The Statue of Liberty, the Taj Mahal and more such monuments found a special place in the heart of underprivileged children at the Mauj-e-Manch festival, where more than 270 kids participated in a medley of activities.
Organised by the Rotaract Club of Usha Pravin Gandhi (UPG) College of Management for the fourth time, the festival saw participation from orphanages and schools for the less fortunate on Dec 22.
Besides tattoo and drama workshops, the children were involved in a host of activities including building objects from waste materials and an obstacle relay race. Each of the seven teams had 30 to 40 members and was assigned a monument. They had to complete 7 tasks each and upon completion of those, they had to finish their monuments puzzle and paint them with fingers.
Abundant Life Ministries, located at Goregaon, had its orphans from the academy participate at the festival. "The children go to school and come back to the centre, but don't get much exposure beyond the four walls. With this festival they enjoy, do activities and grasp more knowledge than they would back at the orphanage. They eagerly wait for this festival each year and I have noticed that they want to participate more and do something better in life," said Jaya Pillai, a teacher at the ministry which is a trust that handles schools, orphanages and social activities.
The president of the UPG Rotaract Club, Rtr. Shruti Khanolkar said that the festival was a way to bridge the disparity between them and the children. "As college students, we get exposure to so many inter-college festivals. We wanted to make a platform where underprivileged children get to have a productive day with a lot of learning. We have judges coming in and declaring winners for the Mr and Ms M-E-M, and the group dance. We are just connecting our world with them," said the 20-year-old.
Through her school Elia Sarwat English high school, 12-year-old Farhana Shaikh participated in the events for the first time. "We did the drama workshop, played football and loved the amazing race event the most. I haven't done anything like this before and besides enjoying, I learned about unity, confidence and how to give your 100% at everything you do," she said.
The festival was declared at South-East Asia's largest community project back in 2011 by the Rotaract Club, and currently ranks on number 13 among the 120 district Rotaract Clubs.
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