Transform the Lives of Children in Gujarat, India

Pots and Beans:

Pots and beans activity was designed by Save the Children, UK to learn quality of participation. We have done this activity before with children during time of Comic Relief grant, and we found it very useful. 385 children from community took part in the activity.

Children voted on 9 criteria out of 3 marks. One being the lowest and three being the highest. The voting done in open manner with discussion and taken by consensus. Overall average (all our 20 community) is 2.67 out of 3. The criteria are as following: 1. Inclusiveness. 2. Transparent and informative 3. Child friendly 4. Relevant for children 5. Supported by training 6. Accountable 7. Respectful 8. Safe and sensitive to risks 9. Voluntarily.

Many children also believe that we do not discriminate and each programs and festivals are celebrated together. They shared that facilitators give them all the information and explain to our parents and take consent from them. We are shown all the accounts of Savings Bank program. Facilitators don’t ever hit us or call us without respect. All the programs are relevant for children but maybe sometimes difficult to understand for the younger ones. The feedback from children was that between children they sometimes disrespect each other which needs to be worked upon. Many times Shaishav facilitators send us back later than the time we were told. However, some boys do feel excluded as only girls are given self-defence training.

Stories of change:

When we hear stories of impact of our work, it helps us navigate further. Every 6 months we do focused group discussions with Balsena children, community members and parents and teacher as well. Following are some of the stories we heard from these focused group discussions.

• Sohan (name changed) recently joined Balsena. He used many curse words and beat up other children. As he started coming to Balsena the other children treated him well and also gave him small responsibilities. Slowly his behaviour improved as he felt that he truly belonged here. He started taking up more responsibilities, he organized Swayam pak(cooking together and eating) event entirely and took major responsibility.
• Asmi (name changed) was around 12/13 years when her father was detected with cancer. She dropped out of school to take care of her father. Her father passed away after some months. When she was around 15 she was attacked by 3 middle aged men in her home. They had some fights with her family and when she was alone at home, they hit her head and tore all her clothes. Asmi was terrified after this happened. She refused to go out of her house. She became very quiet, would stay alone and not talk to many people. The rare case she came out of her house, it would always be with her uncles. Asmi came for Wenlido training(Feminist self defence training) last year. She was 16 then. She got so much inspiration after the training and found the answers she was looking for. After the training, for the first time she went home with one of her friends who stayed nearby. She was beyond happy, and called the trainers, “I went home by myself!” She came again for practice groups, and again for Wenlido trainings. Seeing her so interested we also kept calling her. Slowly we saw her confidence bloom. She started coming out of her house on her own.

Today she assists the trainers in the trainings very enthusiastically. She even travelled with trainers outside Bhavnagar to provide training in other organization, which was her first time out of Bhavnagar district. She loves helping other girls find their answers.  In her words:

“I felt so hopeless and powerless after that incident. I went inside my shell. Wenlido helped me in overcoming my fear. I found my strength. I can come out of the house alone now. I love
helping other girls who are also looking for ways to come out of their difficulties. Everyone should take this training. “

Asmi dreams to become a trainer of Wenlido.

• 8 years old Kanan(name changed) came forward to give his savings for the saving bank account. He gave coins, and told this is 10 Rs. The facilitator was in a hurry to finish Saving bank work so she took them, kept them in the saving bank bag and wrote 10 Rs in the card and register. Little later Kanan came back saying please take this 1 rupee for saving bank. The facilitator told him that she can’t make entry for less than 5 Rs, so give it next week. Kanan shook his head explaining, “No, this 1 Rupee must have been in my pocket while I was giving you my savings, I have only given you 9 Rs, take this 1 Rupee” If he wished he could have kept that one rupee but he chose to be honest.
• When we asked children in Focused group discussion boys shared that they are comfortable if girls are leader and girls shared that when they take leadership they feel supported by boys as well. Boys shared that some of them have started doing work in the house. Some boys also shared that they tell their fathers and brothers to work at home and support their mothers and sisters.