Travel - International Indian

‘‘Thereis sucha greatneed,and it isimportantwe teachourchildren togive backto societyfrom ayoung age.‘‘THE PIGGY BANK CLUB“The idea of setting up the Piggy Bank ClubL to R Back row Vihaan, Jai, Sohan, Rashida, Rhea, Anaya, Esha. Front rowAgustya, Amaira, Ryan and Vedika (Photo by Shikha Lamba)came from the realisation that most Indianparents living abroad often donate to charitiesin India in their children’s names. For example,every year on my children’s birthdays, I havecontributed money on their behalf to variousorganisations in India. I thought why not takethis further and inculcate the idea of ‘giving’ inour children quite early,” says Shikha.“Since my daughter Rhea turned four lastyear, it has been easier to explain this conceptof helping other children. I often remindher that she has parents who can affordto buy food, clothes, books and toys, forher, and her ‘almost one year old‘ youngerbrother Ranvir, but not all children arethat fortunate. This obviously has struck achord in her as she often chooses toys andbooks that she no longer wants and asksme to send them to children who needthem,” says Shikha.The Piggy Bank Club originated almostas an arts and crafts project that Shikhawas planning for five-year-old Rhea. “I docrafts with her often. When I decided toteach her to make a piggy bank, I thoughtof including other kids. I called up a fewfriends and told them what my motivewas. The response from all the moms was verypositive and we had almost 20 kids makingpiggy banks. My purpose is simply to get thekids involved into putting money away forneedy children, and making it fun while doingso, thus forming a habit from a young age”she adds.The children, who are old enough tounderstand, were told about the purpose ofthe piggy bank collection.Interestingly, even thesmaller kids seemed quiteenthusiastic about gettingtheir parents to give themcoins to fill their piggybanks.EkPrayaas was an easy,unanimous first choicefor the Piggy Bank Club,as all the moms knew themembers, and were awareof the commendable workbeing done by EkPrayaas.The Piggy Bank Clubmembers plan to meetperiodically, and have a little party while thechildren empty out their piggy banks for anoble cause.Shikha hopes that, “other moms will takethe lead and similarly form their own PiggyBank Clubs and send their collections to whichever worthy NGO in India they support. Thereis such a great need, and it is important weteach our children to give back to society froma young age.”Two of our youngest members, Amaira and Amishi with their moms(Photo by Shikha Lamba)Contact: Ek Prayaas: info@ekprayaas.netWebsite: http://www.ekprayaas.netAmita Sarwal is a freelance writer and has beenTII’s Singapore Correspondent for almost 15 yearsThe International Indian 77