Ramzan

Name: Varun Goel
Nationality: Indian
Email: varungoel388@gmail.com
Job Title: Volunteer and Mentor at Ummeed Aman Ghar under "Project Leap"
Job Description: Managing and Organizing TEDxYouth@Ummeed. My work included mentoring my kid, Ramzan over a period of four months.
Introduction: For me, it started when a friend of mine asked me to join "Project Leap" (a collaboration between Teach for India and Becoming I Foundation) with her. As she was a year senior to me in Becoming I, she was allotted a revolving structure class, while I chose Shahsank's TEDx class. I had a hunch that this project would turn out to be really amazing, as I was really inspired by Shashank's passion and his great vision. A couple of days later, my friend came up to me and said that she wished she had been a part of the TEDx class instead! Since the first session with the Ummeed kids about four months ago, till today actually being able to put up an event of such scale, it has been a roller coaster ride! It has truly been one of the best experiences ever for me and I can definitely say, I have become a better human being

For me, the past four months have gone by in a flash. I remember introducing myself to the kids during
our first session with them. And there I saw a kid, just about my age. Smart, responsible, mature.
Ramzan. I kind of felt an instant connection with him. I was a little nervous as "the kids" were going to
choose a mentor each that day. Incredibly, Ramzan chose me and quite frankly I could not have asked
for anyone better.

The relation that we managed to develop over the next four months is inexplicable. We grew a sense of
mutual understanding and closeness that soon made me his "BRO".i remember he won two awards at his
annual day event at Ummeed. The first person he decided to call straight after that was me!! I can never
forget that moment. He has been an amazing ward, and an even greater friend. Getting to know him and
his stories has been one of the most enriching experiences for me at Ummeed. I truly have learnt a lot
from them. I would be lying if I said that we haven’t had our share of ups and downs, but I am glad that
we did. It has only made our bond stronger.

Ramzan is a fun-loving person who feels strongly about street children, vendors and rag-pickers. He
considers himself very lucky to have been rescued and gotten a chance to gain education. But what I
love about him is that he doesn’t stop there. He works as a caretaker in a nightshelter and goes out to
rescue others just like him. I greatly respect this thinking of his and sincerely hope that one day change
will come. With a small step, for a far greater cause - I believe in TEDxYouth@Ummeed. "I believe i can!"

Volunteers for Dil Se Campaign

For the Life-Skills Programme

The programme runs for the three sneh ghars

Shelters for children and adolescents in need.

But what are Life Skills???
Skills that helps you in dealing with and leading your everyday life. Simple! From the importance of self care to learning how to negotiate to assertive communication, coping with stress and moral-chaos of our modern times. Thus Life skills is BOTH awareness and skills!

And why is it needed??
Uh...It’s needed so long as you want to Live and not Survive!


And why do we need You??
Because we are a teeny bit over-worked.
And because we need you to be that….Bhayia or Didi who our children can look up to…

So, what all does it entail?

1.       DIRECT WORK WITH CHILDREN-facilitating in conducting activities and games. DEVELOPING content for activities like Quizzes, Demonstrations and Discussions. 3.       COLLECTING INFORMATION- Internet, books, films etc

AND… ..   AND                                                    

4.CREATING AIDS like posters, flash cards, colourful boxes and newspapers. 

  Creative aids are a key to children feeling interested.

For e.g., volunteers created articles on FARHAN Akhtar, Kalki Koechlin based on the Film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara which helped adolescents see the sheer importance of friendship in Farhan Akhtars Life and gauge the way actors can also feel nervous; 

Volunteers searched for interesting videos of microbes, to make our sessions on hygiene more alive.

What do we need from you?

Qualities

·         Interest in working with children or teenagers.

·         Playfulness

·         Creativity

·         Orientation of Psychology,Sociology,MSW (Masters in Social Work),Child-Development(CD) or related areas preferred.

Time required
3 days a week in Head-office Or 2 days each in Okhla (Khushi Home)Or 2 days in Mehrauli (Ummeed Home)
P.s. Adjustments in time can be made; also, a little mix-and-match between the three options above can also be done

You wouldn’t know until you call, right? 

Anubhav – 9891121333.                                                                                                      Anuradha – 971758537

For any queries or information, please contact us at

amanbiradari.delhi@gmail.com

Follow us on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/groups/dilsecampaign/

Hopeless Love by Saheli Khastagir

Hopeless Love

Can you fall in love with 200 kids in just about a month..?

A month back I would have screamed NO!

But that was a month back, and now I am a useless pile of feelings, all thanks to these brats!

In this month I have spent more time with them than I have with my family in a year! And now, I have started dreaming of them too! I am pathetic, I know! I get up in the morning, completely disoriented, trying to figure out whether what I saw was really a dream or did it actually happen! You cannot blame me really, it’s impossible to not get obsessively attached to them.

Faiz comes to me demanding to know where I study. Delhi University, I answer. He informs me that he had put a bomb there last night on the order of the Prime Minister. “How many died?” I ask. He hasn’t let it off yet, he tells me; he will click on the remote the next day. He is kind enough to warn me against going there the next day.

This is right after the tinier ones give me a scare by jumping from insane heights and landing like supermen. Of course each time they pretend to be hurt, and I fall for it every single time. Like I said, Brats!

And then there is the unnecessary concern for me. The kids in Kilkari are obsessed with curing my skin problem, because obviously my skin problem is so much more important than any other thing that they have faced. So they come giving me free advice of every kind of home remedies. Yashwant (yes, that kid with the perpetually bandaged arm!) runs to the office and sneaks out the Pond’s Powder convinced that all I have to do is sprinkle it over my rashes and they will vanish. Yashoda orders me to have her mango telling me that’s the only cure. And why is it so important to cure my rashes? Because, these kids are insane! I am warning you, if you go there, you CANNOT come back!

Don’t believe it? Listen to this. A harmless birthday party in Khushi turns into a non-seasonal Holi. And yes, it was way too much fun. Which, is why you should stay away from it! No birthday party will seem fun enough after this. They turn the balloons they are given into fountains and water-balloons, and I am drenched and I am thinking, HOW will I go back to regular classes after the vacation ends?!

By the way, mangoes taste sweeter when you have it the way they have it. Make a small hole at the top, and just suck the juice in. Messy? Maybe! But, man is it good!

They all have nick-names in Ummeed. One of them is called Laddoo, the other kids tell me. So I go to him, this 5-6 year old thing (I might be wrong about the age) and ask him his name, and he replies, with a straight face, “Sameer Ali Laddoo”!

I go back home at night in the metro with a stupid grin on my face, like I have a teenager-crush or something, and all the other poor exhausted souls in the ladies’ compartment look at me like I have lost it! (Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic. )

And then there is their changing moods, oh dear! Yash is crying like his heart has been ripped off one moment, and he starts grinning like the mischievous thing that he is the very next.

Kajal swears she will never talk to me again one day. The next day she is hugging me (or strangling me, more correctly) like we are two separated lovers.

You cannot keep up, I am telling you!

Have I taught them anything at all in this month..? Uh...I really don’t know. Have they taught me anything? Erm...trust me, it won’t fit this one blog post or even ten!

I was in the misconception that if not anything, I have learnt about them and what it is like to be them in these few weeks. That also has been happily shattered.

One of the older ones (I am being all secretive because I don’t know if he wants it to be publicly discussed) tells me of this one time he ran away from the Home, across the country, with his friends outside, because he wanted to visit this place. And I ask all perplexed, “But where will you stay?? Didn’t you think of where to stay?” He gives me an equally perplexed look, and replies, “where will I stay?! Do you know how the big the railway station is there?!”

How utterly foolish of me! The railway station, of course!

Like I said, the misconception of knowing what it is to be like them!

They are infants one moment, and wise old men the next. They are smart and creative and moody and disruptive and they’ll love you like no tomorrow, and force you to love them back like never before!

Fyi, anyone who thinks they are any lesser than us just because they happen to be a few inches shorter, try playing their games! I tried playing the stone game that the girls play in Khushi. It took me embarrassingly long to even get a hang of it, and when I did, they were so quick and I was so clumsy, I didn’t even last a second. They tried their best to hide their disappointment in me and politely asked if maybe I should try some other time and stick to just watching today. (They are way too kind!)

You see? It’s hopeless love! And it has reached insane heights. And it has only been a month!