| |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
| To learn more about Earn N Learn project and products
visit our website www.earnlearn.org |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RAM RAHIM NO TEKRO |
|
|
|
A Manav Sadhna teacher, Tarik Mansuri, had been teaching children how to read and write at the Paldi Street School for many years when one day, none of his students came to class. Visiting their homes, he found that police had been harassing children working on the street, taking them to the juvenile jail without informing their parents; so, parents had stopped allowing their children to go out. It was after this incident that Manav Sadhna started a school in Jamalpur. We started teaching the street school classes in Ram Rahim where the kids live rather than where they work, so they would attend class after returning home from working. Seeing the need in the community and the interest in education demonstrated by the residents of the area slowly blossomed into more and more classes and projects being done in the area.
Manav Gulzar is a project that operates under the NGO Manav Sadhna. Manav Gulzar is based out of the Ram Rahim Nagar in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. This is a large slum area which is home to over 60,000 residents, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, a rare combination in India. This community is an inspiration and model for peace and communal harmony. However, like any other slum area, its residents have many issues of health, education, addiction, sanitation, hygiene, and employment. The residents suffer due to lack of education and opportunity. The goals of Manav Gulzar are to promote values, education, and awareness among the children and women of the area to eliminate some of their challenges and provide them with opportunities and resources to grow.
Manav Gulzar has worked to build a strong relationship with the Ram Rahim community through the organization Ram aur Rahim Jhupdavasi Mandal, which is a trust that operates in Ram Rahim Nagar and is comprised of local residents. Building a relationship with the Ram aur Rahim Jhupdavasi Mandal and its leaders was vital to Manav Gulzar being a sustainable program in the slum. The leaders meet with Manav Sadhna’s staff members regularly. They provide their input and tell us their concerns. We work together to troubleshoot and expand the programs we offer based on the needs expressed by the community. This relationship is especially vital since we are in the process of building a community center in the slum that will allow Manav Gulzar to become a permanent and integrated part of the community.
In the summer of 2010, we completed a survey of approximately 1,000 families. We surveyed everything from demographics, to occupation and income, to amenities, to health. The purpose of this survey was to characterize the community and better understand it in order to address their needs better. We have used the results of the survey to make a list of goals of how we can support and help the residents of Ram Rahim Nagar and are working towards those goals.
Manav Gulzar means the flower garden of blooming children. At Manav Sadhna we believe in value- based education where we teach values, hygiene, spirituality, culture, and social skills. We want the children and women that go through our program to come out with life skills in addition to education. All of our classes start with a Sarva Dharm (all faith) prayer and end with a nutritious warm snack made on site. We tracked the children’s weight before and after implementation of the nutrition program, and saw a significant increase in weight in nearly every student.
|
| About Flowering Tree | Tuition Class | Computer Education | Sewing Class | Sewing Training |
| |
|
About Flowering Tree
Flowering Tree is an organization that has partnered with Manav Sadhna on the Manav Gulzar project. They have provided funding support that has allowed this project to sustain and grow into what it is today. However, their partnership is unlike many other organizations. Flowering Tree is very involved in this project. They are regularly updated on the projects and status of what we are doing in Ram Rahim Nagar. They not only want to enquire as to what is going on, but also want to contribute their input and ensure that we are maximizing the benefit that they are providing us. They also work to link us with other organizations across the world who are doing similar type of work so we can communicate, help, and support each other, which is very unique and helpful for us. They also come and physically visit the site regularly to see and understand firsthand what we are doing. Flowering Tree has a very long-term approach to their vision. The Manav Sadhna and Flowering Tree relationship is a partnership where we work together to support and further this project.
Tuition Class
Manav Gulzar believes in value-based education for the tuition classes. The tuition classes are split based upon gender and reading ability. The students are taught the topics of: Gujarati, English, math general knowledge, stories, poems, games, songs, arts and crafts, health and hygiene, festivals, and field trips. Volunteers attend our classes to teach and provide enrichment. The students are taught with attention and love. Each class begins with a prayer and ends with a snack. We have 4 different classes based on gender and ability to read and write.
In addition to the regular tuition classes, we have a street school for students in the 8th and 9th grades. The kids that came to our street school last year have learned how to read and write very well. The kids are at different levels.
Another class, the Rahim Sanskar Kendra was started in 2011. The purpose of this new class is that in Ram and Rahim Nagar, Behrumpura slum area there are many students that are Muslim that cannot read or write at all, and these kids should all be given the necessary platform to master basic skills and obtain a proper education. Before starting the Rahim Sanskar Kendra the teacher visited homes in the area to gather students, during which time many parents enrolled their children. By doing this home survey, the number of students in the class increased dramatically. Thus we only accepted students who did not know how to read or write at all. The class poses a unique set of challenges since the students all speak different languages: Hindi, Urdu, or Gujarati.
MAM Movies is an organization that utilizes multimedia to bring about positive change. They use media, art, and technology to inform, inspire, and empower people. MAM Movies has been very active in the slums using film to educate and instill moral values and lessons.
Jyostnaben from MAM movies comes to Manav Gulzar every other week and attends the tuition classes. There she shows the students various educational films that engages the students in a different manner than usual and then holds an interactive discussion with the children about the film and does various activities with them.
Sewing Class
Many of the families in the community struggle the make ends meet. Many of the women in the community are willing and able to work, but do not have any skills or training to earn an income on their own. The purpose of this class is to empower the women in the community with the tools and skills they need to earn a living to help support their families. This class teaches women basic sewing techniques with sewing machines for various types of clothing and other material goods that can be sold. The class was inaugurated 20-June-2010. The class is 3 hours long and there are 2 batches every day with approximately 10 students per batch. The classroom has 7 sewing machines. Each woman pays a token fee of 100 rupees for the class. A total of 90 women have completed training with our program.
Topics covered include: sanstha’s overview, machine overview, machine parts overview, straight sewing, round sewing, square sewing, piping, width – thin (napkin and dupattas), box plate and simple plate, simple bag and yellow cover, simple and katori blouses, simple kurtis, and other new types of bags, tops, flowers, etc pending appropriate personnel available to train and mastery of basic skills.
We work very closely with these women to ensure that they are proficient in their skills. Some women have had problems at home with their husband not allowing them to come, so the teacher has worked with them and their families to understand the importance and value of this class, at which point the women have started to attend regularly.
Life is an organization that strives to provide training and work to women trained in sewing and knitting. Gramshree is one of Manav Sadhna’s sister organizations that also provides work for women trained in sewing. Both organizations aim to empower women and provide them an avenue to generate income and help support their families. Some women are given work at home while some travel to the organization headquarters and work there. Our goal is to provide all of the women we train with the proper tools and opportunity to work at one of these organizations. Many of the women that have gone through our class have successfully started working and generating an income for their homes.
Computer Education
The computer center was inaugurated on 20-June-2010 by the Manav Sadhna family and members of Ram and Rahim Nagar. The center is shared by the Jesus Christ Clinic. This is run Monday through Friday from 5p-6p where patients from the community can come and be seen by the doctor for a nominal fee of Rs. 2/- for each consultation. Approximately 20-25 patients come to the clinic each day.
The purpose for starting this computer center was so that the educated kids of the area could learn how to use the computer. Many of them do not have any exposure to or opportunity to become familiar with the computer, which we believe is an important skill. We run these classes with lots of love and understanding and provide the students with basic computer knowledge.
Every student that comes to the computer class pays a monthly token fee. All of the new students who join the computer classes are given information about all of the activities conducted by Manav Sadhna. The reason we do this is so that the new students know and understand the ins and outs organization that is providing their training. This way the students can also know and appreciate that Manav Sadhna provides many education and training opportunities outside of the computer classes to the community. Class timings have been added and changed numerous times since the inception of the classes to accommodate the time requests of the community members.
We have tried to provide an integrated learning environment in the computer classes as well. The teacher visits the student’s homes to talk to the parents about the importance and purpose of the computer class, along with discuss the importance of education in general. In addition we added a new component to the classes in 2011 where we offer English lessons to students who are currently enrolled to learn/brush-up on their English along with learning the computer, since these two skills tend to go hand in hand. This also helps make what they learn more applicable in the real world.
There are four different courses that we offer at the computer center: Microsoft Office, Desktop Publishing, Tally, and a kid’s batch. All of the courses are 5 months long, with the exception of the kid’s batch which is 4 months. Students can enroll as space becomes available, so during every time slot there are students present in the class that are in different classes and in different places in the class syllabus. All of the students learn the basics of the computer, the parts, how they work, the hardware that is in a computer, what software is etc so they have a working understanding of computers before they learn how to operate it. We accept students who are both educated and uneducated. We have the uneducated students enroll in the desktop publishing class which focuses on graphics. This provides these students with a platform for them to learn and hopefully continue further education, but if not at least they leave with a skill they can utilize in the real world. 137 students have completed our training course in total.
When the students arrive for class they first clean, do prayer, and then go on to their lesson.
Kid’s Batch:
The kids in this batch as well start with Computer Fundamentals and Windows XP training.
Then they move on to WordPad and learn how to type paragraphs in both Gujarati and English, format, and save files. In addition to this each student is learning how draw in paint to learn how to use the mouse and then move on to making visiting cards in paint. They also learn basic skills in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
Sewing Training
Manav Sadhna’s sister program, Gramashree runs a sewing training class for women. The program
started in May, 2010. The women are taught various hand sewing techniques, and then the Gramashree program provides them with work to do, for which they receive payment. The purpose of this class is to empower the women in the community with the tools and skills they need to earn a living to help support their families.
The women who successfully master the sewing training are given work with Gramashree and earn an income while working from home. In order to be given work, they need to submit a sample piece that demonstrates their sewing ability to begin work.
|
|
|
|
|