Page 278 - DAIS Insignia 2022-2023
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Muktangan  Toy Bank

 Muktangan is an organisation founded by Liz Mehta to improve the quality   Toy Bank ensures that children have access to toys – both educational and
 of education for children and train schoolteachers. The organisation   for leisure, thereby making certain that children's right to play is not
 originally started as a small room with 40 children but has now expanded   violated. They also believe that toys are extremely significant for the
 to teach over 1,000 children in Mumbai's municipal schools. 17 of us    holistic development of a child and therefore work towards providing toys
 volunteered at the Muktangan school in Prabhadevi to conduct   and story books to the underprivileged children.
 educational activities with children from the 3rd and 4th grades. The
 activities aim to provide learning in a simple manner, while also ensuring   As representatives for the NGO, we were very excited for the CAS fete and
 that the children enjoy the process of learning. Some of the recreational   creating our very own stall. We spent about two weeks of our sessions on
 activities we conducted included   Tuesdays and Fridays preparing for the fete. We worked as a team of 13,
 physical education, yoga, and   each taking up different responsibilities. Prisha, Naviya, Varsha and
 music, and we also helped them   Anishka worked on decorations. They made vibrant posters for our stall games while other
 develop their speaking, writing   students helped making informative posters about Toybank’s vision and the work they have
 and general knowledge skills   done. Mehek, Ojas and Aaditya worked on merchandise and set up a hairstyling counter as
 through group games and
 quizzes. We made sure that the   an additional interactive activity for the stall. Abhinav, Abhiviraj, Ojas, Harshwardhan, Aditya
 activities we conducted were   and Sachit worked on ideating for games. We finally settled on three: Pick the Duck, Cup
 enjoyable for the children and   Stakin' and Dizzy Penalties which ranged from prices between 30-50 rupees. On the day of
 ourselves. Through volunteering   the fete, we worked collectively to set up the stall and each person took turns running the
 at the school, we also learnt   games in the stall. Many children came to play our games, and some came multiple times to
 important life skills, such as   replay. Dizzy Penalties turned out to be a favourite amongst the visitors and ended up being
 cooperation, empathy and   our bestseller. Other games were also popular and people kept coming in to win prize tickets,
 healthy communication.
        so much so that we ran out and had to refill tickets multiple times. As representatives of the
 At the CAS Fete 2023, we raised   Toybank NGO, we enjoyed the experience of being able to raise funds to promote such a good cause.
 money for the school through our
 stall. The stall had two games; Knock The Can and Mini Basketball. We also sold mugs and artwork made by the students.
 All the proceeds from the games and merchandise were donated to the organisation. We had a lot of fun organising and contributing
 to the stall.                               Welfare of Stray Dogs
                                             The Welfare of Stray Dogs, a stray animal
                                             sterilization facility located in the heart of
                                             Mumbai, is the site of the weekly CAS endeavours
 Les différentes parties de l'identité       of an enigmatically eccentric ensemble of grade
 Bonjour à toutes et à tous!                 11 students. Also serving as an abode for
                                             'streeties' looking to get adopted to their forever
 Suite à une longue réflexion personnelle sur le thème de l'identité,
 j'ai décidé d'explorer qui je suis. Mon identité me confond, parce   homes, the WSD centre provides care for over 3
 qu'elle change constamment. Je souhaiterais élaborer sur les   Shedding My Old Skin - Kyrene Tangri   dozen dogs and cats at any given time. During
 identités différentes qui me définissent.    the weekends, the centre is converted into an
                                             OPD, conducting various primary and emergency
 D'abord, mes loisirs et mes préférences m'habitent et   level medical operations for owners unable to
 m'accompagnent, mais ils ne peuvent suffire à me définir, selon
 moi. Cependant, c'est aussi une partie de l'identité indispensable.   afford the care or for animals that have been left
 Pour moi, j'aime jouer au tennis régulièrement, puisqu'il m'aide à   to suffer.
 me détendre après une journée fatigante. L'exercice fait partie   We began our tenure with WSD online by
 intégrale de ma vie – d'après un article que j'ai lu, le sport aide les   working on an awareness campaign for
 gens à rester en bonne forme, mais il aide aussi à mener une vie   World Rabies Day. To undertake this, we put
 heureuse et équilibrée. En outre, mes préférences incluent visiter   up posters within the school campus and ran
 les nouvels endroits, car on peut découvrir de nouvelles cultures.   a 3-day awareness campaign on Instagram,
 Ce que je préfère, c'est de déguster les plats traditionnels, en   which included reels and posts.
 général, c'est délicieux !   Jai Vakeel     Then, we started to frequent the kennels
 Deuxièmement, mon identité régionale et linguistique, cela me   physically. Our sessions would entail walking the
 confond beaucoup. À mon avis, la langue est un miroir de la   The Jai Vakeel   dogs, playing with them in an activity room, and
 culture. Je parle l'anglais, l'hindi, le français et un peu le marathi.   Foundation is where   shooting video footage for social media of WSD.
 Je suis sindhi, mais mes grands-parents ont déménagé de Sindh à   Our most challenging assignment was the CAS
 Mumbai, pendant la partition donc je ne parle pas le sindhi. La   students with   Fete, where we set up a stall to raise funds for
 langue est une expression d'identité culturelle, et elle aide à   intellectual and   the NGO. Our fundraising techniques included
 améliorer nos liens avec les racines. Pour cette raison, je voudrais   developmental disabilities are given the help they need, and   selling WSD merchandise and dog-themed
 apprendre le sindhi, un jour.   taught many life skills that they can use to integrate with society   cookies, snapping polaroids of patrons, and
 En conclusion, je pense que ma génération se sent à l'aise dans   and be successful in the future. Our sessions have always been   Slipping Away - Annika Cerejo  conducting 2 exciting games - Feed the Dog and
 n'importe quel endroit grâce aux identités diverses and inclusives.   amazing – the students have been friendly, forthcoming, and   Boop the Nose.
 La nôtre n'est pas une identité rigide, mais au contraire
 polyvalente.    extremely interactive. Our main aim to share knowledge and   Towards the end of our term, we focused on
 Merci de me lire, laissez-moi vos commentaires.  grow together. Activities like creating calculators, sports day,   Instagram content specific to each dog or cat, for
                                             their sponsoring and adoption, and relating to the
 Commentaires:  supermarket shopping, teaching math were platforms that   harmful effects of colours used on animals during Holi.
 @Aneesh123: Oui, je suis absolument d'accord. Génial !  generated intellectual growth. We gained immensely while   Altogether, our positive experiences with WSD are a reflection of the virtuous values of
 learning about activities such as drying flowers, candle-making,
 @Aanya5: Je m'identifie avec ce blog qui cerne bien les traits   the institution and its noble goals. As a group, we learnt how difficult it is to manage a
 caractéristiques de l'identité dans notre génération.   and table-setting from the foundation students.    non-profit institution and negotiate the hindrances that come along with it. We
 Divya Karnani  We have enjoyed going for this service activity and meeting with   acknowledge the Welfare of Stray Dogs as an epitome of a well-run NGO for our
                                             beloved 'streeties'  and hope to work with it outside of school in the future!
 students of JVF every Friday.   WINDOWS TO THE SOULD
        Tanaya Agarwal
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