Experiences of the Children’s Club at Ramana Garden Community Project. - Joni Hillman

Joni Hillman, volunteered with DEEDS Bangalore from July – August 2003. Here she reflects on her experiences of the Children’s Club at Ramana Garden Community Project.

It is, unfortunately, all too rare to find a symbol of something truly positive when it comes to writing about development issues, particularly those regarding India. The Children’s Club at Ramana Garden provided a constant source of motivation and optimism during my time volunteering for DEEDS in Bangalore, and is something that, without question, has made a huge impact on the lives of the children who are involved.

Amidst the depressing prevalence of alcoholism, malnutrition abandonment, poverty and abuse that are part of everyday life in the slum areas, the teenagers who participated in the weekly meetings of the club were confident and ambitious young people who were adamant that a financially underprivileged start in life was not going to stop them achieving their goals.

Established in 1998 with just fifty members, it has grown to a sizeable one hundred and thirty this year, and covers seven different slum areas. Elections are held annually, giving children the chance to perform important roles on the committee and enabling them to help in the decision making process of the club. This participatory approach is one of the hallmarks of DEEDS’ work in the slum areas of Bangalore, one of the fastest growing cities in Asia, and provides the children with an opportunity to be part of a team and inspire the younger members to continue the work of the club.

Each member contributes between twenty-five paise and one rupee a week, which is saved in the club’s own bank account and is used for a variety of means. Some of the money is used for cultural activities and to celebrate India’s many festivals. The rest is conserved as an emergency fund for medical expenses that cannot be met by the children’s families. Last year, Sangeetha, an orphan, contracted tuberculosis. Had she not been a member of the children’s club, there would have been no way for her to obtain treatment. However, the fund enabled her to receive hospital care and she made a full recovery. This aspect of the club also instils the habit of saving money in the children from an early age, something that DEEDS hopes they will continue throughout their lives. Indeed, another of the major projects the NGO has established at Ramana Garden is a micro-credit union, something that many of the children’s parents are involved with.

The main thrust of the children’s club, however, is the issue of child rights. Each week, at the meeting on Saturday afternoon, the club learns about different aspects of their legal and constitutional rights, and the obligations that the government and the education system have towards children in India. Through advocacy work, it is hoped that the children will spread awareness of these rights through their peer group and encourage others to join the club. Ranjini, a fifteen-year old former Secretary of the group, was being forced into marriage by her family, as they could no longer afford to feed and clothe her. Members of the committee decided to try to intervene in this unfortunate situation and encouraged her to stand up to her parents. They argued that this was technically child marriage (by law, girls must be eighteen before they marry) and pressed Ranjini to go to the police. Unfortunately, the combination of the conservative nature of Indian society and the likelihood that the police would not be interested in the case proved a powerful disincentive for Ranjini to disobey her parents and the marriage went ahead. This is an all too common scenario in India. A 1999 survey of family health in India estimated that some fifty per cent of girls are married before the age of sixteen, prompting Vaishali Sood, an advocate working to end the practice of child marriage, to comment that the 1929 Child Marriage Restraint Act was being “totally violated”.

Often the children feel that they cannot talk about their concerns and problems with their parents, and that the conventional support network of the family is not giving them the encouragement and confidence they need. The team aspect of the club provides a sort of family for the members and enables them to discuss issues of importance to them, take responsibility for themselves and their problems and often find solutions amongst the group.

The club also provides a forum for children to find new talents and to build their confidence through performance. Due to lack of resources and space, this usually takes the form of singing and dancing, often to songs from their favourite Bollywood or Tamil films. Many a rainy monsoon afternoon was spent trying to learn the complicated moves to some of the routines! Gradually, the younger and newer members would grow in confidence and find that they wanted to stand up and perform in front of their friends, where previously they had been too shy to even contribute to debates.

Witnessing the children’s club in action was an inspiring example of how a sustainable development programme can, with a bit of luck, pay dividends into the future. I hope that these children will grow up to be better and more financially responsible parents, with an awareness of child rights, nutrition and health issues; that they will encourage confidence and promote openness in their families; and, in particular, ensure that their children attend school, even if this means a short-term financial sacrifice for them.