Joy of Giving 2008

Joy of Giving Week During the “Joy of Giving Week� members of AIESEC in Chandigarh went to Bal Niketan,Panchkula to interact with the children and spend quality time with them. So as to break the ice between the AIESECers, and the kids at S.O.S village, antakshri was played amongst two teams with equal no. of AIESECers and kids in each team.

It was followed by a Diwali card making activity. Kids were provided with the sheets and colours and AIESECers facilitated this activity.

After this activity, refreshment was offered to each one of them. Then the game Musical Chairs was played. Then there were a few dance performances by the kids and AIESECers too. In the end foottapping numbers were played and every one danced.

About “Balakalakaar�

According to statistics, there are about 40,000 children living on the streets of Chandigarh leading a miserable life with no money, no food and no education. Many of these children are alone; many turn to drugs, alcohol and prostitution to cope with their situations. All of them live from day to day concerned with survival, food and shelter. Children often leave behind impoverished families in rural villages to live on the streets of cities in the hopes of not burdening their families.

Additionally, children are sometimes sold by their families into indentured labour, their wages sent home to support other siblings, pay for dowries and repay unbearable debts. Most notably, the carpet, textile, and beedi, or hand-rolled cigarette, industries have received international attention for the widespread use of child and bonded labour. While child labour is officially illegal, labour laws are rarely enforced, and many children, afflicted by homelessness and poverty, are forced to fend for themselves. Born into the cycle of poverty, street children are doomed to spend their entire lives on the streets unless someone intervene to affect drastic changes.

While there are many organizations and people who look after and do their bit for these children, we tend to neglect the fact these children are in fact competent enough to support themselves but they just do not have the right kind of support and platform to do so. This is exactly where the AIESEC approach is different. Educating these children or providing them with a platform where they are allowed to express themselves is a very sustainable solution to this problem.

We at AIESEC CHANDIGARH believe that there is an artist in every child. Art is the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture. Through Balakalakaar we are providing Street kids from our city to express themselves, through art in the form of a painting workshop. By involving some of the top corporate houses in the city and the celebrities apart from the NGO partners, we will create a platform where people from all these different walks of life come together to identify the talent in these children and also interact and create a huge network which is a very tangible asset.

AIESEC seeks the help and support of the corporate world to help us provide this platform where in these children get to show case their talents. Helping them realize and discover their potential and also providing them with the opportunities and getting the right people to recognize these children is a very practical way of dealing with this problem

What is Balakalakaar?

Balakalakaar is an initiative taken up by the local office of AIESEC, in Chandigarh. This event is aligned to the cause of building an environment that helps improve the quality of life that is faced by the underprivileged children in our city. It is the creation of an opportunity to help them discover and develop their potential in art forms of various types.

It promises to be a one of a kind and unique event; conducted at a much smaller scale in the year 2008, engaging about 75 kids at an NGO Ashiana, and 350 kids at Sikhya school.

Vision: To be able to provide these children with a platform which they do deserve but never got.

Objectives:  To provide these children with a platform to show their skills  To help the children realize their true potential.  To pull-off an amazing event.