CRY Volunteers North

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of the Republic of India, had his birthday on the 14 th of November. This day is also celebrated as Children’s Day in recognition of his lifelong passion and work for the welfare, education and development of children and young people. Celebrating the fun and frolic, on 11 th November 2018, volunteers from different PAG(Public Action Groups) of Delhi gathered at SWATI – a CRY project intervention area, for a day filled with cultural events which was performed by the children of those respective PAG’s. The children were ecstatic for the event to begin; the air was filled with happiness and cheer. Even parents came to support their children! We were accompanied by Damini, a professional Odisi dancer, who was made to judge the different competitions that had been organized. The event started around 12pm with roaring excitement. There were 5 teams in total-

“Karne wala naa dara, main kehne se kyon darun". A message can be conveyed in several ways and sometimes it is critical to convey your message to masses in a language that is friendly and they connect to the most. This tale of giving and receiving message is what we narrate at CRY to make it possible for the message to exist in the first place. What is the message??   It is about the many people who could potentially violate children and their boundaries. Through a series of Nukkad Naataks (street plays) we aspire to make this message come to the surface, to a plane where people at least feel free to discuss about an issue as critical as child protection. After a lot of street performances at several of our PAGs, on October 28 th , CRY volunteers went to a densely populated belt of Indirapuram to perform the play, raising voice against child sexual abuse. The performances narrated the stories of incidents between children and their relatives, their teache

If there is something that excites us Indians more than cricket (stereotypical, I know!), then it is the national holidays! This Independence Day, looking at all the elation around me, I wondered whether this zeal and enthusiasm had more to do with the ‘national’ or the ‘holiday’ aspect of this national holiday; whether the long history and sacrifices that the day was symbolic of, mattered at all. I feel, I asked this because, apart from the yawning morning faces during the Independence Day annual assemblies, there was hardly anything ‘nationalistic’ about my, and most of my friends’, Independence Day. The day, for us, was mostly about having an extra holiday- having more time to read and relax. Now, having become reasonably historically and politically aware, I regret having not had the opportunity to actively and consciously engage in activities of symbolic significance to mark the day. Instead of the jargon-laden, complicated speeches, I wish we could have been made sen

Life is a calendar and every day is a festival, but then come the special days which are designed to celebrate some significant stories which are passed over generations. Just like every other year, Rakshabandhan came with the story celebrating the bond of siblings and to remark that day, an event was organized on 25 th August, 2018 by SAKSHAM- a CRY supported initiative, to celebrate the beautiful festival of Rakhi at Shahbad Dairy, Badli. It included guests from various fields such as Ms. Sarika Chaudhary (DCW), Ms. Ira Singhal (SDM Alipur, IAS) and Ms. Jyoti Rathi (DCPCR) as Chief Guests. The true colors of the event were reflected because of the presence of the children and a variety of volunteers were the ones who made it smooth.  The event started with an address by Mr. Santlal, the Director of Saksham, in which he raised the issue of women security and how we need to ensure a secured environment to our sisters. He also included the fact that many girls are fulfil

On the 11 th of August, we, at CRY, in collaboration with Hope of People Everywhere, organised an event on “Self-defence” for children from our Public Action Group at Dwarka. It goes without saying what a thoughtfully chosen topic, “self-defence”, is for an event catering to the children of our society. In today’s climate, not only the lives of girls, but that of every child, irrespective of gender and age, is in constant danger whenever they step out of the house. Sometimes, threats to individual safety and integrity loom within the households, under the guise of relatives who have perverted the sanctity of the relation that they share with the child. The newspapers thrust before our face such grim realities and frightening truths almost every day, that individual safety is something, everyone should genuinely worry about. Given the not so colourful and happy scenario, the two teams conceived an event that serves the need of the hour. What is the need of the hour, you ask? It is the

  “Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows “- Pablo Picasso This beautiful line by Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest artists in history, says it all. The use of imagination in creation of aesthetic objects, environment or experiences that can be shared with others is art and the when this art is used in the form of expressing our inner self to the outer world and using a creative process to improve one’s physical , mental and emotional well-being, it turns into an Art therapy . This is certainly what happened across 10 days of amazing Art therapy sessions which were organized by CRY, while collaborating with ongoing powerful mission of The Red Pencil, a non – profitable organization that teaches how art can be used to wash the dust of daily life off our souls. The event was a 10 day journey where our children were made to find their inner self and express it through paintings. The two art therapists, Sara and Disha, wh

SPORTS. It is, that aspect of life which some of us take for granted, some are reluctant to embrace it or worse, some stay ignorant of its miracles. However, some children in our society do not have the luxury to strike off or add sports to their bucket list. Unfortunate as it sounds, to them the idea of coming out and playing in the open is so alien that when some of our volunteers approached them regarding the same, they were apprehensive and mostly unwilling. As our team of dedicated volunteers persisted gently, they were eventually successful in convincing the children to come out and experience something different from the day to day activities of their lives. 17 th of June 2018, at around 9:30 am in the morning our group of volunteers of CRY East Delhi PAG assembled in a vast expanse of barren field, with a number of intrigued little innocent faces, eagerly waiting for the big “surprise”, that was thoughtfully planned out for them, to unfold. The workshop, in colla

Living healthy is the ideal way of life, but in today’s fast moving world, our bodies are left unchecked and sometimes untreated. The importance of the saying, ‘A healthy mind resides in a healthy body,’ is starting to be recognised by the people. To make sure that this proverb resonates with the actions at CRY, we conducted a Health Camp to create awareness among the children, along with their parents, and educate them on how a healthy body impacts our lives. The event was conducted on 8 th June in the Gurgaon PAG, where the CRY volunteers, along with the doctors of The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) kicked -off the fun-filled, yet educational day. The event started around 10:00 A.M. and the doctors quickly got on with the check-ups of children and their parents, teaching them the basics of hygiene and how it can easily be achieved. The turnaround was huge; approximately 95 children and parents turned up in few hours that the camp was held. The credi

For CRY, the health of children has always been a major focus, and this year, they planned on documenting what all issues the children of the East Delhi PAG faced. Over the past few months, the CRY volunteer team in the East Delhi PAG had already been working intensively on increasing health awareness- from developing a questionnaire on personal hygiene and open defecation, to their visits to local PHC (primary health centers), Government hospitals, etc.- the team had been very active. On 5 th May, 2018, a day before the World Health Organization’s Hand Hygiene Day, CRY organized a Health Care drive at the East Delhi PAG, in Ghaziabad. Continuing since the World Health Day, this project focused on teaching children the importance of health care and personal hygiene. Managed by Himanshi, a CRY intern and her team of co-interns, the drive began early morning with six doctors present at the location. The event kicked off with the children interacting with the doc

Although this particular chapter in my life is from August 2017, I hope it helps others to understand how we, as humans, can create an impact in our own little ways. I was looking at NGOs for my internship when I came across CRY. Interning with them meant joining a Public Action Group (PAG) situated in the suburbs of the city and helping the children there. I took it up as a challenge. As expected, the initial days were difficult- I was constantly juggling between teaching the kids Mathematics & English and basic day to day etiquettes. Never had I ever done anything like this before, and the task started to look daunting to me. However, it did not take long for me to adjust. Within a week of working with the kids, they became my friends- I knew their names, what subject they liked, their strengths, their areas of improvement etc. Every day, I went with only one motive in mind- to teach them something new. The one thing common in all these kids was that they want