What’s In An Egg?
The Rotary Club of Bombay and the YMCA joined hands in 1975 to provide children from underprivileged sections of society a clean, safe and supervised place to study and do their homework. Over the years, this collaboration has spawned 18 night study classes at 11 centres, with 30 to 35 students per class. Each class is supervised by a tutor to assist the students because their parents are not in a position to do so. Children from the Fifth Standard onwards use the facility, and often even college-going students and graduates are seen here.
Initially, the sole purpose was only to provide the children with a clean, safe environment to study without distraction. But this year the basic ecosystem has been enhanced with the introduction of a nutritional programme. Under this, students are provided with basic food supplements such as dates, peanuts, fruits, curds and eggs. “India’s poor are proteindeprived and nowhere is this more apparent than in her children who don’t reach their full potential physically or mentally. It’s all very well to enhance their education, but if their brains do not develop adequately because they are malnourished, then the best efforts are in vain,” says President Dr. Sonya Mehta. She adds: “Rotary is working to provide not just food but quality food to supplement the inadequacies in their diet.
We are also tracking their growth to make sure that the results are measurable.” At present the nutritional programme is in place at the Night Study Centre in Agripada (See Photo at left). Committee Chairs Shernaz Vakil and Bimal Mehta would like to invite all Rotarians to the inauguration of the nutritional programme at the Kalachowkie Centre at 6.15 pm on Thursday, October 1. The Kalachowkie Night Study Centre has three classrooms and accommo- Children at the Agripada Night Study Centre look at the food dates 100 children.