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.
2 comments:
On the "losing the second pair of clothes" issue, the first thought, and i think very real thought that comes to mind is that they would be selling them, or exchanging them off for something else. its a very natural extension... when they have something that is an extra, and they need something else more... they'll trade (either for money or goods)
Abhishek,
i would have thought the same had i not known them but believe me, they lose the second pair. The reason is simple - they don't have any place to keep the extra clothing. they live in make-do tents that are already crowded with people. the only thing they own is bag in which they carry their polish, brush etc and they don't want to overload that bag since they have to carry it the whole day.
- Liza
Post a Comment