Is poverty just bad luck? : Majima's Story

6-year old Majima Khatoon, one of the 9220 children we reached in the quarter July - Sep '13, says, “Mere log, mera gulab, sab gaon mein chhoot gaye. Yahaan  chhupa-chhupi khelne dost bhi nahee hain”. (My relatives and my rose plant are in my village. I don’t even have my friends to play hide-n-seek with, here!).

India has a rich tradition of caring for children through the extended family, but when Majima’s parents migrated, that network got lost. 

Majima is one of the 60 million children in India, living in poverty and in dire need of care, especially so if you are a migrant child, moving across rural and urban landscapes in India, and coping with neglect, harsh living conditions and little access to playgrounds, schools and healthcare.

 Majima is lucky, as the site on which her parents work has a Mobile Creches’ centre to take care of her. She’s learning reading and math to get into formal school.

But poverty is not just bad luck. And the opportunity to learn, play and eat should not just be a matter of chance. How do we ensure the right to protection and development for every child?

The Mobile Creches Method!

We practice Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) that's practical, holistic and inclusive. The backbone of our method is:

Picture of creche from outside

Safe Space: We ask builders to donate space, materials and resources for creches. In places where public services do not work we mobilize people to work with local leadership to facilitate those services and teach women how to set up creches in their homes.

Multi Purpose Classrooms: We divide classrooms into three areas: Creche (for children 0-3), Balwadi (for children 3-5) and Non Formal Education (NFE for children 6-12). 

A Balwadi Class in progress

An NFE class in progress

• The babies in the creche are stimulated with colorful mobiles, songs, cuddling and interactive play. 
• Balwadi activity for preschoolers encourage social, cognitive and motor development through games, puppets, stories and more.
• The oldest children, in the NFE group, learn the rudiments of reading and math with a special focus on preparation for exams and transitioning to formal school.
• Alumni of Mobile Creches between 6-18 years, stay engaged through the school scholarship programme, library and hobby clubs and the street theatre groups.  

Curriculum on a Shoe-String: Because routine and repetition helps kids learn, we use a theme based hands-on learning methodology we call Prakalp whereby all activities in the centre, be it counting to storytelling, revolve around specific themes (e.g. 'Myself' or 'Rain') each quarter. What we don't have we improvise: colorful mobiles made of waste paper, painted pebbles, clay animals and cardboard cutouts. Flashcards and worksheets are often handmade by our teachers.

Rice and Pulses for lunch

Nutrition: Hungry kids can't learn. We provide nutritious meals that consist of staples such as lentils, rice, greens, milk, soya nut and sprouted grain, both enabling children to focus, and encouraging parents to practice low cost nutrition at home and contribute to supplies in the centre. We also provide prophylactic doses of vitamins A & C, iron and calcium.

A child being immunized

Systems for Hygiene, Health and Growth Monitoring: Meeting the minimum standard for hygiene is a challenge in a slum or a construction site. Systems demand that our childcare workers check children behind the ears and under the nails; wash their hands frequently; properly dispose of stools and treat drinking water. 

• We make diapers out of clean cotton scraps and leftover cuttings donated by garment factories. 
• We monitor each child's growth closely in the early years to nip malnutrition in the bud.
• Our centres become community hubs that connect health agencies to the unreached- for free check ups, immunizations and treatment through referrals.

A Community Health Camp in progress

Parent, Community and Childcare Practices: Mobile Creches services young children by empowering the community around them. We provide platforms for parents to come together and build a common understanding, in their context- on hygiene, feeding, schooling, childcare and their right to basic public services- through community meetings, one on one counselling on breastfeeding and weaning foods, issue based campaigns, street theatre, children's fairs, women's self help groups, adolescent clubs and so on.