Monthly Archives: March 2017

Feedback from the Villagers on our Campaign | Child Rights Organization | NGO

Daring to be ourselves- Girls of Madhubani

Our Last Day at Madhubani | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

In and around Madhubani

Thank you team Madhubani!

Numbers don’t always do the talking

Stories from the field - Childrens Groups and the Battle of Ballot Box | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Childrens Groups and the Battle of Ballot Box

Journey to office

Stories from the Field – Khel Kabaddi | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

“Kabaddi-kabaddi- kabaddi!”

What We Discovered in Madhubani? | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

A Childhood left behind – Children of Madhubani

Stories from the Field Madhubani - Boy’s Group Meeting | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Field Diary entry 7

Meet Our Team Member – Pramod, In-charge of Bisfi block | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Field Diary entry 6

Stories from the Field Madhubani – Mask activity | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Field Diary entry 5

Field Diary Entry 4

Stories from the Field Madhubani – Meeting Jyoti Devi | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Field Diary Entry 3

Madhubani Village Child Protection Committee | Child Rights Organization | NGO In India

Field Diary Entry 2

Madhubani - Child Protection Campaign | Leher NGO in India

Field Diary Entry 1

Enroute Madhubani, Bihar - Child Protection Campaign

Enroute Madhubani

Field Diary – Working with Girls Group | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Working in girls groups

Introducing Team Madhubani | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Team Madhubani

One Year in Madhubani | Preventive Child Protection Campaign by Leher | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

1 year in Madhubani

Visit to Rayagada II, Odisha | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Visit to Rayagada II

Visit to Rayagada I

The Problem Tree of Child Abuse | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

The problem tree of Child Abuse | Leher NGO in India

First interaction with the community in Madhubani | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

First interaction with the community in Madhubani

Together For Children: A Community’s Journey

Everydaychildhood – 5 of our favourite photographers

Everydaychildhood- Ahmer Khan’s depiction of a school under a bridge

Everydaychildhood- Ahmer Khan’s depiction of a school under a bridge | Leher NGO in India

@ahmermkhan is an independent photographer, who previously worked with the World Health Organization. His portfolio boasts of work with @buzzfeed, @guardian, @vicenews, @csmonitorpics, @BBC, @aljazeera and many other popular publications.

Ahmer’s proclivity towards social issues is apparent through his instagram feed that highlights the lives of homeless rickshaw pullers in Kolkata, children blinded by pellets in Kashmir, Rohingya muslims taking refuge in Delhi, adivasi children in Madhya Pradesh and victims of the Nepal earthquake, amongst others.

His portrayal of children going to school under a bridge in Delhi not only shows their zest and enthusiasm to learn but also their struggle to achieve a most basic right to education.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @ahmermkhan for more of his work.

Underprivileged Indian children study at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Underprivileged Indian children at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Underprivileged Indian children play at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Pappu, 15, walks two kilometres everyday to reach to free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #portraitphotography #portrait

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Underprivileged Indian children copy from a blackboard at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #childrenphoto #blackandwhite #bw #pictureoftheday #buzzfeed

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Underprivileged Indian children do physical training at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan for BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #childrenphoto #blackandwhite #bw #pictureoftheday

A post shared by Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) on

Everydaychildhood- Playgrounds of Mumbai through Gopal MS’s lens

Everydaychildhood- Playgrounds of Mumbai through Gopal MS’s lens | Leher NGO in India

Although a copywriter by profession, Gopal MS captures Mumbai as people rarely manage to – the quieter, intimate, almost hidden lives and happenings of a city that is often lost in the glitz and glamour of the metropolis; he captures the less photographed streets where gilli danda is still played and greenery often falls victim to infrastructure- places where the heart of the city lives. While people love to photograph their travels, Gopal says ‘he loves to shoot what is happening in his backyard.’

When you look for photography from the streets of Mumbai, you are sure to stumble upon a blog called ‘Mumbai Paused.’…A blog that Gopal M S began in 2009. As a compulsive photographer and diligent documentor he shoots several themes- from men’s fashion in their white sunglasses to the dying Vachnalayas or reading houses in Mumbai; from trees fighting for space in the art of killing series to the nostalgia of Bombay and a series on men at work and their workplaces. One of our favourites is his depiction of the #playgroundsofmumbai.

Despite the importance of play on a child’s health, development, self-esteem life skills and most importantly childhood – it remains mostly a ‘forgotten’ right of the child; it is rarely taken seriously by governments .

Playing in the open in urban settings continues to remain an elusive experience for many children, courtesy the shrinking spaces and lack of adequate resources available to them, driving youngsters to the road or other risk prone areas. From cricket in Shivaji Park to marbles or goti as they are called in Shivajinagar M Ward, the poorest ward of Mumbai, you often need to relook at his photos so you don’t miss out on the intimate details. Locked up behind closed door, on railway tracks and near trash cans, in badly maintained parks, in old abandoned corners, on busy streets and staircases- children continue to play in whatever available space with whatever available material, oblivious to a city that continues to be indifferent to their childhood and their basic right to play.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @mumbaipaused for more of his work.

Everydaychildhood- Oinam Anand’s imagery of life in an unknown land

A photojournalist and columnist for the @indianexpress, @oinam.anand‘s imagery of Rohingya Muslim children, now settled in Delhi, brings focus and attention to the their muted and overlooked lives.

Labeled as one of the world’s most prosecuted minorities, Rohingyas, a stateless ethnic group loathed by many of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, were forced to leave their homes since a bloody crackdown by the army in their home state of Rakhine. Many made their way to India, with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and with horrifying stories of rape, torture and murder. Denied citizenship and persecuted in their home country of Myanmar, uncertainty haunts the rebooted lives of these Muslim minority group.

Children make up more than half of the world’s 21.3 million refugees. Many have known nothing but war, deprivation and fear. They aren’t in school and often struggle to find the basic essentials – their lives and futures at risk.Oinam’s series on the refugee children of Delhi draws much needed attention to a group that is rarely seen or heard. Because every child, everywhere, deserves a childhood.

From make shift and shelter homes to madrassas cum schools turned into camps, Oinam’s camera takes us through the lives of these refugee children in Delhi- the deplorable conditions in which they live, the almost absent access to basic services of housing, education and healthcare and the bleak prospects for a future of children from a distant land, who take refuge in India.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @oinam.anand for more of his work.

Everydaychildhood: Troubled waters, thirsty deserts and tormented childhoods through Arati Kumar Rao’s camera

Everydaychildhood: Troubled waters, thirsty deserts and tormented childhoods through Arati Kumar Rao’s camera | Leher NGO in India

@aratikumarrao is a visual storyteller – a photographer and writer who uses images, video, maps, and infographics to explore lives and places. She is averse to being classified under any category. As she observers “I tell stories-real-life stories, about landscapes and people, their traditional lives and the changes they see in it over time focusing mostly on issues that are underreported in the mainstream media.

Her muse is the water and she has been documenting the effects of land use change on ecosystems and livelihoods for more than a decade. Her haunting images of land, people, animals and water evoke shades of the majestic even as they sharply express the ravaged. She has reported stories of @slowviolence on humankind from the Sunderbans, to the Ganges, from the Thar Desert to the Brahmaputra river basin, captured the harrowing and eye-opening images of #environmentalrefugees, their catastrophic impact on the lives of children and their families and what it means for the future generations.

Named by Shutterstock in ‘100 Photographers From Around the World That You Should Follow Right Now’, Arati is also a contributor to @everydayclimatechange, a founding member of @peepliproject and has received various grants and awards for her outstanding work.

Arati sure knows the power of a good story as is visible through her compelling narrative and stunning photographs. Read her stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @aratikumarrao for more of her powerful and increasingly important work.

Everydaychildhood: Ravi Mishra captures the choking fumes, chunks of coal and children coming of age in the mines of Jharia, Jharkhand

An aspiring visual activist, @ravimishra‘s work on human rights issues ranges from women to children, the environment to elections, covering extensively predominant concerns of today’s India. Besides being the Ambassador for The People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (@PVCHR), an Indian non-governmental organisation that fights for the rights of marginalised people in several North-Indian states, especially in Varanasi & Uttar Pradesh and founding @everydayindia, Ravi Mishra has co-owned popular human interest stories with the likes of @DanielBerehulak, @KevinFrayer, @AlexMasi and published his works with leadings international publications.

Amongst his works that have taken him to rural and urban India, across slums and red-light districts, religious congregations and festivals, secretive e-waste sites and election booths, Ravi’s exploration of unregulated coal mines in India and their employment of children is particularly absorbing.

Recently on instagram, he shared stories of children working in mines of Jharia, Jharkhand, where social and environmental costs of unregulated and unlawful coal mining are ignored, where families working in the coal mining belts across India are regularly displaced, where going to school and living dreams is impossible, where coal fire, fumes and scavenging is a way of life and where ‘childhood’ holds no meaningful significance.

Read these stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @ravimishraindia for more of his inspiring work.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPNUcZjFb2E/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPW9f-AlG70/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPfXmlIFwyf/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPmQRNIFzsK/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPuJ3q3FRrE/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQNzPI_FTpA/?taken-by=ravimishraindia

Theek ho? Unforgettable conversations from a field visit to Kashmir.

Unforgettable conversations from a field visit to Kashmir | Leher NGO in India | Child Rights Organization

Theek ho? Abh friends to keh sakte hai ki aap Gulmarg Ghume. Good morning.” A message on Whatsaap accompanied by a picture of snow clad hills of Gulmarg.

Kashmir aap ko miss karta hai. Good morning.” Another Whatsapp message accompanied by a picture of a platter of dried fruit.

It is Day 5 since we returned from Kashmir and the messages continue.

The person who drove us was amused that we showed no interest in touristic pursuits, and that we turned down repeated offers of a quick trip to Gulmarg. He said in jest a few times, “What Kashmir have you come to see?” We teased him back lightly saying, “See, maybe cabbies are responsible for people not understanding problems faced here. Maybe it is because you show them Gulmarg and tell them things are alright. Maybe you need to talk to them about your lives and experiences.” He shrugged his shoulders, “What madam… who wants to listen? Before we even leave the airport, I’m asked several times “how long to Gulmarg…” Where do I begin with them?

The Leher team visited Kashmir for a week on a project to document experiences and learning from a program for children in communities severely affected by the unrest in the valley last year. A lot of our time was spent travelling the length and breadth of districts, visiting communities, and in conversation with children, youth and parents. Overwhelming beauty, suffering, and uncertainty – things you are not used to seeing together. At the end of each day, we drove back heavy heartedly through narrow lanes in snow covered hills lined by Kashmir’s famed Chinars. Standing tall against the light of a fading sun, the Chinars hold your gaze till you have to look away. It felt like they too held stories within. Kashmir and its people consumed us in an indescribable way.

We visited the principal of a school. It was a freezing cold day with unexpected snowfall. His old mother hugged and kissed us, ushered us into their living room, covered us with a blanket, placed warm Kaangris beside us, Lipton tea (regular tea with milk and sugar, not necessarily Lipton brand) and cake before us. Only then did she retreat, to allow our meeting with her son to proceed. The principal, a remarkable human being, told us about his curfew school, a learning group run voluntarily through his network of teacher friends reaching out to more than 100 children in his neighbourhood, when Kashmir was shut down last year. He smiled and stoically shared with us, “One day we pick up the injured, the next we bury a child, then a wedding at home, cries of sorrow, laughter, not knowing what the next day will bring … This is our lot. We find a way to smile, to be normal, we have to go on.”

Aap theek? Are you well?” is a warm informal manner of greeting people. Thanks, is then given to god for being well in the same greeting, and often in conversation a gentle invocation is made to god to forbid anything from going wrong. This faith and belief gives people the strength to cope with what comes their way and fills them with a sense of hope for peace and happiness too.

If your life’s journey ever takes you to Kashmir, please make time to listen, to talk to people, make connections, have some Lipton and cake, some Nun Chai and roti, share a Wazwaan, ask “aap theek?” receive and give some hugs. Let the Chinars tell you their stories…

5 States with High Percentage Child Labour | Say NO to Child Labour

5 stats that account for 58.35 % child workers in India

Child Labour in India | Statistics of Child Labour in India | NGO India

Did we count right?

How Sports and Play Prompts Quality Education | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

How sports and play prompts quality education

5 Ways in Which Deaf Blindness Is Crippling For Children - Issues and Challenges

5 ways in which deafblindness is crippling for children

Delaying Adolescent Pregnancy and India’s GDP | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Delaying adolescent pregnancy and India’s GDP

Child Labour Statistics in India | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

India’s workforce, India’s children

The problem tree

Why Children’s should Not Send to the Adult Prison? | No Prison for Children Campaign | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

There’s NO excuse for sending children to adult prison

Pray for Paris | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

#Prayforparis

World Population Day | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

World Population day

#KhelBadal Video Volunteers | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Video volunteers

Mullen Lowe Lintas | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Mullen Lowe lintas

Helen Kellar Institute for Deaf & Deafblind, Navi Mumbai | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Hellen keller

My Father Illustrations Campaign | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

My Father Illustrations

Making Education Safer for All | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

Safe city

Play Matters

No Prison for Children | Child Rights Organization | NGO in India

No prison for children