DIR in India

The Janta Colony Project, Chandigarh [ photo tour ]

In a crowded slum where 8996 people live in 2,047 tiny homes, located just outside Chandigarh, capital of the Punjab, DIR has a project being implemented by the residents.  This "bustee" is called Janta Colony.

News from Chandigarh, February 2008

[ Read previous updates: November 2007, October 2007, September 2007, June 2007, April 2007, January 2007, October 2006, June 2006 ]

A.   NEW DIR BUILDING

During February, we moved into our new building in Adash Nagar, which is the name of the slum next to Janta Colony where we have been working in for the past two years.  This new building, the largest one in the area with twenty-one rooms in two-stories, is a mere 40 metres from the border of Janta.  It is newly constructed and is still in need of some finishing touches.  While Adash Nagar has also got a population of people living well below the poverty level, unemployment does not seem to be such a universal problem and fewer of the homes consist of merely one room as is the case in Janta. 

On the last day of February, we held the Inauguration of this new centre.  A variety of civic leaders and friends of DIR were invited and participated in the event.  We were very pleased that the new Director of Social Security and Women and Child Development came to be our Chief Guest and inspire us with her address.

Our happiness with having more space and hence opportunity for more activities in our new premises was marred by the imminence of the departure of Dr. Asha Katoch, who will leave early next month.  In the photos of the Inauguration (attached) Asha is seen cutting the ribbon at the gateway to our new building.  

Our new premises are conveniently located to allow us to continue supervision of our programmes in Janta, and at the same time to expand our operations into neighbouring Adash Nagar.

B.  EDUCATION  

(i)  School With A Difference

We have set up our offices, our kitchen, meeting and store rooms on the (Indian) first floor (which is the same as the US second floor) of our new building and plan on having a school on the ground floor.  This school, which is scheduled to open in April, the beginning of the Indian school year, will have seven classrooms and offer education on four levels.  These levels are designated as "Pre-school, Nursery, Kindergarten and Upper Kindergarten" and will have pupils between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years. 

Our aim is to provide instruction in English and to provide the children with a firm educational background, so that they will be well-accepted and be well-prepared to enter Chandigarh's best private schools, where we plan to secure scholarships for them.   With a good education their chances of getting a decent job are greatly increased, and a steady income is a sure key to getting out of the slum.  Chandigarh has many high quality private schools, which, unfortunately, are expensive.  However, we feel confident that we can obtain full scholarships for all the children who pass through our school.  We would have been able to get scholarships earlier, but the slum youngsters did not meet the educational requirements to get them admitted.

On the last Sunday of the month, we all came to work and painted bright-coloured murals on one wall in each of our new classrooms.  We want our school, which we have decided to call "School With A Difference" to be a bright, happy, interesting place for the children.  Presently we are recruiting teachers for the start of the school year, and beating the bushes for funds to help us get out of "the red."

(ii)  Anganwadi

As mentioned in earlier reports, Anganwadi is the title of a Government of India programme to sponsor pre-school education for the poorer classes.  Two such Anganwadis are functioning in Janta Colony.  One meets in the grounds of a temple and one in the unused end of a stinking cowshed.  We are in the process of moving these classes into our new building and have developed a good relationship with the Director of Child and Women Welfare, who heads the programme in our area.  She has vowed to collaborate with us to make our classes ideal models which she plans to showcase.  Very unhappily, the Anganwadi programme which, in theory, is extremely beneficial for poor children is rotten with corruption, with funds and food being stolen at every juncture.

(iii)  Open School

Our programme which functions in Government School classrooms after hours is doing well.  The numbers of children continue to increase and we are looking for more teachers and supportive volunteers.  The Education Department of Chandigarh is enthusiastic about our activities and keeps pressing us to take over greater supervisory roles of some of their after-school programmes...  We want to do this, but presently do not have adequate staff.

C.  IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMME (Contributed by Physician, Harsh Sharma)

Second Monday of the month of February being a holiday, DIR participated in the immunization programme on the 3rd and 4th Mondays of the month (i.e. on the 18th and the 25th of February). Senior officials from the Health Department, Punjab visited the site of immunization on the 18th of February to inspect the work of their immunization staff.

The details of immunization in the month of February 2008 are as follows:

a) Measles -  13           b) DT  -  5         c)BCG  -  9          

D.  NURSING AND PREGNANT WOMEN (Contributed by Physician, Asha Katoch)

In February 2008 Janta Colony has 62 pregnant women (17 are new cases) in a population of 9,240.  Of the 19 women who delivered,  12 had hospital deliveries while 7 gave birth at home.  They had 12 girl babies and 7 boys.   The health status of all the mothers and neonates is good.  

Sadly, two other babies died this month in Janta due to Pneumonia.  One was two months old and the other four months.  Northern India this year has faced a very severe winter – a cold wave enveloped Chandigarh for more than a month.

E.       D.O.T.S. (Contributed by Health Promoter, Sunny)

DIR has treated a total of 14 DOT patients from Janta Colony.

Category I – 7

Category II – 4

Category III – 3

F.       NUTRITION  (Contributed by Nutritionist, Aparna Kohli)

Our two-week experiment in which we daily gave an appetite-enhancer to the most seriously underweight children, proved effective in that they showed a significant increase in weight. We planned to have a one-month experiment but one of our Trustees insisted that the programme be stopped.  There can be little doubt that the treatment is useful. It has no doubt increased the appetite of the kids. Commonly, mothers of malnourished children complain about their children not feeling hungry so all their efforts of cooking go in vain. More than that, even the newly-taught recipes we provide can no better be of any use if the kids don’t want to eat at all.

This month demonstrations of ‘calorie-rich’ snacks with high protein content were given in the Basti. The main ingredients of this sweet snack are jaggery, i.e raw form of sugar, and ground nuts. Jaggery is a very good source of iron and ground nuts highly rich in protein and calories.

Earlier, we gave wheat porridge and sometimes sweet puffed rice snacks to the kids and the pregnant mothers immediately after they obtained vaccinations but then we realized that the small kids find it difficult to eat the snacks because of its crispiness and hardness. So this time we prepared both the foods. The snacks were given to the mothers while the porridge was kept for the very young children.

This month no new topic was taught to the Health Promoters. The topics that were taught earlier were revised and some doubts were cleared. The average score, which Health Promoters obtained in academic examinations in Nutrition, was 90%.

This month, nutrition charts, showing the weights of children under five years in December, were used as teaching aids in the committee meetings held by the Health Promoters.  Responses indicated that these aids really were very effective.

G.       INCOME GENERATION (Contributed by U.S. Intern, Vinay Chopra)

We conducted twenty interviews with women who have applied for loans this month.  As expected, very few seem to have viable business plans at present, and will need more attention from our staff to get them up to a workable level.  In March, we plan to form the first collective of about twenty women, and from those initially work closely with six to create a viable business plan.  Once we feel they are ready for Rotary’s review, we will invite Rotary to meet with the women.  

As outlined in our agreement with Rotary, we will offer loans to three to four members of each collective initially, and as repayment occurs, loans will be given to the other members.    

In March, we plan to widen the programme by opening up applications for male candidates.  

H.       SPORTS PROGRAMME (Contributed by Dutch Intern, Lieke Heijnis)

February was sports month. A little more than seventy kids practiced twice a week with their team under the supervision of our Health Promoters. After many practice games, we started the play-offs in a tournament in the last week of February. All teams played two games in the pool, and the finals will take place on Sunday 2nd March 2008.  

I.       PERSONNEL ACTIVITY (Contributed by Administrative Officer, Pannu Singh)

(i)  CHANGES   

Arrivals – Ms. Loveleen who has a Master’s degree in Nutrition, joined DIR team as a Nutritionist on 25th February.  We welcome her and look forward to her valuable contribution towards spreading nutrition knowledge.  

(ii)  VISITORS

Mr. Gaurav along with his team from Dell, Mohali visited bustee on 4th February and handed over more than 68 gift packets for the poor and handicapped children of this Bustee.  These gift packets are identified by beneficiary name and age.  DIR will ensure its proper disbursement.

Mrs. and Colonel Jiti Nokai along with their family members paid a visit to the new Bustee office – cum – school building on 6th February.  Dr. Frederick showed them the entire building and the ground floor was earmarked for the memorial school.

Over twenty Canadians visited on 12th February.  They are faculty and students from University College of Frazer Valley, British Columbia.  Our Health Promoters briefed them on their activities and took small groups around to tour the bustee.

Ms. Tyna Ellenbogen, who employed by CARE in its New York headquarters, paid us a visit on 15th February at Janta Colony.  She expressed appreciation for DIR’s efforts to improve life for the bustee children, and liked their involvement in Sports activities.  

The formal inauguration of the new premises in Adash Nagar, in which many local people participated, was held on 29th February.  The director of Child and Social Welfare Ms. Rakhee Gupta Bhandari was the Chief Guest for the occasion.

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