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:

The experience of imparting informal education, on various family planning methods available, to the local community at Pehal project site was phenomenal. It’s been a long time since we have had such an open session on this mostly hesitated n timid topic. People are also hesitant because of the medical and prohibited terminology. This is always the hot focus and an ever demanding issue for public health personnel.

Well, I m scribbling down about this area of focus to make the other non medico volunteers acquaint themselves with the terminology of family planning methods. This is the brief overview of the barrier control methods which are commonly known as FAMILY PLANNING METHODS.

The common methods are:

• Temporary: Male Condom, Oral Pill and CuT 380 A
• Permanent method: Vasectomy in males and tubal ligation in females.

1) Temporary:

a) Male condom: Easily available without prescription.
b) Oral Pill: Available to women with prescription (Mala D. Mala N, Saheli,etc.). These have some side effects.
c) CuT 380A: The females have always some or the other fear in her mind while inserting this device. Firstly, it irritates and secondly, it brings excessive vaginal bleeding. Regarding irritation and excessive bleeding, one can explain as it would take 2 to 3 days to come into normal life. It’s important to make them aware to check the left out thread to assure it is in place, which is probably the third most fear of the device being misplaced.The advantage of this device is that it is the long lasting; lasts for at least for 10 years and never needs to be replaced.

2) Permanent solutions are the best possible methods if the couple does not want any more children. They are available for both men and women. But male sterilization or vasectomy is easier than female operation or tubectomy. The male can start working normally after 48 hours of the operation. Nowadays, it is conducted through telescopic method, which requires only 2-3 stitches.

It is a black and white brief to give the basic picture of the most wanted topic.

Happy volunteering!!!

The Cold FOGGY Morning


Usually a late riser, I got up at 7 am yesterday and was bubbling with excitement to celebrate Republic day at Pehal. After I finished schooling, I had never paid much heed to national holidays. Thus Republic Day and Independence Day were just like any other holiday for me. However, this year I went through a fantastic experience.

We had spent almost 2 weeks preparing the children for all the activities. As most of them are of Bengali origin, it had been a constant fight to make them learn Hindi for last 3 months.

It was a foggy morning and sun was nowhere to be seen. After idling around for some time we decided to start the decorations at around 10am. More volunteers and children along with their parents poured in and within an hour, the stage was set. The walls were covered with frills and balloons. Almost all the volunteers were in dressed in one of the tri colours and the children, as always, looked adorable.

Flag hoisting and salutation

At 11:30 we started our program. Our teacher, Uttam sir, at Pehal centre was the chief guest. Sir addressed the parents and children and spoke to them about the importance of Republic day. This was followed by a prayer, flag hoisting and rendition of the Indian National Anthem. The children saluted the National Flag and then performed a well organized drill and March past which was the highlight of the day.

Cultural Events

Everyone was then seated and the cultural event began. The children sang a patriotic song “ Saare jahan se accha, Hindustan hamara” to perfection. Next was role playing, where 6 children from basic elementary level enacted as freedom fighters, Ashadul as Mahatama Gandhi, Babu as Subash Chandra bose, Arijina as Indira Gandhi, Ayub as Pandit Nehru, Sapna as Rani Lakshmi bai and Debashish as Bhagat singh. The last act in this segment was a dance performance on “Suno ghor se duniya walo” by the children and volunteers.

Literary Events

Next in line were two plays performed by the children- The first was a funny act and the second was to communicate the message - ‘how to stay away from addiction’. There were poem and story recitations by the children from beginner’s level. The audience applauded enthusiastically to each act.

The children were, then, given fruits and Rasgullas were distributed to everyone.


Sports

Then, came the much awaited sports event! It started with the Frog race between the children of age group 4-7 years. The winner in this race was Ajidul.

Three legged race between boys of age group 8 and above was sheer fun. Some fell, some cheated but Debashish and Ayub emerged as clear winners as they finished the race with no hassles. Om and Babu came second.

Book balancing race between girls was really difficult. Ajima came first followed by Sharda.

Prize Distribution

It was then the time for the Prize Distribution ceremony. All the first prize winners were awarded with Sweatshirts and second prize winners were given Pencil boxes.

Two students, Ashadul and Arizina were given the best students award for their dedication, regularity and discipline.

Community connect

In the end, Kamesh and Ashish spoke to the parents about the importance of education. They urged everyone to send their children to school regularly. They were advised not to carry out any activities that may negatively influence their children.

Pehal volunteers were rewarded by the positive response from the community. The families were really happy watching their children perform. The feeling to give to the society is always pleasant, however, the feeling is unmatched when the society gives back. We at Pehal today are proud that within a span of 3 months, we have been able to achieve much more than what was expected. We all walked back from the site beaming from ear to ear. A well deserved pat to our volunteers,Nikita, Zulaikha, Deboshree, Ashish, Anandita, Reetu, Preeti, Vipra, Swastik, Asam, Surabhi, Kamesh, Pinky. Also thanks to all the friends who attended the event.

Pehal wishes everyone a Happy Republic Day. May we always stand United for our cause.

For pictures, please visit
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140155&id=516999320&l=adb94b42f8