At Mangor Hill in Vasco, you begin walking past the narrow lane with open doors running on both the sides and by the time you reach a tiny open space in the middle of this slum, your nose gets accustomed to the peculiar aroma of food cooking, mixed with stink flowing from the open gutters. But even that fades into the background when you see the kids, from KG to class VII, standing and waving.
Girija Padra and Savita Patil, Teertha Hullur and Swati Gaudar, Shanta Ardharatti and Kavita Mahalingpur, Radhika Mazgi and Prema Madar “ their faces may look different but their smiles are alike “ broad and bright. If these two dozen underprivileged kids from the Mangor Hill slum in Vasco have one thing to share with the rest of the effluent world, it is their dreams, which they drew on the bookmarks they created to raise funds to buy books. “Our black and white world turned colourful with the entry of these young volunteers from Nanhe Tare, a group of college students, who began interacting with us and tutoring us since June 2015,” shares Prema Walikar, a dropout and the most mature among the crowd. Prema is expressive and good at language. She loves to learn and draw. Sadly, Prema had to leave school after class VII. Had she continued, this year she would have been in std VIII at the government high school, Mangoor.
“I have four young siblings, two brothers and two sisters, who I have to look after in the absence of my parents. Prema’s’ mother, a domestic maid, works in five homes while her father works at the airport. An undernourished Prema looks younger than her age, though she will be celebrating her 14th birthday on January 3. She even replaces her mother whenever she is ill and works in two-three homes. “I can’t work in all five homes,” admits Prema who attends the Nanhe Tare get together every Sunday evening to keep in touch with the process of learning.
“With the help of the material provided by us these kids have made book marks drawing Christmas theme on them. We offered them free will to choose any theme they like and draw or paint. Some have used just pencils, others sketch pens and created beautiful pictures “ using their own imaginations, states Akshaya Sundararajan, who is doing in Development at Azim Premji University in Bangalure. “We started Nanhe Tare’s second branch at Vasco with the help of Akshaya after the first one started in Margao in March 2015,” briefs Crishnaa Verenkar, a 22-year graduate who started a group called ‘Healers’ undertaking five different projects, one of which is teaching slum kids. Doing her masters in sociology and doing her internship at ‘Stepping Stone’ an Al Shaddai project for orphan kids in Margao, Crishnaa is all set to enrol Healers as a non-governmental organisation. “We do awareness through Facebook and Instagram but though people send us likes, they are not willing to share a rupee. Yes, we accept even a rupee,” says Crishnaa, who thought of raising funds for the slum kids through the bookmarks. “The kids are smart and deserve to live a life of dignity when they grow up as adults. We are just extending a helping hand to make them self-independent,” says Akshaya. Two more Nanhe Tare volunteers, Pooja Kumari and Smita take the classes when Akshaya is in Bengaluru.
“Teacher didis (sisters) take us on picnics too. Last year we went to Aviation Museum and Hollant beach. They also took us to visit two old age homes on Christmas eve. This year as we don’t have funds, we shall be visiting only one old age home on Sunday,” shares Suma Walikar, Prema’s younger sister who is schooling. The siyng carols and dance before distributing biscuits to the elderly. “The kids had never seen an old age home and all of them cried when we took them to two old age homes last year. We try to introduce the concept of sharing joy with the elderly and respect them,” shares Crishnaa..
Incidentally, it’s all girls at Nanhe Tare. The volunteers are girls and all the 23 students are girls, except 8-year-old Sanket Nari, who is often teased by the girls “ ‘Sanket Nari, Sab se bhaari’. Though most of the parents allow their kids to attend this Sunday class, there are few who do not want their children to learn. “Don’t spoil our girls with education,” beg some gender-biased mothers who have stopped their teenage daughters from going to schooling only because they want them to help with household chores and take care of the younger siblings. “Boys here do not take learning seriously,” says Akshaya, adding, “They just loiter around and only peek in but are not keen in learning life skills, unlike these girls who love to enhance their skills and educate themselves. It is for the sake of these girls that we are planning to teach skills like tailoring to their mothers so that we can befriend them and coax them to allow their daughters to get an education.”
