Make A Difference (MAD), a non-profit organisation working across 23 cities to ensure equitable outcomes for children at risk, is organising a special camp for children who live in shelters for two days between 6th to 7th Februarry and 13th to 14th February at KT Resorts, Virar. The camp, which is annually organised by the organisation every year, is christened ‘Dream Camp’ and is held in all the 23 cities in which the organisation is present.
What are Dream Camps?
Dream Camps are outbound experiential camps that help children dream about their future goals and understand what it takes to achieve those dreams. This understanding is facilitated through personal discovery, exploring new talents by challenging themselves and taking responsibility of their actions for the duration of the camp.
Through its nine years of experience in the field of working with vulnerable children, the organisation has ascertained that a basic difference that lies between a child living a shelter and a child living at his/her own house are the circumstances, environments, the exposure-factors essential to let a child introspect, ‘dream’, and thereby, set larger goals in life. According to an official in the organisation, Sneheel Biswal, Director of PR and Communications, “As kids we had a free imagination, unbridled by any worry or care. This imagination was stimulated by the books we read, the teachers we had, our parents and guardians, family. We cannot say the same about a MAD child- a child who spends a large part of their life either inside the four walls of the shelter home or their schools, a child who lives a life limited by the society, or worse, themselves.”
Dream Camps are thus, MAD’s way of driving self-motivation and self-confidence by helping these children dream, exposing them to new experiences and providing a holiday experience. By motivating these children through various activities and sessions held by field experts invited to the camp, the organisation hopes to connect these children to their ‘dreams’ and thereby, ensure better life outcomes for them in the long run.
Mumbai Dream Camp 2015-16
In the city, Dream Camp is being held at KT Resorts, Virar. Approximately 300 children aged 10-18 years will be in attendance along with 120 volunteers who are associated with the various programs run by the organisation.
The venue for the camp was chosen carefully by the camp team, given the various needs and requirements of the children and camp. KT Resorts Virar offered us maximum opportunities to help realize all the activites and experiences we plan for our kids in a safe environment. The team has planned various activities and arranged for sessions like “River Of Life”, “Beautiful You” etc. to be held during the camp to cater to the objectives of exposure, learning and providing these children with an unmatched holiday experience.
This is the fourth time that such a camp is being organised by MAD in the city. The previous year’s camp was held at Rohan Water Park and was a resounding success.
MAD has been operational in the city for seven years, and works in shelter homes like St. Catherine’s, YMCA, St. Francis and Snehasdan. Currently, the city has 300 volunteers associated with the organisation. These volunteers are mostly between the age of 18-24 years. The city runs programs life Ed Support, which is an after school support academic program, Discover which is a more life skills/self-discovery oriented program and Propel which is a program customised for children in classes 11 and 12 and aims at ensuring their smooth transition from school to college through both academic and emotional support.
About MAD
As of today Make A Difference reaches out to 5000 children living in 77 shelter homes in 23 cities in India, through a highly efficient Fellow managed volunteering model. A small core team of 23 staff provides expertise, processes, training and support to 400 Fellows and 3500 volunteers.
Through four core programs, Ed Support, Discover, Propel and Dream Camps, Make A Difference creates a support system and an emotional safe space for children in shelters by ensuring every child has at least 3 adults who care for them, understand them and who they can reach out to when they feel overwhelmed. They have access to them for a minimum of 2 hours a week from the age of 10. Trained mentors spend time getting to know and developing an individual plan for each of their children. This plan includes not just academic support but also life skills, personal discovery, art, music and language lessons. Depending on the age and needs of the children the programs include career awareness activities, helping them transition to better schools, helping them identify their career path and funding it when required. MAD also works closely with the shelter they are living in to ensure their basic needs are taken care of and interact with the teachers to understand the developmental needs to the children.
Awards/Recognition
MAD’s has won a lot of awards for excellence, including
- Winner of the Ashoka Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition 2008
- Nobel Laureate of the Karamveer Puraskar awarded by ICongo – 2009
- Cordes Fellow Award – 2010
- World Summit Youth Award – 2011,
- Starbucks Youth Action Net Award – 2011
- iVolunteer Award – 2013,
- eNGO Award – 2014.
Make A Difference’s work is in India has also been recognized by several eminent people including Michelle Obama who chose MAD as one of the few organisations to visit on her trip to India in 2010. Most recently Make A Difference was one of only four NGO’s selected from across the entire Commonwealth to launch the Queen’s Young Leaders Trust via the first ever Royal Google+ Hangout .
In case of doubt with respect to any part of the Press Release, kindly reach out to Shrinivas Acharya, Public Relations Fellow, Make A Difference Mumbai
