For the volunteers of Umang foundation, the week end started at 7 in the morning heading towards Vithalwadi for celebrating children's day with those children who did not have anyone to tell them about the significance of the day. If they knew something, it was to earn a living by doing odd jobs.
When the members reached in the morning there were children from various places in outskirts of Mumbai. We had to accommodate 100 children and the place we got in the area was too small for all of them to fit. So we had to divided ourselves and the children in two groups and started with our activities .
It started with the drawing competition where all the children were provided with drawing sheets, pencil, eraser and a box of crayon colors each so as to put their thought on the paper. Each volunteer guided a group of 5 to 6 people to help boost up their innovative ideas and the the enthusiasm and the results shown by those children was awesome. After this concentration job we lightened up the mood with a lots of music, dancing and singing performance by the children. They sang loud in unison, forgetting all the differences in them. To see them dancing was to see them realizing their childhood which I really doubt how often they could.
After these joyous moments they were screened a small seminar on fire hazards and safety measures. They were keen to hear everything that the instructor said readily answered his questions and were ready with their own curious questions. It was hard to believe that these little people did not go to a proper schools.
It was time for lunch by then. Umang had contacted the AASRA team to arrange for lunch so that Umang could sponsor the same. The meal started after a small prayer. There was all silence in the room when the food went down to their stomach. They relished it to the last bit, knowing the importance of each grain, not wasting what they took in their places. They were small but mannered to up up their own plates to dispose it themselves.
After all this the children were taken to an open ground where the Umang Foundation had arranged a magic show for them. Their were roars of claps as they saw the magician in his fancy robes. The excitement showed up as their eager eyes as they watched the magician perform his art. There were giggles as the magician performed funny tricks on them at times.
Yes... we the volunteers had expected the event to end by midday 1 pm. And to our surprise at this point it was already 3 pm, and there was still lot of excitement to come for the kids. Our joy knew no time bounds, no space bounds as we saw their innocent faces, their enthusiasm about the day and their receptiveness and presence to gain all out of it.
Last but not the least, the distribution of small gifts that are daily necessities for us but luxury for them. The smallest age group was gifted with a colorful ball and fancy water bottle with animal faces over the cover. The elder age group was distributed a pencil box set that composed of a pouch, pencil, eraser , sharpener. Face masks were distributed to all the kids which made some kids look scary, some jokers and some frutie :) . It gave us pride to see the drawing competition winners proudly posing at the camera with their prizes !
After all was done we felt heavy to leave the place as the children said good bye to us waving till we reached the end of the narrow lanes. They seemed contend for the day and brave, all set for the next day !
