Himalayan News Service

Kirtipur, May 13:

Around five dozen children of the ancient town of Kirtipur have been working in a group these days to root out social ills.

They discuss social evils every Saturday at a small room next to the historic stupa of Chilancho and come up with creative ideas — they find out solutions to all the problems.

They have established Chilancho Hatemalo Child Club with cooperation from the Hatemalo Sanchar, which has provided them a platform for brainstorming with like-minded local children. “We meet here and discuss what is good and what is bad for our town,” said Bina Mali, a member of the club.

Three months ago she performed a drama along with members of other child clubs while visiting Bangladesh.

“I would have been watching TV if I had not joined this club,” she said.

The children’s activities have brought a kind of sensation among the people of the compact settlement, predominantly occupied by farmer communities. They now understood what it means to be a member of the child club.

Bina said parents are turning positive to the concept of child clubs in Kirtipur these days, and more and more of them are sending their children to the club. They have performed several street plays on sanitation, domestic violence, alcoholism, gambling as well as irresponsible political parties.

“While we are performing in the street, we hear people grumbling over real social evils,” said Anjila Shrestha.

She is also involved in publishing a bi-monthly wall magazine called “Chilancho”. For Rachana Maharjan, child club provides a platform to present herself confidently in front of unknown guests. “Before coming to the club, I could not even say my name properly to outsiders. Now I discuss with them for hours,” she added.

Coordinator of the club, Shantosh Maharjan, said the child club mainly focuses on participatory approach instead of imposing ideas. “We encourage people to give up wrong practices.”

“During the last seven years, I have seen tremendous changes in the behaviour of children and at the same time their performance at schools is also betting better,” he said.