Kindness During Christmas November 2020

In December 2020, Be Kind Movement aimed to spread Christmas cheer by providing presents to the most disadvantaged children living in deprived areas within Wandsworth, where the charity is based. Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas Campaign possible! Watch our video below to see the huge impact our campaign made on the children’s Christmas during this difficult time.

Spreading Kindness During Christmas

Christmas is an extremely challenging time for those who suffer from existing mental health disorders, and this is significantly prevalent among young people and children in the UK:

• In England, 1 in 8 children from ages 5-19 had a diagnosable mental health disorder in 2018. This is roughly 1 in 3 children in every classroom

• Anxiety and depression were found to be the most common, affecting 1 in 12, and more prevalent amongst girls

• Half of these problems manifest themselves by the age of 14, and in 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for both boys and girls ages between 5 and 19

Whilst these statistics show the scale of the mental health crisis faced by a significant number of young people, the festive period can also be particularly triggering for those who do not typically suffer from mental health disorders. The reality for many of us at Christmas is that the shorter days, pressure to always be upbeat and happy through difficult family situations can make the festive period a particularly challenging time. It has been found that a quarter of the population feel that Christmas negatively impacts their mental health, three in ten people experience anxiety and a quarter experience depression. 

For families with children especially those living in low income areas  the financial impact of the Coronavirus is likely to cause further strain both mentally and physically this Christmas.

Join us to Ensure No Child Goes Without a Gift this Xmas!

Be Kind Movement aimed to spread Christmas cheer by providing presents to the most disadvantaged children living in deprived areas within Wandsworth, where the charity is based.

We believe that if we fail to invest in improving children’s emotional well-being especially during this pandemic, we risk facing a serious crisis when issues such as anxiety, depression, self-harm escalate in the future inflicting significant damage to a child’s emotional well-being and mental health in the long term.

Our partnership with local community groups allows us to identify and reach the most vulnerable children and ensure they do not go without a gift this Christmas. 

The Impact of Your Donation

Your generous donations helped vulnerable children in the following way:

• £10 bought one gift for one primary school child aged 6-11 years;

• £15 bought one amazon voucher for one secondary school child aged 12-16 years.

Your donations made such a difference to the family emotional equilibrium and brought joy to a vulnerable child in Wandsworth, who otherwise would not have received a gift at Christmas.

Thank you for Helping us Spread Kindness at Christmas!

#kindnessmatters

Ark Priory School Kindness Workshop

Be Kind Movement was invited by Ark Priory Primary Academy in Acton, London to deliver a Kindness workshop to a small group of Year 6 Students.

Students watched the film Itsy as a way of introducing the theme of kindness, identified the central message of the film, explored and reflected on how they could be kind to others and shared their feelings on the one thing they would take away from the class. 

The children were enthusiastic about watching the film, had a visibly high level of engagement with the film and appeared to be delighted and amused at the attendance of the filmmaker in the classroom. The following comments were expressed on the message of the film by the students:

• Togetherness

• Friendship

• Kindness (‘she made a plastic house for the spider’)

• Empathy (‘I feel sorry for the woman’)

Towards the end of the workshop, the children were asked the question: Who can you show kindness to and this is what they shared:

• ‘To my teacher - if teacher trips, I’ll help him’

• ‘Friend - if my friend is sad maybe I can play with him to make him happy’

• ‘Girls - I can invite girls to play football’

• ‘Mum - I can cook at home to help mum’

The evaluation form also contained two open ended questions that elicited responses offering a glimpse into their reflections of the Kindness workshop. The children wrote the following:

What one thing will you take away from the workshop?

• Always be kind to anything

• Learnt about kindness

• I learnt how to be kind

• Respect Kindness

What makes today’s workshop different to the other classes you’ve attended before?

• It taught me stuff

• It was fun

• It’s (about) kindness

• It’s more helpful

This group of students was selected by the school as particularly lacking in confidence, high levels of disengagement with a poor attitude towards women, and therefore the most likely to benefit from such a workshop. The teacher expressed concern that childrens’ issues at the primary school stage, when not managed at an early age, manifest into more complex and deeper issues as they transition into secondary school by which time interventions ‘are too late’.

The teacher commented on how wonderful it was for the children to see positive Muslim characters on screen and the diversity offered in such an educational resource. It was also appreciated how well the workshop was received by the students and the suggestion to host a 30 minutes workshop at the assembly for the whole school.

Swaffield Primary Kindness Workshop

On January 24th 2020, Be Kind Movement showed ITSY film to all of year 6 (46 children) at Swaffield Primary School in Wandsworth, London.

Excerpts from the evaluation report compiled by our workshop delivery partner, deep:black.

The intention of the workshop was to provide practical and experiential learning to students to deepen their understanding of kindness. This group was selected as the most likely to benefit by being able to reflect on their experiences of primary school and in preparation for them to soon be leaving primary to join secondary. By the end of the workshop students watched the film Itsy as a way of introducing the theme of kindness, identified and shared their personal stories of giving and receiving kindness. They also creatively explored and reflected on their experiences, shared feelings with their peers and made a commitment to be more kind to themselves.

It was noticed that children visibly engaged with the film and were expressive as they watched it. They expressed fear for Itsy and relief when Itsy was discovered safe. One child commented, I was sad when I thought spider dies and when he survived that made me happy. Some children commented on Muslim characters on screen sharing positivity about their faith and relief that there was no mention of terrorists, one child recognized the spoken Arabic in the film. The team noticed how welcome and unusual it seemed to have such diverse characters offered in an educational resource.

What one thing will you take away from the workshop?

Children wrote the following:

• Be kind and helpful, to help more people,

• I will takeaway the sunshine game,

• Be more kind to my family, to listen to others more, to be more positive.

• I can be kind to myself by not letting things bother me,

• By not being stressed out.

• I learnt that you should not bully.

• I liked when we talked about how to be kind to ourselves.

• To not judge someone or something,

• I learnt about spiders,

• I learnt about happiness,

• Useful to think about feelings creatively.

• To talk more to my parents and don’t hide anything.

• To respect other people, to be kind to everyone,.

• To not to be afraid of spiders.”

ITSY 2019 Short Film Premiere

Itsy premiere, our short film on Kindness, took place on Wed 2nd Oct 2019 at Curzon Blloomsbury to an incredibly enthusiastic audience. Funds raised will contribute towards an experiential workshop for students on Kindness and towards bursary to a young disadvantaged woman.

Moderater: Abby Mangold
Panellists: Actor Ellie Rose Boswell ,Facilitator Trupti Magecha, Be Kind Movement Founder Premila Puri

Photography: Arjun M Shah
Catering: The Gutsy Chutney
Headline Sponsor: Ayurveda Pura

ITSY - a short film on Kindness

Our uplifting and award-winning short film ‘Itsy’ reinforces the power of Kindness to create a positive change within ourselves and within our local communities, a quality we need more than ever in today’s turbulent and emotionally challenging world. The short film is a reflection of multi-cultural Britain and diversity, a call to action to never judge a book by it’s cover. 

Partly inspired by a true story between a human being and a spider in the car, ITSY is a story about a lonely and anxious woman who gets befriended by a spider who helps her to see herself and the world differently and ultimately to find a friend in a stranger, her next door neighbour, who she is initially suspicious of.

Trailer: www.itsyfilm.com 

Scholarship Award Function in Aid of The Girl Child May 2016

Be Kind Movement hosted a fashion charity event on 16th March 2016 in London to raise funds for the Girl Child’s Education Program in India for the Easwaramma Foundation. On 7 May 2016 in Dharmakshetra (Bombay), the funds collected by Be Kind Movement (£2500) were awarded to 294 girls between age groups of 14-20 years.

The Chief Guest was Ms Karuna Sarup Munshi of Radio Sai and the Guest of Honour was Mr. Ravinder Puri, Be Kind Movement's Trustee from the Netherlands based in India.

Brief Report:

• The programme started at 5 p.m with the lighting of the lamp and Veda Chanting followed by bhajans.
• Ms Jayanti Iyer, Mahila Coordinator, presented the Mahila Report of Mumbai.
• The chief guest for the evening, Ms. Karuna Sarup Munshi of Radio Sai, spoke about "The Role of Women in Home and Society".
• Ravinder Puri Puri, a Sai devotee from Holland and Trustee of Be Kind Movement, who was the Guest of Honour at the function, also spoke of the importance of education for girls.

A beautiful, inspiring and serene occassion bringing togther and consolidating the future of children especially girls in India.

The fund, in it’s 16th year, has provided 1000 scholarships to date for girls from economically weak backgrounds and this project continues to benefit girls from the Indian villages of Mumbai & Goa. Thank you to everyone who was associated with this wonderful initiative of #GirlChildEducation

Champagne Reception in Aid of The Girl Child

With Pria Kataaria Puri, Leanne Claxton, Lucy Choi, Zevar, Rubina Kapoor and Chahat Jewellery

Fashion Pop Up in Aid of The Girl Child

Be Kind Movement collaborated with International Fashion Designer and Celebrity Stylist Pria Kataria Puri to host her London Pop up Show to raise funds for the Girl Child’s Education program. 

Pria has dressed Paris Hilton, Queen Rania of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey alongside Bollywood beauties such as Aishwariya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha in Bollywood. Formally trained in New Delhi, and from San Francisco, Pria is also a winner of Bharat Yuva Ratna Award and the Bharat Vikas Award.

Pria hosts the glamorous celebrity TV chat show ‘Born Stylish’ where she discusses the style quotient of Bollywood and international celebrities. Guests have included Bollywood stars, Jean Paul Gaultier, Massimiliano Giornetti of Salvatore Ferragamo and one of the iconic Fendi sisters Ilaria Venturini Fendi.

Proceeds from the event will go towards raising funds for an ongoing scholarship for the girl child to pursue higher education from 14 years age upwards. Since 2000, 1,000 scholarships have been awarded and this project is now being extended to reach the Indian villages and districts in Maharashtra & Goa to benefit 300 girls. Our aim is to make the girl child self-sufficient and financially independent so she can pursue her dreams and goals to live a life free from abuse and neglect, on equal parity with men.

Be Kind Movement's Pre-Loved Xmas Bazaar

Spreading Xmas cheer with Friends of Be Kind Movement.

This was an afternoon event where pre-loved items never worn or worn just minimally – i.e. beautiful clothes, jewellery, shawls, stilletoes – were be sold at discounted prices.

Keeping in mind the Xmas spirit at this time of the year, we asked all ladies to dress GLAMOROUS with something red.

This was a private fund-raising event to raise operational funding so that Be Kind Movement could continue with it’s efforts to raise funding for women empowerment and Be Kind initiatives. The Founder sold her personal pre-loved items and donate part proceeds to this fundraising exercise.

Many Avatars of the Saree fundraising July 2015

Be Kind Movement hosted it’s first charitable event on Sunday19 July that depicted the versatility, beauty and grandeur of India's most sensuous garment whilst raising funds to support the homeless women in London.

Anchored by BBC Radio 4’s Viji Alles and set against the backdrop of vibrant flowing Sarees and dupattas, the ‘Many Avatars of the Saree’ event saw guests networking, raising funds and celebrating the many manifestations of the Saree.

The funds raised will support Be Kind Movement’s goal to fund initiatives that empower disadvantaged and underprivileged women. Eaves, a women led organization for women, is the chosen recipient of the funds.

Our heartfelt thanks to the sponsors: Asda Feltham, Eden Water, Forever Fairy, Gooseberry Bush Centre, Melissa’s Cakehouse and Nihaar Bakes, to those who donated generously towards the raffle prizes and to the female entrepreneurs who showcased their wares: 101 Creations, Aliveni, Apnas, Bubbles Jewellery, Innate Designs, Jyoti Chandok Ltd, Sreshtha Designs and The Far East Art Studio.

Inner Warrior: A Tribute - Art Gallery Exhibition

Wishful Smiles and Milaap, a mission based organisation joined hands to collaborate with Atria Gallery, to celebrate the spirit and struggle of the female warriors in India on Thursday 11th September at the Bhavan Centre, London.

This collaboration aims to support victims of sexual violence - Redbrigade Lucknow and ex-Devadasis (Servants of God) to achieve their goal of financial independence through entrepreneurship.

We raised a generous £1700 towards our cause! Thank you to all those that contributed.

We would like to thank our media partners, Luv Asia Radio Online, for the support and passion they have shown towards this very important cause. We would also like to say a special thank you to all our sponsors for their generous contributions towards this event: Rahul Moodgal, Kish Hal and Sital Patel of Forever Living and Nurture your Future, Dr Deepa Sambare-Apte of Ayurveda Pura Health, Paresh Jethwa Jewelers, Geeta Handa: C-Atomic, Evergreen LTD and Stay Rad Photography.

A special thanks to Zee Tv and Aaj Tak for the media coverage on the night.

Toilets for women

Online fund-raising campaign

Many women in another part of the world don’t have what we consider to be THE most basic and fundamental right. The right to a toilet. Recent rape and sexual violence cases in rural India have been on the increase when women attend nature’s call because they have no toilet facilities in their homes. They have to travel long distances just to relieve themselves. Defecation in the open is very unhygienic for them and also for their village in general. They often fall ill and a major portion of their savings drains as medical expenses. Rajalakshmi (at center in the picture) is also among these unfortunate people however our online campaign enabled her and this group of five women (all daily wage laborers) to collectively be able to install toilets in their individual houses.

Working with Milaap and their field partner, GUARDIAN who have been conducting sanitation workshops to drive home the importance of hygiene and safety, for thousands of women like Laxmi, a toilet at home is a reality now.

Educating the young as a business volunteer

SPLASH with Hackney Community College, London

Working Knowledge is a social enterprise that creates chances for young people aged 16-19 and prepares them for the world of work. Working Knowledge partners with Colleges across the country to deliver employer led, work experience activities. These activities help Colleges meet Ofsted requirements and provide students with enhanced employability skills, confidence and motivation.

Spending a day, packed with activities, involved listening to their business ideas, plans and presentations, and motivating them about the world that awaits. An extremely rewarding day with the following feedback from some of the young people:

“The volunteers taught me what they expect from their future employees, this has made me more confident and ready for hard work in order to achieve what I want in life.”

— Michal, Cadbury College student

“I’ve learnt so much from the Business Volunteers, I learnt what factors to consider when starting and building a business and how to tackle problems I might meet along the way.”

— Howell, City of Bristol College student

Empowering ex-devdasis and victims of social violence

The Bhavan Art Gallery, London

There are an estimated 250,000 girls and women in southwestern India still dedicated to their local temple deities as “Devadasis” (meaning “servant of God”). This ancient and outlawed, yet still prevalent, practice originally gave Devadasis a comfortable life and high social standing, but began to be abused by the rich and powerful. Over the years, Devadasis were forced into prostitution to survive.

We collaborated with UK based charity Wishful Smiles and India based Milaap, a micro-lending for profit enterprise and their field partner, MASS, to provide financial support to former Devadasis women so they did not succumb to poverty and therefore return to the world of prostitution. The funds we raised enabled these former devdasis to start or run small businesses that helped them to pay their children’s school fees, generate a livelihood for their families, and save for their old age. Becoming entrepreneurs also offers their children a better future, helps integrate them back into society, and eventually break free of the vicious cycle of prostitution that most Devadasis are doomed to.

We were featured in Asian Image for our fundraising efforts for this project.