Teaching them a better life

From the chaos in the city to quiet of the jungles, the journey for over a hundred tribal children living in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) area is not a difficult one. But it's not an easy one either. While they do go to mainstream schools, they return to mud houses in the forest area that sprawls over 104 square kilometres in the heart of Mumbai. Their houses are bereft of toilets or cooking gas.

However, Sundays are special for them. This Sunday, over 30 children at Chinchpada, two kilometres inside SGNP, were 'soaked' in paint. Pieces of onion, cabbage, banana leaves and remnants of threads lay strewn around the bamboo structure of their 'Balwaadi'. A bunch of enthusiastic volunteers engage these children, from four to sixteen years of age, at five of the many 'padas' or settlements that dot the jungle. "The children are being taught to experiment with locally-available paint and material," said Abhishek Rasane (17), a volunteer.

In 2010, Young Innovators Foundation (YIF) co-founders Ritika Arya, Srishti Arya and Priyam Datta started working with the tribal children in SGNP. "The movement for educating children through their head, heart and hand, is based on a mix of philosophies, inclusive of the Waldorf model of education and Sri Aurobindo's teachings. It began in college for us, when we were given a seed fund of Rs5,000 to take up a cause we believed in. After having worked in Lakshminagar and Damunagar slum dwellings since 2007, we later ventured into working with children at SGNP," said Ritika. YIF has 60 volunteers now.

While the elderly in Chinchpada, Tumnipada, Malaypada, Talaypada and Navapada were reluctant to let YIF volunteers step into their territory, after realising that the learning at Balwaadis was making a world of a difference to their children, the activities were welcomed. Last week, at the fifth annual day of YIF, 11-year-old Yug Shinde of Malaypada, compered a part of the programme. He rattled off in flawless English as the audience sat in rapt attention.

"Some elders are addicted to alcohol and adamant to accept change, but our persistence and love for education has changed their mindset," said Abhishek.

SGNP constitutes of numerous padas, in which a population of less than a lakh tribals have resided for many decades before the establishment of the national park. With leopards roaming freely around the padas at night, and having to go deep inside the jungles to relieve themselves, the perils for the communities are immense. The state forest department, in an ongoing exercise since 2007, are attempting to relocate them to flats in urban areas, but the locals are reluctant.

"We live in mud houses and cook on chullahs. We have no electricity and minimal access to tap water. We have resided here for centuries and cannot leave our homes. We are closer to nature. We appreciate that young volunteers are entering the community and empowering our children in a holistic way," said Hemanti Sawak, 35, a local from Malaypada.

The learning sessions conducted by volunteers – be they lessons in Science, Math, Language, Geography, History or Arts, are well planned and researched. "The lessons are woven with stories and games that children can connect with. We have learnt poetry and songs in Hebrew, African folklore, Assamese and many more with our didis and bhaiyas," said Priti Raote (15), a resident of Chinchpada.

Combat Nautica
In January, eight children participated in Combat Nautica, which was hosted by IIT-B. "A group of techies volunteered to train the children for two months before the competition. Children came up with solar panel battery-charged boats that ran on wireless technology," said Ritika. "We are engaging with the community to equip them with resources of learning," she added.