Painting the Future-My Dream India

Sunday Cindy and I went to an event sponsored by Sukrupa. Sukrupa is an organization whose mission is to help underprivileged children escape a background of poverty, slum life, illiteracy and ignorance.
Cindy came to know of the organization through the OWC. It is one of the charities she works with on their charity committee.

The event was an artistic competition between children. I couldn't tell exactly what the age range was, but I know there were kids in 8th and 9th standard at the higher end. Some were probably down to about ten or eleven years old at the lower end.

Basically the children( all 137 of them) were given watercolor paints, brushes, and paper. They were asked to paint on the theme of "My Dream India". These children competing were from both the Sukrupa school, as well as local schools in the area. You can tell by the many school uniforms present.

The children were given roughly 1.5 hours to paint on the theme, and then all of the paintings were collected and hung inside. I was amazed at the creativity present here. Some were very detailed and drew with rulers and pencils before painting, others just started in. Many were very beautiful, and all were inspiring.
Once the paintings were hung up inside, the judges (Cindy was one), were asked to go in and pick the winners. During this time the children were fed Samosas and a sweet. Some of the children from Sukrupa school helped out with the distribution, as did others who were children of other sponsors or judges. The judging panel was comprised of artists, and local business people.

I was amazed at how quiet and well behaved the children were both during the painting, meal and waiting afterward. There was about 20 minutes once the food was done when the judges were making their decisions. I'm glad I didn't have to choose as it would have been very difficult. Anyways the children were sitting quietly, sometimes talking, but not rudely or loudly. Then there was some dancing and singing by some of the children.

In the end prizes were handed out and the event ended. I must say I was very impressed by what the children did, as well as the organization of the event, and how much was done with so little. Hats off to Sukrupa!!
More photos on Flickr.