In the company of children

I've spent plenty of time around children. I have lots of cousins, I tutored a 2nd grade class during my freshman year in college, and I worked in a pediatrician's office during my college summers. They are cute (most of the time), funny (a lot of the time), and clever (more often than you'd think). They can make you smile one second and want to rip your hair out the next. Some people love them and other people can barely stand to be around them. Whatever your opinion, you can't argue that children aren't important. After all, they are the future.

The children I've met in the slums are among the most amazing people I've ever come across in my life. You read that right. People. In addition to being cute and funny, they are also more responsible than some people my age and know more about "real life" than they probably should. Yet in spite of the troubles they've faced growing up in the slums, they are still children: they giggle when we smile at them and use our subpar Hindi to call them beautiful, they teach us secret handshakes and laugh when we mess them up, they ask us personal questions that only children would think are appropriate, and they argue over who gets to play badminton first in the Asha center courtyard. You'd never know these kids face hardships that most of us can't imagine every day of their lives.

Children in Asha's bal mandal groups come together to learn about various health issues (such as TB, hygiene, sanitation, substance abuse, etc) and discuss the goings-on in their lanes. Each bal mandal has a leadership group - consisting of a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer - that comes up with an agenda for each meeting. Although Asha staff members sometimes supervise group meetings, they are led by the leadership team for the most part. 

Bal mandal members are tasked to check up on around 10 houses in their lane to make sure pregnant women are going in for their doctor's appointments, moms are getting their children vaccinated, children are going to school, and pressing issues are being dealt with. They are respected in their community and seen as liaisons between community members and the potentially life-saving services they can get from Asha.

As we walked through the narrow alleyways of Trilokpuri slum with Lakshmi and Priyanka, we saw how effective these children actually are in encouraging healthy behaviors in their community. Each woman we visited warmly greeted us and eased into a comfortable conversation with Lakshmi and Priyanka about whatever health issues were relevant in their homes. The girls were able to give us a rundown on each home we visited: how many children under 5 lived there, current health issues faced by family members, jobs family members held, whether the children in the home were attending school, and what grade they were in. No one we visited refused to speak with the girls. Rather, they all seemed very happy to see them and comfortable speaking to them about their health and family.

I am so grateful to have been able to spend so much time with these children and just hope that I was able to provide them with a bit of encouragement to keep doing what they're doing because I have faith that all their hard work and determination will one day pay off. When we asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up we received a variety of answers from pilot to police detective to astronaut to doctor to engineer to teacher (the most popular answer). I hope these children continue to be remarkable citizens in their communities while never losing sight of their dreams. 

My GivenGain page is still open for 21 more days. If the stories and pictures I've posted in my blog and my web album have touched you in any way, please consider making a donation to Asha to help provide the resources these children and other slum dwellers need to stay healthy and improve their lives: http://www.givengain.com/activist/62871/projects/1503/. 

If you can't make a monetary donation but still want to help or if you've already donated but want to do more, you can send old books, clothes, school supplies, and holiday decorations (all in good condition, of course) to Asha's head office which will distribute them to the slum centers:

Asha Community Health and Development Society

Ekta Vihar, Sector 6, R.K. Puram

New Delhi 110022

India

All the best,

A