Tower Gardening Training at SKC

On November 20, 2015, Seva Kendra Calcutta (SKC) organised a training session on "Tower Gardening". Mr. Tim Fialkowski and Mr. Brody Joly from Australlia came to SKC as trainers who taught the participants how to grow numerous plants in a very small space.They explained the whole concept of tower gardening and said, "In this day and age where the idea of global climate change and the efforts to be "green" are becoming more prevalent, educating the public about tower gardening and implementing them could make a positive environmental impact. Also, when there is a shortage of space for growing various plants, tower gardening is the best option."

Trainers explaining the concept at SKC premises.

In this blog post we would like to share the simple process (with pictures) of how you too can utilize a small space to create a beautiful garden...

1) Take a drum/bucket (as shown in the picture) and do the marking and cut. 

 2) Make some holes at the bottom of the drum for water drainage.

3) Place the tube with holes in it in the center of the drum/bucket.

4) Add soil around the tube (not inside the tube).

5) An important step, adding of worms in the tube to increase the fertility of the soil. The tube must be covered with newspaper to protect the worms from direct sunlight.

6) Add water to the soil every alternative day (not inside the tube). 

7) Plant the different seedlings you want to.

Seva Kendra wishes that more people try this art of gardening. This can positively impact the health of an entire family as well as the community. 

 The participants & 

the trainers

Thank you!

Intervention in Kishalaya Home

Since April 2015 to September 2015, Kishalaya Correctional Home, Barasat, focused on two fold activities i.e-
- Non-Formal Education: Mainstreaming and Life skill education
- Livelihood,
for the betterment of the inmates (young boys).

The Outcome:
1) Non-Formal Education
Being the social wing of Arch Diocese of Calcutta, one of our main focus is "Education" and we want to ensure that every juveniles comes under this programme where the children are given the basic primary education with an aim to make them eligible for taking admission in primary schools.
Hence, the children were introduced to the concepts of cleanliness and good practices; introduction to alphabets, sounds and writing; introduction to numbers and counting; and drawing.

2) Livelihood
Initiated in July, it was a new initiative in the Indian context that the juveniles are producing a part of their daily food in the home campus. 
Under this programme, the juveniles were taught how to produce vegetables. Vegetables like - brinjal, green chilies, kalmi saag, indian spinach, okra, etc were grown in the home campus which are then used to prepare the food for the inmates.
Also, they were taught seed collection preservation, bio-composting, developing water conservation models, etc.

The targets were successfully achieved with the help of the collaborating NGOs like Seva Kendra Calcutta (SKC), Swanirvar and others.

Land inside the campus being prepared for planting seeds.

Inmates growing vegetables

Non formal education

Emergency Relief Support

Seva Kendra Calcutta (SKC) along with its partnering organisations conducted a Relief Material Distribution Camp for the flood victimized families of North 24 parganas, West Bengal, in the month of August and September 2015.

A deep depression was formed as an aftermath of Cyclone Komen that battered large parts of South Bengal resulting flood situation in West Bengal and has turned grim as many areas are still inaccessible, disconnected and submerged in flood water.

CRS, CARITAS and SKC made rapid needs assessments of two Gram Panchayats namely, Tepul Mirjapur and Saguna under the jurisdiction of Swarupnagar onAugust 8 and 9, 2015 respectively with the following objectives:

 To understand the extent and type of damage;
 Determining the immediate needs of flood-affected families
 To assess the government’s response needs,

SKC distributed 5 kgs of Rice, 1 kg of Dal, 1 kg Bleaching powder, 2 kgs Lime and 1 piece of mosquito net to each family. Also, 859 pieces of tarpaulins were distributed to families whose houses were fully damaged.

SKC office and field staffs along with PRI and influential person visited house to house for

observation of the situation of the victimized families and distributed the coupon to the needy families to avoid chaos during the relief material distribution.

The Flood Relief and Distribution Committee had a meeting with the PRI members for the selection of beneficiaries as per the criteria and established a good rapport with various Government Departments and NGOs for peaceful distribution of relief materials. There were 10 Civic Police under the supervision of Charghat Police Phari was deployed at each distribution places.

SKC director, Caritas representative, Sub inspector Charghat Phari and SKC staff in a discussion.

Stock of food materials.

People gathered outside the distribution counter.

Queue at the distribution centre.

Queue at the distribution centre.

Volunteer explaining the process of using bleaching and lime.

Distribution of the relief materials in process.

A volunteer is serving an old man to receive materials.

Job Oriented Programme at SKC

Seva Kendra Calcutta (SKC) in collaboration with Smile Foundation, Ericsson Global and Microsoft Corporation inaugurated a Job Oriented Learning Programme on August 24, 2015 at SKC under the Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP).

STeP is a national level initiative of SMILE Foundation - an effort towards creating a pool of independent youth living with dignity from the underprivileged section through skill enhancement in tandem with market requirements. 

Under this national programme SMILE Foundation sets up STeP centres in partnership with NGOs called the "Implementing Partners". SKC is one of the implementing partners having a STeP centre in its premises.

The project aims at preparing urban underprivileged (adolescent youths) with skills in

-English Proficiency, 

-Basic Computer Education and

-Soft Skills, for enhancing their prospects of employment in fast expanding sectors like retail outlets, hospitality and BPOs sectors. 

It is a four months training period, with the first batch starting from August 24, 2015.

The second batch from December 26, 2015, and

The third Batch from April 24, 2016.

For admissions in the second batch, please contact at SKC office.

Preparing for Monsoons

Caritas India in association with Seva Kendra Calcutta organised a two days Pre-Monsoon Consultation workshop for UP, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and West Bengal partners on June 22-23, 2015 at SKC premises.

The objective of the workshop was to prepare the organisation staff for any disaster due to heavy monsoon rain. The consultation also provided hands on knowledge in Needs Assessments and the practicalities of implementing Humanitarian Response.

A team of resource persons from Caritas India facilitated the consultation programme specially designed for Directors of DDSW and emergency personnel in the respective organisations who are involved in disaster response initiatives.

Folk Rice and Seed Festival

On May 2-3, 2015, over 150 small and marginalized farmers from West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Eastern UP participated in Folk Rice and Seed Festival organised at Seva Kendra, Calcutta.

The festival was inaugurated in presence of Sri Sachchidananda, ex- chairman of Municipality; Secretary Maharaj of Bharat Sevashran Sangh; Prof. R.N Basu, Ex. VC of CU; Prof. T.K Bose, Ex Dean of BCKV Agriculture Development officers of WB Gov; 170 farmers, well-known activists, doctors and nutritionists. 

"Through generations these farmers have conserved several hundreds of folk varieties of rice, millet, wheat, maize, etc. Our aim was to provide a platform to these farmers to showcase the forgotten folk seeds of Eastern-India and through consumer awareness bring back their demand", said Angshuman Das, one of the organisers.

The visitors appreciated the efforts of the farmers who are maintaining these treasures of diversity of folk crops and practicing sustainable, organic and ecological farming.

 

 

Launch of project "Uttoran"

SKC partnered with Caritas India in launching their new project "Uttoran" in West Bengal on April 16, 2015. The three-year project aims to ensure sustainable livelihood opportunities to marginalized households of 105 villages in 10 blocks through organic farming  while attaining legitimate rights and entitlements to them.

Executive Director of Caritas India, Fr. Frederick D’Souza stated that India’s secret to sustainable development and prosperity lies in reviving of the agricultural sector in rural India.

Apart from SKC, other organisations responsible to implement the project are: 

Seva Kendra Siliguri

Jalpaiguri Seva Sadan

Social Welfare Institute - Raigunj

Krishnagar Cathedral Catholic Social Service Society

Asansol Burdwan Seva Kendra

Pully Unnyan Samity Baruipur

Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Rukhbanur Rahaman from Chapra - chief guest at the project launch has promised all assistance for implementation of Uttoran in his constituency.

Rev. Dr. Franklin Menezes, Director of Seva Kendra Calcutta was felicitated for taking up this challenging project.

 

Press Release 

Upcoming Event  

March 2015

                                      Seminar on Domestic Violence against Women

While exercising PLA last year, one of the key issues identified by mothers of the community was 'Domestic violence against women.' To address this problem, SKC along with the community group leaders has organised an awareness raising programme for the worst affected population of Tangra slum community on March 31, 2015 at Mother Teresa Hall, SKC.

The seminar has been designed with the following objectives:

1. To develop and improve participants knowledge about domestic violence.

2. To develop skills on how to cope with situations of domestic violence

3. To increase awareness of the varied forms of abuse and implied consequences on the victims, their families and society

4. To give recommendations and concrete proposal for action for elimination and prevention of violence against women

5. To collect and share participants knowledge

Many people are expected to attend the programme.

 

 

TB Awareness Programme

More than 200 people attended an awareness programme organized by Seva Kendra Calcutta (SKC) to express solidarity with TB patients and raise public awareness about the disease on World Tuberculosis (TB) Day i.e. March 24, 2015.

The programme started with a rally which passed through different slum areas of Tangra and ended at SKC premises. This was followed by a day-long symposium organized at Mother Teresa Hall where Fr. Franklin (Director, SKC) gave the introductory speech addressing the Indian scenario of TB and Dr. Krishan Sadra, guest of the day, discussed about the symptoms of TB and Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP)/ DOT programme.

A short documentary was shown to the audience, also an interactive quiz session was conducted by Mr. Francis Mondal.

Rally to SKC

Director's message

Dr. Sadra giving input on TB

Ms. Shilpi sharing her experience