In India, Children’s Day is celebrated on the 14th of November, the birthday of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. For this celebration the Chingari Clinic organised a day of sports events and games for the children.
First was the spoon race. In this race, a spoon with a potato on is kept in the mouth of each child. If the potato falls off the spoon, then the child is disqualified from the race. Seven children: Payal Rajak, Alisha, Shifon, Ishrat, Mamta, Sohail and Payal Kushwaha participated in this race. Payal Rajak came first, Mamta came second and Payal Kushwaha came third.
Next was the three-legged race where one leg of one child was tied with another and they race in pairs. Ashish, Aqib, Shyam Babu, Shahid, Sohail, Shiraj, Priyanshu and Shifon participated. Shyam Babu and Ashish were partners – they ran very fast and were in first place at one point, but they fell during the last stretch. However, they got up sportingly and started running again and were able to secure third position.
Bocce (a game similar to boules) was played by Shyam Babu, Sachin, Aalim, Kartik, Armaan Parvez, Aman Yadav,Vikas Yadav, Sufiyan, Mannnan and Razik. Even though his hand was plastered, Shyam Babu participated in all possible events and won third prize in Bocce. Children with cerebral palsy also took part successfully in Bocce. Sachin is the champion in this game, having won medals in the past and he was delighted when he hit the ball.
Skipping: Ishrat, Payal, Alisha, Mamta and Sapna participated in skipping. Mamta came first, Sapna came second and Alisha came third in the skipping contest.
In Jalebi race, this traditional Indian sweet is tied to a long thread at one end. The children had to run and reach the thread, and eat the jalebi and return back to finishing line. Abdulla ate his whole Jalebi in a single bite which all the children found hilarious. Priyanshu fell over, but he was so enthusiastic that he stood up, even though he hurt his knee, and completed the race.
Chingari’s staff distributed prizes to each of the children. A lunch box was given as the first prize, a water bottle for the second and a pencilcase for third. Consolation prizes of hairpins for the girls and small toys for the boys were distributed to all the children along with ice-cream for everyone. A fantastic day!
Volunteer Ian giving out prizes.
Even the parents got involved.
Photos by Nicolas Ferras.
