Underprivileged children give LSR wall an artistic makeover

Children from various NGOs in the city used their artistic abilities to paint a mural, along with the students of Delhi University, as part of a two-day youth convention held at the campus recently.

It was a weekend of colours and smiles, when over 40 underprivileged and differently-abled children from various NGOs in the city, painted the phrase ‘Let’s Build Tomorrow’ on a wall at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, (LSR). Themed on United Nations Sustainable Development goals, the street art event, was part of a two-day youth convention of NSS (National Service Scheme) LSR.

As the professional artist made the graffiti outline, young hands from NGO’s such as Tamana, DCWA, Adhyayan and Adharshila, filled the contours with colours of their choice and recreated their imagination on the wall. (Prabhas Roy/HT Photo)

“We collaborated with graffiti artist Dharya Gambhir. NSs has over 26 associations with NGO’s from across the country,” says Malvika Verma, project coordinator, NSS, LSR. Often children from the NGO’s come to our college wherein we conduct educational and extra curricular activity for them. And through this, we wanted to involve the NGO children in an artistic activity and give an outlet to their creative side,”

As the professional artist made the graffiti outline, young hands from NGO’s such as Tamana, DCWA, Adhyayan and Adharshila, filled the contours with colours of their choice and recreated their imagination on the wall. “The wall was barren, so we decided to let the kids paint it. The kids had a blast. We wanted to give a positive message and leave behind something that people can get inspired by,” adds Verma.

For the kids, it was a great learning experience. Mallar Banerjee from NGO Tamana, said, “This was the first time I painted on a wall. I had a wonderful time interacting with college students and creating the graffiti with professional artists.”

Apart from street art activity, the convention also had other events such as No Child’s Play - which used childhood games to create awareness about the themes; Call of Duty - bringing reforms by enacting different interest groups in a village; and Jagruk - tested participants on their social strategy building skills .