and chose to teach others like her. Her own 4-year-old daughter goes to the same center. This shows how genuinely she cares for the children and treats them as her own. Suparna, a 7-year-old (assumed age, as she couldn’t tell her actual age), was the one who handed the flower to me when I entered the center. She has been at the center for about 2 years. When asked what profession she wants to be in as a grown up, which she clearly hadn’t given a thought previously, she said she wants to become a teacher. She evidently is inspired by her teacher Sujatha and wants to be just like her.
Not just her but the passion towards the cause is also shared by the other people involved with the project. Padma Rao is a young Anthropology PhD graduate from the University of Hyderabad, and a national level volleyball player, aspiring to get into Civil services. He has been involved with such projects for the past 3 years. And Bhikshapathi rides his motorbike from location to location each day, checking if everything is in place, that the facilitators have no security or other concerns, and that most students show up each day. These two gentlemen fight the system while staying in it, to provide kids of their rightful resources.
The construction company provides the shelter, while government tries to provide midday meal. This helps to keep the kids at this safe place all day until the parents return from the hard day labor. It actually also provides nutritious meal at least once a day if the parents are unable to provide even that in the most difficult circumstances. While today as it was a new driver, and unfortunately he couldn’t find the exact location to drop off the meals, and so the kids had to go home to eat lunch (if they had any). Kids under 6-7 years are helped here at this location while older kids are enrolled at the closest public school. That way if the parents must move for work, they can get the transfer certificate (TC) from the school and can re-enroll at the next public school. Each center also has a junior facilitator who mostly tends to infants and toddlers. When kids aren’t at the center the junior facilitator goes to their house and brings them along. The centers also organize health camps, quarterly if possible, to get the kid profiles recorded. Each child’s profile is completely documented, their name, age, height, weight, health profile and also their art or educational work is all filed together. Parents are requested to attend at least one orientation session to bring awareness of the importance of education.
The 2nd center that we went to has fewer kids and much younger i.e. toddlers and infants. Nagamani is the main facilitator/teacher and has been with the center for about 2 years. There were lot of hand-eye coordination and shapes related child-development activities and toys. There was a Lord Ganesha and other playful molds made out of clay that were displayed in a rack. The kids were making choo-choo trains with the toy blocks and drawing flowers and flags. Each year child development specialists in each area like art, math etc. visit the centers to train the teachers.
I’m so grateful for being able to experience all of this, to be able to connect volunteer efforts from the Dallas Action Center to the field level efforts here in Hyderabad. When I now mention to my daughter that there are kids out there without food and education, to implicitly convey to her that she is privileged and to appreciate what she has, she now actually can connect and understand. I’m more driven in spreading the cause of Vibha.
