Hamara Chota Gram (HCG) is the “Dream Project” of Hamara Foundation. Initiated in 2011 and ended in 2017, it is a self-sustainable village model of the Pardeshi community residing at Foras Road of Mumbai Central. This innovative initiative is helping community members get access to health care facilities, education, skills, training programmes and income generation activities to empower them and help improve their standard of living.
HCG looks after five-six chawls in Mumbai Central area, comprising of three-four generations of the Pardeshi community. The people of this community hail from Uttar Pradesh and comprise of Hindus, Dharkar caste and OBC. The chief occupation of this community is producing cane goods. The community is chiefly male dominated, however, women of this community are more educated than their male counterparts. Most male members are addicts and drunkards and therefore have a short life span. As a result, women become widows very early. Children often drop-out when they reach higher secondary education levels.
Children between 0-5 years of age undergo immunization, supplements are provided to children and adults suffering from any deficiency, health camps are conducted periodically, special health camps are organized for senior citizens, family planning sessions are conducted, etc. HCG collaborates with Kripa Foundation to remedy addiction problems in the community.
At present 58 children are on sponsorship programmes, free tuitions are provided to children, attendance of children is monitored over multiple sessions, and language classes for English, Hindi and Marathi are conducted for women.
HCG organizes weekly birthday celebrations, they have a tie-up with Magic Bus to organise picnics and summer camps for children, the centre provides a playground and indoor/outdoor games for children, and festivals are celebrated to foster community relationships.
Children are encouraged to attend school regularly by motivating them with badges for good performance, classes for personality development and other hobbies like singing, dancing, yoga, karate, etc. are conducted.
Women are trained in a variety of skills like vase making, wallpaper leaves making, matka making, etc. Many of these vases are exported. Women of the community earn 15000-20000 Rs per month. They are being trained to become self-sufficient and independently handle the IGP programme.
Currently sixty four children are studying in English medium Schools and sixty one in regional language schools. Seventy women are engaged in IGP programme who earn on an average Rs.2500/- to Rs.4000/- per month. Classes for cookery, English language, dance, karate, mehendi, fabric painting, tailoring, etc aim at enhancing skills and capacity of both children and youth. Social Education programmes for the youth and adults help them to enhance their knowledge on social and legal issues.
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