Kamiya Dargan through her initiative ‘My Perch’ provides a environment for creative growth for underprivileged kids
Childhood is the most beautiful phase of life that blossoms in an environment that nurtures aesthetic and creative expression. Kamiya Dargan through her initiative ‘My Perch’ provides a space for children from lower income backgrounds where they get a safe learning atmosphere.
The guiding principle of this initiative is — nothing can be taught, it can only be learnt by experiencing, by igniting a desire within to learn, and by showing the path to discovery when that desire is ignited. “My Perch is a project through which I try to promote and support literacy and learning to the children of Barola community of Noida and provide them with open access to information and ideas, especially to the age group between three to six years,” states Kamiya and adds, “The idea is to create a school that instills free-will in students. Some students join the public and government schools after attending My Perch.”
Under this initiate, Kamiya runs a school-cum-library that focuses on educational games and creative corners for children. “The aim is to encourage holistic education by incorporating art and craft, music, dance, drama and sports in their curriculum in a manner that encourages creative thinking, progress at one’s pace, and does not expect children to conform to externally imposed standards. We provide kids a variety of fun, active and educational opportunities that help them increase confidence and develop life skills.”
According to her, child maltreatment during the growing years hinders their creative process. Kamiya conducts workshops encouraging these kids to share their bad memories from their childhood and help them overcome their fears to become a better adult. Kamiya shares, “Different types of maltreatment came out during these sessions. We shared stories from each other’s life pertaining to neglect, physical violence, verbal abuse, emotional violence, family violence and sexual abuse. These are some factors that led to the poor physical and mental health of these kids and try to address them.”
Children from the slums, whether they go to school or not, are welcome here. There are weekly book reading, poem recitation, art and craft and yoga sessions organised for them. Kamiya says, “We use a non-systematic technique for educating these young minds.”
Talking about the challenges she says, “It was hard to gather funds initially, but I started a book donation drive, through which I was able to gather 200 or so free books for the children. Also, the association with the ComMutiny — The Youth Collective (CYC) from Changeloom has helped the project immensely.”
The focus is on imparting knowledge to these youngsters, so that they achieve something in life. Kamiya adds, “I don’t intend to take care of these children’s degrees and certificates. I am here to make them recognise their talents, ambitions and hobbies. I want to give them a space where they can come and do whatever they want, from playing games to reading books.”
Going forward she wants to help more kids. She says, “When I see some children loitering around, I tell them about this place. Some do come and I hope in future the numbers go up.”
