“Blog to Feed a Child” - My second post

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

Uneducation  +/- Unemployment  = Child hunger.

To eradicate the classroom  hunger,the first thing first,the children from poor families should "GET" an opportunity to join a school and experience a classroom in the first place and to make sure they continue this educational journey further, there are many other factors that needs to be addressed and dealt with first.

As I mentioned in my previous post,we have to have welfare schemes aimed at uplifting the women population residing in the rural India.We have to build educational centers for the same and projects like "Bottle schools" and likewise upcoming projects seems to present a doable "HOPE" to implement it cost effectively as well as efficiently.

We also need to provide many job opportunities to these struggling women.Different types of woman oriented jobs like say simple pickle making small scale business or tailoring business and lots of rural women are expert artisans who create one of a kind handicrafts etc ,either their talent remains hidden or are exploited by middlemen .So,a platform to showcase their expertise like "online" would do the needful justice and provide the income they deserve to live well with their family.

 Similarly,different types of schemes should be "Implemented" properly/as promised by the Govt. of India ,NGO's and other renowned social service organizations etc that should guarantee simple yet effective financial and non-financial aids to support a common farmer in his farming practices, as major part of rural India relies on agriculture.

Celebrities should also play a vital role in giving hands on example to the people by utilizing their influence by being "Partners in hope" (financially and non-financially)and inspiring others for the betterment of the society.

The youth of India should help the Govt. by inventing and coming up with ideas to create low cost farming machines & practices ,not limited to but especially IIT-ians.When our government forgets or stumbles, the citizens especially the youth of India should try to remind them by creating awareness in various forms using the social media to the extreme to reach out far and wide.

Gone are the days when we could just rely on our government and eventually blame the government for all pitfalls and issues faced by our country.Today with the help of social media, our (common man's)freedom of speech and expression can be utilized in a much better way to create,share and spread awareness every nook and corner and come out with an unanimous support for any worthy cause thereafter.

Similarly,we can do more by participating in the financial buzz and aid of the virtual space,"CrowdFunding",by contributing as much as we all can ,together we can give all these hopes and dreams a wing to reality.

You see ,Child hunger is a vicious cycle or process.An educated woman->Healthy pregnancy and or job/income->Birth of a well-nourished kid + An educated man->Better job & decisions ->Source of continuous income->Family welfare->Food,roof and education for their children->Bright future.

So,to eradicate classroom hunger ,we have to also play an inevitable role in nipping the evil in the bud first ,so that we eradicate the root cause of the problem to control it's occurrence in future than just dealing with a part of the problem by itself.

“When we want to help the poor, we usually offer them charity. Most often we use charity to avoid recognizing the problem and finding the solution for it. Charity becomes a way to shrug off our responsibility. But charity is no solution to poverty. Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor. Charity allows us to go ahead with our own lives without worrying about the lives of the poor. Charity appeases our consciences.”
― Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

P..S.This is a part of Blogadda and Akshaya Patra's collaborative effort “Blog to Feed a Child” theme where any blog post contributed for the cause, BlogAdda will sponsor meals for an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year.Kudos to them!

So,

 I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

“Blog to Feed a Child” - My first post

 "When India achieved independence, more than 50 years ago, the people of the country were much afflicted by endemic hunger. They still are."

"Estimates of general undernourishment - what is sometimes called protein-energy malnutrition - are nearly twice as high in India as in Sub-Saharan Africa." ~ Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Winner

It's not Cancer,AIDS,TB etc ,the life threatening diseases that are the leading cause of death in the whole world but as a matter of heartbreaking fact,it is mere "Hunger".Unfortunately ,as per UNICEF,1/3 rd of the world's malnourished children live in India.Over 7000 kids die of hunger every day and that is over approx 25 lakhs deaths per year.

 According to the Naandi Foundation report ,around 46 percent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 percent are underweight and at least 16 percent are acutely malnourished, or wasted -  almost double that of sub-Saharan Africa kids.

More than 900 million Indians below poverty line live on less than Rs.20 a day.

Unemployment,poverty,little education and awareness,lack of basic health care facilities,poor hygiene,age-old customs like child marriages,improper birth control methods,poor health especially of rural women have contributed to the uncontrollable plague of our country,"The child malnutrition".

Despite good economic growth and many welfare programs like Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) etc are being implemented by the Indian government to fight against child malnutrition,it is pretty slow , unsteady and hard to count on.

 As per Al Jazeera reports, though welfare programs aimed to aid millions of hungry like school meals to feed poor children across the country and the Anganwadi services to support mothers in every district are in action , the services are plagued by mismanagement and corruption in political level.Infact,school meals carry worms and insects in them, children told Al Jazeera, and the Aganwadi centers are often closed and dysfunctional.

I believe,it's just not the government but the citizens of country as well who can make or break a country.So,it's every citizen's obligation as well to take responsibility in their own hands to help each other as much as they can ,irrespective of any religion,caste creed ,color,status etc to enrich humanity , prosper together and make our nation more prosperous.

As they say,"Charity begins at home." Let's brainstorm ways and means to help our unprivileged countrymen and when it comes to a child ,let us do our every bit as much as we can to help them eat well,grow well,learn well and live well.

I believe every child's fate starts right from his's/her's mother's womb.She is the root and if the base is strong,stronger will be the tree.And like the saying,"Behind every successful man there is a woman." So,let's give all the women of our country especially the rural women,the full support and assistance she needs to learn ,stand on her own feet and take the right decisions in her life- take care of herself and others properly.So,that no one suffers!--This, I strongly believe, should be the first step towards eradicating child hunger.

I recently read in a magazine how a healthy cosmetic company was doing their bit in US & neighboring countries to help the helpless by building schools using "BOTTLES" .They were in fact supporting a good cause promoted by ,"Hug It Forward organization" , a grass-roots organization that facilitates education and awareness by empowering communities in Latin America to build “Bottle schools”.

Bottle schools are schools built using “eco-bricks” a.k.a. plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash. Entire communities come together ,they collect all 1.5 to 2 liter discarded plastic bottles from everywhere and then they stuff those bottles tightly with inorganic trashes like plastic grocery sacks, potato chip bags etc, then line them up between layers of chicken wire and cover them with cement/Adobe. It is infact very simple yet quite strong as this type of building can withstand rain and storms without any adverse effects.Bottle schools are much cheaper and takes less time to build comparatively than traditional schools as well.

So,If we can do something like this concept in our country as well, that would be like double joy,we'll not only clean up the environment (which is also one of our concern) but also clean up the uneducation problem as well.We can provide a simple and doable platform for educating and spreading awareness to every under privilege, from child to adults especially uplifting the women and thereby improving her's and her child's future thereby.I am sure that will certainly have a positive impact on eradicating the child hunger to a great extent.

Just as Amartya sen said ," There is considerable evidence that women's education and literacy tend to reduce the mortality rates of children."

So,if we can encourage our Government and we also volunteer and motivate the rural communities to come together, join hands to create such projects like bottle schools in every rural part of India,it will play a vital role in the overall upliftment of our nation and upliftment of any nations resides in their children-the next generation.Stronger the new generation,more stronger our country's future will be in every aspect .

If that's too much to ask for ,then let us not forget what Sir Claus Moser said "Education costs money. But then so does ignorance."

It's high time,to decide and take measures,which one is the best option here then????

P.S.This is a part of Blogadda and Akshaya Patra's collaborative effort “Blog to Feed a Child” theme where any blog post contributed for the cause, BlogAdda will sponsor meals for an Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year.

So,

I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.

Write Over the Weekend theme -Story with 3 words -Parle G biscuits, Doordarshan, Nataraj dark pencils.

 

After a rough winter,a beautiful summer was around the corner.Neha was super excited about it,as that meant,"Summer holidays" was near by and that also meant,it was time to dump those school books,pack up and get ready to visit her grandma in a small remote village in the Northern part of India,Uttar Pradesh.

Her mom,Sita, had a condition though.The quicker she completes the holiday homeworks,sooner their journey would start.Neha saw it coming.Like mom,like daughter,she also put not one but couple of conditions too:-

1.Her mom should insist her dad to buy her a set of "Parker pens" which was in fact her last B'day wish-unfulfilled !
2..Her empty choco box should be filled to the rim with an assorted mixture of Ferrero Rochero chocolates,cream biscuits,truffles and fudges.
3.High time,TV cable connection should be taken at all cost.

Sita took a deep sigh.Neha's stubborn nature and she being the only pampered child ,Sita had to kneel down to her daughter's wishes.She promised she'll try her best to convince her dad about her over-the -top demands .

Later that evening,Sita conveyed those demands as it is to her husband,Rakesh.Rakesh was in a dilemma as last month only he bought his daughter,a brand new laptop.However,it was really hard for Rakesh and Sita to say no to their only kid,apple of their eye,Neha.

Anyways,Rakesh got her the jar filled with assorted chocolates for the time being.Parker pen ,he assured Neha that he'll ask Neha's aunt (Rakesh's sister) to get her from U.K.

And last demand, cable connection,he assured, he'll get her once they are back from their vacation.
Neha being very adamant agreed to do only half of the home work for the time being and later after the vacation, once her pending demands were fulfilled.

Since any persuasion would be futile,Rakesh said,"As you wish."

Neha kept her words,completed half of the home work and happily left to visit her beloved grandma.

Neha never liked  the village and lifestyle over there ,but loved her grandma ,who lived alone with a maid and maid's little daughter ,Pushpa Rani.Pushpa, who was almost the same age as Neha,very soon became Neha's playmate.

Pushpa's day started by helping her mother in the Neha's grandmaa's kitchen and then washing especially Neha's clothes .Neha felt like a princess who had a very dedicated maid at her perusal.
She was so impressed with Pushpa that she wanted to gift something to her humble,loyal, always at service little maid,Pushpa Rani.

A week later was Pushpa's b'day.Neha asked Pushpa,"How she is gonna celebrate her b'day?"

Pushpa replied with a big grin on her face,"I'll go to my aunt's place,they have T.V.I'll watch Jungle book,Ramayan,Vikram Betal and then a movie."

Wonder struck Neha asked, "That's it? and  what about the cake,"The b'day cake",are you not going to cut it?"

Pushpa ,little lost in her thought, replied,"Naa baba".

Neha was shocked and asked curiously,"Hey what about the gifts?"

Pushpa gave a wonder look back.

However,Neha thought of gifting her something anyways.So,she asked playfully,"Pushpa rani,tell me three things you would like to have as gift?"

Pushpa,smiled innocently and replied ,"Ummmm...a biig box of Parle G biscuits,a TV with Doordarshan and lots of natraj pencils."

Neha said,"Ewww...so cheap.! What if you get something better than all those things-more or less similar."

Pushpa insisted,"I only want them."

Pushpa said in a composed tone,"My mom says just because something is cheap doesn't mean they are not good and one should always learn to save money as much as one can.Money don't grow on trees,we work hard to earn it.We should always value money and put money for better use instead .Always be happy with what we have or get."

"Every month amma would buy me a packet of parle G.",said,dreamingly,Pushpa.

Neha shocked ,asked,"By the way,DD programmes ?Dont you get bored of them?"

"Do you know in cable you've got so many options."

Pushpa replied,"Amma says,"Too much of anything is bad."

Nehas asked sarcastically,"Now why do you like just Natraj pencils?"

Pushpa replied,"They have Lord Shiva's blessings I believe and they are good ,affordable and we don't get any in our village.Once my uncle got me few pencils from town."

Amma never buys me any as she can't afford me to send me to school.I want to study.

Pushpa bid good bye and hurried to help her mother to prepare lunch.

That left Neha in a thought provoking state of mind.

That evening Rakesh called Neha to tell her that her aunt is also gonna visit her grandma soon with her cousins for their vacation and guess what,her aunt will buy the parker pens for her for sure.
.
Neha said in a calm tone,"No papa,I don't want any Parker pen."

Rakesh called Sita and almost kinda passed out.

Sita surprisingly asked,"Are you sure?"

"Is this my adamant daughter saying?"

Neha interrupted,saying,"Actually mom,I want something else" and not for me..but for Pushpa."

Sita stood there speechless.

Mom, Pushpa taught me a lot of things,she inspired me big time.

I realized,"The things I take for granted are the only thing someone else is praying for."

Neha's dad replied gleefully,"Exactly dear,that was our intention of this vacation mainly."

Sita smiled and said happily,"That's my girl."Now get ready,let's go for shopping ..come come we've got to buy lots of thing for pushpa and You."

P.S.This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.