The girls from the Swami Dayananda AIM for Seva Chatralayam for Girls, Yelahanka, Karnataka are all rounders in the true sense of the word: Not only have three hostelers stood first, second and third in the recently concluded class X board examinations, the girls have also shown a keen interest in art and craft.
Recently, an innovative project was undertaken for the benefit of our hostelers residing in Yelahanka. This programme was curated by Ms. Jayashree Poddar, director of Himatsingka Seide, a home textile company. Our girls worked with Ms. Jayashree on a quilting project, and were taught the basics of art and introduction to painting on fabric.
“The girls aged 9 to 16 years were so absorbed in painting thanks to the encouragement of Ms. Jayashree Poddar that they were reluctant to interrupt their expressive work flow for milk and snacks,” reveals Ms. Aruna Madnani, who is part of corporate outreach, AIM for Seva, Karnataka.
The children’s signed artworks were digitised and turned into stunning quilts for children on fine luxurious soft cotton satin (60 count) with a 200 gsm poly filling. The fabric is colour fast and machine washable and comes with a cotton mulmul cover and a little matching bag!
AIM for Seva is looking to unlock the creative potential of the Yelahanka girl hostelers in other ways as well. “We are planning to buy a microwave and OTG (oven toaster griller). Post that, we plan to conduct a course on microwave cooking and baking.
This would provide avenues for self employment,” says Ms. Aruna Madnani. In addition, a workshop on diya (clay lamps) making would be conducted again this year for the Yelahanka hostelers. Plans are afoot to teach the girls the basics of creating mosaic photo frames, too. “We find that artists are happy to engage with our girls creatively. The focus, enthusiasm and interest shown by our girls in such workshops is fantastic,” says Ms. Aruna Madnani.