Educational Trip for Poor Children by LEADer Saibindu and Shashidhar

Children getting off the bus in Hampi

Without any resources, destitute children lack to ability to explore and learn about the world around them. LEADers Saibindu and Shashidhar from Veerashaiva College wanted to give the opportunity to these children to do that which they would otherwise never get the chance.

Saibindu and Shashidhar took 42 children from the destitute children home in Bellari to the historical town and sites of Hampi. After getting permission from the home, teaching themselves all the key information about Hampi historical sites to teach to the students, they transported the students to Hampi in a bus they rented with funding from LEAD.

LEADers with some of the teachers
and children

This one-of-a-kind project made the children so happy and excited, all while learning about the different temples and ruins in Hampi and seeing the Hospet Dam. They were able to experience travelling to visit a very famous place, and the LEADers felt very proud that they were able to help the children forget about their poverty and sadness for even one day, and hopefully motivate them for future.

There were no doubt challenges, including receiving all the appropriate permissions as well as ensuring the safety of the children and getting tickets for the monuments for each one. However, the LEADers and children both thoroughly enjoyed the day and learned a lot.

Media coverage of the project

Hygiene for Slum Children by LEADer Amrita Raj

LEADer Amrita Raj from ABR PG College Anpara was concerned about the wellbeing of the slum children in her area. Instead of doing doing, she took action with a LEAD project in order to make a small positive change to give these children closer to the standard of living she had during her upbringing through hygiene kits.

Collecting funds door-to-door

First, Amrita gathered a team and went door-to-door collecting donations from the wealthier areas of her community. While it was difficult to convince people to give them their hard earned money, Amrita focused on explaining why their project mattered to the lives of the slum children and built trust and credibility by explaining about the LEAD program. Eventually, Amrita and her team collected 3500 Rs.

Amrita and the team making the bags

Using old newspapers to create the bags, which lowered the cost and reduced waste, Amrita and her team filled these packages with basic hygiene products for babies and young children, including shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.

The team distributed over 150 hygiene packages to young children and mothers with babies in the slum area. For Amrita, the best part was seeing how excited the young children were to receive anything new and just for them, even simple hygiene products.

Changing Children's Mindsets with LEADer Priyanka S

LEADer Priyanka S from Rajkiye Mahila Mahavidalaya College, Varanasi, always considered herself a simple girl, but through her projects in LEAD, is now proud to be a leader. This transformation started from her very first project in LEAD, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

Priyanka with some of the children at a session

Priyanka noticed that many of the children in her community lacked the basic knowledge, common sense, and morals that were expected of children when she grew up. Instead of sitting idley by, Priyanka took the LEAD slogan to heart: “Complaints start with they… solutions start with I”.

Priyanka contacted all the families in her community, and ended up gathering over 80 students for several educational sessions over the period of one month. At these sessions, Priyanka focused on teaching the basic knowledge and morality through games, and also incorporated her love and gift for dance, singing, and painting to the sessions. It was a rousing success, with the students truly enjoying their time and Priyanka noticing a changing mindset in the young children in her community after the sessions.

While it was a major challenge to convince the parents to bring their children to the sessions, Priyanka’s drive to change the local children helped her push through. In the end, her passion to change the children for the better is something she had in common with the parents, and this why she thinks she succeeded is getting so many children to be a part of her project.

Some of the children dancing

Education for Prisoner's Children with LEADer Anand K

Anand preparing to enter the prison
with school supplies for the children

LEADer Anand K from BHU has a project that is tackling an issue many of us do not think about: children living in prisons. Along with his brother, fellow LEAD student Shrikant, “Little Krishna” began in order to help these neglected children escape the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and criminal behaviour. Anand was worried about how if children of the prisoners were not being educated, they would not help India move forward and would likely become criminals themselves.

The first major success of the project came when they were given permission to run their education program in one of the prisons near Varanasi. Prior to their project, no NGO or organizations had been given permission to work in the prison, so this was a huge accomplishment.

First, Anand and Shrikant identified the educated prisoners in the jail to find out who may be able to teach the children on a regular basis. After this, they led a session for the children, parents of children, and the educated prisoners, distributing school supplies and telling about the importance of these children being educated. So far, 3 sessions have been held in the jail, and 2 similar sessions elsewhere: 1 in the slum area, and 1 at the brick-making facility.

Session with slum children

Anand found that a serious challenge was that many parents did not want their children educated, because then they are unable to make money for their imprisoned parents. However, this project aims to appeal to their love for their children, encouraging them to understand that education will make a better life for their child later on.

During this project, Anand learned important skills such as how to speak to authority figures and how to motivate. Currently a BA student, Anand hopes to eventually get a job in social work, and believes this project has contributed to him finding this passion and building skills he will need in the future.

LEaders say no to crackers on Diwali to help feed 35 malnourished children

“We can observe that, most of the youth waste a lot of money for crackers on the occasion of Diwali, which causes a lots of sound and air pollution.”, says LEader Satya Phanindra. Her and her fellow team members Vardhini, Sneha, Harshitha, Navatha, Kalyan, Vikas, Vinay (VREC) decided that they wanted to make things different this year for Diwali. They decided to approach people and ask them to, instead of spending their money on polluting crackers, donate to children suffering from malnutrition. Hence, they fundraised enough to provide a proper meal for 35 malnourished children. They then went to Tagore's Vidyaniketan School and not only distributed the food, but also interacted and played with the children, and even toaught them some dance. This as very special and much appreciated time, and reinforces their idea that “a small gesture can go a long way in reducing someone's pain.”

          

 

Belgaum LEADers Conduct Joy of Giving Week; Collect Rs. 10000 for Orphanage

LEADer Shivaprasad from GIT had previously conducted a project in which he and his team collected funds from the public for the children of the Aadhar Orphanage.  While he felt satisfied with that initiative, he wanted to help them further.  He wanted to provide them with clothes, stationary materials, blankets, and other items that they were lacking.  After consulting with the college Principal, Shivaprasad and his team conducted Joy of Giving Week, in which they visited all classes and staff rooms and informed them about the children of the orphanage and collected funds and necessities.  The team also hung several banners around campus to create awareness.

At the end of the week, Shivaprasad and his team successfully collected Rs. 10,000, over 80 articles of clothing, and several stationary items.  Shortly after Joy of Giving Week had ended, the team visited the orphanage to donate the funds and the items and to spend some quality time with the children.  They played games with the children and and even interacted with some of the orphanage staff members. 

Davangere LEADer Brings Happiness to Blind School Children Through Art

LEADer Vinay of UBDT College always had a soft spot for blind school children.  He always wondered how he could help them.  To add some enjoyment to their lives, Vinay decided to give them the opportunity to explore their artistic skills.  Vinay helped them make Ganesh, elephant, and other figurines out of clay.  Through this project, the students learned how to follow instructions and got hands on learning and creative exposure.  At the end of the day, the blind school children felt really happy and were awarded certificates. 

Project: Helping Hand to Government School and Kids

Chidanand (A.S.S. College, Gadag)

Primary education is the most important educational foundation.  However, many government schools lack the necessary resources and materials to provide quality primary education to children. Recognizing this, Chidanand wanted to help a local government school nursery.  He organized a team of fellow students and together they visited the school and noted down a list of necessary items that the school needed.  Chidanand and his team were able to provide chairs, books, and slates for 30 children.  By improving their learning environment, these children will now be receiving a better education, thereby increasing their chances for a brighter future. 

Project: Remand Home

Shreekant Itager (BIET College)

A recently-joined LEAD member, Shreekant wanted to devote his first project to creating enjoyment for remand home children.  He and his friends spent one day with children of single parents and conducted fun games and activities for the children.  Prizes were awarded to winners and active participants.  Implementing this project created many happy memories for both the children and the LEADers, and Shreekant felt very proud about his initiative.

Project: Improving the Skills of Rural Students

Vijayalaxmi (SKSVMACET)

Rural children often do not receive much exposure to societal issues and other forms of creative expression.  Vijayalaxmi conducted a a camp for rural children in Ranebennur.  During the camp, she exposed the children to a variety of activities to help them become more aware of the world around them and to help them achieve their own potential.  Among the many activities she led, Vijayalaxmi taught the students about the importance of higher education, awareness about food wastage, awareness about pollution, how to improve creativity, and teamwork and time management.

Project: Two-Day Camp for Rural Kids

Kavya (SKSVMACET)

Rural children often do not receive much exposure to societal issues and other forms of creative expression.  Kavya conducted a two-day camp for rural children in Bommanahalli.  During the camp, she exposed the children to a variety of activities to help them become more aware of the world around them and to help them achieve their own potential..  Among the many activities she led, Kavya taught the students about the importance of higher education, awareness about food wastage, awareness about pollution, an introduction about LEAD, tricky mind games, ad making, dance and skit performances. 

Project: Early Age Marriage

Usha Raju Kamble (SJPN Trust's BCA College)

In Solapur, child marriage is still very common.  To help these girls, Usha made a team and together they visited Solapur to educate the people.

While in Solapur, Usha and her team met with the Gram Panchayath and other villagers.  Through PPT presentations, group discussions, and door-to-door visits, Usha and her team members worked to convince the people of the disadvantages of child marriage. 

More than 150 people benefited from Usha's efforts and gave her positive feedback.  Usha says that this project helped her increase her self-confidence and motivated her to take on more problems in society.

Project: Quenching the Thirst

Shweta Gudshi (HSIT, Nidasoshi)

With the summer heat fast approaching, Shweta recognized that finding ample drinking water could become an issue.  She was especially concerned about how a local orphanage would deal with this water problem.  To help the orphanage, she purchased a mud pot and donated it to the orphanage.  She also spent some quality time with the children of the orphanage. 

In the future, Shweta hopes to implement this project on a larger scale. 

Project: Teaching Creativity to Orphaned Children

Priyanka Chaugule

Priyanka wanted to help orphaned children build up their self-confidence because she felt that orphaned children are oftentimes forgotten in society.  So, she and her team members approached the principal of an orphanage school  to get permission to conduct creativity lessons for the orphan students. 

Through the creativity lessons, the students were given the chance to showcase their talents and strengths while expressing their emotions.  Priyanka commented that the most challenging aspects of the project were getting permission from the college Principal and staff, and managing the students. However, Priyanka is very happy that she "[fought] for what she wanted" and that she was able to provide memorable experiences for the children. 

Project: Fund Collection for HIV Positive Kids

Pallavi Kannur (KLECET)

Pallavi had always wanted to help children with HIV.  His LEAD project gave him an opportunity to do just that.  He organized a team consisting of 11 members and, one morning in December, they set out towards the city market and collected funds from the public until the evening.  While it was sometimes difficult for them to convince people to donate money, Pallavi and his teammates all enjoyed working on the project.  Pallavi reflects positively on his LEAD project experience because he feel he has made a difference in the lives of children with HIV, and he is also proud of the personal growth he himself has experienced.

Project: Basic Needs for Government School

Gururaj S. K. (Maratha Mandal Engineering College)

Gururaj sought to improve the learning environment for students at a government school.  He mobilized the local people to help the children.  Gururaj was successfully able to collect and donate over 30 notebooks, a medical kit, information charts, and sports equipment.  By bringing these basic, yet necessary items to the school, the children are able to focus more on learning.

Project: Sapathrang

Alisha A Shiledar (KLECET)

Alisha believes that "All children are born with talent, but they can only shine if we help and guide them." Alisha noticed that government school children have a lot of talent, but do not ahve the opportunity to showcase their talents.  Alisha wanted to give these students the opportunity to explore their talents, lift their spirits, and encourage them to face their fears. 

While the government school children attended weekly art classes, the class structure consisted of simply copying drawings from the teacher.  Alisha wanted the children to generate their own ideas and create art from those ideas. To accomplish this, Alisha and her team  conducted a two-day art competition for the children.  The competition was comprised of drawing, painting, model making, acting, and singing. 

Project: Sending the Slum Children Back to School

Alisha A Shiledar (KLECET)

Alisha met a small girl named Usma.  Usma used to skip school to help her mother, who worked as a maid, with her work.  Alisha asked Usma why she didn't school, and Usma replied that she loves going to school, but she needs to help her mother in order for them to earn their livelihoods.  Alisha felt touched by Usma's story, and soon realized that Usma was not child not going to school. 

Alisha went to Usma's school and spoke with her teacher to find the root causes behind children not coming to school.  She then formed a team and went to Usma's school and tried to enhance the learning environment by playing games with the children and conducting different competitions.  Alisha's team also organized a program for the mothers of the children and taught them the importance of education. 

While Alisha did face many challenges convincing the parents to keep their children in school, she was able to successfully communicate with them.  Now, more than 20 children are attending school regularly. 

Project: Art Workshop in Summer Camp

Veeresh (BIET College)

Veeresh conducted arts and crafts classes for summer champ children to help them practice creative thinking and to give them the opportunity to showcase their hidden talents.  With his team of LEADers, Veeresh taught the children how to make different crafts such as egg men, pen stands,  name boards, paper flowers, and more.  25 children participated in Veeresh's arts and crafts classes.  Veeresh says that what he enjoyed most about the project was uplifting the spirits of the children.

 

Project: Awareness for Computer Education

Vinnit T (BIET College)

The 21st century is known as the era of technology.  Computers are essentially required for every person.  In India, though, technology has yet to reach all government schools.  Realizing this, Vinnit conducted computer training classes for Remand home school children.  These classes gave students the opportunity to explore their curiosities about computers and to learn the basic computer skills that will surely improve their chances for success in the future.  Vinnit additionally distributed 25 books to the children.