Update from Mumbai Action

As many of you now know, Mumbai Smiles has a website called Mumbai Action that acts as an information and advocacy platform for Mumbai's development sector. The site is full of interesting and useful stories, news items and information.

Here's a quick update from the site. To read old features, visit http://www.mumbaiaction.org/:

By the people, for the people
Community media units like ‘Hamari Aawaz’ and ‘Apna TV’ are empowering the poor with a voice to tell their stories and find solutions to their problems. They have been helped by Video Volunteers, an organisation that creates models of sustainable, locally owned media that empowers the poor to tell their stories and find solutions. Read more.

An InspirEd goal
Organised with the aim of focusing on innovative approaches in the classroom, the InspirED education conference drew hundreds of India’s teachers from around the country. On the eve of the conference in August, Mumbai Action caught up with Vandana Goyal, CEO of Akanksha Foundation, one of the key organisations behind the event and pushing for quality education in Mumbai, for her take on the event. Read more.

Joy of Giving week
GOONJ, an organisation that recycles clothes and other material to help the underprivileged, is organising a nationwide awareness and collection campaign called the ‘Joy of Giving Week’ from September 26 to October 2. Read more.

IIT-Bombay on a recycling mission
Students of IIT-Bombay continue to add to their institute’s Green Campus Initiative started in July, in different ways. This time, 22 students who are also part of the organising team of Techfest 2011, have decided to recycle tetrapaks on the campus and are placing dustbins made of tetrapaks all over the campus. Read more.
Homeless animals cuddle up to visitors
On International Homeless Animals Day on August 21, In Defense of Animals (IDA), an NGO that cares for animals – homeless, abandoned or cruelly treated – chose to shower them with affection at their Deonar centre. Adults and children who visited the centre were seen cuddling the homeless puppies and kittens housed there. Read more.

Spinning beyond freedom
Charkhas or spinning wheels are artefacts of the past for most people. But there are still some who continue to find time to spin the wheel, like those associated with the Sadguru Anirudhha Upasana Foundation (SAUF). In fact, they spin the thread using the charkha to make school uniforms for underprivileged schoolchildren across the nation. Read more.