Ceremony for the Adoption of Welfare Centre for Children with Speech and Hearing Impairment

The #NoMoreBoundaries  programme aims to address Violence Against Women in Public Spaces so as to enable women to participate freely in public life having access to Education, Health care and Livelihood. This programme is being conducted by Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), Martha Farrell Foundation in Collaboration with Ab In Bev. So far, the programme has been implemented in 10 schools and 5 Industrial Training Institutes in Sonepat, Haryana. Recently, with the recommendation of the District Administration, the programme has been extended to include Children with Disability at the Welfare centre for Speech and Hearing Impairment.

To mark the beginning of the collaboration, an adoption ceremony was organized at the school on 22^nd December, 2018 where 40 Children from the residential school participated in the programme along with representatives from PRIA, Ab In Bev, Martha Farrell Foundation, Sonepat District Administration and Police Department. The District Commissioner of Sonepat, Mr. Vinay Singh was the Chief Guest at the event.  The children welcomed the District Commissioner by presenting self-made cards with New Year’s Greetings and Rose Flowers. The District Commissioner inaugurated the Learning room created for students with colourful and informative paintings and visuals. There was a separate changing room which was created for girls which did not exist before to ensure their space and privacy. All the students were then presented with gifts such as Track suits, sports shoes, a collective sports kit along with a menstrual waste disposal bin.

The Durga Shakti team working to provide safety to Women in Public Spaces interacted with the group. The message was translated to sign language by one of the teachers so that the message could be communicated to the students. The female students were very inspired by the interaction with the women officials in the Sonepat Police dept. and one of them said that when she grows up, she wants to join the police force. The officer further encouraged the Young Girls to pursue their dreams.

The event closed as participatory games were organized by the facilitators of PRIA and MFF in which all the stakeholders took part with a lot of enthusiasm including the employees from Ab In Bev. The students were excited about playing with the newly received sports items and both girls and boys participated actively and equally in the game.