Bangalore

January 24 - National Girl Child Day
Decision for Life Campaign Event
Venue: Premaanjali Educational Trust, Bangalore

Organised by UNITES Professionals in cooperation with Paycheck India Project At IIM-A, ITUC, UNI, and WageIndicator Foundation

Decision for Life Bangalore team visited a NGO in Bangalore on the mark of "National Girl Child Day" to create awareness about the issues relating to girls.

Government of India has declared 24th January as "National Girl Child Day” to ensure full awareness about welfare and empowerment of girl child. To mark the day, the Ministry of Women and Child Development have launched “my daughter - nation’s pride”, campaign to highlight the evils of female feticide, female infanticide and discrimination in matters of health, nutrition, education and opportunities (India has a skewed sex ratio, with fewer than 925 women for every 1,000 men, because of the gender bias) . This campaign will lasts till March 8th which is celebrated as International Women’s Day.

The NGO called Premaanjali Educational Trust, Bangalore was visited by Decision for Life. This organisation is engaged in several activities which support homeless, destitute and deprived children. Various projects are taken up by this NGO, one being the NELE project (NELE stand for ‘shelter’ in Kannada language) which was started in August 2000 in Bangalore. The project aims to identify street children, rag pickers and neglected children and provide them with food, shelter, education, and health care etc. NELE has 6 homes - 3 for boys and 3 for girls. The project also focuses on holistic development of these children. The activities in NELE are managed with the help of Hindu Seva Pratishthana (HSP), a charitable trust which has been working since 1980 based on the principle of, “Less to oneself; everything else for society".

Above: Mr.Sidharaju with Nele children

Mr.Sidharaju Co-ordinator for NELE project, informed us that there are children from the age group of 3 to 16 years and there are 78 girls staying in 3 homes.

Decision for Life team members spent some quality time with these children talking to them about their dreams in life, what they like about their new home etc. Along with the Coordinators and Authority of the trust, Decisions for Life team spoke to these young kids about importance of education and schooling. It was interesting to see how these girls had aspirations of becoming IAS officers, doctors and engineers one day. All they need is proper guidance, encouragement and love.

Decision for Life team also gave some necessary stationary items (books, pens and pencils), English and Kannada dictionary which would help them with there studies. This was an initiative taken by Decision for Life project members to support these young girls in making their dream a reality and support them to build a good future for themselves.