Self Defence Workshop

VIRANGANA: Empowering Girls through Self-Defence Awareness

On 16^th September 2024, Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust successfully conducted a Self-Defence awareness program at the Free to Be Kids Charitable Trust office campus, in association with the Rotary Club of Behala. We were thrilled to have 75 women and girls in attendance, all eager to learn and empower themselves through the vital knowledge of Self-Defence.

Each defence technique was expertly taught by Mr Utpal Chakraborty from Academy of Aikido Indian. After that nutrition guidance and counselling was given to further support the well-being of our participants. Everyone who attended received certificates in recognition of their participation, and we made the day even more memorable with a delicious lunch and evening snacks.

A big thank you to our participants, organisers, and partners for making this event a tremendous success!

FTBK runs this Literacy Program for Women in the Community to help to support them to be able to read and write in Bengali. This skill empowers them to care for themselves and their families in a greater way. Spending time together with other women in the Community is a unique opportunity to bond together and support each other. In the month of September 2024 a total of 67 Women Attended.

National Nutrition Week is observed every year from 1st September to 7th September to make people aware of the importance of nutrition for the Human Body and wellbeing of health. This year Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust organised a National Nutrition Week Program throughout our community projects. The Free To Be Kids team members taught the children about good food and liquids, some important nutrition like what are proteins, carbohydrate, fats, vitamins, minerals from the healthy food pyramid. The team conducted interactive sessions with the children to raise awareness about balanced nutrition. The activities focused on teaching the importance of different food groups through hands-on learning, where children used various grains, legumes, and leaves to create visual representations of nutritious meals. The Children learnt about the role of rainbow vegetables to keep their body healthy and build new cells in our bodies.

This engaging workshop aimed to instil healthy eating habits from a young age, ensuring the kids in our community grow strong and healthy.  188 children attend these workshops in nutrition week.

Our goal is to assist young people to be able to achieve their goals and dreams for future employment. In the month of July 2024 we have happily been able to assist two young girls to start their training in their desired courses of Beauty Therapy and Food & Beverage Service Training. Our support enables them to cover the fees for these courses including all travel and materials required.

As a response to the needs expressed by two young people that we know from our local Community, we decided to start a Vocational Training Program focussed on learning skills of Hairdressing. This training engages the help of a skilled hair technician from our local Community who is now actively teaching the skills involved in working in and running a Hair dressing salon. We know these skills will help these two young men find employment in their chosen field in the future. We are happy to provide this level of support for them to reach their goals.

On the 11^th July 2024,  Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust organised an Awareness Program to draw attention to the significance of World Population Day. 43 Children attended this program. This awareness program was conducted throughout our Education & Nutrition Programs in the Salt Lake area of Kolkata. The topics covered in this program were:

1. World's population number
2. India's Population number
3. Which country is the largest in Population?
4. What is India's number in World Population statistics?
5. What is West Bengal's Population Number

Each child participated in this program and completed a World Population Day picture to take home as a reminder of what they learnt during the session.

Free To Be Kids team runs a free Education & Nutrition Program in six different slums in the Salt lake area of Kolkata for children in need. In these areas the Community provides a place in order to gather the children so they can learn on a daily basis. In this monsoon season we were able to work with the community to purchase some plastic sheets to be able to cover the roof top to protect it from the rain and sun. Once again  the Education & Nutrition Program is running there smoothly in this rainy season. The community members and children are happy to receive this level of support that assists them to receive quality education.

On 26^th June 2024 Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust organised an Awareness Program on the event of International Day against Drug Abuse. This program was held throughout our Education and Nutrition Programs in the Salt Lake Area. 67 Children attended this Awareness Program. The training covered the areas of:

• What are drugs?
• Types of drugs
• Causes of drug intake
• How to recognise a drug addicted child/person
• How to prevent drug abuse

The Team emphasised the importance of being wary and staying away from any kind of drugs. At the conclusion of the program, the children drew and coloured pictures as a reminder of the important information they had received.  On this occasion, each child also received a special food pack.

On 12^th June 2024, Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust, organised an Awareness Program on the event of World Day Against Child Labour. This Awareness Program was conducted throughout our Education and Nutrition Program in the Salt Lake Area.  60 Children were present for this training. The team taught the children on the topics of:

• Who is a child?
• What is child labour?
• Types of child labour in our society?
• Causes of child labour
• Consequences of child labour
• Prevention of child labour

The Children concluded this awareness program by drawing a picture to reinforce their learning of the day.

The Free To Be Kids team runs a free Education & Nutrition Program in six different slums in Salt lake Kolkata for children in need. One of these areas is Salt Lake GE block area. The community provided FTBK a space to run the education program in their Community but in order for the space to function effectively, FTBK supported this community for the roof top repair. The Education Program is now running smoothly in this area and the community members are happy.