Pronoti Datta | TNN
Mumbai: Nandini Dhanani takes her task as a Teach India volunteer very seriously. Even though she’s required to work just two hours a week, she spends an hour five days a week teaching the kids of migrant construction workers at a creche at the Gundecha Symphony building site off Veera Desai Road in Andheri. The creche is run by Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC), an NGO that runs shelters for children of itinerant labourers. She also buys the children books, gives them photocopies of alphabet worksheets and even rewards them with sweets. “All the volunteers have done such wonderful work,’’ raves Neeta Khajuria, general manager of Mumbai Mobile Creches. “They bring such a lovely smile on our kids faces. Particularly Nandini. Her dedication, commitment and efforts are unmatched.’’
An attractive woman who looks unforgivably young to be a mother of three, Dhanani isn’t new to volunteer work or teaching. She worked briefly in an old age home in Malaga in Spain, where she lived for 21 years when her husband ran a garment business there. But the experience wasn’t as fulfilling as she had hoped it would be. “Everything looks so perfect there,’’ she says, referring to the high quality of life. “You feel they don’t need you.’’ She cut her teeth as a teacher in Spain where she taught Sindhi to youngsters of the community as she felt they were losing touch with their language. “We started with five or six students and ended with 60,’’ she says.
At the creche, it’s obvious that Dhanani is a natural born teacher. She’s firm yet warm with the kids and clearly popular by the way they clamour for her attention and diligently carry out tasks assigned to them. They seem truly happy to learn and are oblivious to the din of construction work and a leaky roof that lets water drip when it rains. The more studious ones, Dhanani says, even demand more homework than they’ve been given. “You plant a seed,’’ she points out. “Then even if you’re not around, they will make an effort to learn.’’
Many of the children barely speak Hindi, the language of instruction at all MMC units. But in the one month that Dhanani has been teaching, the kids have picked up enough Hindi to communicate. On the day we visited, Mujibur, a Bengali, was making a valiant effort to read a page of the story ‘Theli kiski?’ His tenses were muddled and his speech awkward as he articulated unfamiliar pronunciations. Yet he rattled off an entire paragraph displaying the speedy aptitude for language that only the young have. “It’s a challenge to teach them in Hindi,’’ Dhanani says. “You feel so happy that they are progressing.’’ The desire to reach out to underprivileged children seems to run in the family. Dhanani’s 14-year-old son spends a part of his Saturdays conducting English classes for the kids at the creche.
Dhanani’s curriculum isn’t limited to teaching the alphabet and numbers. She teaches her pupils the basics of etiquette as well. For instance, the kids are told not to prod people to get their attention. Instead they must politely say, “excuse me’’. Dhanani gently reprimanded one of the girls for smacking her classmate to attract his attention. The class we sat in on ended with the kids chorusing greetings like “good morning’’ and “goodbye’’.
When Dhanani’s not educating children, she’s pursuing a career that couldn’t be further from philanthropy. She reports on Bollywood gossip for Aaina, a weekly newspaper for Europe’s Sindhi community that’s published in Tenerife. She even does the odd celebrity profile and has interviewed film personalities such as Jackie Shroff, Pahlaj Nihalani and Preeti Jhangiani. Her current target is actor Vidya Malwade.
MOBILE CRECHES
Established in 1969, Mobile Creches is a non-governmental organisation that runs creches for the children of migrant construction workers in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. The Mumbai wing, Mumbai Mobile Creches, runs temporary shelters in 25 building sites. The creches function as informal schools as kids are given a basic education by teachers and volunteers. They’re also shelters where parents can safely leave their kids. In the absence of these creches, kids often wander around hazardous construction sites unchaperoned. The children are fed cereal in the morning, lunch and an evening snack. A large part of their day is spent doing drawing and craft, colourful evidence of which is plastered all over the walls of MMC creches. For information on MMC call 2202-0869.
Mumbai: Nandini Dhanani takes her task as a Teach India volunteer very seriously. Even though she’s required to work just two hours a week, she spends an hour five days a week teaching the kids of migrant construction workers at a creche at the Gundecha Symphony building site off Veera Desai Road in Andheri. The creche is run by Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC), an NGO that runs shelters for children of itinerant labourers. She also buys the children books, gives them photocopies of alphabet worksheets and even rewards them with sweets. “All the volunteers have done such wonderful work,’’ raves Neeta Khajuria, general manager of Mumbai Mobile Creches. “They bring such a lovely smile on our kids faces. Particularly Nandini. Her dedication, commitment and efforts are unmatched.’’
An attractive woman who looks unforgivably young to be a mother of three, Dhanani isn’t new to volunteer work or teaching. She worked briefly in an old age home in Malaga in Spain, where she lived for 21 years when her husband ran a garment business there. But the experience wasn’t as fulfilling as she had hoped it would be. “Everything looks so perfect there,’’ she says, referring to the high quality of life. “You feel they don’t need you.’’ She cut her teeth as a teacher in Spain where she taught Sindhi to youngsters of the community as she felt they were losing touch with their language. “We started with five or six students and ended with 60,’’ she says.
At the creche, it’s obvious that Dhanani is a natural born teacher. She’s firm yet warm with the kids and clearly popular by the way they clamour for her attention and diligently carry out tasks assigned to them. They seem truly happy to learn and are oblivious to the din of construction work and a leaky roof that lets water drip when it rains. The more studious ones, Dhanani says, even demand more homework than they’ve been given. “You plant a seed,’’ she points out. “Then even if you’re not around, they will make an effort to learn.’’
Many of the children barely speak Hindi, the language of instruction at all MMC units. But in the one month that Dhanani has been teaching, the kids have picked up enough Hindi to communicate. On the day we visited, Mujibur, a Bengali, was making a valiant effort to read a page of the story ‘Theli kiski?’ His tenses were muddled and his speech awkward as he articulated unfamiliar pronunciations. Yet he rattled off an entire paragraph displaying the speedy aptitude for language that only the young have. “It’s a challenge to teach them in Hindi,’’ Dhanani says. “You feel so happy that they are progressing.’’ The desire to reach out to underprivileged children seems to run in the family. Dhanani’s 14-year-old son spends a part of his Saturdays conducting English classes for the kids at the creche.
Dhanani’s curriculum isn’t limited to teaching the alphabet and numbers. She teaches her pupils the basics of etiquette as well. For instance, the kids are told not to prod people to get their attention. Instead they must politely say, “excuse me’’. Dhanani gently reprimanded one of the girls for smacking her classmate to attract his attention. The class we sat in on ended with the kids chorusing greetings like “good morning’’ and “goodbye’’.
When Dhanani’s not educating children, she’s pursuing a career that couldn’t be further from philanthropy. She reports on Bollywood gossip for Aaina, a weekly newspaper for Europe’s Sindhi community that’s published in Tenerife. She even does the odd celebrity profile and has interviewed film personalities such as Jackie Shroff, Pahlaj Nihalani and Preeti Jhangiani. Her current target is actor Vidya Malwade.
MOBILE CRECHES
Established in 1969, Mobile Creches is a non-governmental organisation that runs creches for the children of migrant construction workers in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. The Mumbai wing, Mumbai Mobile Creches, runs temporary shelters in 25 building sites. The creches function as informal schools as kids are given a basic education by teachers and volunteers. They’re also shelters where parents can safely leave their kids. In the absence of these creches, kids often wander around hazardous construction sites unchaperoned. The children are fed cereal in the morning, lunch and an evening snack. A large part of their day is spent doing drawing and craft, colourful evidence of which is plastered all over the walls of MMC creches. For information on MMC call 2202-0869.
IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE: Nandini Dhanani spends an hour teaching the kids of migrant construction workers at a creche at the Gundecha Symphony building site off Veera Desai Road in Andheri.
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