Giving BackAn initiative for the

Design for Change Contest undertaken by

The children of Anando

I bring you shade

And life giving oxygen too

So many fruits and flowers I gift

To make this world beautiful for you !

It is I who calls out to the clouds

“Come and bring rain ,make life grow !”

It is I who is your friend forever

Won’t you reach out and love me some more?

Original in Bengali by Mamoni Mondal, 13 years

WHAT WE CHANGEDThe entrance to our former primary school was dull and shabby. There was a small place for plants at one side but none had been planted for years.

We brightened the entrance by whitewashing a wall and creating a small green patch in front of it

The school entrance immediately became happy and inviting !

Feel

Subhash Ratik NiteshSanjit

When we learnt of the contest, we thought that this would be a good opportunity for us to give something back to Shiksha Sadan,the primary school where most of us had studied earlier and where our siblings still go. The idea appealed to the others in the team , so we decided to explore it further.

Gaurav

We found much that we wanted to do in the school ! But the idea of introducing plants and greenery into the otherwise bare school grounds was the most exciting as all of us are nature enthusiasts .

This was something that we could do on our own .It would also encourage the students of the school to love and nurture plants, we felt.

DO

To raise funds for the project we decided to undertake a door-to-door newspaper drive. Most of the people were very kind and gave us lots of old newspapers.

First we met the principal of Shiksha Sadan, Mr. Tewari . We spoke to him about our project. He was very helpful and had several suggestions for us. We decided to take on the task of beautifying the school entrance with plants.  

We sorted out our collection of bottles and newspapers……

…and sold them to the local kabaddiwala…..

…all 29 kilos of it ! DO

Hear us talk about our project…click to start

We got Rs.260 from our sale! We bought flower pots, soil ,fertilizer and whitewash with it.

The plants we collected from our friends.

DO

Then, we prepared the pots and planted shrubs in them.

DO

We also put plants in old plastic bottles. It was a good way to recycle them, we thought !

DO

We cleaned the wall and the space in front of it…..

….then we white

-washedit.

DO

The next day we transferred all the prepared plants from the Anando centre to the school. We arranged them artistically in the space we had cleared.

DO

What a difference our efforts made!

BEFORE AFTER

It was a proud moment when all the children came running out to see our handiwork and the principal told them about our project. They all promised to look after the little garden !

HOW WE CHANGEDWe have changed after this experience!

At first we were hesitant to approach strangers and ask them for help. But once we saw the response to our appeals, our fears just vanished!

We never realised that a little effort can go such a long way. We feel so happy and proud now when we see the little children looking after the plants and the school taking efforts to maintain our garden .It felt good to give back to nature and to our old school !

And to have everyone praising our efforts , instead of reprimanding us for our antics, has increased our self esteem no end!

And afterwards……Click to start

TH

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back row : Sanjit Mondal, Nitesh , Ratik Prasadfront row: Gaurav Prasad, Subhash Prasad