Center for Youth Development Activities
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit another NGO in Pune. Anil, one of my university coursemates, took me to visit the Centre for Youth Development Activities (CYDA), where he works as a volunteer. As their name suggests, CYDA mainly works with youth to create a “conductive environment for the development of young people coming from any cast or creed.”
They run a whole range of projects, mainly under the Youth4Change banner. They train young people, social workers and activists about issues of growing up, HIV / AIDS, goal setting, peer pressure, careers and so on. In the aftermath of the recent flooding in Maharahstra, CYDA worked alongside DGS and other organisations to provide relief to those affected. Through the Pune4Change programme, they also focus on Pune’s homeless. CYDA volunteers carried out a city-wide survey and they estimate that there are approximately 10,000 homeless people on Pune’s streets. That’s homeless as in homeless – this figure does not include slum dwellers or those with temporary hutments. Instead, the homeless can be seen taking shelter under tarpaulins and plastic sheeting by the side of the road, all year round, in all kinds of weather. The Government largely neglects Pune’s homeless, except to move them on now and again. Since the vast majority are not registered to vote, the politicians don’t see them as potential vote banks and prefer to ignore the issue. Pune4Change are working with the goal of allowing Pune’s homeless to live in dignity.
I was interviewed by a newspaper last Wednesday, for a feature about foreigners involved in social work in Pune. Regular readers may remember Natasha’s experiences the last time the papers came to call. Hopefully things will be better this time – the last thing we need is another puff piece about ‘helpless Indians’ being helped by noble foreigners, when there are so many locally run, locally staffed organisations in India that work hard to make a difference. I was asked if I knew any other students involved in volunteering. Of course, I replied. They’re all Indian. The journalist wasn’t interested – after all, dedicated Indians getting involved in social work doesn’t make for much of a story. I disagree.
Please visit www.cydaindia.org
They run a whole range of projects, mainly under the Youth4Change banner. They train young people, social workers and activists about issues of growing up, HIV / AIDS, goal setting, peer pressure, careers and so on. In the aftermath of the recent flooding in Maharahstra, CYDA worked alongside DGS and other organisations to provide relief to those affected. Through the Pune4Change programme, they also focus on Pune’s homeless. CYDA volunteers carried out a city-wide survey and they estimate that there are approximately 10,000 homeless people on Pune’s streets. That’s homeless as in homeless – this figure does not include slum dwellers or those with temporary hutments. Instead, the homeless can be seen taking shelter under tarpaulins and plastic sheeting by the side of the road, all year round, in all kinds of weather. The Government largely neglects Pune’s homeless, except to move them on now and again. Since the vast majority are not registered to vote, the politicians don’t see them as potential vote banks and prefer to ignore the issue. Pune4Change are working with the goal of allowing Pune’s homeless to live in dignity.
I was interviewed by a newspaper last Wednesday, for a feature about foreigners involved in social work in Pune. Regular readers may remember Natasha’s experiences the last time the papers came to call. Hopefully things will be better this time – the last thing we need is another puff piece about ‘helpless Indians’ being helped by noble foreigners, when there are so many locally run, locally staffed organisations in India that work hard to make a difference. I was asked if I knew any other students involved in volunteering. Of course, I replied. They’re all Indian. The journalist wasn’t interested – after all, dedicated Indians getting involved in social work doesn’t make for much of a story. I disagree.
Please visit www.cydaindia.org
posted by Paul Heron at 10:45 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home