MAD with SPACES!! – Dream Camp!!

Dream Camp organized by M.A.D

A dream indeed, not only for the thirty five to forty kids present there, but even to us at SPACES who got the opportunity to interact with them. They were the most charming and intuitive little bunch of  people that we had ever come across. None too as innocent as they seemed.

SPACES as part of the MAD event organized a small workshop for the kids aptly named “Little Farmers”. All of them were super excited and running about with increased energy, increased adrenaline, climbing every tree top they could sight with the pretext of getting more green leaves or plants or saplings.In fact, I met a mentor who seemed to be in-charge of just that – getting the kids back to the original place. 🙂

The whole day was enlightening and in retrospect we were very much in awe at the level of interpretations of some of the kids and their ideas and thoughts. There were a few instances where we were completely mind blown at their creativity and ability.

Mad camp by spaces -at ECR

MAd camp – ECR – conducted by spaces

As soon as we were ushered into the lovely In-Deco resorts at Mahabalipuram which had a very lush green outdoor, we quickly gave a brief talk on the current scenario, what the children could do to preserve the environment and some basics of gardening, waste disposal and recycling. What followed next was the outdoor session where the kids learned how to compost, what were the steps involved and more importantly they all learned how to plant a sapling along with a small exercise in recycling.

Hands down, the recycling part of the workshop was the most favorite, even the mentors got right down to the nitty-gritty. Where paints and brushes were involved, the children went to a happy place and got real serious. We got to see some beautiful pieces of art, very tastefully and creatively done.

There were a lot of chaotic moments, sweet ones, thick friendship, loyalty, naughtiness, every possible trait we could think of, we got to witness in that short period.  SPACES had an awesome time and hopes to meet the kids again real soon. Usually, these sessions with children often works out the other way around.We are the ones who take back a lot more than we expect to give!

Inauguration of Eco-Club @ SPACES!!

This has taken a long time coming. I mean both the post and the timing of our new subset to SPACES!!

ECO-CLUB @ SPACES!!

When you add to the mix a group of people, of strong constitution and of sound principles, when it comes to matters relating to our surroundings,environment etc, the evolution of such a club is pretty much inevitable.

SPACES even though birthed through similar thought process, does not give the latitude to reach out to every sector of the environment , but Eco-club gives more than its share.

This is a platform established in lieu with SPACES to conduct events every month, targeting a small but significant issue. We believe , we need to change even the smaller things from its root.

This January of 2014 , a day before the Indian republic day, witnessed the inaugural event of Eco-club. 12 volunteers took the daunting task of setting up a Terrace garden of purely recycled materials and containers for a Home situated in Red Hills, Chennai. The home named aptly Shelter Homes houses children affected with HIV and provides for all their basic necessities.

There were no laborers or garden experts involved, just us a couple of relatively inexperienced youngsters not all that familiar with the hardships of physical labor nor used to it! There was a heap of soil to transport to the terrace which invariably became the first task to complete. But once we got the hang of it, and with the incredibly strong kids assisting us, there was no stopping us. Once upstairs, we divided ourselves into the planning and execution team. And one group took up making the creeper section (pandal section) and one more took to painting the containers, few more took care of making the Tyre structure for one corner again for the creepers to grow.

The kids were nothing but sweet, they raided the paints and the brushes in the morning for a session of painting the containers and the tyres apart from helping us with a soil. And later again they came over for a session with helping the Annas (brothers) with the drilling and bringing buckets of water. Some of them very curious why the money plant was in fact called the money plant 🙂 . We had a fun time explaining to the older kids on how to take care of the garden, how to tend to them and how they would be transplanted.

 

 

 

Again we had to fill in the containers with soil and sow the seeds. And name all the containers in the local dialect(tamil language), so that the kids could understand and go forward and raise their own veggies and understand. Not just the kids, even the volunteers understood a lot about gardening and everything associated with creating a kitchen garden from scratch. It was a really enriching experience.

At the end of the day , when it was all done, we were pretty proud of our handiwork, astonished at the amount of work finished in a day, dog tired, but both happy and ecstatic about what we had done.

Hopefully we had taken a tiny step toward teaching the kids, a lesson on waste management, environment awareness and the need to preserve greenery all together. If nothing at least that all hope is not lost. The lesson is not only for all those kids out there,but for everyone.

SPACES does not wish to end it here. We will be making another visit soon and hopefully our mammoth efforts will reap its benefits.

Perhaps , SPACES and Eco-Club has a purpose after all!! It does not just revolve only around gardens. This is just the beginning.