a presentation on ambedkar community computing centre, bangalore

8/9/2019 A presentation on Ambedkar Community Computing Centre, Bangalore

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Indias slum-dwelling population has risen from 27.9 million in 1981

to 61.8 million in 2001.This illustrates how Indias economic boom has left behind millions

of the countrys poorest people in despair.

Indias largest slum population is in Bombay, the financial capital of

India. An estimated 6.5 million people live there. That accounts for

nearly half the citys residents. They live in tiny makeshift shackssurrounded by open sewers.

Delhi, the national capital, has the countrys second largest

population of about 1.8 million people. Calcutta has about 1.5

million.

Bangalore, the silicon valley of the country has over 1000 slums,where shanties jostle for space with high-rise state of the art

buildings.


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About 246 million children ages 5 to 17 worldwide are

involved in child labour - about 1 out of every 6 childrenin the world.

Nearly three-quarters of the world's child labourers,

about 180 million children, are exposed to the worst

forms of child labour. Some 110 million children under the age of 15 work in

hazardous conditions.

An estimated 8.4 million children are trapped in the

most abhorrent forms of child labour: slavery,trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and

other such activities.


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Whose

Development?Bangalore, Indias Silicon Valley may have well made it to the map of the world as

THE IT hub standing right next to San Francisco.

Sure, it is development. But whose, anyway?

It is easy to assume that a flourishing IT sector trickles down to the rest of the

people.

Karnataka is considered one of the poor states where the disparity between the

urban and village population is stark. It is estimated that there are over 1000 slums

in Bangalore today, housing a fourth of the citys population and occupying only

2.5 to 3% of the total BBMP land of 800 sq.km.

If one thought that computers were the key to development alone,

than one needs to realize that Indias 60 million children do not go

to/or have little access to school.


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Todays twenty-first century may clearly be the age of information,communication and technology.

They are at the same time potential

instruments for addressing the fundamental

chasms of the digital - The information divide.This digital divide exacerbates the glaring inequalities often making

the technology itself unusable.

The children being on the other side of the divide, wanted to

express their world, thus breaking the fear psychosis of technology.


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The children were given digital cameras in their hands, and with littletechnical help, they set to capture their world.

Lo and behold, in a few months time, we have seen their

worlds being captured in

its mostbeautifulyet stark contrast,innocentyet riddled with hard experience, bleak sometimes but

hopefulmostly.

These are photographs that tell a tale of every girl and boy

who dream with the same refrain anywhere in the world that

the pursuit to happiness is mine alone and I have a right to

it!


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A Photo Exhibition

by the Children born into an


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Through the Eyes of a Child

The homes of Armugam, Asha, Mani, Saraswathi, Nadiya and many

such children are built on small narrow lanes, next to open drains.

Most of the children are born into households of the lowest

caste, the crushed, the marginalized, where their parents are manual

scavengers, road sweepers, unorganized workers, migrant workers, and

manual labourers.

The children born here are children like any other.They dream,play, sing, and

think.They know that life is not about equal opportunities, equal

access to knowledge, and equal rights.


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Mani Kantan, 18 , is a gifted painter. He helps

run the computer centre that taught him his

computer skills. This, despite his crippled handsand absolutely non-functional legs.

For a commoner,Manis achievements are

uncommon indeed. With crippled fingers and

polio-infected legs, he could only ask for pity

from onlookers.B

utM

ani was not content withwhat life had to offer him. I wanted success,

respect and money too, he says. Mani makes

several paintings on the computer. First, I draw

the picture with a pencil on paper, and then I

draw it on the computer. Today, I have learnt

photography and I love taking pictures of the

world around me. I know I have the confidence tochange the world.

Till now, Mani has sold paintings at various

conferences he has attended.


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Sarasu, 18, is a Leader. The most educated

member in a family of five and an inspiration to

the children in her community..

Its hard to miss the infectious energy in this

second yearB.Com student. She single-

handedly manages the operations at the

Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3)

while balancing the demands of a crowded

household and under-graduate studies.

A talented writer and dancer herself, she imbibes

within the children in her community the

importance of a good education.

Aspires to be a Chartered Accountant somedayso that she could help her cab-driver brother

manage his fledging side-business.

Her Vision to work towards a society that is

free of all forms of inequality and of slums.


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Armugam. Age19.

A school dropout. Quit school in the seventh grade. A

machine operator at a shoe factory.

A Dream: I have none. I have no idea of what you

call a future. All I know is that I need to go to work

every day. I can only stretch my desires such that I

want to motivate all the children in this area not to

give up their studies. I did not have any interest in

going to school. I know I cannot teach them at the

AC3 Centre, but I can surely encourage each child to

not go stray and ruin their lives.

Talent: I have the capacity to learn photography. I

love taking pictures. The photo exhibition was a way

to show to the world that there are people who live inthe slums. I have tried to capture the pictures of my

world. Today people in the slum call me to take

photographs of local weddings and functions. I feel

encouraged by the warmth of people out here.


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The will triumphs


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Against ALL odds


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CHANGING LIVESFOREVER

TheAmbedkar Community Computing Centre (AC3)

has transformed the lives of many children in the slum

of Sudarshan Layout. The endeavour is the result of

efforts from a few city-based techies, who call

themselves the volunteers of the Association for Indias

Development (AID) along with the Free softwareMovement, Karnataka.


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A few technology savvy volunteers from the Association for Indias Development(AID) who believe in the Free Software Movement transformed a dingy room in the

slum area of Sudarshan Layout as their tuition centre.

If you stand outside this tiny, often dark room, you know that it

stands on the fringes of large IT corporations and plush marbled floor apartments

that overlook the slum.

When you walk through the lanes of the slum, you evidently know that

this is a world on the other side of the divide: the urban-poor divide, the digital

divide, the caste divide, the gender divide, the physically challenged divide, the

un-equitable public health and education divide.


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Volunteer your time teaching

Donate used laptops

Donate money to sustain the centers

Get your company to donate used/usable laptops

Help in starting up new centers in Bangalore

Help with improving the curriculum

How do I help?


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[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Who should I contact for additional

information?


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All the children of the AC3

The parents who have been with us through the journey.

To them, who see HOPE in the innocent eyes.

To the many children lost in the game of silent existence

in a slum somewhere. Everywhere.

Thank You

a presentation on ambedkar community computing centre, bangalore

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