It’s Water.

Plain cold water that allows you to jump and splash, that gets you so wet that you get goose bumps, get refreshed and don’t care about language or age, you have fun.

After much deliberation at Blending Spectrum, we decided to have a day of pure fun, and introduce paints to the children we work with. It’s a big achievement for us in the project. We NEVER take paints. But the simple logic of water+ paints+ fun+ colour = us won out. We also had interns Hannah and Jess work with us from the University of Birmingham observing how we taught life skills and crafting geography lesson plans for class. Taking a break with colours seemed like a super fun and slightly ridiculous idea.

Blending Spectrum is a project that connects urban young people through a peer-to peer community interaction with street and slum children with the aim of increasing sensitivity between street and slum children and the urban youth. Blen Spec, as we affectionately call it, provides healthcare and non-formal education (including Life Skills Education), building the potential of children with limited access to opportunities.

The project works in two locations, the Nizamuddin Basti and the Umeed Home for Boys with partner Aman Biradari in South Delhi respectively. Blending Spectrum currently supports over 130 street and slum children. In the past two years, we have supported 110 children transition into mainstream education by equipping them with basic knowledge of Math and English, with a 0% drop out rate. Blending Spectrum is currently supported in part by the Global Fund for Children.

Coming back to paints. I don’t know whether I was shocked or surprised by the way children reacted to the paints. I have never seen them so engrossed in class, beautifully attempting to draw something on their white sheets. Usually it’s the battle of crayons and rolls of sheet thrown about. This was completely different. Maybe it was due to Hannah and Jess, with whom they interacted really well with, or the charm of the paints, or the artists within each of them. I have no clue. By the end of the day, we got completely wet and I discovered that it didn’t matter whether it was paint or water.

Children love you more when you are not afraid to have fun.

I joined TYPF as a volunteer and later took over as The Coordinator of The Right to Information Branch. Nervous at first about heading a team of 15 volunteers- I didn’t realize how time flew. It was only yesterday that I had 15 wide-eyed faces staring back at me, trying to get a sense of what the project needed them to do.

A million trainings, meetings, conference calls, feedback sessions and the like later, came the workshops and discussion forum we had been working towards. It was suddenly a whirlwind of work! We didn’t realize the extent of the impact we were making, but we just kept going on, pushing ourselves and the team to do better.

It wasn’t until the end of the project that the realization of what we had achieved this year dawned upon us. It was then that emails and messages from the volunteers started pouring in, stating how much they had learnt from the project, how they suddenly realized why each meeting had been mandatory, how it felt so good when someone at the workshops looked back and thanked them for telling them how to file an RTI, how they could finally connect the dots. It was that realization, at that moment right there, that made all the sleepless nights, chaos and hard work worth it.

Working in this organization has made me discover and understand myself, my strengths and weaknesses, my likes and dislikes, my beliefs and politics, and most importantly- who I really am. It’s taught me much more than I can point out. It’s made me challenge myself and what I thought I was capable of.

Ila Reddy
Ex- Coordinator
The Right to Information Branch

I continue to think of The YP Foundation as an organization in the present tense, and not really a figment of the past. I think it holds relevance to me personally, and certainly to my work today. I can say the same for many others whom I have known, worked with and interacted with over the course of my association with the organization.

I remember my first meeting at Tarini Barat’s house over 4 years ago, with team facilitator Harsh Malhotra, both of whom now alumni of the organization, and also dear friends today. To me this is the true relevance of TYPF – it creates lasting relationships and relevant situations for young people to converge and converse, and to create conventional, and sometimes exceptionally unconventional change.

I never believe in pivotal turning points in time, an “aha” moment – they is illusory. One of the key values I learnt during my time working with TYPF as a team member and staff member was perseverance. I worked in the Facilitative Branch (project on the Indian Education System), and as the Administrative Coordinator (2007-2008) with a host of projects. Subsequently to leaving the staff team, in 2008 I worked on another project of which I am very proud – a cultural exchange project with Afghan students in Delhi through film, art, literature and dialogue. TYPF gave me 100% freedom and creativity to source, compile and edit and design a 180-page magazine featuring work on the issue of “Understanding Afghanistan Today”. I can’t think of any other organization that would do that!

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Dear Friends & Colleagues,

We turn 8 years old today!

Over the past 8 years, we have been privileged to have the investment and guidance of some of the most incredible mentors, volunteers, alumni, staff members and partner organizations.

On behalf of the organizational staff, members and Board of Directors, I take this opportunity to express our sincerest appreciation for your encouragement and contribution to the various programs of March 2009- 2010. We are deeply grateful for your support and generosity.

TYPF was founded as The Youth Parliament on July 26, 2002 as a response by young people in schools to the Godhra Riots addressing the growing indifference and apathy amongst youth in urban Delhi. The question we asked ourselves when we began TYPF was – What can we each do to challenge and change this?

Our core focus is on creating programmes and influencing policy in the areas of gender, sexuality, health, education, the arts and governance.

Our mission is to promote, protect and advance young people’s human rights by building leadership, and strengthening youth led initiatives and movements.

Read a detailed account of the YP Foundation’s progress this year