Three Days Diwali Camp for Bal Sansad Children at Pali from 16th Oct to 18th Oct 2017

A three days diwali camp was held at Church hall, Pali for the Bal Sansad group from 16^th to 18^th October 2017. Forty nine children attended the session. The resource persons for the camp were Fr. Sandeep Borges, Br. Melborn, Ms. Sanjina Bhandari, Ms. Sneha Patil and Ms. Nasim Kasughar.

On 16^th Oct. the first day of the camp Fr. Sandeep Borges highlighted on the topic called ‘Responsible leadership & Facilitation becoming Animators’ for thirty six Bal Sansad children. Through games & interactions he explained how one can be a responsible leaders or Facilitators and explained the roles, responsibilities and qualities needed for it. Good facilitators are a good communicator, respecting the views of other members in the group; he/she is a good planner, optimistic, sincere to the given task, approachable, good general knowledge, sense of humor, responsible etc.

The children learnt that the good values imbibed during childhood is useful to take responsibility for greater thing in future.

Br. Melborn then took a session on ‘education way of life’. Through games and speech he explained the importance of helping the needy by educating and giving them a direction in life. He spoke how education never goes as a waste and is beneficial till the end of life. He then formed groups for an interaction session where children put forward a lot of questions related to school, education, learning etc. each of which were answered satisfactorily.

Through this children learnt how learning is a continuous process and education is the best weapon for life.

On 17^th Oct. 2017 the second day of the camp CCO staff Ms Sanjina Bhandari  in simpler words spoke on gender discrimination with respect to women, where women are seen as weaker sex in the society.  In olden days the discrimination happened with women being degraded, exploited & violated of fundamental rights. Two video clips were shown namely “Meena” based on forms of discrimination in the family & society was shown to the 44 children present.  The other  “Muskan” was based on female feticide. She explained, in contrary to these, girls and boys are equal with equal rights to live and to be educated.

A session on “Food Security Act & Rights” was taken by Ms. Nasim Kasughar CCO staff, Gorai.  She explained the basic need of human being i.e food, clothing & shelter, education, health.  All basic needs are provided by parents, government, Doctor, teacher etc. Every person needs to have nutritious food for their good health.  She conducted group discussions and made them aware of Mid Day Meals, usage of Ration Card etc.

Children realized the importance of eating right. They learnt about the different types of ration card namely Antodaya, Saffron, white, and yellow and helpline number of Nutritious food i.e 1800-11-4000.

On 18^th Oct. 2017 the third day of the camp Ms Snehal Patil CCO, Manori highlighted on the topic “Communal Harmony” to the 49 Bal Sansad children. And that every individual has their rights to practice their faith. She showed a clipping on “Four Religions Monoact” where each tries to make their own god but humanity is the greatest religion in the world. She tried to bring all religion together and explains the strengths of unity and harmony.

The impact of the session was children decided to perform a skit in their purposeful action visit to Bastis.

‘Best Out Of The Waste’ was the final session of the camp to encourage children to bring in their talents. Children were formed in groups of four and were asked to find waste in their surrounding and prepare something best out of their creativity. Prizes were given to the best group.

The three full-day camp covered five sessions of input and interaction with the Bal sansad. A learning and get together along with self-confidence was established. An opportunity to bring out the hidden talents of these children was accomplished.