Manzil is a non-profit, youth-led learning center providing a supportive community and resources for students from low-income backgrounds to empower themselves and one another through learning, teaching, creativity and encouraging each other to see the world in new ways. Manzil offers young people a safe after-school space where they get exposure to a wide range of teaching environments, opportunities to look at education in new and meaningful ways.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Craftkari
I’d been at Manzil for a month, and almost every day I’d been noticing beautiful notebooks lying in the office, colorful cards on side tables, and unusual earrings in student’s ears. Each time I admired them and asked where they were from, the answer was always the same: Craftkari! I decided it was time to meet the 8 girls behind the creations: Himani, Manju, Mamta, Ruhi, Nagma, Babita, Pooja and Malti. I was welcomed into their class, and when I left I had new friends, a inspiring story to write, and a deep sense of respect.
होना-दिखना
होना-दिखना
A few days before Diwali this year, I got a call from a Physical
Education (PE) teacher in a Government school in Delhi. I got introduced to her
only recently when an old friend of mine, who I hadn't met in more than a
decade, came to visit from out of town and brought her along. My friend had
told her, the PE teacher said, that we educate school drop-outs at Manzil, and
she was calling to find out if she could redirect to us students from her
school who couldn't cope.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Manzil is a not-for-profit organization providing a community and resources for local youth from low-income backgrounds to learn and share, to grow confident, to be creative, and to see the world in new ways. One of the important ways we do this is by encouraging our students to discover themselves through self-ex-pression through various art forms like music, theater, dance and craft, apart from the regular academic learning.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Inspirational Story
“कठकथा” ऐसी एक कथा है, जिसकी शुरूआत एक साल पहले गीतांजलि बब्बर ने की। कठकथा का उद्देश्य जी.बी. रोड पर रह रहीं सेक्स वर्कर्स को जि़दगी के उन पहलुओं से रूबारू कराना जिनसे वो अनजान है उन्हें पढ़ाना, पहचान दिलाना, आत्मनिर्भर बनाना और अपने अधिकारों से रूबारू कराना, ताकि अगर वो चाहे तो इस अंधेरी जगह से निकर कर अपने जीवन की एक खुबसुरत शुरूआत कर सकें। जिनको चंद हाथांे ने कठपुतली की तरह धागों में बाँध रखा है।
Manzil's Got Talent
मंजि़ल नृत्य, संगीत, नाटक एवम् शिक्षा की विभिन्न शैलियों से जुड़ी प्रतिभाआं का गढ़ है। इन्ही प्रतिभाआंे में से एक हैं फिल्म मेकिंग के क्षेत्र से जुड़े ललित सैनी, जिन्होने दिल्ली के साथ साथ अंतर्राष्ट्रीय फिल्म समारोह में भी अपनी फिल्मांे के लिए वाहवाही बटोरी है। मात्र 18 वर्ष की आयु में अपनी सोच व नज़ारिए को इस स्पष्टता से प्रस्तुत करना सभी के लिए संभव नहीं है। आइये जानते है ललित की कहानी से जुड़े कुछ और पहलू उन्ही से।
विकलांग बच्चो के पुनर्वास में माता पिता का सहयोग
शादी के बंधन में बंधकर परिवार का जन्म होता है और उस परिवार का वंश चलता है बच्चो से। जब अचानक बच्चा जन्म लेता है, या प्रराम्भ के वर्षो में हो जाता है तो माता पिता के जीवन में हलचल सी मच जाती है।
Gratitude Note
We
have always been lucky to get very hard working, committed, passionate
volunteers/ Manzil friends/well wishers. We very much want to
express our heartfelt gratitude (dil se thank you) to 3 such amazing
volunteers. They are Sanju bhaiya, Sangeeta didi and Nitin bhaiya. We have
learnt so much from all of you. We all want to salute your dedication.
When Freedom Loses Its Meaning...
When Freedom Loses Its Meaning, Independence Becomes A Burden…
Right from my
school days, I have always been asked what freedom means to me. I never had a
definition of Freedom. I never had clarity on what the people actually want to
know. But it was an ever present, ever pervasive- “What does freedom mean to
you? Tell us na!”
I always wondered
why I need to tell anybody else what freedom means to me. Why should I be
answerable to anyone? And more importantly, why should we bother to ask what
does freedom mean?
But I had developed
a definition of freedom for myself. For me freedom is like air around me. No
one should ask “what does air mean to you?’ ‘Can you feel the air? How does it
feel?” Freedom should be present like air- you must not need to discuss about
it. It should become so much a part of our life that we should never need to
search for it. That is the true meaning of freedom for me.
We live in an age
when we are robbed of our sense of freedom at multiple levels. Yes, this may
sound like a clichéd statement which we all have been hearing for many years.
But few questions are still unanswered and these are extremely relevant to a
very large section of the society which otherwise is not very vocal. Does a
large section of the country have a freedom to pursue the kind of education
they want to? Do they have a freedom to lead a life without any fear? Do they
enjoy the freedom to express themselves freely? What are we doing to ensure
these basic rights to them?
Six decades later
the situation is complex in our part of the world. At a time when we have a
country which has become less sensitive and less tolerant, the freedom has lost
its meaning. We have lost every right to celebrate the Independence Day on
August 15 when the country, and a prominent segment of the population, does not
care for many. Yes, we have no right to wake up early in the morning on August
15 and wish our family members “Happy Independence Day!”
At this moment a
poem by Gurudev Rabindra Nath Thakur becomes very important to draw inspiration
from and strive towards creating a beautiful tomorrow.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Nihal Parashar
(Volunteer)
(Volunteer)
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