Help required from interns and volunteers
We often feel like children entering a candy shop when we walk into a university or college campus. There are a variety of departments and oh how we so badly require that help! We feel immense joy when we meet likeminded people in the community who want to contribute their time and talent. Our children come in broken. They need our support to build them piece by piece. Most children are resilient and we just act as facilitators on their journey to repair some of their lost childhood. As you are aware, we work with children (between the age of 10-18 years) who are in conflict with law and children needing care and protection. If you would like to join us, down below are the different areas in which you can contribute as a volunteer!
School of law - There a set of 8-10 laws that are immediately relevant to the child care space. These laws need to be demystified and brought to the public attention. Prevention is better than cure. If the empowered citizen is able to recognize and report child labor, child marriage, child abuse etc. at an early stage, we have an engaged citizen.
Humanities and social sciences - Theater and performing arts are a powerful therapeutic medium for children who have witnessed trauma. A student from media studies can help us create pertinent, impactful videos which highlights the various social issues that children face. Additionally they an also help disseminate various government schemes and remedies available to those problems. A volunteer with an area of expertise in music, can help calm frayed nerves and engage children in perhaps an ability that they have never got a chance to explore. Then there are interns/ volunteers with social work and psychology background who can have the empathetic, human element; so very essential for these children who are scared to face the legal complications that arises after the case is reported to the authorities. They need moral, emotional and physical support to hand hold them through the labyrinth of procedures and policies.
Commerce and management - Most of our children are dropouts. They are in their teens and soon about to legally turn into adults. Many of them lack the courage and will to get back into mainstream education. Can we share with them our expertise on how, depending on their skill sets, they can start their own trade or business? Can we give them the hope, that they can be the first generation of entrepreneurs and startups, without having to bow down to the whims and fancies of the tough/ inflexible labor market which require degrees and experience certificates?
Creative arts - If you have a background in painting, craftwork there are a number of activities that you can design to gainfully occupy the child who is anxiously waiting for her parents, disposal of the case,documentation to be completed. Many of them come from less privileged backgrounds and so are hardly exposed to the latent talent that needs to be evoked in them.
Sports and physical training - One of the most neglected aspect of institutionalization is physical and mental health. Apart form direct medication to tackle the pathology, sports can be a wonderful intervention to de-stress the child and hopefully gain some fitness and self defense tactics.
If any of the above area of work interests you, you can join hands with us as an intern or a volunteer. However, there are some constraints we would like you to be aware of. First is maintaining confidentiality. We cannot reveal any child’s identity and thereby compromise their legal status in any way. Secondly you need to be child friendly and follow all the child protection policies in letter and spirit. Instances of a few in the helping profession who further compound the child’s baggage of pain and trauma, with an additional layer of abuse is unacceptable.
We are excited about the tremendous possibilities that exist in rebuilding their lives. Are you ready to join hands, to help serve this sizable slice of the Indian human resource pie? Let us together make our neighborhood a better place.