NGO PROJECT

ON

STRONGER THE LEAD, BETTER ITS DEED

Submitted to: Submitted By Group 2:

Dr. Gowri Joshi Dipti Lakhani…….…….(41)

Neha Chaudhary...........(05)
Rubal Garg...…….….....(15)
Smita Singh…..……......(29)
Titiksha Patidar ……....(58)
Zeeshan Shekhani.........(01)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We, the Group no. 2 would like to express deep sense of gratitude to Prof. Dr. Gowri Joshi for
guiding us throughout our live project & making us to deliver to our maximum potential.

Special thanks to Mr. Rupesh Gesota – the Change Maker, Founder of Lead for allowing us to
interact with his children and for his consistent support throughout this project.

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 SLUMS TODAY

Today slum dwellers make up 60% of Mumbai's population, that is approximately 7 million
people. The eventually spread into the areas neighboring Byculla, such as: Mahim Creek, Parel,
Dadar and Matunga and whereever else they can find space, even in roads. The conditions in the
slums are terrible. Slum inhabitants constantly have to deal with issues such as, constant
migration, lack of water, no sewage or solid waste facilities, lack of public transit, pollution and
housing shortages. Infant mortality is as high as it is in rural India where there are no amenities.
General Hospitals in the Greater Mumbai region are overcrowded and underresourced. In fact,
most people rely on private doctors, many of which do not have any qualifications or official
training. The World Bank has funded development of 176 Primary Care Dispensaries, but they
are finding that those efforts are underused and the water supplies to the area are problematic. It
seems that the water supply is always to much or too little, for when monsoon season hits some
slums are submerged knee deep in water.

In 1985, the government tried to rectify the problem by passing the Slum Upgradation Project. It
offered secure long-term legal plot tenure to slum households on the basis that they would invest
in their housing. By giving people an interest in their housing and by guaranteeing home
ownership, they hoped to oblitterate slums. Unfortunately the program targeted only 10-12% of
the slum population, those who were capable of upgrading their homes. It disregarded those who
did not have homes at all.

Despite all the attempts to remedy the slum problem of Mumbai, slums are still growing. The
slum growth rate is actually greater than the general urban growth rate. In fact, the city is gaining
the name "Slumbay."

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 ABOUT LEAD

Love, Education and the Aspiration to change Destinies — that is what LEAD stands for.

LEAD is a group of young people united by a desire to educate and thereby, change destinies.It
is also an attempt to create leaders, individuals who step up and take the responsibility to initiate
change, although they haven’t been asked to do so.

They endeavour to make education accessible to the children of migrant and non-migrant
labourers and slum dwellers in Airoli (a suburb of Navi Mumbai), in the state of Maharashtra in
India. They help children with admissions, provide extra curricular help through daily sessions
aimed at making learning fun and visit the families of our children to ensure that their education
receives adequate family support, celebrating festivals and birthdays, supporting senior students
to complete their education.

The Beginning:

One day, in July 2008, a LEAD volunteer was on his way to work when he saw some kids,
children of local rag-pickers and daily-wage labourers, near the Sector 19 bus-stop at Airoli. On
a whim, he started a conversation with the kids. He was curious about whether the children had
had any form of schooling. A random conversation developed into a determined pursuit and soon
the volunteer was speaking to kids and their guardians on schooling in general, often turning up
at their slums after work to chat them up. That is when he came upon Ashok, aged 25, preparing
for his Class X English paper. A school dropout Ashok had decided to complete his education.
That was probably the spark that lit the flame that became LEAD. If a road-digger could choose
to go back to books, so could others. And since “catch ‘em young” is the mantra of the century, it
made sense to inculcate a similar desire for learning among younger kids so that they could grow
up with more options for independence instead of digging roads under a sweltering Mumbai sun.

Armed with this desire, LEAD started off.

Today, LEAD has 45 students out of which 34 have been admitted to NMMC school and 30
volunteers working with LEAD and have leased a premise.

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 MISSION
To make use of our learning for the betterment of underprivileged children through a friendly
environment.
TIMINGS ACTIVITIES
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM JOURNEY FROM KHARGHAR TO
LEAD
10:15 AM – 11:30 AM ICE BREAKING SESSION
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM YOG AND SEHAT
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM KAHANIYON SE SEEKHO
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM LUNCH BREAK
2:45 PM – 4:15 PM PUSHPMUSKAAN
4:15 PM – 4:45 PM SNACKS
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM ANDHEREIN MEIN DIYAA
6:00 PM – 6:45 PM MAUJ MASTI
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM SHISHTACHAAR
WORKSHOP “AASHAYEIN”

To fulfil our mission we designed the following Workshop named “AASHAYEIN”

A workshop called “AASHAYEIN” was organized for these slum children for the strength of 36
children. The schedule was given as follows:

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 LIST OF ACTIVITIES
Our Activities were as follows:

PRE LUNCH SESSION:

1. Ice Breaking Session :

Objective : Getting children settled and familiar with us

We started our day with 45 minutes of an Ice Breaking Session wherein each child was asked to
introduce himself or herself in a different and interesting manner. This was done through
different means like enacting, sharing likes and dislikes of children with each other, dancing ,
singing and so on and so forth.

For e.g. a child named “Atul” had imitated his favourite actor i.e. Salman Khan, saying that he
likes to act like him. Most of the children mentioned that they like to play games like cricket and
carom.

This session resulted on a good note where in most of the children got acquainted with us and
became inquisitive about our next activities.

2. Yog aur Sehat :

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Objective: To make children aware of the benefits of Yoga and physical exercises in their daily
life so as to keep them fit and healthy.

This session lasted for 45minutes. It comprises of yoga, physical exercises followed by a bhajan
on Shri Ganeshji. The importance of warm up and simple exercises was taught to them followed
by chanting of “OM” mantra. Aasan’s covered under this session were Hastpadmasan, chakra
aasan and vriksha Aasan.

This had instilled a lot of energy and enthusiasm among children.

3. Kahaniyo se Seekh :

Objective :To inculcate moral values in children

We began this session with the story of Eklavya and then followed by the story of Ganesha.
These stories were very quietly and carefully heard by all of us. Pin drop silence and children’s
attentiveness made it very clear that they took a great interest in the stories. At the end of the
session, we took the students feedback as in what have they learned out of it. The amazing part
was that most of the students were very enthusiastic to share their answers, but we encouraged
quite and introvert children to come with their learning.

We closed this session with one of the student sharing a story of Rabbit and tortoise which was
taught to them. Listening to him was a great fun.

This session was followed by lunch break for an hour from 1:30 pm to 2:30pm . It was good to
see when most of the children asked us also to join them but we were unable to do so because we
already had got our lunch with ourselves. Infact we asked most of the students to have lunch with
us but they all went away.

POST LUNCH SESSION:

4. Creative Learning session : This session was be divided into 2 sub-sections:

Objective: To enhance the creative side of the children in a delightful way

 Flower Making: It was known as “Pushpmuskaan” which means bringing smile on the
face of poor children through creating flowers out of the raw materials which was
provided by us. This had made children learn to make flowers with the help of trivial
things, and thus had made them feel happy. It lasted for 1 hr and 30 mins.

An half an hour break was provided to them to have their snacks. Snacks was arranged
by us. Herein, we shared biscuits and maaza with each other. This was a great fun. By
the time it was noticed that we all were bonded to each other very well.

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  Lantern Making: It was called as “Andherein mein diya”. It was one of the easy and
simple activity with a motive to make children learn how to make lantern with the help
of colour paper and few staplers pins. The lanterns were further decorated with sequins
of different colours and of different shapes. This had made them gained an insight into
their learning aspect and therefore, creating such things will surely help them to decorate
their house during festive occasions. It lasted for 1 hour.

How was this Creative session conducted?

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 Divided children into 6 groups

Assigneda volunteer to each group - called as TEACHER

A person from our ITM team explained how to create flower / lantern

Teacher understood the creation of flowers

Every group was asked to make a single flower

Raw material was distributed to every group

Children learning from their respective teacher

Competitive spirit of the children comes in and they try to give their best

5. Mauj n Masti :

Objective: To provide entertainment and get relaxation with all children

Over here, we played antakshari with children for enjoyment and thereby encouraging those who
sing well. Children was found to enjoy themselves while singing songs. They also danced in few
of the songs. They were very familiar with Ganapati Bhajans. So, the session ended with a
Ganesh Bhajan which was taught by one of the member from our ITM Group. The entire session
was of 45 mins.

6. Shistachaar:

Objective : To inculcate good habits in those children such as -

 Etiquettes and manners

 Personal hygiene
 Respect for elders

Herein, we asked students whether they like going to school. What are the different things they
learn over there? How do they find this NGO?

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Then we began our session with teaching them some hygiene lessons i.e brushing their teeth
regularly, cleaning their hands before and after having their meals , speaking softly with others,
being more responsible and patient in their work.

THE THREE PERSPECTIVES

 By our Group (ITM Group)

We had a great time with them. The time when we reached LEAD, the children out there
greeted us as “Good Morning Teacher” which showed their etiquettes. This was followed
by their National Anthem “Jan Gan Man” which depicted their disciple. Once our ice
breaking session got over, children became so close to us that started sharing their
interests and even sang song for us. These all children were of different age group but
one thing was common among them their zeal to learn new things. They were ready to
get moulded and nurtured, but needed the right direction at this time and at their juvenile
age. There inquisitive mind can be easily observed by noticing their impromptu reply
after every question. They all have synergy in them and worked like a team.

 By Children (Angels)

Every child over there was very excited to see us. They were in the mood to learn new
things. Few of them they just asked us i.e, what are we going to teach us? This indicates
that most of the people like us do come over there to teach them something creative and
innovative. When we asked all the children out there whether they are interested or not ,

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 then we heard a coherent “Yes” from every ones side. Even, we all shared the snacks
which were provided by us. This was really liked those children. Infact , it was a learning
session not only for them but for us too.

 By NGO Founder (Mr. Rupesh Goesta)

Mr. Rupesh Goesta is the founder of this NGO, LEAD at Airoli. He was very happy to
see all his children learning so many things and had asked us to visit whenever we want.
His closing statements were The smile on the face of children implies that they are very
happy and if they are happy then he himself is very happy. He told that he started this
NGO not with the intention to make it an NGO, but eventually it became a NGO and
people began to recognise it as a NGO in due course of its time. His selfless service
actually inspired each one of us. At the end he told that Social Responsibility is not
something to be done at a NGO, it just gets done whenever u help the needy people
because such people are not only found at NGO they are present in every nook and corner
and are always in need of our help but the question arises Are we able to see those
people? And if so, do we take up that much of initiative to give them a helping hand to
them selflessly?

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

 Great support was provided by the passionate & enthusiastic volunteers of LEAD who
assisted us while carrying out the entire series of activities. Co-ordination & dedication of
Lead Volunteers actually inspired us for theis selfless service to humanity.
 Initially talking to kids, understanding their emotions, their hardships, all which formed
the source of motivation for all of us.
 Lot of time was spent in motivating, boosting morals & convincing the parents to let their
children’s come & continue education in LEAD.
 The happiness, the enthusiasm & the eagerness on the children’s faces to learn new
things encouraged us to give our best to them and even more passionately.
 During the event, the divine smiles on the faces of the children was visible, faces which
were out of their homes, out of Airoli, where they experienced the other colours of the
life; experience, which has provided more exposure to them; experience, which we
believe will remain atleast till they are alive. Every child enjoyed these different sessions
by talking to us casually and asking us to visit them again. Thanks to LEAD for all they
provide on these slum children almost everything be it sympathy, love, education,
togetherness, support, belief, trust & faith.

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  Many girls (age: 8-12) were very introvert and they were not open up so much. So, we
were encouraging them to participate more in the activities.
 They all had a smile on their face which actually made us cry because all of them were so
innocent and happy in spite of the fact that they don’t live a luxurious life and most of
them don’t even afford to go to school.
 Classroom’s wall painting which was done was the ultimate experience which involved
lot of thinking to make the classroom more learnable & interesting.
 Playing with the kids, making them learn flower and lantern and seeing the IQ level of
those kids along with good grasping power & seeing their passion for learning made
everyone of us think that the real INDIA is really missing & the practical example of it
being hidden under the slums.

Concerned Person:

Founder of LEAD, Airoli : Mr. Rupesh Gesota (Ph no. 9594020304)

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