PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - CHILDRENS' RIGHT TO BE HAPPY

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1 PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - CHILDRENS' RIGHT TO BE HAPPY Project by Tanuj Luthra, Anne Frank Ambassador, India. The project that I had initially planned on doing was the Free2Choose debate in my own school. But on account of certain difficulties like the amount of time allowed for my project in school, I thought the Free2Choose debates would not be very fruitful. Recently an Indian, Kailash Satyarthi, who is a child rights advocate and activist, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Inspired by him a few friends of mine - who agreed to help, and I decided on doing a project which would involve young children. The idea was given to us by a teacher from our school who also said it would be wonderful if we could involve children with disabilities in some way and reach out to them too through our project. We liked the idea and thought it was very relevant to Anne Frank's ideals, as these children would be almost as old as she was when she had to go into hiding.

2 On the 15th of November, we invited a few children with disabilities - like autism, or hearing impairment, as well as a few other children from our school itself, and have them spend a day together. The aim of the project was to encourage the children to make friendships that transcend all differences and foster the sentiment of togetherness among the special children and those from our school. We named the project accordingly.

3 We invited ten children who belonged to a school called Manovikas Kendra Rehabilitation & Research Institute for the Handicapped. They were between the ages 10 and 12. A few of them were autistic, a couple of them had Intellectual disability and one girl had hearing impairment. The children from our school belonged to the same age category. The project took place in our school hall and was attended not only by the children and the five of us who organized it but by teachers of our school as well as two teachers from Manovikas Kendra. As they arrived we asked them to introduce themselves and familiarise themselves with the others and the environment. This took a while as the Special Children required some time to get comfortable in a new surrounding. In the beginning my friends and I spoke to the children about the project, the idea behind it and the inspiration. I told them a little bit about my visit to the Anne Frank House and experiences at the International Youth Conference. We then simplified the story of Anne Frank and shared it with them. We discussed equality and values such as friendship, love and peace, in a manner which was easy for children to understand. Next, we asked some of the children to share some of their talents with us. We thought it would be a good bonding process Although they were slightly shy initially, they soon grew quite comfortable and it was incredible to see the children with disabilities showcase their talents such as singing and playing the keyboard. We followed it up with an art and craft session, where we split them into mixed groups and asked the

4 children to make any kind of artwork they wished to, and we also told them they could draw about friends or friendship if they liked. It was extremely heartening to see all of them working together and producing some beautiful works of art. The children thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and were proud of their team's creation. Following this, we provided the children with some food and drinks which they ate to their heart's content. Having been re-energized we took the children down to the park to play. They ran around and passed a football among themselves. Although some of the children were not inclined to play any games and were mere spectators. They laughed and clapped while their friends played and all in all had a gala time. At the end of our programme, we went back upstairs to the school hall to have a session on the day's reflections. The Special Children were less inclined to speak so we communicated with them mainly through Yes-or-No questions. We asked them about their new friends and to share something about a friend they made that day. We also asked them what they felt about Anne's story, whether they thought it was a sad story, or one that inspired hope. We asked the children to think about her and keep her in their memory. And to imagine how difficult it would have been for her to feel the way they had felt that day - excitement, happiness, feelings of friendship.

5 To sum up, it was a day well spent with children from various backgrounds and suffering from disabilities. But what we learned was that we all share in the same brand of happiness and no barrier such as ethnicity, disability, race or culture can overshadow that. This I believe is one of Anne Frank's most prominent ideals. I look forward to organizing and participating in more such projects that spread Anne's message to various parts of the world, and hope that we can all, in our own little ways make a difference. Last but not the least I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by my friends Kushin Mukherjee, Jai Gohain, Sumit Goenka and Akshara Parul in helping me get the project together. As also our History teacher from school, Mrs. O. Gooptu, who helped see it through and was ever encouraging. I would also wish to thank the Anne Frank House for giving me the opportunity to organize such a project.