In
Guntur, Magic Bus works in 13 slum communities, all of which are in the
outskirts of the city, and have only recently been brought under the Guntur
Municipal Corporation. These are some of the poorest communities in Guntur, and
where most of the people live in kutcha houses, and the communities lack even
basic infrastructure.
In
the last 18 months, in addition to working with children and youth, we have
engaged the community leaders and have empowered and assisted them in demanding
their rights from the Municipal Corporation. As a part of our review, we
visited three communities, and met children, youth, parents, school
authorities, anganwadi workers and community leaders to get a first-hand understanding
of the programme.
One
of the first people we met in Guntur was the Headmaster of a Government School,
and he was full of praise for the work we do. “After Magic Bus came, prosperity
came to our community”, he said. “We got electricity. And now, roads are being
constructed and drains are being dug”, he added, waving his hands so we could
take in the construction work going on around the school grounds. We dismissed
it as hyperbole, but when we later checked with the Programme Manager we found
that there was indeed a direct co-relation between us starting to work in the
community, and the development – our Manager had invited the Municipal
Commissioner to one of the events, and then repeatedly petitioned him to invest
in basic infrastructure in the community. Though electricity, water and surface
infrastructure should have been provided after the community came under the
Municipality, it might have taken years if not for the timely intervention of
the staff working on the HGS-Magic Bus Programme.
The
same story was echoed in the two other communities we visited. In both, we
interacted with the parents of children on our programme, and they told us that
the Programme Manager, the Training and Monitoring Officer (TMO), and the Youth
Mentor (YMs) supported them whenever they wanted to make a representation to
any Government department or agency. Our programme staff have assisted in polio
campaigns and government health camps, and they ensure that all the children
are the community are enrolled in schools under the RTE. Two community leaders
we met both said that after the programme started, not only have the children
started indulging in physical sports (as opposed to marbles and gambling), they
have also become better behaved and less rude. Whenever there is any issue
concerning the community, the elders consult the YMs, TMO and Programme Manager
– in fact, one of them even joked that if the TMO chose to stand for elections,
he would be elected in a landslide!
Of
the dozen Community Youth Leaders (CYL) we met, some had gone through the
Livelihood Programme and had been placed in good jobs (the rest are still
studying). However, they continue to be involved in the programme, and ensure
that they conduct sessions on their weekly leave. One of them had even taken a
day off, so he could meet us and tell us how becoming a CYL had changed his
outlook towards life and of how he would only stop being a CYL when Magic Bus
asked him to stop. Another CYL who has got placed spends her weekends
performing the duty of a YM, because her community does not currently have one.
We also met the mother of a CYL who told us that she was worried about what
would happen to her son, but that he has discovered a purpose in life, she
knows that he will do her proud.
There
are many cases of people going way beyond their duties to bring about change.
Here is just one:
Lavanya
is a Youth Mentor who has got dozens of first generation learners enrolled in
school (47 was the number shared by the Headmaster of the school). We met three
children who she had enrolled just a week back. After losing her husband, the
mother of the children made her way to Guntur where she found a job as a
domestic help. While the mother went out to work, the three girls, the oldest
of whom was 9, were left alone to fend for themselves. Our Youth Mentor got
their papers made and enrolled them in the local school. In just one week, the
girls have learnt to say “Good morning” and “Thank you”, though their English
vocabulary does not extend much beyond that. None of the girls are old enough
to be enrolled in the programme, but we have already made a difference in their
lives.
We also met a woman YM who lost her husband a couple of weeks back, but was back at
work 11 days after the tragedy. She said that she knows the impact of the work
she does, and that was what gave her the strength to fight back.
In
Guntur we are clearly going beyond our stated vision of helping children and
youth break out of poverty – we are empowering entire communities to access their
rights and take advantage of available resources. It is almost a textbook case
of what an Integrated Community Development project should look like. We wish
we could take you to some of these communities so you can see first hand the
impact that the HGS-Magic Bus Partnership is making.
Posted by:
Natasha Ramarathnam
https://twitter.com/nuts2406
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