By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge
Dear Friend,
From all of us here in Seva Mandir we wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the new year brings to you lots of love, laughter, and joy.
Soniya, is a cheerful caretaker at one of our day-care centre (Balwadi). The children are less hesitant around her and over time, tend to develop a relish for her warm company.
Soniya recalls- her uncomplicated routine and the fun of group teaching before the pandemic hit. “The euphony of children singing aloud nursery rhymes in their own sweet voice, and playing with their animal themed flash cards- are some of my favourite moments that I hold in my bag of memories.” she says. She clearly remembers how a sense of togetherness helped the children groom into better individuals and develop self-confidence. She also recalls the ease with which the children would make friends and participate in activities together.
However, after COVID-19 hit India, nothing has remained the same.
Following the government’s safety guidelines and protocols, Centre-based Balwadi day-cares are not functional for the time being. But the caretakers of our Balwadis are now shifted to a new routine i.e. grouped day-care arrangement where they do activities with children in small groups. They can now entertain not more than five children in one sitting.
Our caretakers have also maintained a continuous supply of nutritious food for the children, helping lower the risk of malnutrition, especially during such trying times. Only parents are allowed to come to Balwadis and collect the food for their children in their own tiffin-boxes.
We hope that this situation will soon change and we will again see small children coming to Balwadis for their regular schedule. Times like these come with challenges of their own, yet caretakers like Soniya remains hopeful.
We would like to thank you for letting us meet our commitments in the field and for all your trust in our work.
Our whole team wishes you a lot of joy and happiness during this holiday season.
Best Wishes,
Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
