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The kindergarten project in Ranchi is largely being implemented with the help of a generous donation from the the Berlin-based association Die Kappe e.V., umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin. Project phase 1 was completed at the end of 2021 with a few months delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, the delays in construction could already be used for the education and training of the future teaching staff.

Once the long and very intense monsoon season of 2022 in India was over, the main part of phase 2 of the project could be tackled in autumn 2022 after reviewing the construction site situation. Adjustments had to be made here, as a major road construction project in the city directly adjoins the planned site and partly runs across it. As a result, the location of the planned playground had to be changed.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to open the new YMCA kindergarten in Ranchi in the entire past year of 2023 either, because the massive construction work by the city to build an elevated road along the YMCA site took place throughout the whole year. For a long time, it was not clear how much of the YMCA site would fall victim to the roadworks. At least, with the help of the German weltwärts volunteers from the YMCA Ranchi, a small school garden was designed and planted between spring and summer.

In autumn 2023, a sewage system was built along the new road, and the work is now almost complete. In any case, this should now clarify the boundary between our site and the road. It is planned to erect the fence to the road again at the beginning of 2024 and thus also to secure the site again against intrusion by unwanted persons. Only then will it be possible to carry out the other remaining phase 2 activities step by step. As the actual work on the new elevated road is continuing and will probably continue for several more months, it is not yet possible to predict at this stage whether it will actually be possible to open the kindergarten for the new school year in May 2024.

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, we once again took part in the Advent christmas market in Alt-Marzahn, Berlin with our own stand.

For a small donation, we offered a wheel of fortune, fresh Indian spiced tea, all kinds of Indian goods and, of course, distributed our new flyers.

There was a great deal of interest and we are already looking forward to next year – many thanks to all the helpers!

Within the framework of our long-standing collaboration with and the donations from the the Berlin-based association Die Kappe e.V., umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin, we launched a new project in 2023: Youth work in the slums of Ranchi, the capital of the state of Jharkhand, where we have been active for a long time.

Hereby, the existing infrastructure of the slum centers is improved to give youths and students a space for self-study and learning. For that, study tables and benches as well as bookshelves are being purchased. A set of books and daily newspapers is made available to the youths and students. The centers will be open for them in the afternoon/evening hours.

Additionally, local volunteers offer tuition classes in such subjects where the interested local children and youths express their needs for improvement. Free-time activities in the fields of sports and music offer the youths of the slum areas opportunities of spending time together in a meaningful way, shaping qualities like team spirit, social behaviour and other values. To make this possible, sports equipment and music instruments are being purchased, and regular classes as well as sports tournaments are organised.

Accompanied by Alex Nitschke, a group of visitors from India travelled to Berlin in May at the invitation of the Lichtenberg-Oberspree church district.

Members of the Indian Forum met with the group several times for sightseeing tours through Berlin and to eat together.

As part of our long-standing cooperation with the Tagore School in Berlin Marzahn, which has been enabling children in Chaibasa to attend school since 2008, the pupils once again organised a charity run in 2022, which raised an impressive 1,200 euros through donations from sponsors of the children. As the Indian Forum, we have decided to top up this sum to a total of 3000 € in order to provide financial support to a public school run by the YMCA in Dhurwa. Among other things, the donated funds will be used to renovate and expand the school library, a computer room and the school’s science laboratory.

We would like to install more bookshelves, tables and benches for the pupils in the school library. Many of the books are currently lying on the floor as there are not enough bookshelves. At the same time, the stock of books needs to be increased and we would like to purchase new relevant reference books for the various subjects.

The computer room has a total of 15 PCs. Unfortunately, 5 of them are currently not working and need to be repaired or replaced with new components to make them usable again. It would be great for the students to be able to learn practically with the help of the computers, as most of them do not have their own computer at home on which they could try out and acquire skills in the field of computer science.

The YMCA Ranchi and we as the Indian Forum are convinced that the planned activities will help to improve the quality of education at the charitable school and that many students will benefit in their educational careers. The money has already been transferred to India – the project is about to start soon.

The first phase of our project for the erection of a child-friendly, attractive kindergarten in Ranchi, started in early 2021, has been completed with only a few months of Corona virus-induced delay. The final report has been sent to Die Kappe e.V., umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin, whose generous donations have made the start and implementation of this project possible.

The main focus in project phase 1 was on the renovation and repair of an empty building on the grounds of the YMCA headquarters in the center of Ranchi. A whole range of work has been completed or is already well advanced. The floors, masonry and roof of the building have been substantially repaired. Some extensions and new walls were added, and supply and sewage lines were laid. In the outdoor areas surrounding the building, the partly swampy ground was drained and better protected against the monsoon rains.

Our application for project phase 2 has already been submitted and approved, and we hope to be able to start working quickly, in order to complete the outstanding construction work as soon as possible. In addition, a strong focus will also be on the selection and training of the new kindergarten staff, as well as on the purchase of all necessary equipment and furnishing. The goal is being able to open the doors of our new reform pedagogical kindergarten for the children from the surrounding areas just in time for the new school year.

Today – after Covid19 caused a delay of about one and a half years – our new ‘weltwaerts’ volunteer from India has arrived in Berlin: Ajay Bhengra. Like his predecessors Mukut and Rimil, he will stay in Germany for one year within the framework of the South-North component of the German weltwaerts program. This was made possible particularly with the active support from our many partner organisations in India and Germany, to whom we explicitly want to say thank you! As usual, there will be German language courses first, before the actual work can start.

The teaching and support concept for pre-school education in India has mostly remained at the level of more than 40 years ago. Many encounters and conversations in recent years with friends from Germany who are active in the field of education have resulted in a lively exchange about early childhood development and modern forms of educational work. This led to the desire of our partners at the YMCA Ranchi to redesign its own educational concept and to give especially the youngest a more suitable start into a life of learning. In future, small children in particular are to be encouraged in their development without pressure and fear of disciplinary measures. The development of their own abilities in a positive environment and with creative and playful methods should play a stronger role in the educational work.

On the premises of the YMCA headquarters in the heart of the city of Ranchi, a suitable building with a large outdoor area is available. The plan is to transform the currently empty building into a child-friendly, attractive kindergarten through repair and renovation measures. In the first phase of the planned activities, the building for the new kindergarten will first be renovated and refurbished. Repairs to the roof and exterior walls and redesign of the interior rooms will be necessary. Water and electricity pipes will be renewed and sanitary facilities and kitchen will be adapted to the new needs. The outside area and the surrounding boundary walls facing the street also need to be redesigned and repaired.

The project already started early this year and is primarily being implemented thanks to generouss donations from the Berlin-based association Die Kappe e.V., umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin. Meanwhile a number of tasks has already been completed or progressed well. For example, the floors, the masonry and the roof of the building have been fundamentally repaired. Due to the severe effects of the Corona crisis in India as well as heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, the completion of project phase 1 has been delayed by several months. However, all parties involved are very confident that the first phase can be completed in 2021.

In November 2020, we were able to complete the slum centres project launched in 2019. After the successful renovation of the first two slum centres, the Covid-19 pandemic had interrupted the work for several months in early/mid 2020, which delayed the completion of the third centre ‘Islam Nagar’. Eventually this centre was also renovated and remodelled in the second half of the year and is now very actively being used.

Download of final project report

You can download the final report from YMCA Ranchi for the project ‘Slum Centers’ in pdf format via the following link:

Thanks to our sponsors and partners

Once again we would like to thank the Berlin-based association Die Kappe e.V., educational umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin, which made the implementation of the project possible through its generous donation. We also want to thank YMCA Ranchi as the implementing institution as well as all our other partners in India!