Four years ago, a Mumbai girl, Shubhangi Swarup approached an 11-year-old boy selling flowers at a traffic signal in South Mumbai and asked him if he wanted to draw with her. In just a few months, her initiative grew into a community project, called Hamara Footpath, involving dozens of street children and several volunteers – one among them being Priyanka Dalal – founder of a social media marketing company called DigiWhirl.
In spite of her demanding job, Priyanka has been assisting Hamara Footpath in curriculum planning, volunteer orientations, discussing vocational and other needs of the street children. She also manages to take out time for other social initiatives like the Sapling Project, which we featured on our blog recently.
Every week, a group of young people from all walks of life assemble in the streets of South Mumbai. This enthusiastic bunch comes fully prepared with colours, stories, games, music and plays to entertain & educate street children in the open school run by Hamara Footpath.
“Unlike other NGOs, Hamara Footpath has a very open structure so you can be a part of it whenever you have time,” she says. “The work with the kids is also very fascinating. It is very nice to be able to become a part of their lives.”
Like Hamara Footpath there are many unique social efforts you could be part of in your spare time. “There is a movement by people who are saving water by skipping a bath on Sundays!” Priyanka says. “What about the Cotton Bag Movement where you replace plastic bags to cotton ones?”
From her two-year stint with various NGOs, Priyanka has learnt that though the idea of changing the world sounds great, it is way too difficult. “It is only possible to change ONE world at a time,” she says. “Like the world of one little kid whom you teach on streets or the world of a community where I planted a little sapling.”
No matter how pressed for time we are, if we have the desire to take the initiative to change the world — one at a time — we can always become the change we want to see around us. Thank you Priyanka for taking time out for the people who really need it! Jaago Re!
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