Mumbai Street Children, India Charity, MSCEN, Mumbai Street Children Empowerment Network, Mumbai Children Charity

CORP activities for the children

The various activities held for the children were: -

• Magic Bus: Children have sessions in sports conducted by Magic bus once a week on Monday. Children are being trained in football. On 17th April children took part in a sports competition conducted by Magic Bus.
• Dancing feat: The project dancing feat is going on quite well with the children. They are learning dance, life skill education and have counseling sessions. About 20 children took part in the stage show organized by Shamak Davar at Bandra. At the life skill session children have so far covered lessons in communication, relationship building, knowing myself, decision making, coping with emotions, prevention and living with HIV, substance abuse, reaching my goal and growing up.
• Workshop: A one day workshop was organized by CORP on 21st January for children from 10 different NGO’s on personality development and behaviour changes. About 44 children took part in this workshop from different NGOs .it was conducted through different games to make understanding easier.
• Competitions: - Children took part in the Lion’s club cultural programme where they performed a group skit on communal harmony. Children also took part in cultural programmes conducted by Sanjeevani organization and by Navjeevan.
• Awareness Programmes – On the 26th of June an awareness programme on drug abuse was conducted by doctors from District AIDS control society. About 92 children benefited from this programme through an interactive session. Awareness programmes on various health topics was also organized during the year. Some of the topics were on cleanliness, drug addiction and schizophrenia. Mediums like film shows and poster exhibitions were made use of for the programme. A two-day workshop on HIV/AIDS was held on 18th & 19th May by resource from World Vision.
• Recreational activities: Children took part in the Mount Mary fair on the 16th of September. About 22 children got to play the different rides and see a magic show.
• Get to gather: Children also took part in a get together programme organized by childline for children from different organizations. About 26 children from the organization took part in various games and cultural activities
• Festival Celebrations: The children with great enthusiasm celebrated the festival of lights. Children burst crackers, had special snacks and even painted each other’s face. Children from the streets too got an opportunity to enjoy the Christmas Eve at the center. They enacted the birth of Jesus, were given the Christmas lunch and gifts.
• Vocational Training: Apart from weaving, screen-printing, envelope making and chalk making Children were given vocational training in phenyl making, candle making and making of paper bags. About 13 children were given training in weaving.
• V.B.S – A three-day vacation bible school was organized for 20 children at children’s campsite, Kamangaon from the 16th to 19th October. Children were taught spiritual values and right living.

The Sharanam shelter for girls is aimed at collecting and protecting those whose joys of childhood and the rights to normal living had been crushed. The center was tribute to their resilience and independence. It is a safe and nurturing home for 30 street girls between the age of 4 and 15 years. Located in Mahim the shelter rescues street girls from a life of poverty, ill health, abuse and sexual exploitation. 16 girls go to the private school, 9 attend the Municipal school at Dharavi and 4 are attending English medium school in different classes from Jr.KG to 9th. In the afternoon there they are given special coaching class in group by two teachers. Besides academic studies , children have their computer classes , classical dance, karate and sports.

• Computer Class: Three children joined the computer classes at NIIT in the month of April. They are learning the basics in computer and the other children have their classes at the center itself.
  
  
  
  
• Dancing Feat: The dancing feat project was held twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They are taught dance, life skill education and have counseling sessions. On 24th April 2006, dancing feat stage show was organized at St.Andrew’s Auditorium at Bandra. Children from other NGO have also participated in this programme.
• Competitions: On 15th January, children took part in the Lions Club Dance programme. Children of different stream were present like handicap, hearing impaired, blind and street children. Girls of Sharanam performed a group dance and two solos dance very well and were appreciated by all. It was a full day programme and snacks were given to all children. Neelam won 1st prize in solo dance.
• Programme at MMK College Bandra: On 22nd of January students of MMK College organized a programme. Different NGO's like Vatsalya, Pratham etc attended the programme. First children were taken to McDonalds to eat burger and sandwich. The staff of McDonalds gave detail information about menu and how to make snacks? After the breakfast they took part in sports and cultural programmes. The Sharanam children performed a dance and two solo songs.
• Magic Bus: Sports session for the children is held once a week. On 17th April children were taken for a one-day trip to the Borivili national park. They took part in hiking and various other activities in the park. Magic Bus took children for a camp to Amboli near Karjat on 12th and 13th of August 2006 were they opportunity to see the fort and they were given information about Fort. Magic Bus at Matheran also organized a day trip. They were taken to the hills and picnic spots. The children enjoyed a lot viewing the nature and stream.
• Vacation Programme: On 12th May 2006 cooking class was organized at the center. Mrs. Sudha gave a demonstration on “Palak Paneer”, which was very tasty. Children were even eager to eat it while children it was being cooked. Since children were very busy in the month of April because of their final exam and other programme at the center, a get together programme was organized on 1st week of May. They were shown a comedy film “Malamal”.
  
  
  
  
• Exposure visit: On 17th May children visited HDFC Bank. The bank manager introduced about the different departments of the bank and how they function. The object of the visit was that the children should be aware to select their career after SSC and HSC and they can choose their career on their own and stand on their own feet. On 9th June 2006 staff of web Access visited the center. They gave information about computer programme. What is animation and how to operate? They organized some cartoon network programme. They showed how to make cartoon programmes on network and how to operate computer. Children were happy and excited to see the programme and enjoyed a lot.
• Art Workshop (Warli Painting): On 20th of May an Art workshop was organized at the Center. The resource person from Mastek Company and United way participated in this programme. Mrs. Uma explained about Art. She explained that warli painting is an art of tribal communities. How people at earlier times decorated their houses at the time of festivals, marriages and important events. Now this painting is famous in the world. After that she gave painting to practice and explained how to paint.
• Family Life Education Training: This was a one-week programme. The children in the age group of 10 to 15 participated in this programme. The staff from “World Vision” gave different types of information through poster, film show, flash card, games and puppet show. The aim of this training was to make the children aware of their responsibility and explain to them about How to face problem. On the last day they gave training on “AIDS” its causes and how it spreads from one another. This is very useful information for children.
• Classical Dance Class: Children continued to have their weekly class in Bharatnatyam. About 14 children appeared for their exams to different classes. Children are quick in learning and perform very well.
• Festival Celebrations: Festival celebrations are a great event for the children at the center. All major festivals are celebrated in its own ritualistic way. Children celebrated the festival of Holi, rakshabandhan, Ganapati and Dassera at the center. They were taken to a pandal for darshan on the eve of Ganpati. Children also played the dandiya during Navratri in the traditional costume. This is one of the favorite events for the children. The children also celebrated Christmas in a grand way.
  
  
  
  
• Bandra Fair: On 14th September, children were taken to the Bandra fair and beach at Bandra. The programme was organized and sponsored by Krupa Foundation. They had different rides. They were shown Puppet show and Magic. Children also sung different songs and danced. Children of underprivileged from different NGO have participated in this programmed.
• Eye Camp: Eye check-up camp was organized for all children. Haji Bachaoli Hospital Parel did this camp. One child Sujana Yesu who is 5 years old was advised for treatment from Bachaoli Hospital because of her red eyes.
• Fund Raising programme of Sneha organization: On 23rd of September 2006 a fund raising programme of Sneha was organized at St.Andrews Auditorium. Since Sharanam center and Sneha is working together for medical and other activities, our children performed a dance. Professional and famous dignitaries like Malaika, Rohit Verma, Fashion designers and dancer Mr. Sandeep participated in this programme; the whole programme was conducted very well.
• Yoga: Volunteer Mrs. Sudha gave Yoga training for children. The methods of yoga like, Omkar, Naman Mudra, Vajrasan and Bhramari were taught to the children. She also explained the importance of Yoga for our health. Children are now practicing this in their daily life.
• Embroidery Class: Embroidery class was held for children and different stitches and designs were taught to them. It also explained the importance, and beauty of the embroidery.

At the mobile dispensary of CORP visits were organized once a week. On an average 25-30 children are examined on each visit. Medicines are given to children on each visit. The area chosen for the visits are Crawford market, Dadar Prabhadevi and Durgadevei center Grant road. This year we have been able to network with an NGO Sunbeam and two visits a month are conducted at their centers located in two different areas. Response from children is very good during the visit. This year we have been able to reach out to 500 children. One doctor and 2 staff accompany the mobile van.