There is nothing more heartening than to see a smile on a child's face; nor is there anything more despairing than to see it fade away At Enable Child we hope to breathe life into dreams and nurture ambitions. We strive to give a brighter tomorrow to children, with the hope that our efforts make a small but enduring difference to their lives. Our mission is to ensure that children are not deprived of realizing their potential due to their socioeconomic status. Want to know more about us? Just click on one of the tabs below
In the fast paced world of today, each one of us seems to be fighting a losing battle against time. With eyes trained on a lofty goal, we pursue it single-mindedly, combating stress and pressures of innumerable deadlines. "Keep running or fall behind in the rat race" seems to be the new mantra of today!
We are the privileged of the world individuals with aspirations and ambitions that scale the sky and, more importantly, the ability to turn our dreams into reality. With high-flying careers, our attention is usually focused on acquiring yet another item of luxury.
Our children tread much the same path. They will not know want or hunger. As parents, we work to provide them the best education we can afford, secure them from all evil, and ensure that they lead life just as, if not more, comfortably as we did. They will probably have greater ambitions than we did, and we give them every opportunity to achieve them.
But if we do pause for a moment, we can see those who have not been as fortunate as us; innumerable people who are running the same rat race, but have been left far behind - the underprivileged of the world. Their battle is much simpler in cause than ours; it is most likely for the next meal. They have to meet deadlines of a different kind - to ensure that their family does not sleep hungry that night. Look into their eyes, and one can find more despair than hope for the future.
Their children lead a different life from ours. Left to their own resources most of the day, wandering aimlessly, they do not know today from yesterday, and tomorrow promises to be just the same. As they get older, they pick up the trade of their parents - they do not see another option. Any ambitions to rise above their circumstances and better their situation in life are soon put out, as they face harsh realities. Equipped with minimal or no education, they can hardly hope to compete with their more fortunate counterparts. Gradually, their aspirations ebb away, and they are left with a feeling of bitterness and sense of betrayal; and life continues to be one long grind, filled with drudgery, a struggle for survival and slipping further into the quagmire of poverty.
Here, we are faced with a choice we can either turn a blind eye, preferring to remain oblivious of their predicament; or, think it our responsibility to share some of our good fortune with them. The latter option is undoubtedly more difficult than the former, but then, the vision of gifting a smile is all it takes to realize, that the effort is worth it.
At Enable Child, our mission is to ensure that children, who dream of a better future, are also given an opportunity to see it come true. We believe that every child can be a star, given the chance to shine!
As one of the steps towards achieving this mission, the founders of this trust have identified a program to acquaint children with the fundamentals of technology.
There is a large void in the education levels of "under-privileged" children who attend government schools or non-mainstream educational institutes. With no access to facilities available in good schools, especially high-end technology like computers, their chance of finding employment is seriously impaired.
At Enable Child, children are put through several levels of workshops/camps, each spread over 10 to 12 hours, of increasing complexity. The objective is, with each level, they gain further confidence in the use of computers for their day-to-day work, such as homework, and basic life skills such as banking, ticketing etc.
The final level of this course is geared towards taking the cream of students through a vocational track of their choice, so that they can use their computer knowledge to actually earn a livelihood, as, for instance, cyber cafe operators, ticketing agents, security officers and many other such vocations which do not require a high level of education but an adequate knowledge of computer based tools.
The successful functioning of this NGO hinges on contributions from several quarters.
A professional educationist has developed a structured curriculum for each module of the computer program. The objectives of each workshop are clearly defined; charting the course of computer basics, to complexities of file management, word processing, spread sheets etc.
The instructors for workshops are young working professionals, typically software engineers. They are put through a "train-the-trainer" program, which sensitizes them to various aspects of teaching these children. By giving a little of their time to the cause, enabling children to build a future for themselves, they take back an experience of a lifetime and innumerable memories to cherish.
The course itself is conducted on the premises of an IT company in Bangalore. Hence, the company's infrastructure, which would otherwise remain unused during weekends, is being utilized for a noble cause. This forms a fine example as to how a corporate house can partake in movements for empowerment of the underprivileged.
The participant children come from two homes in Bangalore. With a combination of interesting activities and personalized attention from volunteers, they quickly learn the basics of computers, and then go on to realize the array of possibilities that a computer has to offer. They are offered full freedom to experiment, and this pays off as children use computers and the Internet with ease.
The first phase of this program has been in existence for the past 1.5 years, and has already put close to a 100 children through the curriculum.
The success of the program can be seen in gradual increase of confidence shown by the children in their usage of computers. Children, who had never touched a computer before in their lives, nor heard words such as "monitor", "keyboard", "floppy" etc, can now proudly identify various components of a PC, and understand their function. The ease, with which they use a mouse to perform tasks involving cut-and-paste, or drag-and-drop, is simply amazing. In their own humble manner, they can type simple sentences in English, using a word-processing application such as MS Word. They are indeed, in a comfort zone when it comes to formatting skills, such as changing font (style, color, size), using Word Art, and inserting pictures. The Internet is no longer a mystery to them; they can, with ease, use a search engine such as Google, to search for images or specific information. They flash broad smiles, when communicating with friends using email IDs of their own.
Volunteers have found the entire experience of teaching and interacting with these children enriching in more ways that one. While it hones their communication skills, they find they can understand children much better after the course. It also helps them to cope with everyday challenges with greater patience and diligence. They also find a new perspective to their problems, which seem dwarfed when compared to challenges faced by others. All this apart from a sense of gratification and achievement of having been able to make a difference to the life of a child!
We at Enable Child are working to expand our operations, to be able to reach out to as many children as possible. We aspire to establish several more centers for education, and to enlarge our volunteer base. Here's how you can help:
You could volunteer as an instructor for the workshops
1.If you head a corporate enterprise, you could allow us to conduct the course on your company's premises during weekends
2.If you represent an NGO which works with underprivileged children, you could enroll them for this program