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.