Mega cultural programme
Children from various orphanages participating in a group music at the mega cultural programme organised by Youth Helping Hands in Coimbatore on Saturday.“You can find all kinds of children here – those from orphanages, with disabilities, from slums, and those of prisoners. They are not discriminated against here,” says 21-year-old R. Arun, founder-member of Youth Helping Hands, a group that works with children in orphanages.At the CIT auditorium where his group had organised a cultural programme for children from various care homes and orphanages in Coimbatore, Arun was busy coordinating events. “I know how it feels to live in an orphanage. Very few children from such homes get an opportunity to take part in such events,” he says. And, that is his sole ambition. To make these children feel wanted and mainstream them. Walking into the auditorium, one cannot help but feel overwhelmed at the sight of over 800 children, cheering and clapping for their peers performing on stage. For many of them, it was the first time they were taking part in a large competition. Many others were surprised at seeing so many children like themselves from various institutions. Children from 16 orphanages and care homes took part.Starting with solo music and instrumental performances, the audience were treated to colourful dances, skits and even anthakshari. The children were provided lunch. There was no bar on age. Any child between 4 and 20 could take part. And, every child who participated would be given a prize, Arun says.
Youth Helping Hands, which was started by Arun, a final year student at the Government Music College, R.S. Puram, now has about 250 college students working with a passion that is rare to come by.They visit orphanages and identify the needs of the children. They spend their free time with the children at the homes teaching them music, dance and art and craft. “The children too enjoy it,” Arun says.The youth volunteers informed the homes about the mega programme 20 days ago, so that the children got enough time to prepare.The group’s next initiative is education. With the help of sponsors, they aim to provide quality education to underprivileged children so that they don’t feel disadvantaged. Most of the orphanages take care of the children well, but few of them have enough funds to provide the best of facilities, especially education.The total amount spent on the event was about Rs. 1.5 lakh. “We got a lot of support from sponsors, especially the PSG Hospitals,” Arun says.Arun can be contacted at 9345559815.
