News

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!

In an interim report on the Slum Centres project, which has been started in October 2019, our Indian partners – the YMCA Ranchi and Sarjom – have sent up-to-date information on the progress of the renovation of the centres. By now, 2 of the 3 centres have been renovated:

Slum Centre “Kadru Phooltoli”

Before the work began, all teaching materials, equipment and 16 sewing machines had to be temporarily removed from the centre. During the entire repair work the students went to another, former slum centre for their courses. A total of 12 workers were involved in the various phases of the work. First, the old roof sheets were removed and replaced with the new GI steel sheets. This took about four days.

Then the new cement flooring was produced, for which the former floor had to be broken up and the rubble removed. Necessary repairs to the walls, windows and doors were carried out before the walls were covered with a new fine cement plaster with a smooth surface. Finally, the painting work was carried out inside and outside and two new black boards were installed in the room. Just before Christmas, the work in Kadru Phooltoli was eventually completed.

Slum Centre “Jagannathpur Centre”

Like the work in Kadru Phooltoli, the repair work in the Jagannathpur Centre also began with the removal of the old roof panels. The asbestos plates, which had not been changed for 40 years, already had several cracks. Within four to five days the roofing panels were replaced with GI steel sheets and the new roof was installed.

The regular lessons for the children could be continued during the working period, because the neighbouring community of the North Western GEL Church provided their rooms for the pre-school. On January 24, 2020, the Jagannathpur Centre was reopened and the children resumed their pre-school education at the centre, now in a new and attractive surrounding.

As every year on the Sunday of the first Advent weekend, we attended the christmas market in Alt-Marzahn, Berlin.

At our booth many visitors informed themselves about our project work, warmed themselves up with a hot cup of tea or acquired small Christmas presents like our new calendars for a small donation.

Basti has once again taken countless photos on his long travels through India and we have selected the most beautiful ones for the new calendar 2020. Month after month the diversity of India shows on these beautiful A3 wall calendars.

If you are interested, we would be pleased to receive a donation of 10 € (shipping within Germany for an additional 4 €). To order, simply write us an e-mail or a message on Facebook. Please do not forget the quantity and postal address. Of course, in many cases a personal delivery or pickup is possible. We would be happy if you support our projects in India by acquiring the calendars.

Thanks to a generous donation of the Berlin-based association Die Kappe e.V., educational umbrella organisation for the Creativity School Centre Berlin, we were able to start the new Project ‘Slum Centres’ in cooperation with the YMCA Ranchi in 2019. The goal is to support educational work in the urban slums of Ranchi. The so called slum centres have been operated by the YMCA in the social hot spots of the growing city for many years. Especially children from poor families are being enabled to receive an education this way.

Together with SARJOM, our Indian partner organisation, the YMCA Ranchi wants to increase the quality of the educational centres within this joint project. They will prepare the preschool children for school in playful and creative ways. This does particularly encompass large-scale repair works of the centres, which are currently in a bad state of repair, as well as their redesign in a way appropriate for the children.

A year goes by so fast. Yesterday Rimil, participant in the South-North exchange of the weltwärts programme, successfully completed his volunteer service with us and returned to his home country India.

We would like to thank Rimil very much for his volunteer work and his support of the Indian Forum here on site in Berlin, and we look forward to a further close cooperation with him.