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NITYA SEVA SOCIETY -- SITE VISIT

I had planned a visit to India in the summer of 2007. I felt it would be a good time to conduct a site visit to one of Asha’s projects. What better than to visit a project in which I was already involved! Below is a summary of my first site visit to Nitya Seva society in Bhopal.

I had communicated with Ajay (Ajay is the brother of Asha. Asha and her husband Claus founded Nitya Seva Society) and his wife Alka about a date and time I could visit the project. Since I was not familiar with the place and I had only 2 days out there, I could not land up unannounced. We decided to meet on Sat. Aug. 18th. Not having a chance to do an impromptu site visit had its drawbacks. I could not judge whether the place functioned daily the way I saw it, or not. I hoped for the best.

My sister accompanied me to Alka and Ajay’s home. Since she works with a few NGO’s in the area, I wanted her opinion as well. From their home, we followed them to the Child Home. We were received by kids, who sported big smiles on their faces. They were all neatly dressed, with their hair combed, and looked happy. I was presented with flowers, which the kids had made with fabric. They were really pretty. After putting tikka and saying hellos, I was introduced to 3 women who had come from Germany. They were staying at the home for an extended period to volunteer their time.

We went to the office where we were introduced to some of the staff members. We discussed some details around the day to day running of the place. This is when I figured out what the German women were doing. They were volunteering on behalf of Nitya Seva Society, a program started by Asha and Claus Fink from Germany. The child home had separate living arrangements for visiting volunteers in the building. This makes it easier for them to stay and volunteer their time for an extended period of time.

We then got a chance to check out the living quarters of the Child Home. All dorms looked very neat and clean. There were bunk beds where the kids slept. A couple of kids were sick and were resting, but managed to greet us with a smile. It was very cute and touching. The kids were very well behaved and courteous. In my conversations with some of the kids, I found out that one of the older kids had learnt carpentry and was busy building cabinet doors to the lockers/cubbies which the kids used to keep their stuff in. The child looked very proud of his accomplishment.

I then went to see the common area where kids played. There were a couple of handicapped kids who seemed to have assimilated quite well. The rest of the kids seemed to have embraced them. Since these kids had no place to go, this place turned out to be a boon to them.

We took a tour of the kitchen. That area too seemed very neat and clean. The various kitchen jobs were assigned to the staff, with other adults helping out as and when necessary.

Next, we proceeded to the classes where kids were getting tuition. The tutors were paid staff members. Since the Child Home houses kids that go to various schools, tutoring happens at different times, in accordance with the schools’ respective curriculum. They had a computer room where older kids learnt computer skills and also played computer games. That room doubled up as extracurricular activity space for younger children. I saw both sessions in progress at different times during my visit.

Among other facilities at the Child Home were a security guard, and separate dorms for boys and girls. In general kids seemed happy, outgoing, and ready to come up to us and talk freely. They were happy to show me their schoolwork.

We went back to the office where staff members got some tea and snacks. I saw some pictures of a girl who grew up at the child home. She got married to a guy in the neighboring community. The girl had hearing difficulties but the groom was aware of it. That was a good sign. There was a proper Hindu wedding ceremony where Asha and Claus substituted for the girl’s parents. The kids were apparently very happy to attend a wedding of one of their own. Some of the other kids are also just reaching adulthood. Some of them are working as staff members in the child home whereas others have found jobs and are settling down independently in the neighboring community. We were also shown some handicraft artifacts that the kids had made during their extracurricular activity time. The work was really neat.

In summary, I was quite satisfied with the day to day running of the place. Kids seemed well taken care of, and they were affectionate towards Alka and Ajay. I was told that Alka visited the home a few times every week. Even though Ajay visited less often, like Alka, he also knew all the kids by their names. If there was anything that was lacking during my visit, it was the fact that my arrival wasn’t a surprise.

During my visit, I was also given details of additional funding needs for which a proposal was sent out earlier in the year. We will present details about the same at one of our upcoming meetings.

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