quick update...

i have once again failed to update the blog on a regular basis...again there are no particular reasons except laziness and the fact that i am not a very spontaneous writer also does not help! :-(

anyway, the work at chotti si asha has really been going great...the working hours have extended and so has the enthusiasm of the children and the grown ups!! the tailoring team is proud of their bags and is now trying harder to make better bags with better finishing...we are also trying to get some professional help in our designing.

our "inspiration files" have been quite a hit and since our exhibition, the "file making" team (they have also kept a name for themselves - Jantaram Mantaram) has been busy making files to fulfill a few orders that we got during and after the exhibition. Here again, we are working on standardizing the design as well as improving the quality of the files. Amit has kindly agreed to take up this herculean task and is doing an awesome job at it.

the younger kids are still working on the penstands but we have plans to expand the product base with them like coasters, paper shopping bags and jewellery.

what we need to work is on our marketing efforts as well as on improving our designs and quality. We do need dedicated and innovative volunteers who can help us in working with the children as well as help us in our marketing efforts.

As for the younger kids, we need to spend more time with them...and teach them more of basic hygiene that includes taking bath and wearing clean clothes...no matter how many clothes i give them...they are almost always wearing dirty clothes and are not able to keep their old clothes for long. they are very quick at losing things and generally don't have a change of clothes and that is one of the reasons they don't agree to take bath. We have started this rule that once they wash their old clothes, we would give them a new set of clothes. It is working fine but the issue that i found with this model is that the kids forget to pick their clothes that they wash and honestly speaking, i am generally not able to follow up on this and so the washed clothes get lost :-(

Recently, we assigned each kid an individual space where they could keep their stuff and we are giving them incentives to manage their clothes and their respective areas...the kids have welcomed this idea with open arms...let us see if we will be successful in this experiment. (interestingly, we didn't want to spend a lot of money in getting these lockers made so we all scratched our brains to find a cheap solution. so we bought a wooden three sided box made of "phattis" that are sold in the fruit market for Rs. 15 a piece...these boxes are used to ship fruits (mainly apples) from himachal to this region...we stacked these boxes one on top of the other with the open side facing outside and voila, our lockers were ready in about 10 minutes!! i will post some pictures soon).

File folders....

These are our inspirational files...it has a quote on the outside and has an inspiring story printed inside. The file is made using colorful jute and packing cardboard. So anyone out there who comes across an inspiring quote or a story then do send it to us so that we can include it in our files.

exhibition photos...

Manisha showing off her "chotti si asha" bag
Channi Uncle

Raja with our new "jhola bag" design...

Exhibition...

We did an exhibtion in 17 sector plaza on 25th of October...the planning and action of this event was all very spontaneous and a lot of people showed up to help us at the right time...here is an email sent to all volunteers...

Hi All,

It was amazing the way we were able to get going with our exhibition. Till Wednesday afternoon we had no idea as to when were we going to have this show. We wanted to do it this weekend but with no formal permission, we were a little uncertain.

And then I got a call from Harleen that changed everything. Channi Uncle had invited the UT advisor to our exhibition which was going to be held on Thursday (how the Home Secretary - Krishen Mohan and Vivek Atrey got invited is a different story altogether)!! A decision was taken by default - we were going ahead with this exhibition with Seva’s expired license and the UT advisor would be there as our permission.

We didn't have much time for planning or assigning duties. But everything just fell in place - the kids and Baljeet started working on the unfinished items with fervour, Amit and Manisha came up with lovely banners, Gaurav took the initiative to tag and categorize the items according to price and quality, Sukhmani was there making calls and co-coordinating "God knows" how many things!! Volunteers from CEVA (center for education and voluntary action) were running around doing various things like loading cars, packing stuff etc.

Jassu and Vandana as always were there for us and arranged for the tables in no time...not to forget that the tables wouldn't have been possible without the intervention of Jaspreet and the kindness extended by Hot Millions in providing the tables to us at no cost. Rajni (my Bhabi) was there with food to feed our empty stomachs!! And when the State Office people rejected our *expired* license...it was our dear inspiring Channi Uncle and Amit who saved us and gave us an important lesson - "the show must go on"!

Finally, all of you were there to support us in what ever ways you could!!

Isn't it amazing team work … all born of spontaneous action!!

Love and gratitude,
Liza

theatre workshop...

a lot has been going on since i have come back from the US. The kids were extremely happy to know that people in the US really liked the stuff that they had made...that their bags and files were being used internationally was a real matter of pride and of course, the real thing was that they got to earn a lot of cash!!

Since then we have been doing various different things - two weeks back Channi Uncle (a very well known theatre personality of chandigarh who happens to be Sukhmani's Dad) started a theatre workshop with the children and sometimes i also participate in the daily exercises which are simply awesome!! Initially, when Uncle agreed to take this workshop, i was a little skeptical as to how the kids will react to it...would they be able to listen to Uncle for more than two hours at a stretch, would they participate in different exercises that Uncle would ask them to do (actually, we had tried different theatre games with these kids about a few months back and it was quite a disaster). Inspite of all these fears we decided to go ahead with the workshop and the kids amazed me the first day. They participated in the first exercise with full fervour and i was sitting there amazed...wondering when did the boys changed so much...they not only listened to Uncle and played the theatre games, they happily listened to Uncle's feedback and incorporated that feedback in the subsequent game!! It was simply lovely to see them that day and i immediately picked up my phone and called Amit to share that moment with him :-)

Anyway, since then the workshop has been going on...and i personally think that everybody should go through such workshops even if there is no intention of doing real theatre...it really opens you up and makes you more expressive. The exercises are such that you have to come out of your shell and learn to express yourself freely. One of the exercise that they start with is the "mirroring". Two people go into the circle - one person will act something and the person would just copy whatever the first person is doing (basically be a mirror) and then the roles are revered. In another exercise, we are told that we all are "pagal" (mad) and we have to prove that “i am the biggest pagal in this world”...it was so much fun doing that!! infact, we also came up with our own "pagal" song :-) Another exercise that i have loved is the one in which Uncle took us out on a street and divided us in two teams. He asked one team to stand on one side of the road and the other team on the other side of the road. Then, we had to talk to each other across the street…it was a little embarrassing with all the people staring at us but at the same time it was fun and exciting!

More later…

change....

change is always welcome but sometimes difficult to handle. and i don't mean in an overwhelming way but just that its different... we're so used to one way of doing things that a step outside of that leaves us ... well...blank.
so choti si asha has moved to the new place. as liza mentioned, its a great space! lush green lawn, swings and plenty of space for the younger kids to play and run around in. the older ones also ahve their own space to work in... they are becoming more and more responsible for their own work and are learning to make their own decisions.
i mentioned change earlier because now we're also trying to look at new designs and products. with liza not being there, the decision making becomes a little difficult. this is where i go blank. so here is what i put forward to you all... i tell u the kind of resources we have at hand here and if you ahve any suggestion about what all we can make out of all that, please write in.
we have a lot of bits of card board. its the left over from the files that are made. so what is left are like pieces of a width of 2-3 inches and variable lengths. coasters covered with leftover bits of jute cloth have been crossing my mind- what do u think? and then i go blank again!
i've been thinking of mobiles as well... like wind chimes.. only that these won't be chimes. but i worked with bobby, one of the younger kids, the other day and we made a mobile of five different things... a bird, a house, a tree, a flower and a star and looked great! he did all the decorating and stuff... he was great. but to sell we can't really do the house and bird. what else can we hang? maybe something made out of wire and beads?
a girl kinda bumped into us while she was looking for someone who would teach some kids computer for free. she didn't find computers but she found us lazily trying to work after a scrumptious lunch. she saw all that we were making and met all the kids and was so excited to find us that she wanted to teach embroidery to the kids. she's already taught 2 kids a very basic stitch. but she was a little disappointed from the not-so-excited response from the kids. i had expected that so i told her not to be discouraged. i told her that the best way to share her skills would be to work practically with just one or two kids. teach while she works on a bag or a file. she must involve them in the process and not turn the whole experience into a classroom. i think it would be a very good experience for her because a classroom attitude is something these kids would never accept. one has to bring oneself to the same level as them and then start from scratch, making one unlearn and learn so many things. and yes, she's a social work student at the punjab university. so much to unlearn!
a thought keeps coming into my mind again and again, that there is so much these kids teach us 'educated' lot! learning is never one way, and at choti si asha, we like to do it just like that!

new place...

as mentioned in an earlier entry, "chotti si asha" was on a look out for a new place...our old place (in sector 38 of chandigarh) was too far off from the new location that the children had moved to (naya Gaon - outskirts of chandigarh) so our attendance had really gone down.

Once we started looking for a place, we realized how expensive Chandigarh's real estate and rentals are!! So we gave up the idea of renting our own place and started talking to the chandigarh administration. The response was quite positive from their end. But before they could intervene and help us, we found a place in the heart of the city - a location that works perfectly fine for all the children at NO COST!!

It turned out that there is a government building in sector 15 (very close to sector 17 where all the children come to work) where all kind of non-profit activities take place like drug de - addiction center, yoga classes for senior citizens, library, exhibition hall etc. A few years back they had built a children section - a few rooms, a bathroom and a beautiful garden with swings and slides but it so happened that the project didn't work and that place was now abandoned and was being used as a store. we came to know about it and talked to the authorities and voila, they agreed without any condition…just like that!! It is a beautiful place...they have opened one room for us and have given access to the bathroom and the garden. So now we have our own open area as well as a room that can be used as a workshop by the elder boys to work on bags and files etc.

Yesterday, the elder boys and some of us got together to clean up the place...the boys were thrilled when they looked at the place and cleaned it up with full enthusiasm...infact, it took us about 6 hours to clean the place. Now, we are all set to start using it on Monday!!

It is amazing the ways things worked out...once again "somebody who takes care" proved to me that if you have a strong intention then something always happens and a way is shown!! We just have to keep our eyes open and keep trying. THANK YOU!!

PS: I will be posting some pictures soon.

Independence day...

yesterday, "chotti si asha" celebrated Independence Day at our old "adda" - rose garden...we got together and remembered the old days when we used to sit under the tree and study and listened to stories or played games. We also played our favourite game - "Dog in the bone". The kids simply adore this game and rarely miss out on the opportunity to play it when ever they get a chance. Jaspreet had joined us so we did a few minted of meditation also.

There were some new people who had come to meet the "chotti si asha" gang...while the circle of introduction and sharing was going on, it was quite amazing to hear some of the kids talking very honestly about themselves and what they have learn't or have not been able to learn in this last one year. it was really heart warming to see that most of them recognized their shortcomings and had the realization that they lack focus and they get bored very easily. Acceptance is the first step to improvement so i consider that quite a positive change.

daily wages...

i never imagined the marketing efforts to be so difficult!! the kids are making quite good stuff. So it is time for their work to be out in the market. There are two shops that are ready to display and sell our stuff...the response was good initially but it is a little slow. The kids want wages on a daily basis so the best way would be to get an order. one of the things that i am trying is to market our file folders with organizations that hold trainings, seminars, conferences etc. If you know of any such organizations, please let me know and i can pass on the pictures of file folders as well as samples if possible.

meanwhile, to encourage the kids and to provide them with a daily wage, i give them some money on a daily basis depending on the product that they make e.g. if i plan to sell a file folder for Rs. 70 then i give rs. 10 to whoever makes the file and the rest of the money (minus the cost of material) is given once the product is sold. the adolescent kids really responded to this change and are working hard to improve the quality of the product that they are making. And this method also keeps enough pressure on me to market their work :-)

finding a new place ...

The chandigarh administration has acquired the land where most of the kids of "chotti si asha" were living so they all have moved to Naya Gaon - a new settlement in the outskirts of chandigarh. The issue we are having is that our place is now too far off for the kids to come so the attendance has gone down.

We are thinking of moving to a place close to where the kids live or close to the market plaza where they come everyday to earn their living. I am also wanting that the new place we go to have facilities of a bathroom/shower where the kids can take a shower and we can teach the kids how to keep/maintain clothes. currently, they wear the same clothes till the clothes are worn out and then they arrange for a fresh pair and throw the old ones. i have often given them 2 pair of clothes thinking that they would maintain but they always end up losing the second pair. Therefore, i was thinking of a model where we have lockers for them where they can keep the second pair of cloth and learn to change as well as wash clothes. For making any such change, i would need a bigger place. Currently, we are working out of one single room where we do tailoring as well as other crafts, children activities like playing games, teaching etc. So a lot is going on in a single room and sometimes, it just becomes too noisy and chaotic. Therefore, a new place would do us good. The search is on :-) Let us see when will we be able to find one.

The exhibition is over and was quite a success. All of us loved working for it. But now we are a little stuck!! It is difficult to sustain the exhibition model as these street children/adults need a regular /everyday source of money. I have realized that before working on any other issue with these children, it is important to work on their income generation.

As part of that effort, we are trying to market the stuff that these boys are making. One of the items that we are making are shopping bags made of discarded and new clothes. As a marketing step, we are requesting different grocery stores in Chandigarh to keep these cloth bags at the check-out counter and give an option to the customer to buy these reusable bag (at a nominal cost of Rs 10) or use plastic. At the same time, we are also doing a drive against the use of plastic. Here is the picture of the bag that we are making-

The message on the bag is - "one less plastic bag for the environment,

one more alternative for the street children"

We are also making other items like environment friendly File Folders (perfect for use in a workshop), Jewellary, handbags, penstand etc. All these items are made mostly using waste material. Please see the pictures of some of the items in the blog entry below -

If you are interested in marketing any of these items, please write to me and I can send you the soft copy of our catalogue.

Please note that all the proceeds from the sale of these products directly go to these children.

The school did not work for Anike, Bobby and Aakash… there are various reasons…the foremost reason is the fact that “Sikhya” is very far off and the children have to be in the school from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. This means that these children cannot go to the market plaza to earn (by polishing or by begging). I was able to convince the families before the summer vacation but now that the school has re-opened, I faced the same resistance. In addition, the land on which they have their jhuggis/tents (they live on encroached land) is acquired by the government and they are required to move to a different location. The location that they are planning to move to is very far off from this school – Sikhya so the transportation would also be a problem. Plus, Anike, Bobby and Aakash are also reluctant to go to school because they want to continue coming to “Chotti Si Asha”.

It was a tough decision for me but I finally relented and have stopped persuading them to go to Sikhya…even if I am able to send them for a few days, I will not be able to sustain it since the desire is not there inside them. I continue to teach them at “chotti si asha” and will try again a few months later…may be by that time I will be able to convince them of the value to learn and grow and not just live by the day.

Meanwhile, I want to invite volunteers to help me in creating a curriculum for these children – a curriculum that I and the volunteers that come to us can follow. We are mainly teaching them Hindi, English and Maths. Please write to me if you are interested in participating in this endeavor.

“Chotti Si Asha” was started as an experiment about a year back…there were no big plans or agendas. The motivation was very simple - a desire to connect with this new city (Chandigarh) that I had come to live and to feel alive. The beginning was a simple visit to the market plaza of Chandigarh with an intention to connect with some children. As they say - you just have to have strong intentions everything else follows…that is exactly what happened. I went to the plaza and met two children who were polishing shoes and were begging at the same time. And I felt this urge to connect with them. So I sat along with them and chatted…we had lunch together and they told me a lot of things (most of it was a lie that I later found it) about themselves, gave me fake names and expressed a desire to learn to write. I asked them if they would like to meet me everyday so we can chat and learn new things from each other…they seemed to have liked the idea and so we set up a time for our next meeting.

The next day, I was there at the plaza but there was no sign of my new friends…obviously, they didn’t trust that I would come the next day. And so my search started…I started looking for them in the plaza and found them…we sat together with people staring at me and wondering what was I up to…I handed them a copy and a pencil. It seems that they were holding these things for the first time and the sheer joy of holding a pencil in their hand could be seen in their eyes, smile and expression.

So the experiment started evolving...for almost one whole month, I had to search for the kids in the plaza before we could start our daily activity that included drawing, playing, learning to write and story telling etc…slowly, our relationship grew and they started trusting that I would show up everyday. So we decided on a place in the rose garden and the kids started showing up on time. With time more people joined our group…most of the adults that joined the group were relatives of these young children who were begging/polishing shoes in the plaza. It was surprising to see the child-like characteristics of these elders boys…they would enjoy coloring as much as the kids, they would love to listen to fairy tales and would love to browse through story books with pictures, they would love to play games that we used to play at the age of 5 or 6…their understanding/reactions about a lot of things was very child-like. The only thing that they understood well was that they had to earn enough by the end of the day so as to feed their family and the best way to earn is through the younger kids in the group because they could beg.

I learnt a lot of things about them and their life. And tried (am still trying) not to be judgmental while working with them … their life is very very different from the life that I lead and so my judgments cannot be applied on them. It is a journey for me as well as these children/adults.

Some of the boys started learning stitching while the others started doing other craft work. We decided to put up an exhibition of the stuff that these kids made and that is when we realized that we needed a name. We chose – “chotti si asha”.

You can read more about our journey and our experiences so far on my blog - http://everydaytidbits.blogspot.com/

Follow this blog for our journey ahead :-)