Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening, the footpath right across the Churchgate station starting from Asiatic store next to the Tanishq jewelry store becomes a classroom of a different kind. This is a school for street children from areas like Cross Maidan, Gandhi Garden, Nariman Point and Churchgate station. ‘Hamara Footpath’, as the name goes, is a small community started by 20-somethings in the year 2006 to give a fresh lease of life to children who live on Mumbai’s streets.
“I used to hang around with street kids and play with them even before we formally started this group. One day I approached an 11-year-old flower seller and asked him if he wanted to draw with me. We had great fun, it was a spontaneous reaction. After that day, I kept meeting street kids and we indulged in drawing and painting. Soon, my friends joined me and our fun activity snowballed into something much bigger,” says 28-year-old media professional and the brainchild behind the group, Shubhangi Swarup.
Today, around 20 volunteers run this group and Shubhangi says each one has brought in something new. “When I started this, I never realized it will turn out to be so big. But as people started joining me, they brought in something different to teach street kids. I was good with drawing so I took that path, my friend is a good story teller so she chose that,” says Swarup. The group indulges in play-acting, music, drawing, math and story telling as a means of teaching. “We cannot bombard these kids with books; also most of them work to survive the streets. The only way to teach them is to catch their attention and make learning fun,” says Swarup.
Needless to say, the group did not have it very easy. “Our earlier days were full of conflicts. While kids wanted to join us, their parents wouldn’t allow them, they thought we were being paid to do this job. Each time we requested a family to send their kids; they would first give us their demands of roti, kapada and makaan. But with time and with persistent requests from their kids, they eased out,” says Shubangi.
For the kids, Hamara Footpath offers a chance to be like other children, forgetting about their battles for survival “I have never before done drawing and colouring. Now I want to become a world famous artist when I grow up,” says eight-year-old Ambika, who lives with her family near Churchgate station. For 12-year-old Raju Mishra coming from Cross Maidan, numbers are everything. “I think numbers are crucial, I love doing multiplication, additions and subtractions, I am good at it. And it makes me feel good about myself,” says Raju, grinning.
The group does not want to stop its work merely by teaching kids. “Our main aim is to bring them into the mainstream. We also want to address the larges issues of homelessness and societal conflicts, it’s sad that many of us treat these people as an eye-sore. My question is, where will they go if not the urban areas? Our main aim is to ensure that at least the future generations of these under privileged families are able to stand on their own feet. It is a very utopian thought, but I hope we succeed,” Shubhangi concludes with a grin.
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/causeway-with-a-cause-c/389808/