Srijan: Making a difference

Srijan: Making a difference

By Ambarish Singh Roy

Posted On Wednesday, November 07, 2007 at 12:53:39 AM
Times of India - Kolkata Mirror

Srijan, a welfare project of community welfare Committee, Women's College, Kolkata started its journey on July 9, 2003. Among the chief forces behind the organisation are noted academician Dr Minakshi Ray and renowned singer Dr Indrani Sen. Presently Srijan’s beneficial programmes cover 75 slum children and their mothers.

This year Srijan inducted some more children and their mothers under its welfare activities. Srijan adopted some beneficial schemes for the students of Women's College, Kolkata in collaboration with a local pathological laboratory. Srijan organised a blood group detection camp along with heath check up programme for the students of Srijan as well as the students of Women's College. One of the major tasks of Srijan is to promote health and education of the slum children and develop health and hygiene-awareness of their mothers through need-based schemes. Some lecturers of Women’s College, Kolkata coach the children on a regular basis.

Remedial classes are held for weak children to prevent school dropout, which is a recurring problem amongst these children. Keeping in mind the said objective, Srijan arranges meeting with the mothers of the target group children. Frequent interactions with them enable us to cater to their needs of primary things.

Every year, Srijan also organised their annual cultural programme where the little children participated in the dramatisation of a popular play among children called ‘Lalkamal and Nilkamal’. The children have since then, been invited by two neighbouring colleges to perform the same in their respective annual day functions. The annual excursion for the children this year, took them to Nicco Park, where the children spent a day full of fun and games. A special programme is also being formulated for some of the talented and gifted children in the group. Experts in various fields are often invited for Grooming and Orientation Programmes for the children.

Srijan recently organised a blood group detection camp in collaboration with a local health clinic. This was followed by the distribution of Health Cards to participating children. Srijan also organised a Thalasaemia awareness workshop for the students of Women's College, Calcutta and subsequently a Thalasaemia detection camp for them. Serum Analysis Centre, a local clinic, has pledged technical support in this matter. Srijan also conducts Hepatitis 'B' vaccination camps for its students. To promote awareness of HIV/AIDS among street children and the college –going youth, we participated in a ‘Sensitisation Programme’ in collaboration with CINI ASHA and CLPOA. The programme proved to be a resounding success with overwhelming participation. In order to inculcate financial independence in the womenfolk of the neighbouring slum areas, Srijan is planning to initiate a “Micro Credit System”, similar to the programme in Bangladesh spearheaded by Nobel Laureate Dr Mohd. Yunus, to promote “Self-sufficiency with minimum capital”.

More details about Srijan and it’s activities can be found at their Official Website: http://srijan.freeservers.com/.