Christmas- and New Year greetings
by Iris Wilkinson and Aneetal Patel (December 2003)
Dear friends of Nav-Jeevan,
The children of Nav-Jeevan Sanstha and all other workers of the Sanstha wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New year.
Nav-Jeevan is a 'home' for the so called 'streetchildren'. We are not just a school teaching the three R's but a 'home', where there is a personal interaction with each child. There is love and concern, children walk in with a happy smile, share with us their joys and sorrows, wash, brush and clean up, change clothes and get any necessary medical attention. We give them 'laddus' (home made sweets), which they love, a substitute for multi-vitamin tablets. They also get a wholesome home cooked meal with seasonal fruits: only time when there is absolute silence at Nav-Jeevan is when they are eating!
We have a collection of story books, children browse through these books, look at the pictures and think of the day when they will read on their own. Its gratifying to watch them with books, they pounce on them as if we are distributing sweets! We even let them choose their classes, lazy ones choose the easiest, others opt for more challenging, most of the children are good in Arithmetic, they rush to a higher level arithmetic, experts at adding and subtracting, its amazing how fast they solve their sums. They also love drawing and simple craft we teach them but children who can do all kinds of manual jobs cannot handle a sewing needle and thread, instead of fingers they have paws!
These are children of rag-pickers, when picking is sparse, they turn to begging. Some are cycle-rickshaw drivers (mostly older men), or labourers at construction sites. They leave home early and their children are left to do all the house-work, including cooking and caring for their younger siblings, fetch water from quite a distance. Its generally 7 or 8 year old girls who do the housework while the boys look for more lucrative errands outside their homes. This exposure to the outside world for the boys is a crucial point in their lives, for many ill-advised youngsters, take to tobacco chewing and alcohol, it has become an integral part of slum culture. These are children of the 'lesser god', they are born with all disadvantages, but they find ways to get back at society. They are not losers, their circumstances make them courageous and daring, they live to the fullest with whatever little they have and what they do not have they take it as their right.
One cannot resist loving these children, may be ill-clad, lice-ridden hair, filthy hands but they are like all other children with same likes and dislikes, hopes and ambitions. They want to be loved and appreciated. They have a keen sense of independence and do not allow any one, even us, encroach on their freedom. Boundaries of caste, culture, religion or even wealth do not prejudice their preferences. They are truly nature's children, unfortunately where they live, no trace of nature, unless you take into account their shacks open to the skies and vagaries of elements.
To be with these children, one gets a deep sense of peace. The conflicts of life seem insignificant, their happiness, laughter and hope of a better life, is catching. They have had every thing in life going against them, if any body, they are the ones who need a chance in life.
Please do pray for children the world over, lowest in the priority list, victims of our unjust society, and pray for us too that we will continue to work with love and patience and do our best to help these children achieve a better and fruitful life.
Happy 2004