Education India Project #31546

Fighting Malnutrition Through Child Care in India

by Seva Mandir

Project Report | Dec 6, 2018
Giving the Gift of Nutrition this Christmas

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Friend,

Seva Mandir runs full day Balwadis to provide day care, nutrition, basic health care and pre-school education to children of 1-5 years of age. Last year, Seva Mandir ran a total of 163 full day Balwadis across 6 rural blocks of southern Rajasthan, reaching 4,012 children. Along with Balwadis, Seva Mandir also works with 264 government Aanganwadis (Pre-schools) to improve their functioning.

In all the Balwadi centres, children are provided supplementary nutrition which comprises of 3 meals in a day; one hot cooked meal (Porridge) and ready to eat, fortified sweet and salty nutria soya pops, 2 times in a day. The nutrition is supplemented with micro-nutrients, Vitamin A supplements and de-worming medicine. An Ayurvedic supplement for iron is also given to every child every day. Regular nutritional assessment of all the children is also conducted in the Balwadis.

The impact can be easily understood through Ghanashyam’s story. Ghanashyam attends a Balwadi located in Kotra block. The Instructor of the Balwadi was informed about Ghanashyam by a Balsakhi (a Seva Mandir maternal and child health worker) of the village. The Balsakhi informed the teacher at the Balwadis that the child is moderately malnourished, and the mother leaves the one-year old Ghanashyam at home when she works in the field. She told the Instructor that the child is not looked after properly and is in desperate need of the day-care service which the Balwadi provides. The instructor went to Ghanashyam’s house to talk to his mother, Bhuri, who was at first skeptical about leaving her child in the care of another person not from their family. She gave excuses and avoided the Instructor, who, however, was determined that the child required appropriate care. After endless efforts, Ghanashyam was enrolled in the Balwadi in July, 2018. Ghanashyam was given fresh Porridge with hot oil poured over it for extra nutrition. Everyday he receives a spoonful of iron-supplement and six- monthly dose of Vitamin A. When Ghanashyam enrolled in the Balwadi, he weighed 6.5 kgs. In September 2018, after two months of regular care and nourishment, Ghanashyam weighed 7.5 kgs. He is now in the ‘well-nourished’ category and his mother Bhuri became grateful that she had sent Ghanashyam to the Balwadi regularly after she also observed the change in her child’s appearance.

We are immensely proud of the improvements we have been able to make in the lives of these children and hope to reach out more children with your continued support. It is due to generous support from friends like you that Seva Mandir has been able to run these Balwadis.

We are proud to share that Seva Mandir has been featured in a The New York Times article! One of our GlobalGiving campaigns has been selected as an alternative way to give a gift this Christmas through supporting tribal children's education. The link to the article is https://goo.gl/sCxFGC

Also, GlobalGiving's “Year End Campaign” has begun! Until the end of December, all recurring donations up to $200 will be 100% matched throughout the campaign, and whichever organisation achieves the most funds during the campaign will receive $2,000 from Global Giving!

Help Seva Mandir achieve these goals this December by donating on our Global Giving page!

Thank you so much.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Sep 7, 2018
Towards a New Dawn

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Change maker,

Greetings from Udaipur! Children aged between one and five in the areas where Seva Mandir works, lack adequate care, nutrition, security and a stimulating environment at home. Extreme poverty forces parents including mothers to work on the farms, as labourers, or travel to forests to collect firewood and fodder. Most worksites do not offer child-care facilities, and those that exist are often of poor quality.

Soni, 3-year-old girl, enrolled in Seva Mandir’s Balwadi (Daycare) in the Badgaon block of Udaipur district comes from a very poor family, with her parents working as daily wage labourer.

Two years ago, when Soni joined Balwadi, she was severely malnourished. Since, both her parents had to go out to work, she was often left neglected at home without care and nutrition required for her normal growth. Her parents got to know about the Balwadi centre near their home and got her enrolled. She diagnosed with malnutrition during a regular health check-up camp at Balwadi and was referred to start treatment for malnutrition immediately at a nearby Community Health Center.

It took her 8 months to come out of the danger zone. Balwadi Instructor gave special attention to her health and fed her with nutritious food like Soya Chunks and Kichadi (Indian dish made of lentils and rice).

According to Soni's parents, “The Balwadi was a life savior for our daughter. Since we work as labor to make ends meet, we had no option to leave her at home unattended. But Seva Mandir’s Balwadi is a blessing. Here, our daughter stays in a safe environment and also gets nutritious food with care. It's been two years since our daughter is attending the Balwadi. we can go to work with a free mind without worrying about her health and safety.”

There are thousands of children in our work area who suffer from malnutrition in absence of care and nutrition. Also, children like Soni are left at home all alone or with their elder siblings (who are also very young) while their parents are working.

Seva Mandir has been running full day Balwadis (Daycares) for the last 14 years to provide care and safety to such children letting their parents work without worrying for their children. Currently 178 Balwadis are operational in tribal areas of south Rajasthan reaching out to 5000 underprivileged children.

It is due to generous support from friends like you Seva Mandir has been able to run these Balwadis.

We are immensely proud of the improvements we have been able to make in the lives of these children and hope to reach out more children with your continued support. Thank you so much for your trust in us. In case you would like to know more about the project, please do write to me at atul.lekhra@sevamandir.org

Warm regards,

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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Jun 12, 2018
Enabling Children to Reach Their Potential

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your interest in changing the world!

Congratulations! You’re among the first to donate to our Balwadi (daycare) project, and you are involved in directly helping young children in one of the poorest areas of India not only to get an education, but to escape the horrific effects of malnourishment and ill health. Through your generosity, you are breaking down boundaries, changing lives, and enabling young children to reach their potential, and we can’t thank you enough.

Children aged between one and five in the areas where Seva Mandir works lack adequate care, nutrition, security and a stimulating environment at home. Extreme poverty forces parents including mothers to work either on their farms, government labourers, other construction sites, or travel to forests to collect firewood and fodder. Most worksites do not offer child-care facilities, and those that exist are often of poor quality.

The government's preschool centers are plagued by chronic staff absenteeism and are unable to provide quality services. In the absence of a proper day care where mothers can leave their children while working, children are either taken to work, or left alone at home or in the care of older siblings, who are themselves then unable to attend school. Furthermore, children do not receive sufficient nutrition at home. 44% of children in the age group 0-3 years are underweight in Rajasthan and 75% of children are anemic in Udaipur district. Seva Mandir works to address these issues by starting community-run preschools called Balwadis. These are safe, secure facilities that offer an educationally, nutritionally and developmentally appropriate preschool environment. The Balwadis are run by a Sanchalika, local women whom Seva Mandir has trained to work with young children.

What Balwadis mean to Mothers

Kesari lives in Talai village and works as a housewife, a farmer and labourer. She has been sending her four-year-old daughter to a Balwadi for the last two years. She is happy because, while her daughter is at the Balwadi, Kesari can work with a peaceful mind knowing that her child is safe, learning and receiving important nutrition. Kesari is able now to earn about Rs 100 ($1) a day. She says, “Without the Balwadi, I would find it very difficult to earn enough. I am also very happy to know that at the Balwadi my daughter is being given nutritious food, which I would not be able to provide. I tell all my friends that they should send their children to the Balwadi so that they too can enjoy peace of mind and a good future for their children.”

Seva Mandir has been running full day Balwadis for the last 14 years, and as of now, we are facilitating 178 Balwadis. Due to sustained philanthropic support, Seva Mandir has been able to run these Balwadis for a long time and that has enabled us to make continuous improvements to them, in all of its entire three primary domains – day care, pre-school education and health component.

We are immensely proud of the improvements which have been made in southern Rajasthan and with great support from well-wishers like you we hope to reach even more children in need.

Thank you so much for your trust in us.

Regards

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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