SJIHS & Loyola College were our last group for the year 2022
A 70 strong contingent was our last event for the year 2022. So we went out with a bang. Plus we had the principal of SJBHS and the VP Brian McKertish also present for the final event. I like the fact that the schools ask for the kids to come in uniform. Then we can keep an eye on them when they wander across the farm looking curiously at plants and trees.
Greg walks around showing the kids the trees along the way to the RWH installation
For both Greg and me working with the next generation brings a lot of fulfillment for us. Our older boys do not live in the country, so this is our way of giving back to society. Making kids understand the importance of sustainable living if they are to maintain their planet for the future.
I have been trained by UNEP, UNFCCC, UN Water UNDEP among other arms of the UN teaching sustainable living to journalists. All over the world we were taken to learn hands on so we wrote with knowledge and conviction. For years I have taught young journalists how to be sustainable and write with conviction if they are to make a change.
Amazing concentration and note taking through the sessions!
We dont have enough benches so mats on the floor are fine and the kids are quite adjusting to a rural setting in Hoskote. SEEF’s mantra is that SJBHS kids teach the visitors. For the last three years we have taught the SJBHS kids online and through zoom sessions. Now they have been empowered to take a leadership role and teach the visitors. Of Course we are there to ensure the whole process is scientific and correct.
The menstrual hygiene session had the girls listening in, rapt attention
For me being a woman from a very forward thinking family it was shocking to listen to many of the girls voice archaic rules that their grandmothers and mothers foisted on them in the session. Girls who are made to sleep on the floor, cannot enter the kitchen or the temple. They are considered unclean. Shocking stories in the 21st century!
I had a Dad who came to me when I matured to say in New Delhi, that in the South of India, a girl is feted and there is rejoicing when she matures. Go and race and jump, you are not sick. His positive support was such an amazing foundation for me to never stop through all my cycles and finally have my sons with the minimum of fuss.
With these sessions we are teaching tomorrow's mothers and fathers to throw out old and obsolete ideas and customs and go with science to love and support their daughters.
Look at the excitement to show her peers that nothing is dirty in handling wet waste
With gloves on and boots we ask which kids would like to jump in and there is a fight to show off their skills! Wet waste if composted at source can bring down the stink in our cities. If we realise WE are the ones to segregate our waste and clean up our city instead of blaming the government, it would change our lives and our cities.
Fr Sunil the principal of SJBHS speaks to the 70 strong gathering.
Beautiful Custard apple Balnagar grafts were put down by the kids!
Naveen brings only fruit from Safal for the kids to mix in the wet waste pit.
