Children of Urur kuppam, a fishing hamlet at Besant Nagar in Chennai are now gifted with a new hangout spot. This particular place is not just a play area but also a wonderful place of learning.
This effort aims at enriching the lives of the young under privileged children at the fishing hamlet. As a part of national level architectural competition, five students pursuing architecture associated themselves with Akarmaa Foundation, a non-profit service organization have taken up this initiative. They turned this dilapidated area into a beautiful learning space.
The project was originally crowd-funded. “We received around 70,000 rupees through crowd-funding for setting up this project” says Kaushik, co-founder of Akarmaa Foundation.
The place can accommodate about 20 children. The thatched roof was supported by bamboo sticks and the chairs and tables were made of discarded tyres and woods. The walls were attractively coloured by the children themselves. Deep positive quotes painted on the walls, sounds of waves coming up from the sea and the voices of those children enthusiastic to learn have created a great sense of optimism in the place.
The spot is kept open throughout the day so that the community could make the best use of it.
The team conducts recreational activities and workshops for kids every weekend while during the week days they have planned to focus on academics in collaboration with another NGO called ‘Pudiyador’.
The children of Urur kuppam welcome this move and they look forward for more such activities every weekend.
“We are now looking forward in setting up such learning centers for different communities as well” says Kaushik.