VEDANTA KHUSHI : BIDDING FAREWELL TO 'KHUSHI'...

This story on Vedanta Khushi is one of such stories that not just pulled the heart out but made us think of the never ending ground realities.

It was never easy.. Born in a poor family with 6 brothers and sisters, in a remote village of Bihar, Khushi, from the very childhood found difficult to survive. Her mother and father never wanted her but she was born, as the life of her mother was in danger and her father decided to let another girl be borne, after 3 more girls. Today they are 4 sisters and 2 brothers. The brothers go to school and the girls work in the house. She is the youngest of the girl, fed less, pampered less, and of course, cursed the most. You cannot hear her voice even when she cries.

Her mother will ask all the 4 sisters to do some work or the other. Particularly Khushi was assigned the work of carrying food for the father and her two younger brothers, who went to school. Both were located at a distance of 5 km and she had to only walk. Her daily diet consisted the left out of her brothers and a glass of water. She was growing thinner.

The neighbour say, when she was borne, her mother cried not because a girl was born, but because, her father scolded her mother and abused her of giving birth to a girl again. Her grand-mother, i.e. her father's mother had even planned to get her father married once again, but some how, some village religious leader managed by saying that the next child is going to be a son.

One day, the incident that was not destined happened. While she was coming back from the school after giving lunch to his brothers, she fell in a pond of water. Infected with contaminated water she fell ill and by the time she returned home, she had high fever. The village doctor was called and he advised her father to take her to the city hospital.

Father reluctance, mother ignorance and sisters helplessness, brought Khushi to a state of non-recovery. She started sinking but her father did not budge.

Khushi, who was tried to be silenced even before she would be born, ultimately and finally, became silent.

The villagers joined for her last rights, but the father could not be seen and neither the brothers. The 3 sisters and mother kept saying, 'farewell Khushi - may your soul rest in peace'.

The story is true but the name has been changed.. I could not stop tears and no one could, when one of the sisters narrated this story in person, she is married and has a daughter, but she is over-protective about her daughter today. Alas, some one should tell such people, it is a girl only that god has blessed for giving a birth to a child, and if men could do the same, they would have understood the pain of nourishing a child 9 months in the womb and than loosing out to a unwanted fate, she said in tears.

Vedanta Khushi : Individual Efforts Will Bring The Change

Scribbling some figures on the net and in certain reports of Indian Economic Survey, UNICEF, UNDP, etc. a not so much usual fact came forward and that was the child population in India, the number of deprived or underprivileged children in India, the number of street children in India, the number of child deaths in India, and the number of children who dropout from schools every year in India.

India, a country with largest child population, largest child deaths, largest street children and largest malnourished children in the world, put our minds and thoughts in a thinking-hat mode. For once, we felt apprehensive about building India for the future. It was sure, government, NGOs, corporates alone cannot bring this problem to a solution and common masses need to align and join on such national missions.

This is where we decided to spread the message of "Khushi" - Care for the Underprivileged Children. The message that 50% of India's child population needs nutrition, education and good health. Without the involvement of similar minds, India would never be able to make it. We also decided to make KHUSHI a 100% non-funding campaign that would only encourage people to take individual steps and initiatives towards the cause.

Where the blog, www.khushi-creatinghappiness.blogspot.in, became a platform for encouraging people by uploading success stories, articles and statistics; the facebook became a platform for on-line discussions and spreading awareness.

The "KHUSHI" team also decided to develop the social media campaign in-house without involving any expenditure. On course of the campaign, many members have come forward with donations but KHUSHI encouraged them to take direct steps. This has brought belongingness towards the campaign.

Further, to understand the problems relating to street children, “KHUSHI” has been interacting with street children. Workshops have also been organized to motivate them to join formal schools. The children we met were of mixed nature. Some were keen to go to school and some had never been to school. Their parents were also involved for counseling and motivating their children for education.

Now, KHUSHI members in cities like Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, to name a few, are planning to organize workshops for motivating street children to join schools while addressing the problem of child labour, begging and vocational training. Schools are getting associated and they are also encouraging their students to be engaged in such campaign.

Today, after a year of launch of “KHUSHI”, the facebook group of “KHUSHI” has over 28,000 members, www.facebook.com/groups/vedantakhushi, and the blog is nearing 70,000 page views. With time, journalists, professors, engineers, social workers, bureaucrats, students, doctors, management graduates, entrepreneurs, schools etc. have joined the campaign and taking the initiative forward. Recently, the ace athlete Padam Shri Krishna Poonia also joined the campaign.

One thing, we could bring forward through "Khushi" has been “change in the behaviour of people towards poor children”."Be polite with the poor children as they are not deprived by choice but by chance". The thought-full online discussions and debates on education and infrastructure development in rural schools, nutrition & education to street children, problem of children involved in making crackers, increasing drop-outs rate in rural schools, teachers problem, menace of beggary, child labour, vocational training etc. have brought out ideas on how as an individual we are capable to contribute and work towards the solutions, if not eradication.

Many members went ahead and took some strong decisions. Some of them are sponsoring education of children of the people who work in their house, some members have employed parents of children who beg on the streets or traffic-lights, some have gone ahead for adoption, some are teaching street children on regular basis, some are engaged in organizing creative workshops for them, and some are collectively taking extra classes in rural schools. The members have pledged not to allow child labour or encourage child beggary. The campaign is gaining momentum.

Rotary International - Udaipur Mewar, honoured "KHUSHI" campaign with “Rotary Community Service Award – 2012” and acknowledged the efforts being taken to spread awareness towards the deprived and underprivileged children.

As for Vedanta’s contribution, we have made a small beginning by partnering with the Government in over 14,000 Anganwadi Centres and have reached out to 500,000 children since 2008 towards improving the nutrition, health and primary education in deprived children.

It is true, individual efforts are what the country requires today. Spread awareness and motivate others is what "Khushi" says.

Vedanta Khushi : Spreading Happiness

Story in The Hindu on Khushi :
A social media campaign promoting the welfare of underprivileged children in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district has completed one year of spreading awareness on vital issues such as nutrition, health and education.

Titled Khushi(happiness), it has made its presence felt through a blog and on the Facebook platform. The blog uploads success stories of people who have come forward and made a difference to the lives of marginalised children. The Facebook platform discusses issues relating to their education, nutrition and health.

Conceived as a campaign that connects people who think similarly, it searches for individuals genuinely concerned with development and growth of the country and willing to put that extra bit to either churn out new strategies or bring the cause to the notice of common people and policy makers.

Though the campaign started with only seven people, it has now crossed the figure of 25,000 members, while the blog is touching 58,000 page views. People from different professions like professors, teachers, students, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, management graduates, journalists, social workers, writers, development practitioners, etc., are part of the Khushi group and taking the campaign forward.

Pavan Kaushik of Udaipur-based Vedanta Resources who carved the campaign says it is a non-funding drive that encourages people to come forward and understand the problem and take individual steps for probable solutions. “We even decided to develop the blog and maintain and operate it in-house. Many members have come forward with donations but Khushi encourages them to take direct steps. This has brought a sense of belonging towards the campaign.”

After one year of operation, the first change that Khushi feels it has been able to cultivate is that of people’s temperament towards the deprived children. The thoughtful online discussions and debates on education and infrastructure development in rural schools, nutrition and education for street children, problem of children involved in making crackers, increasing drop-out rate in rural schools, teachers’ problem, the menace of begging, child labour, vocational training, among others, have brought forth ideas on how as individuals we are capable of addressing these problems and working towards solutions.

Post launch of the campaign, many members went ahead and took some strong decisions. Some of them now sponsor education of children of their domestic helps, some have employed parents of children who beg on the streets or near traffic-lights, some have gone ahead for adoption, some are providing education to the street children on a regular basis, some are engaged in organising creative workshops for them and some others are collectively taking extra classes in rural schools.

Slowly and steadily, the campaign is gaining momentum. To understand the problems relating to street children, Khushi team spent two days with them in the Malla Talai locality of Udaipur. It has also organised a workshop for them and held a painting competition. Here over 125 children between the age of one and 13 years attended, some along with their parents and listened to the Khushi team’s talk on health and hygiene.

The campaign won the Rotary Community Service Award this year, and Arjuna Award winner athlete Krishna Poonia also joined the campaign with the resolve to take the issue forward.

A social media campaign – Khushi -- in Udaipur district attempts to tackle nutrition, health and education among children.