We are all a part of this emerging nation. Many people, mainly children, suffer due to poverty, lack of education and shelter. For these kids, there are many shelter homes like Karm Marg available today. Veena Lal is the founder of Karm Marg, an NGO established in Faridabad, Delhi. Karm Marg is a home for children, offering them a heaven, a warm environment and opportunities for education, skill development and employment. It improves the lives of street children, children from disadvantaged backgrounds and children with special needs.
Karm Marg
Unlike other NGOs, Karm Marg, established in 1997, gives children a sense of a family. It provides a safe environment for an average of 60 children of all ages, including six children with special needs. The Child Welfare Committee took all of these children out of public places like railway stations, bus stops, and other gathering places and gave them to the NGO to take care of.
Different Genders Together
Instead of living a prison-like life, Veena firmly believed that the children in her facility could live in a homely environment like any other child. She wanted to give them the freedom and opportunities they would experience in a family. Living in a co-educational setting can teach children to be more sensitive and accepting of people of different genders. The importance of equal rights and opportunities should be clear to them. For Veena, giving children guidelines is preferable to showing them compassion.
Eco-friendly Mud House
Veena started with 25 children in a small apartment. A year later, they moved to a better place. In 2000, she used her savings to buy two acres of land outside Faridabad, where she built an eight-room eco-friendly mud home with enough space for her children to live happily. The layout was planned by the children, some of whom were architecture students. In 2003, the NGO officially moved to a new location. The house currently has a kitchen, a classroom, a training room and a children’s bedroom.
Organic Farm
In 2011, Veena came across media reports about the harmful effects of chemicals on fruits and vegetables. As a result, she experimented with organic farming on the barren land around her property. By 2015, Veena and her children had acquired agricultural knowledge and raised a successful farm. All seasonal vegetables are grown on the farm. After consumption, they sell the vegetables outside. According to veena, growing chemical-free food has helped them to reduce their expenses and hospital trips for children.
Lessons From Organic Farming
Through her farming efforts, the children were able to identify different fruits, discover their health benefits and learn how to grow organic food. The children learned how to manage kitchen waste and turn it into compost, recycle used water through natural means, and use it for gardening and other household chores.
Jugaad
‘Jugaad’ is the brainchild of Karm Marg, whose mission is to equip vulnerable youth with the skills they need to support themselves. At Jugaad, children, adults, and rural women are trained to make bags, wallets, stationery and more using scraps and waste materials. Senior members of the Karm Marg team are in charge of the marketing component and handle most of the production and design.
Veena Lal provides these kids with a long-term safe environment through her Karm Marg so they can confidently reach their full potential. She made it her life’s work to look out for and care for little kids, empowering them to stand up and face the world. Over the past 25 years, they have worked together to transform Karm Marg into a platform that is not only focused on children but also one for conducting various social experiments, encouraging creativity, and practising eco-friendly methods.
