Project Pehal celebrated childrens day on 14th November, 2010. As the day began, Sahipur school was filled with colours, cartoons, music and silent murmurs of excited children who waited for the event to unroll. The children brought along their parents for them to applaud on their dazzling performances.

The event started with a prayer, where our Pehal volunteers and the children sang along to the tunes of 'Itni shakti hamein de na daata' played through the Harmonium. This was followed by an extravaganza of performance by our little children and volunteers. Dances, songs and poems echoed through the venue. Our cute little children recited poems such as:

'Chacha Nehru ache the
Hum sab unke bacche the
karte the wo humse pyaar
ab to jeena hua dushwaar
14 november ka din hai aaya
Chacha ko sab ke saath paya
Hum sab bacche lagate hai awaaz
Chacha Nehru Zindabad!!'

Similar performances by various kids concluded with a huge round of applause across the hall.

Our volunteers then conducted a play aimed at towards the parents. The play reiterated the importance of education in a child's life. The volunteers, wonderfully displayed he future of an educated and an uneducated child. The stark contrast between the two were taken as an example and later explained to the parents. We asked them to make a commitment towards educating their children to ensure a bright future.

Our kids were now ready for some games! We organized a game in which we put up cartoon pictures namely, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Schinchan on each wall. The children were asked to dance till the music played and as soon as it stopped they were asked to run to a cartoon charachter. A cartoon charachter was then chosen through shuffeling of small chits. The children standing on that wall of that cartoon character were then considered to be out. The entire venue filled with cheerful voices and excited screams as children danced to music and ran.

The game was followed by a session of continous dancing, where all the children and volunteers tapped their foot to music.

After we distributed prizes to the winners of the game, we also distributed prizes to the top performers and students who had a regular attendence. The tired children then sat to have snacks, which included samosa's, chips and sweets.

The day ended with laughter, fun and frolic. As the children and their parents walked back home with a smile, we were convinced that our team effort was a success!

Volunteers Present: Prachi Aggarwal, Vikramjeet Singh, Prachi Garg, Vipra Dhawan, Nikita Khemka, Anandita Yadav, Zulaikha Rahman, Vibhor Gupta, Tushar, Siddharth, Ashmeet Bilkhu, Aditi Sachdev, and Kartik Sharma

Meri Udaan is witnessing a satisfactory progress in the women who are coming to the project regularly. Poonam Ma'am, our teacher, has been focussing on teaching the women Mathematics. Today, most of the women can read and write till 50 and solve basic addition and subtraction problems. To add to it, a few are learning tables and solving multiplication problems!

The only issues that loom as of now is that many of the women who had registered for the classes do not turn up. Even if they do, they are very irregular. We have met these women and motivated them to attend classes every day. They have said they'll be regular now.

Poonam Ma'am has been asked to maintain a proper record in the form of an attendance sheet. Also, at the end of each month, the total classes attended by each of the women would be calculated. This shall help us in the proper assessment of their performance.

Implementing AID’s Philosophy of SEVA, SANGHARSH & NIRMAAN has been a continuous endeavor of AID Delhi.

To move one step ahead in this direction a new project has been started. This Project is a Micro-financing Project catering specifically to Rickshaw Owners. Project name “SAKSHAM” has been unanimously decided by AID Delhi Volunteers as this name depicts “making someone capable of doing something on its own”.

Project Saksham started with an idea to stop exploitation of Rickshaw Owners as they have to pay rent to the rickshaw lender. This initiative provides them an avenue to buy Rickshaw without paying full cost of the Rickshaw in lumsum. Rickshaw Owner will get the rickshaw from SAKSHAM and start returning money on weekly basis. As soon as he gets a rickshaw he will stop paying any rent to lender and therefore his exploitation stops then and there. He will then pay weekly installments to SAKSHAM so as to give back the money equivalent to cost of a Rickshaw. Based on Calculations, it was found that whole cost of Rickshaw can be easily given back by Rickshaw Owner in 7months.

Rickshaw Owner now owns his own Rickshaw and he does not have to pay any amount to anybody thus he can accumulate that amount as savings.

NOTE:

1. SAKSHAM will not charge any interest from Rickshaw Owner.
2. Though Project works on same philosophy as that of AID, SAKSHAM is not an AID endeavor.

Following are the minutes of the volunteer meet, held on Saturday, the 4th of August, at Sahipur School

People who attended the meet: Aditi, Ashmeet, Vipra, Zulaikha, Megha, Surabhi, Prarthna, Vikramjeet, Prachi, Tushar, Vibhor, Siddharth Kartik, Tasha, and Ashish

1) Orientation: The meet initiated with a orientation session lead by Prachi, who briefed all the volunteers (old and new) about the history of AID, its evolution, the origin of AID Delhi and its current endeavors. Another important aspect was the discussion about how to develop AID delhi as a chapter.

2) AID Delhi's Future: As AID Delhi's recently separated from other chapters (Noida and Gurgaon), the path ahead was discussed in detail.

• Core Team: A core team of AID Delhi has been formed and it consists of 17 volunteers.

The Path Ahead :
• It was unanimously decided that AID Delhi would extend its local and community outreach by collaborating with various ground level, volunteer supporting NGO's by providing them with monetary assistance as well as resources (volunteers), whichever required.
• To initiate the process, volunteers would look around for such NGO's and AID Delhi, after assessing the credibility would collaborate with them.
• This would serve as the first step towards taking AID Delhi to new heights.
Other Interventions
Each volunteer attending the meet was asked about their interests and how they would like to contribute towards building the chapter
• A few volunteers like, Vibhor and Kartik expressed interest in investing their efforts for AID Delhi's fund raising initiatives. They shall initiate the same soon.
Kartik, would be reviving the RTI Cell in AID Delhi.

3) Pehal and Meri Udaan: Pehal and Meri Udaan are projects being run under AID Delhi. The two schools run within the Pehal project were facing some issues that were discussed in the meet

It was unanimously decided to shut down the BT Block school as running the school and implementing our program seemed unsustainable due to non-cooperation of the higher authorities
The syllabus in Sahipur School, would be taught in lines with what the children are taught in school as their exams are nearing, after which the focus would be on strengthening their basics.
• New volunteers joined the community connect team and will be joining Vipra and Vikramjeet every week. This will help us in strengthening our outreach in the Sahipur community

4) ORM: The ORM will be conduted by AID Delhi this month. The theme was discussed in the meet

The ORM would be conducted on the 26th of sept, 2010. The venue is open for discussion.
• An idea of conducted a theatre workshop instead of a formal meet was discussed. Everyone seems okay with the idea.

• The agenda shall be finalised by this week

5) A team has been formed for the school initiatives and it comprises of astha, ashmeet, aditi, tasha, surbhi prarthana and megha

6) A team will be formed to manage the website and blog. Also, we will start releasing a newsletter for AID Delhi soon

India celebrated its 63rd Independence Day on 15th August 2010; Pehal volunteers took up the initiative to celebrate it with the children of the MCD School in Sahipur.

The adult literacy program i.e. MERI UDAAN has taken its first step on 6th July at BG-1 block in Shalimar Bagh.

However, turning the idea of catering to the "basic education needs" of girls and women above the age of 15 years, was not a simple job. These females had either left their books way back or had not been to school ever.

It was only after the PEHAL team went to the homes on a regular basis, were they able to locate the women and girls who readily enrolled themselves in our literacy program. In the beginning only 7 females showed interest in the program, but since then the number has kept on increasing and now it has 20 females within 10 days.

The journey that had begun with Poonam Ma'am teaching these ladies to write their own name (and thereby giving them a sneak-peak into their self-worth) is bound to travel several miles in the days to come. Also-- we look forward to getting more women and girls enrolled in our program and replicate our success in other nearby areas i.e. BC Bagh, BT block, slums near the railway track.

Pehal change makers got together on the 26th of June to brainstorm about the various activities undertaken in the school adoption program .There was a lot that was being planned at Pehal for our children and there was a lot to be brought into consideration.

Art Expression Workshop

1. Collage making at BT Block, and Card Making at Sahipur School.
2. Story-Telling
3. A Skit/Play

There are many reasons why I absolutely abhor exam time but I could not have imagined Pehal would figure foremost amongst those reasons. After hacking my way through numerous entrance examinations, on a sweltering Sunday afternoon on 23rd May I found my reasons and their justifications.


The music session with the kids at B.T.Block School, Shalimar Bagh was unprecedented in many ways. My sole prior experience with music and kids had been at the construction site venue. This class size was bigger and more varied. In all my self-assurance, I started from scratch and some basics and lo and behold! The kids were way ahead of me! Well-versed with lyrics and much confident in their intonations, this music session turned out to be one big pool of talented students. We started with the National Anthem that set the mood for the National Song afterwards. And then with the count down of Sa Re Ga Ma a new patriotic song was introduced “ Mat baato insaan ko”. The rest of the time was spent in perfecting the chorus and getting familiar with the song itself.

Later, some kids came up to experiment with the harmonium and Jyoti (a Pehal student) performed the ‘Shabad’ in Punjabi for all accompanied by the harmonium. This ‘special’ performance excited the others and all have by mutual consent decided to present one special item for the subsequent classes on Fridays.

Aside from the singing, another outstanding feature for me was the overall discipline and courtesy maintained by the kids. I’d seen these kids during admission time and I see them now, so much more confident in asserting themselves. Excuse my use of such a casual word but this session WAS ‘fun’. And that exactly is when I hated the imposition of exams that has kept me away from Pehal.
As I write this, I’m already drawing up plans to divide the class into a proper choir. Any assistance is welcome and so are suggestions.

Happy Volunteering,

Anandita Yadav

1) To assess the current level of learning of school-going children and strengthening their weak areas

2) To impart basic education to non school-going children to bring them up to speed with those receiving formal education

3) To promote the ‘Right to education’ act by providing every child with access to formal education.

The program utilises the existing government infrastructure and resources and is currently being implemented in 2 MCD schools located in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi. In totality, 280 children are being taught by 7 teachers, maintaining the teacher-student ratio at 1: 40. Pehal intervenes at 3 levels- Students, Teachers and Parents.

1. At the teachers’ level, we are contemplating providing training facilities and simultaneous feedbacks on student performance and areas of attention.

2. At the student level,

• We have divided students, on the basis of a performance test, into batches, so each student receives personal attention that is in line with his/her capabilities.

• The basics, i.e., reading, writing and comprehension now forms the core foundation of the teaching curriculum.

• A special focus has been given to enhance and inculcate reading habits into the students through initiatives such as Reading Club and Library Period.

• Specialised Eureka kits have been introduced in the regular classes.

• Co-curricular activities, such as sports, music classes, art classes, dance classes, and theatre classes are weekly organized.

• Rigorous monitoring sessions are carried out by the volunteers in order to assess teachers as well as students.

• Student-tracking is done at regular intervals to ensure 100% attendance

3. At the parents’ level, we are ensuring that the parents stay informed about their children and their performance at school. Counselling sessions have been organized, where parents are encouraged to send their children to school, review their notebooks when they come back home, and interrogate them about what they have learnt.

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After an extremely successful Family Planning session in our community, we directed ourselves to the herculean task of accessing government portals that would assist us further in our initiative of getting the interested individuals operated and gain access to other birth control methods.

The Delhi government website directed us to the family planning welfare division in BHAGWAN MAHAVIR HOSPITAL. A very helpful Dr. Diwan, informed us about the various facilities we could use for the same and provided us with important contacts. We were told that we would be able to get all help from the area’s dispensary and some other hospitals.

DISPENSARY

We, then, tried to enquire from the dispensary about the facilities they provide under their family planning / nutrition program.

We found out they could provide us with:

1) A health camp: Every dispensary has an appointed (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife). She is appointed to take care of the health of the entire community. She was readily available to assess the health/immunization needs of the children.

2) Health Talk: Apart from health needs of the children, the parents and other mature adults in the community would be addressed by the Doctor and ANM. They would be informed about the various measures they should take to stay healthy, hygienic and clean.

3) They would provide us with free medicines based on the needs of the community.

4) They were ready to carry out operations for the women. However, the compensation for the same was pretty lower than what we had learnt from others.

We decided to visit some other hospitals, to get a clearer picture and know more in terms of the procedure, compensation, facilities and registration requirements.

SUNDER LAL JAIN HOSPITAL

There is family welfare department in the hospital. We learnt from them that they will operate the women; however, they can’t provide them with compensation, due to the latest government policy to stop providing compensation to private hospitals. However, they have said they will have a meeting, where they would discuss if they could do something to provide compensation to the women getting operated.

BABA SAHEB AMBEDKAR HOSPITAL

The head Gynaecologist explained to us the entire procedure. She told us that the women would be required to visit the hospital for investigation that would take around two days. After this, they would be admitted, operated and discharged on the fourth day. Compensation was around Rs. 250-600, depending on the papers (Ration card, BPL papers etc)

BHAGWATI HOSPITAL

This is again a private hospital. The same issue of non compensation arose in this hospital. However, they were helpful enough to guide us to an NGO, Marie Stop, that operates in areas of family planning.

We came to know of a few NGO’s that dedicated themselves to such activities. We went ahead and paid a visit to them

SAMPOORNA

Sampoorna is an NGO running from the past 19 years. It provides an ample lot of services to the poor and underprivileged. Sampoorna put forth their support in organizing a health camp and a family counselling session at the project site. We received a very satisfying response.

MARIE STOP

This NGO is completely dedicated towards family planning. It carries out investigations, operations in day and does a free follow up for the next 30 days. There is an initial fee of Rs.50 for investigation purposes. This NGO was being provided with funds by the government to be used as compensation. However, with its recent policy, they are now not able to provide any compensation to the patients.

ISSUES WE ARE FACING:

1) Time:

As the women in the community are daily wage labourers, they cannot afford to spend a day without work. If the woman were made to undergo surgery, they would need to spend a maximum of 5 days (2 days of investigation and 3 days for operation and post operative precautions). After this, they would be asked to avoid heavy work for a period 50 days minimum. This sounds unfeasible.

The alternative to this method is laparoscopy. This is a procedure of ten minutes and would require 2-3 days of precaution. This would be followed by a follow up after a week to remove the stitches. The recuperation period for the same is 2 weeks.

2) Compensation:

The government scheme to provide compensation to every individual who get themselves operated was an excellent incentive and a huge motivator. The compensation amount varied in different hospitals. In government hospitals, for women it is around Rs.250- 300 and for men, Rs.1100. Those who are BPL (below poverty line) and SC/ST, get an amount of 600 for women and Rs.1500 for men. In addition, the motivator (mediator between the patient and the doctor) get a sum of around Rs. 150- Rs.250. These could be given to the patient too. In the dispensary, it is Rs.150-250 for women and Rs.500 for men.

The government recently stopped providing these facilities to private organizations. Hence, this narrows down our options.

WHAT WE NEED TO DO

1) We need to prioritize laparoscopy over operation as it is less invasive, less time consuming and has a fast recuperation period.

2) We need to ensure maximum compensation, or convince them that compensation isn’t as essential as getting operated.

IDEAS WE ARE CONTEMPLATING

1) We are planning to talk to the site supervisor, if he will be able to provide a paid leaves to the women for three days, while they recover.

2) We can get them operated in Marie Stop and direct the funds received from this month’s Meal a month program to cover the transportation costs.

3) We can get them operated in the dispensary; however the compensation will be less.

4) We are waiting for Sunderlal Jain Hospital to contact us after their meeting.

5) We can enquire in a government hospital away from the area and if they provide us with better compensation and speedy recovery, then the motivator’s money could be used to cover transportation expenses.

Please put forth your opinions/ideas, if any, so that it can help us overcome all the obstacles in our initiative.

Pehal has been successfully implementing a regular non formal education program. Our morning school consists of regular four hour classes for the children. To segregate, the students have been divided in to a beginners and an elementary group. Based on their performance, we have identified 7 children, who would be admitted to regular schools in April, 2010.

The kids are continuously assessed, through regular checks on their notebooks, monthly tests and quarterly exams. We are continuously emphasizing on improving their reading skills, hence, special attention is given to that area. An after-school nutrition program has also been initiated where the children are given nutritious food items that cater to their nutrition deficiencies.

Our journey with Pehal is reaching new milestones and we aim to continuously make it successful one with our Pehal change makers.

1) It was observed most men didn’t use any measure of birth control. They made their wives take precautions etc.
2) Some men had their families back home, but had already planned their families. They were encouraged to spread the message of birth control among their friends in the community.
3) Bengali Men were told to talk within their community, and Bihari Men within theirs, to ask how many are interested in getting themselves a vasectomy.
4) A few of the women had already gotten themselves operated. Citing their examples, we encouraged the rest to do the same. This resulted in a few willing to get permanently operated but asked for time to discuss the same with their husbands.
5) Women who had their daughter’s recently married, or daughter in law with them, were told about CuT. Queries of spacing came up which were resolved.
6) It was observed that some women wanted to get themselves operated; however, they feared their husbands would not agree. For the same, our volunteers addressing the male community were given the names of the husbands. They interacted with them and were able to partially convince them.
7) Cases of abortion came up; we told them about the possibilities of continuous abortion resulting in cervical cancer.
8) Some woman asked for contraceptives and pills and refused to even listen to the benefits of CuT/Tubal Ligation.

Follow up plans:

- A male and female who have already adapted to the birth control measures would be chosen as community leaders. He and She would guide the rest on the same and solve their queries.
- Individual Follow up would be done for those who showed partial hesitation towards permanent methods of birth control.
- If hesitation persists due to fear, we would call upon an activist/Doctor who could further convince them.
- Helping the women interested in getting tubal ligation. These would also serve as an example for the other hesitant woman, who would be able to see the benefits and remove their fears.

General Information we gave: