Fun, creativity mark Children’s Day fair

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 14

Phulkari CAN, the philanthropic wing of NGO Phulkari- Women of Amritsar, celebrated the Children’s Day by holding a 'mela' (fair) for underprivileged children of Shri Vinayak Nishulk Paathshala. Activities, like magic show, puppet show, trampoline jumping, nail art and face painting, kept the kids excited throughout the day.

Special food stalls were also put up by Phulkari members for kids. No disposable material was used for the event to minimise waste generation and create environmental awareness amongst the children, the organisers said.

Nidhi Sindhwani, president, Phulkari CAN, said, ”The Mela of Happiness is part of our Arpan project where we work with such kids through reading and learning programme. We have been conducting year-long activities and workshops with them on basic English learning, speaking and communication skill development and lot of other knowledge-based activities.”

Bharti, a student of Class VI, who belongs to a family of daily wagers, said, “I am enjoying the mela. My favourite stall is the nail art. My bag is full of prizes.” She was joined by her classmates, most of them participating in all the fun activities as much as they could.

Phulkari CAN had hosted the first Arpan festival for the students of Mission Deep School in 2017. Arpan 2 marks one year of Phulkari CAN’s successful running of its learning programme for underprivileged children under Deepa Swani. “Under this Program, educators go to Shri Vinayak Nishulk Paathshaala on a regular basis to teach children functional English."

Meanwhile, the IAFA too celebrated day by hosting an on-the-spot art competition for children. Children aged between 5 and 16 years created beautiful art works to reflect upon the issues that touched them. The event had senior artists from the city in attendance including sculpture artist Narender Singh, Op Verma and Kulwant Singh Gill.