Underprivileged children get wings to fly

Adding wings to their dreams to soar above the dwellings, 120 children from different shelter homes in city went to the camps in sylvan settings.
Organised by 'Make A Difference (MAD)' students from eigth to 12th standard from Kolkata Muslim Orphanage (boys/girls) and Dakshin Kolkata Seva Samity went on a sojourn to India's spiritual city Varanasi recently which is also a mosaic of Hindu-Muslim unity, a MAD spokesperson said.
MAD, founded in 2006 and started in Kolkata in 2010, is a youth volunteer network spread across 23 cities and espouses the vision to enable the most vulnerable children in society realise as much the goals of life as their more privileged counterparts, she said.

"The recent Dream Camp is one of MAD's four child-centric projects that is organised annually to provide the kids with an all time holistic experience.
"It is a three day outbound activity that creates a platform for the children to dream about their future goals and understand what it takes to achieve those dreams through personal discovery, exploring new talents by challenging themselves and taking responsibility of their actions.
"All the camps consist of a session on self exploration where the children have to record their passion, talent, hobbies and qualities. The sessions concluded with an adventure activity which included bull riding, rock climbing and trampoline jumping."

However, the biggest surprise for the day was when the children went to a make-believe restaurant that was set up for them by the volunteers complete with candle lights and good music, "the volunteers turned waiters to provide them with the real world experience of eating out.