From eye camps and counselling sessions for children and women to theatre workshops and sports programmes, Youthreach has undertaken working with some stellar volunteers who made a difference to the organisations they worked with and the communities served by the latter. The following activities reflect some of our past work:

COUNSELLING SESSIONS

• Youthreach facilitated the services of Neha Malik – a psychologist with Manas – for the National Association for the Blind (NAB) following the latter’s request for a counsellor who could help their children resolve day-to-day problems. Following the success of this initiative, we requested her to visit other NGOs that had similar requirements.
• Dr Raja Shastri, director, CRM of Amity University agreed to do a career counselling session with the alumni students of Deepalaya who were on the threshold of entering the job market. He guided 26 students on how to apply for jobs. The workshop covered topics such as writing, interview skills and how to select a career.

ENGLISH TRAINING AT MOBILE CRÈCHES

• Pincha Singh, a Montessori-trained teacher, conducted a pilot study and drafted a curriculum that provided Mobile Creche teachers guidelines that would enable them to introduce English at the primary school level. She monitored the progress of each centre, constantly advising and helping them over the past few years.

HEALTH CAMPS

• Youthreach approached Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, Daryaganj, to conduct an eye camp for the children of Salaam Baalak Trust. A team of doctors screened over 180 children at the camp. Of these, 20 children needed medical intervention for which the hospital committed to providing all eye treatment, including surgery or / and glasses, free of cost, while the rest had normal vision. Similar eye camps were conducted at different locations.
• 11 camps in association with Venu Eye Institute and research centre were conducted for 6 of our NGO partners. Free cataract surgeries were conducted at the hospital which included transport and a bed for one days stay at the hospital.
• One of our volunteer organisations, the Panchshila Ladies’ Welfare Association, provided free medical services to the children at the National Association for the Blind and they have been sending girls for routine medical check-ups at regular intervals. To quote one of the beneficiaries, “We have availed their facilities a number of times and they have treated us with due consideration.”
• Similar health camps were also conducted by the Ladies Welfare Association Ganga Ram Hospital who officially had adopted the resettlement colony at Bawana. The objective of these camps was to create awareness on health related issues and motivate people to adopt family planning methods.

CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

• Youthreach approached Delhi-based theatre-persons Radhika and Feisal Alkazi to work with the students of NAB so the latter could get a platform to express their emotions, and also build leadership and comradeship qualities. The couple conducted a theatre workshop for 15 students who performed at Dilli Haat on the subject of problems that the visually impaired face and their ways of dealing with those problems.
• Seema Kaul, who runs a well-known hobby centre in the city, offered to volunteer her time and talent by conducting an art and craft workshop for the teachers of Vidya & Child. The teachers learnt to make things like the snow-man, bandanwar, and puppets.
• Eminent sculptor Radha Krishnan mentored boys from Salaam Balak Trust at his studio for a few months. Well-known graphic designer Vivek Sahani also apprenticed children from Salaam Balak Trust and Manzil at his studio.
• Tarun Chhabra conducted photography sessions for 11 children from Vidya and Child and Salaam Balak Trust.
• Celebrated Kathak dancers Aditi Mangaldas and Shovana Narayan conducted respectively classes for girls of Udayan Care and a lecture-demonstration for 50 children of Manzil and Kutumb Foundation.
• Sonal Mansingh conducted Bharatanatyam classes for young girls from three of our partner NGOs and Monica from Navtej Johar’s studio taught 12 girls yoga from the National Association for the Blind. Young santoor player Abhay Sopori held classes for children of Deepalaya School.

SOCCER PROGRAMME
In association with the India Youth Soccer Association, Youthreach ran a soccer programme for nearly 200 underprivileged children. Sponsored by AIS, the programme aimed at training and coaching children who would otherwise not have a chance to learn and participate in a sport. The grounds of Vasant Valley School became the playing field for the children every Sunday. Organisations such as Karm Marg, Salaam Baalak Trust, Vidya and Deepalaya participated in the league. Each child was given a soccer kit and football boots. Most of our young players kicked the ball for the very first time when their coaching began a few years ago. The Soccer Programme has now transformed into a full-fledged Sports Programme facilitated by Youthreach.