Many of the children in the villages where we work have little opportunity for creative play and activity — this is true for those in school as well as those who have dropped out or never enrolled. But we have been struck by the liveliness and the spark in them, and felt that one thing we could do for them was provide some access to fun. Through this we can include messages about health, nutrition and equity.
The aim is to provide education, health messages and life skills through play for children between the age of 2 and 16 in the villages in the Kanakapura Taluk. This is done by holding camps for a few days in each village, aiming to bring out the creative side of many hundreds of children in an environment of fun and equal participation.
Leadership,communication and gender equality messages were conveyed mainly through sports and team building activities.The computer lessons were a big hit this year too and all the children got turns playing a math based game,a memory game and using a drawing/painting program.Young girls told us of their dreams of becoming doctors and IAS officers.And why not? We hope their experiences at the camps will help them achieve these dreams.