NDWM Nagaland Region organised a program to sensitise the public and domestic workers about the issues faced by children. It was stressed that children sent for domestic work were are abused and treated badly. A total of 35 domestic workers were present. Through the support of Hilton Sisters, a street play was enacted on the issues of Children and Child Labour, at a railway station and super market. It addressed issues such as child labour, child domestic workers and the problems faced by them. It received very good responses from the public and the officials. Through the distribution of posters, handouts, pamphlets awareness was created to safeguard the children and to provide them their rights.
A Parents Meeting was organized in Jharkhand to discuss the issues related to children. It was observed that issues originated both from the side of children as well as parents. Misbehavior, late night return to home, not devoting sufficient time to study and excessive surfing of mobiles were some of the problems mentioned by the parents. On other hand, drinking, family disputes, and non-cooperation were some of the problems faced by the children from their parents. Appropriate measures were suggested to overcome these issues and how healthy relations and environment could be developed.
For the smooth functioning of CRM, a children’s leader meeting was conducted. Problems of the organization, participation of children, future programs and activities were discussed during the meeting. It was observed that more groups and children needed to be included and there was a need of individual meetings with members who were not participating in the activities of the organization. A need for election of 15 post bearers was also felt necessary. Starting of tuition centers and sports groups were also decided.
The pandemic had brought about long- term distress to the children in various forms. Lack of education, money and proper nutrition has been the common feature for the children during the pandemic period. NDWM Jharkhand with the intention of supporting the children in distress provided relief materials to 450 child rights movement members.
In the month of April, children at Mawroh Children’s club, Meghalaya had an exposure visit to ‘Sanker’ a de-addiction centre, where the mentally ill and substance addicted persons are treated. The assistant manager took keen interest in explaining the functioning of the centre, run by a doctor. He explained the effect and harm of using drugs and alcohol.
On April 30, children from 4 places were taken to the Air Force Museum at Shillong. The children were very eager to know the different functioning, ranks and positions in the Air Force. A short speech was given to the children by the director of the library on value education.
To mark the World environment day, staff members conducted different activities in many areas on June 4 and 5. The senior members of the clubs were given the task of cleaning the surroundings of their neighbourhood and plant some saplings in the surroundings. The junior members in the clubs were given the activity of drawing and coloring charts about preservation of environment. 110 members participated in 6 different places.
A training program was held for CRM girls on life skill education on April 30 in Varanasi. The resource person, Fr Richard, explained how they could find and develop their hidden talents and encouraged them to develop them further
In Maharashtra, majority of the CRM members are from the lower socio- economic strata and reside in unorganized slums. Their parents are unorganized workers and in pandemic many of them lost work which impacted their regular expenses on food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. Hence NDWM supported them with 700 immunity booster kits for CRM members for better health.
On February 17, 80 children participated in a training program cum workshop on technology addiction. Most of the children were not aware of the risks and challenges of social media, and the training focused on this aspect and also on addiction to mobiles.
On March 20, 60 participants comprising CRM leaders and members underwent training on Environment and health challenges. Issues like global warming and climate changes and their impact on health and life were discussed. Planting trees, kitchen gardening and cleanliness drives were some of the activities proposed to the children to participate in protecting the environment.
On May 14, 80 children attended a workshop on the need for gender equality and unity for promoting right to participation. The main aim of the workshop was to build unity among CRM members and promote gender equality so that girls would be encouraged to take up leadership positions and participate better in the process of CRM.