PROJECT LIGHT–UP MUMBAI (INDIA)
EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR STREET CHILDREN IN MUMBAI – INDIA
According to statistics from Action Aid India, there are currently almost 40,000 children living on the streets of Mumbai, India. They live on street corners, sleeping in cardboard boxes, in train stations and under bridges. These children experience the harshness of street life and are exposed to difficult weather conditions already at a very tender age. Concepts like security and education are mostly unknown to them.
This is exactly what we want to address with our LIGHT-UP Mumbai project. We aim to make a small but decisive contribution to ensure that at least some children will have better access to education and at the same time feel more secure.
What does our project involve and what is our goal?
Initially we want to deliver 80 solar lamps designed by the artist Olafur Eliasson and 80 ear plugs to Mumbai and hand them over to the children with careful instructions. Our aim is to give children access to light, especially in parts of the city where there is hardly any illumination and where background street noise is at high levels, so-called focal points of the city. Moreover, we want to encourage children to read and learn using the solar lamps and earplugs and, at the same time, discourage them from resorting to drugs, violence and crime. The solar lamps should also help them to go the toilet safely. In a figurative sense, the LIGHT represents HOPE for an end to street life.
What do the solar lamps look like?
