MAD to Organize 2-Day ‘Dream Camp’ for Children
Mangaluru: 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 2 days, from 11th to 12th February 2017 at St. Joseph Engineering College. 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 ten 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.
Mangalore Camp 2016-17:
In the city, Dream Camp is being held at St. Joseph Engineering College. Approximately 50 children aged 6-16 years will be in attendance along with around 25 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. The team has planned various activities and arranged for sessions like ‘Beautiful you’, ‘River of life’ to be held during the camp to cater to the objectives of exposure, learning and providing these children with an unmatched holiday experience. The activities are designed to help realize the dreams of our kids through the arc of transformation i.e., by identifying their strengths and weaknesses, learning to work as a team, and learning to visualize how to actually achieve one’s dreams.
This is the 4th time that such a camp is being organised by MAD in the city. The previous year’s camp was held at the same exact venue and was a resounding success.
MAD has been operational in the city for 8 years and works closely with two shelter homes present in Mangaluru. Currently, the city has 100 volunteers associated with the organisation. These volunteers are mostly between the ages of 18-30. 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 (if at all) which is a program customized 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 emotionally 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
a. Winner of the Ashoka Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition 2008
b. Nobel Laureate of the KaramveerPuraskar awarded by ICongo – 2009
c. Cordes Fellow Award – 2010
d. World Summit Youth Award – 2011
e. Starbucks Youth Action Net Award – 2011
f. iVolunteer Award – 2013
g. 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 Manikya Das, (Ph: 9740698875) Public Relations Fellow, Make A Difference (Mangalore)
Submitted by: Manikya Das, PRO, MAD
