Morung Express Feature
Dimapur | September 15
Spearheaded by the Riverside school, Ahmedabad, the ‘Design for Giving’ school contest is getting quite a response from schools in Nagaland. In fact, according to the contest anchor for Nagaland, Sanen Imchen, “the first story to be filed for the contest in the country” came from Nagaland. This contest aims to help children understand that change is possible and that they can be the drivers of that desired change if they are willing to take the initiative.
For Marjo, Apibeni, Sentirenla, Chumlanthung and Neivi of El-Shaddai Academy, Dimapur, what started with a motivation to win a national level contest soon turned into a chance to make a change and, in doing so, changed themselves. ‘Heal the Hearts’ is their story of ‘Design for Giving’. With Mwchang Jamatia, head teacher of El-Shaddai Academy as their mentor, the team decided to reach out to children who have lost their parents, family and loved ones to conflict and unrest caused by the militant insurgency movement in Nagaland. The ‘Heal the Hearts’ team puts to expression that “It is only through the ‘Spirit of Giving’ we can change hate to love and bring solace to the broken hearts. It did not take long for us to decide on an issue to implement our ‘spirit of giving’. We wanted to visit and bring smiles to the faces of our dear friends who had lost their parents and were without any family support.”
Mwchang Jamatia says that the students decided to help the poor and they identified the ‘Underprivileged Tribal Children Home’ which is home to 35 children, of which 31 are orphans and 4 children have been abandoned by their family. Jamatia also reveals that the students were saddened to see the children studying on a hot sunny day, without a fan, and they mobilised parents, teachers and students to raise funds to purchase items like fans, water filters, etc., while they collected clothes, toys, notebooks, pencils and ceiling fans. They even roped in a doctor to conduct a free medical camp. He also said that the parents were glad to see their children participating and learning how to give.
Christian Higher Secondary School (CHHS), Dimapur, is another such school preparing their ‘Design for Giving’. “We are having a tough time as around 7 to 8 groups of students have come forward with different projects,” says Veronica, the mentor for the students. Very interestingly, the students, who are all aged between 10 to 13 years, are working on topics like human trafficking, street children, rag pickers, cleanliness drive, etc., subjects thought to be mature and requiring expert opinion. While informing that the projects will be shortlisted and implemented from the coming week, Veronica adds that it is a very good project where students are learning and getting the training to be independent.
However, Sanen says that the overall response has been a little disappointing, particularly from the so-called ‘leading’ schools in Nagaland. One reason given was their hectic year-round schedule. The contest aims at two things: one, to instil in children the valuable lesson of giving whereby it brings about change in their own personal lives and those around them. Secondly, it is meant to develop thinking skills in children whereby they are made to think of problems and solutions from an early age. “Probably some may not have understood this, hence the lack of intent and initiative. Otherwise, I feel it does not take much time and effort to conduct an exercise like this, if you really have the intent,” Sanen adds.
Promoted by The Riverside School, Ahmedabad, the ‘Design for Giving’ contest is part of the Joy of Giving week, an initiative of the GiveIndia Foundation. To be held from September 27 to October 3, the Week is the first of its kind in India and an ambitious social movement that aims to engage two crore Indians to give. The contest anchor for Nagaland is Sanen Imchen, the Executive Director and founder of Benchmark Education Initiative, while the local media partners are Nagaland Post and The Morung Express.
