India's 61st Republic Day

To say that the kids love any excuse to celebrate would be an understatement. We had officially declared a holiday at the Education Centre on January 26th, but decided to organize a little event (and by "little" I mean "involving 250 kids and the entire teaching staff," so maybe not so little after all) to celebrate Republic Day.


There was lots of flag-waving, anthem-singing, and inspirational slogan-chanting.


We took the opportunity to present small prizes (glitter pens) to the students with perfect attendance in the month of December, as well as larger gifts (very nice sets of 50 markers) to the students who had not been absent even once in the months of October, November and December. Nineteen students received marker sets, which, considering that the months in question coincided with cold and flu season, was not too shabby. My prediction is that attendance will improve even more after the attendance award ceremony - let's see!


Snacks (upma and fruit) and flags...


Activities included a coloring contest for the youngest kids (1st standard and below), a drawing contest for the kids in 2nd - 5th (pictured above), a "Great Leaders" essay writing contest for the kids in 6th and 7th, and a speech/public speaking activity for the students in standards 8 and up.


The nursery students also played an interesting game involving balloons tied to their ankles...not entirely sure of the rules, but they had a blast. They were also so, so excited about the flags + pinwheels.

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Concurrently, in the Health Centre, we were running a pediatric check-up camp, compliments of Dr. Jaiswal, the lovely UNICEF pediatrician who comes to AIC every few weeks to check in on the Waghri and Sikligar kiddos.


We received a donation of baby/toddler toys + activity stations recently, which is turning out to be perfect for keeping the little ones busy and happy during our Health and Community Outreach activities.


The pediatric camp set-up. Res kids Ashwini and Pooja came along to help out (and Pooja took all of these photos!).


Dr. Jaiswal, showing a mother where her baby falls on the WHO height and weight charts.


Little Vivek really got a kick out of the examination process.


We even have an examination table now!


Program Coordinator Rashmi with Pooja, after the check-up camp was over.

And that was how we celebrated Republic Day here at AIC!

School Picture Day

Last week, we were fortunate enough to have friends Jill and Chris visiting. Chris, a professional photographer in the U.S., very graciously agreed to dedicate one full day to photographing all of the Education Outreach kiddos, and Jill helped keep the process running smoothly ("stand on the line...no, not that line, that line!" "look here! here! here!" "ok, now do any silly face [insert demonstration of silly face]...") It was particularly funny trying to take pictures of the nursery kids, since they had no idea what was expected of them, and most had had very limited exposure to cameras and generally seemed confused (but also really hyper and excited) about the whole process.

But all in all, we got great pictures! Chris took a nice headshot of each, and then let them do something "silly" for the next shot. And boy, were they silly.

Family

"I love AIC soooooo much! I never before had a family like this"

Decorated in squiggly hearts and flowers and scrawled anonymously on the whiteboard in the little kids' study room, the words above made me smile when I saw them last week.

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I need a break from thinking about child marriages and abusive uncles, so I've decided to post a few photos from the winter holidays that I've been meaning to share. It's funny how adamant the kids are that we follow our AIC family traditions exactly as in previous years. Even though these traditions are just a hodgepodge of activities that we've created and pieced together over the past five years, they hold so much significance for the kids.

We made batch after batch of cookies - molasses spice cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate cereal cookies (I'm not sure what the official name for these is) - and banana muffins with red and green sprinkles on top in our lovely oven! Previously, we've baked in the tiny toaster oven, but now we have a real oven to use, thanks to a wonderful family that donated it when they left Pune. We finally managed to get the oven set up and working just in time for some inaugural Christmas cookies!

Poonam provided minute-by-minute updates on the shape, size and color of the baking cookies. She was SO excited.

We started a new tradition this year - a Christmas Eve bonfire on the roof! Combined with another family tradition from years past, spiced apple "cider", sitting in a circle telling stories and spending time together around a warm fire on a clear, starry night was the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve.

Hadisa (to the right) and Nizam, both scholars of the Afghan Scholars' Initiative, joined us for the winter holidays this year. The kids have really enjoyed having them around!

(Ok, fine, it was actually just apple juice spiced with cloves and cinnamon and whatnot, but it was well-received by the kids nonetheless!)

This year's holidays had even stronger undertones of family and togetherness than I can remember in years past. Maybe it's because with every year that passes, we've all been together for that much longer, or maybe it's because we made a concerted effort this year to underschedule our time in anticipation of the kids' school holiday so that we could do more things together at home. Whatever it was, it was perfect. And listening to everyone go around the fire circle on New Year's Eve, sharing their favorite memories from 2010 - laughing, remembering, chiming in - reminds me how far we have all come, together, as a family.

Up next: The AIC family resolutions for 2011!

Update: Onwards and Upwards

Since many people have asked, I wanted to pass along this news: by the end of the day yesterday, the 15-year old girl in AIC's Education Outreach Program had been removed by police from her aunt and uncle's home.

Her relatives, furious as you might imagine, made her remove and leave anything and everything that wasn't "hers" - including her anklets, a small bag of personal items that she had packed, and all clothes except for the school uniform and backpack that AIC had given her. So she headed off in a police van with literally nothing but her the clothes she was wearing (school uniform), her school bag and a shawl that Swati, our Education Outreach Program Coordinator, took off and gave her to wear.

She is currently being kept in a remand home (read: juvenile prison) until the completion of the court procedures. We're told that she will most likely be released on Monday, at which point we have a safe, stable place ready to keep her. We took over a bag of toiletries, food and whatever clothes items we could rustle up this morning. She is doing well and has maintained emotional strength and high spirits throughout this trying process.

Her story (name omitted) was in all of the local Marathi newspapers today - it felt so strange to read it, as if I were reading about some other sordid case, not a child I know personally and a situation I was involved in firsthand. But the good news is that she has refused to be a victim, and whatever unscrupulous plans her relatives were making for her future are behind her now. It's too soon to start celebrating, but I can at least say that we're all very relieved at the outcome of the situation [I'm not sure I've ever bitten my nails as much as I did the past few days] and excited to see where this girl's life takes her from this point forward.

Waiting, watching, planning, hoping...

As I write this, a girl's marriage is being planned. She is 15, has no parents and has lived with her uncle and aunt for the past 7 or 8 years. Her marriage will be to her other uncle (her aunt's younger brother), who is about 12 years older than she is. She has been told nothing about the marriage, other than that it is happening on the 30th of this month, in a village somewhere (to minimize the chances of police action due to the underage nature of this marital union) on the outskirts of Pune.

The girl is studying in the 10th standard and is extremely bright. She wants to go to college and find a good job to support her younger brother. Her 10th standard board exams are coming up in March and she should be worrying about how prepared she is for those exams, not her impending marriage. Anyone who has followed AIC's work has undoubtedly seen her in photos - she is was one of the original 12 girls in AIC's Education Outreach Program in 2006. She is not a hypothetical anecdote that I am sharing with you, nor a rare, random, shocking case that we have stumbled upon - she is a girl who has been with us since the beginning, a girl who is central to everything we have been doing in out Education Outreach Program, a girl whom we care about.

When she tries to speak out against getting married, the girl's uncle beats her and threatens to mutilate her face or body so that nobody else will ever want to marry her. He tells her going to the local police won't help - he has already paid them off and they will just beat her and send her back to him so that the marriage can go forward as planned. He has planted local hooligan boys as spies outside her school and in the slum to ensure that she doesn't try to run away (again) to escape the marriage.

What this girl's uncle doesn't know (yet) is that she filed a case against him yesterday in court. The court police will arrive at his house sometime today or tomorrow to inform him of this. We are ready with a safe place for her to stay when he reacts badly to this news. She will never have to live with him again.

We've never embarked on this sort of urgent, top secret, high stakes mission before. While it feels a bit like we're sitting on top of a powder keg ready to explode, it is also gratifying to know that this girl's life will be completely different because this marriage was stopped. Instead of being forced to drop out of school two months before the most important exams of her entire academic career, marry her uncle, move in with his alcoholic parents and become a battered child bride and (most likely) teenage mother, she is choosing a different path.

AIC has been behind her the entire way, but it is the girl herself who is putting her foot down and standing tall in front of the court magistrate, defiantly ready to press charges against those who seek to barter her off in marriage. She knows the risks, but she is determined to change the course of her life.

I am apprehensive but hopeful about how the situation will unfold over the next few days. There is nothing to do now but wait. I will send updates as soon as I have them...