"The projects are the best monuments in the city"

With the week drawing to an end, we wanted to share with you some of the kind and encouraging words that some of our visitors in February left us with. We thank you for your support and hope to see you again!


It is unbelievable what Mumbai Smiles is doing for the little kids of Mumbai and I love the way it works. I am a teacher and work with the children in the age group of 2-3 years, but I felt very emotional to see the children in the slums. It’s wonderful that they have the intense desire to learn and go to school every day in spite of the lack of resources. It’s been a wonderful journey and I go back with memories of their smiling faces. We hope Mumbai Smiles continues to work hard so that these children have a better future.
David and Esther

Thanks for sharing with us a small part of this wonderful world. It’s a pleasure to get to know initiatives like Yashodhan school and the Bombay Leprosy Project. Thanks to Mumbai Smiles, we have come across the reality of the country. Congratulations to Jaume for making into reality his dream of bringing smiles to the faces of thousands of children in Mumbai.
Imma, Judit, Maria

Thanks to the Mumbai Smiles projects, many people have smiles on their faces. Continue doing such work to eliminate the huge differences that exist between Spain in the North and India in the South. It will be great to create awareness among the people of North about the reasons for these big differences, and to have a social conscience to make this world a better place.
Sonia and Jorge

Your work is unbelievable. You touch thousands of hearts and open the minds of people who visit your projects. Thanks a lot and keep it up!
Sergio

It’s a pleasure to meet the people that devote so many things to improve the lives of others. Even though I have spent only two days with Mumbai Smiles, I can see that it is a serious and hard-working organisation. I hope you grow -- not only in your projects and the number of people you help -- but also in the hearts and minds of others, so that you can show them the power each one of us has and what this power can do for the people around us.
John



Thanks a lot for sharing your work with us and making us aware of this reality
Best of luck.
Inma, Sergio, David

Thank you very much for sharing your concept of development based on love, affection and dignity with so many people. It's so much better than our western paternalism.
Shanti, Lara

Your work is impressive! I have learnt a lot from your projects and enjoyed your company very much. We will come back to see you. Thanks a lot.
Ledi

Thanks for creating so many futures through love. And through love, the world grows. Wish you loads of luck. It has been a pleasure to know you.
Ana

Thanks a lot for giving us your time. I came to know about your projects through a friend and, since then, I have been regularly following your blog and the website, and I am impressed. Keep doing such wonderful work. It's only people like you who make it possible for these children to have a better future.
Ricardo



Thanks a lot for this fantastic experience. Congratulations for the work that you carry on every day.
Claudia

Thank you very much for such a wonderful reception and for showing us that in this time of crisis there are people like you who have hearts. A splendid heart that gives everything it has to build as many futures and smiles as possible.
Mónica

Congratulations on your wonderful work. I wish there were more people like you in this selfish world. Thank you very much for your time and effort. I hope to come back and see you soon.
Laura

I have lived a very unique experience today. Thanks a lot for giving me an opportunity to know another part of the world. Congratulations for the work that you have done and I wish that you keep doing so for many, many years.
Judit

The most wonderful experience! Mumbai Smiles is doing a great job of providing education in this city and I am sure everyone will realise its importance in the years to come. But the best part of the experience was seeing the smiling faces of the kids. So nice to see them happy and living a normal childhood. Best of luck to you!
Deepak

Thanks a lot for this special day of visiting your projects. It has been very important to share this experience with my little daughter Sabela. Congratulations for the wonderful work and good luck for your future. We are going back with heavy hearts and wish to come back soon. A special thanks to Ana for such a warm welcome, you made us feel like we were at home. Thanks.
Angel, Belen, Sabela

Thank you for sharing with us all the work that you do. As a simple tourist I can say that the projects of Mumbai Smiles have turned out to be the best monuments in the city. A long trip to reach the oasis: the slums. I really enjoyed the balwadis. I liked the simplicity of things. I liked how you fight to be real, natural, touchable. I like how life flows. Thank you for sharing the present and the future.
Andreu Maso

A warm hug to Jaume and his team, to dear Ana, for each and every smile that they achieve and lots of love to all the kids.
Paco Montañes

Where leprosy patients can find help

Today we'll tell you a little bit more about the Bombay Leprosy Project's main clinic and referral centre in Sion. Located in south-central Mumbai, this is the place hundreds of people -- from all over the city and even villages outside -- come to for help.


The dedicated staff at the centre treats patients with leprosy and other skin problems.



They do skin smear exams, checks for neuritis, evaluate nerve functions periodically, and provide counselling and suitable aids. The centre also guides and gives referrals to patients who need specialised care. We are glad to say that a lot of this possible largely because of our support.



The BLP's great work continues and we are helping them streamline their services and treatment so that, together, we can help more people lead a better life.

Better learning with Project Sangati

As you know, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into force on April 1. We told you yesterday that though this new Act has made education a fundamental right for children aged 6 to 14 years (and also requires 25% seats in private schools to be reserved for children from poor families), there has been criticism against it.
For one, the Act excludes children under the age of six and over the age of 14, and, two, it does not address the issue of providing a uniform standard of education to all.


Universal access to education continues to be one of our main goals here at Mumbai Smiles. We understand the issues and believe that it is necessary to work within the system. Our approach, laid out in our strategic plan for the next five years, will be to:
• Protect and provide education to the age groups that the new Act excludes
• Work with public schools to provide a fair and quality education to kids in the 6-14 years age group



We plan to do this by collaborating with other organisations and municipal corporations throughout the city as combining our resources will strengthen our efforts. Just last week, we signed on with Avehi-Abacus, an NGO that works in education, to be a part of Project Sangati.

Project Sangati includes a series of six books and interactive teaching and learning, aimed at teachers and children in government schools and non-formal education centres. Sangati’s emphasis is on links between specific topics rather than isolated fragments of information, offering children a different perspective to understand and analyse the world around them.


The methodology includes group work and discussions to develop communication skills, critical analysis, problem solving and decision-making. Activities such as drawing, colouring, writing, singing and drama help children explore and express their creativity.


An integral part of the Sangati methodology is the use of a wide variety of visual aids: flip charts, posters, stories and games to act as a springboard for discussion and other classroom activities.

From June 2006, Sangati has been introduced in all 923 schools (including 18 special schools) run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. And we hope our involvement will give it a fresh impetus.

Fight for an equal education

While the whole country was celebrating the enforcement of the Right to Education Act on Thursday, hundreds of people in Mumbai went on a march to protest against the same Act and the state of education in our country.
What most of us don’t realise is that the new Act – by making education a fundamental right for kids aged 6 years to 14 years – has now excluded education for children under the age of six, a provision that has been in the Constitution for the past 60 years.



Members of about 40 organisations and prominent citizens were also protesting against the government’s increasing privatisation of education, and the fact that the number of private schools is growing, while the number of government schools is decreasing alarmingly. Their contention is that this the Act will only increase disparities in the education system.



The procession moved from Dadar all the way to Bandra, and included a depiction of the constitution chained by the Act.


Mumbai Smiles also took part in the procession, and here you can see our Neelratan (second from right) from our Projects Department joining the march.



The march ended at the Chaityabhoomi with a pledge to bring in a legislation based on social justice and equity.



Tomorrow, we will tell you more about our involvement in the city's drive to provide an equal and quality education for children.

Full bellies, happy hearts

A few days ago, when we made a regular visit to one of our balwadis, it was lunchtime.


And we were amazed to see how well-behaved these little ones were while sitting down for their meal. They organised themselves into lines, waited for the helpers to come around with their food, and ate without fuss.



This boy was, in fact, so engrossed in his food that he barely noticed the camera.




As you know now, Mumbai Smiles provides the meals at all the balwadis we support. We're just glad that we get to keep these kids fed and happy.

Good Friday in Mumbai

Today is Good Friday (also Holy Friday, Black Friday, Great Friday), and like Christians all over the world, the community in Mumbai too will commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.


There are over 30 million Christians in India, with about 3 million living in Mumbai. A majority of the Mumbai Christians are Catholics, though there are other denominations like Syrian Church, Armenian Church and Anglican Church. Most of the Indian Christians were converted by the Portuguese.


Like everywhere else in the world, the Christian community fasts on Good Friday, which is also the day Lent finishes. People gather in churches all over Mumbai and start the ceremony by kissing a plank of wood depicted as the cross of Christ. They perform a three-hour service, starting at 3pm, which is said to be the time at which Christ died. On Good Friday, the bells of the church remain silent.


One of Mumbai’s most famous churches is Mount Mary Church, considered to be the oldest. Located in Bandra, it was built initially around 1640.


Another famous church is the Afghan church in Colaba.

Good Friday is a government holiday. Most schools are closed on this day, though many businesses stay open.

Exams can be fun!

Is it possible to have fun during exams? The kids at Yashodhan school definitely did earlier this week when they took their craft and drawing exams on Monday.

The assignment for these Std VI students was to paint on cloth.


While the Std VIII students had the more complicated task of making bags from cloth. As you can see, they are in all shapes and sizes.


These boys were punished for forgetting to bring their craft material, but none of them looks very sorry.


Meanwhile, in the Std IV, the drawing exam was going on and you can see what the budding artists produced.







This little boy had it all upside down.


With the fun exams now over, the kids have to face the big exams all of next week. We wish them the best of luck!