‘Bolo Circles’: 72 children talk about what they are grateful for

ISLAMABAD:

Seventy-two children from the F-11 slum gathered at a local park on Tuesday and spoke about what they were grateful for.

Young Yousaf surprised everyone by saying, “I’m grateful for my hands so I can work.”

The gathering was organised under “Bolo Circles” by the Child Rights Network of Pakistan (CRNP). One aim of such events is to give underprivileged children a sense of empowerment and instil good habits in them.

The children on Tuesday included eight-year-old Meena who begs all day to feed her four siblings, and five-year-old Nadeem whose little hands support himself and his family by washing cars.

A volunteer said, “Making these children appreciate and polish their strengths is one of our aims.”

In addition to having to fend for themselves, these children have another thing in common: they are all out of school. While hoping to bridge the gap between public and private schooling, CRNP has created several centres around Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa that teach children basic literacy in about a month.

The one-year-old project aims to provide more long-term educational services in the near future but for now “it’s a safe place where children can socialise and feel safe every fortnight,” according to CRNP Director Khalid Mehmood Qureshi. The project currently has more than 1,200 children under its wing across Pakistan.

These children are positively reinforced through these “Bolo Circles”. Activities such as passing a mirror around and saying what each child likes about their face is an instance of a positive reinforcement.

The children are called “young street champions”, so that they can feel a sense of empowerment from their background and formulate it with their identity rather than feeling ashamed.

The children, too, are responsive and are more than willing to share what little they do. A volunteer said, “I find that children of displaced persons are the most willing maybe because they’ve lived in the direst circumstances.”

“Bolo Circles” weren’t always this easy to organise. Initially, the F-11 circle only had 12 children.

Many of these children clean the waste from streets and wash cars but their own hygiene is lacking. Some of the children have skin conditions and lice because of it. The project tries to educate the children about the importance of cleanliness.

CRNP has also recruited volunteer doctors to give children vital physical exams and treat their ailments.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2012.