Hello Friends! Here’s the latest from HCL – as the lockdown restrictions have eased, we have been able to very cautiously resume some of our activities, with all the precautions. This quarter, we have been engaged in educating the children about hygiene, social distancing and use of protective measures. This quarter has also been about learning for us and we have devised innovative methods for maximizing the use of the local resources available.

Tuitions

We have started tuition classes in Math, English & Science in three batches in the morning as well as in the evening.  A total of 65 children from classes 4 to 11 from Seem and four other surrounding villages attend these classes.  We regret that due to space related restrictions, we had to send back some children who were keen to join. What is really heartening is that the attendance has been near 100% for the 3 months that these classes have been going on.  We hope to continue these tuitions till as long as the schools remain closed.

distribution of Saafkins reusable sanitary pads

As the lockdown restrictions continued, we saw that there was an increasing demand for Saafkins. We really appreciate the manufacturers, Livinguard Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai, having supplied 100 packets to us for distribution, free of cost. Seeing the positive response to this we have decided to make Saafkins easily available to the girls & women of the area regularly through adequate budgetary allocations.

Sewing classes for women

Since the lockdown began, we started getting requests from the women to also organize sewing classes. We were lucky to connect with Rohini and Tautik, a couple based in Peora, about 30 kilometers from here, who have agreed to conduct these classes. Both of them are graduates from NIFT and have worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years. They gladly designed a basic sewing training programme for 6 hours a week which would be spread over 3 – 4 months.

While the library operates as a space for children from Monday to Friday, it also becomes a centre for young enthusiastic women who want to acquire a new skill during the weekends. 21 young girls and women participate in the sewing workshop.

We hope that these classes will continue and that the trainees have the choice of a new livelihood option. Keeping that in mind, we have invested in the purchase of sewing machines and related sewing materials.

independence day celebrations

Due to restrictions on public gatherings, we decided to celebrate Independence Day 2020 with a “prabhat pheri” in the village. It was a welcome change for the kids and they all happily crafted national flags and made message boards. The kids walked through the village singing patriotic songs.  The pheri culminated in the village temple where some village elders spoke to the children about Independence Day and how they used to participate in similar prabhat pheris during their school days. The session concluded with the distribution of jalebis and biscuits.

Visit by Rajeve, Ajay & Sahashtra

Rajeve, a close friend of ours who was also instrumental in arranging the children’s trip to Agra last year visited the library along with two of his friends on 16^th of August. The trio interacted with the children and gave them valuable inputs. Sahashtra, an acclaimed photographer, explained and demonstrated how to use a DSLR camera and Ajay offered technical ITI training for one child every year.

We also took this opportunity to distribute cash prizes to all our meritorious students who excelled in the recently announced results of last year’s final examination.

Writing workshop

Yamini, a regular supporter of the library, specially designed a five day online writing workshop for the children from classes 5 – 8 in the last week of August. The kids were very excited about this and we got some interesting insights to their thoughts.  

Computer classes

We were very fortunate to rope in Deepak, a BA student who lives in Satoli, to conduct computer classes from 1^st of September.  He has made himself comfortable in Seem and holds classes for 6 hours daily.  The children have been divided into 10 groups with 5-6 children in each group.  We thus have around 60 children continuing with the computer training.

World Literacy Day

On the occasion of World Literacy Day on 9 September could not schedule the usual reading sessions and related activities – so we took the books to the families with our theme “each one, read to one” . The children issued their favourite story books and the reading sessions were carried out with their parents, grandparents and younger siblings in their respective homes.

Theatre & Classical Dance Workshop

Another great find for us during this lockdown season was the talented couple, Nidhi & Jayesh. While she is a trained classical dancer, he works with kids in the field of education through the medium of theatre. They are conducting theatre & dance workshops for 43 kids in our library for two days every fortnight.