All the children went home with a mask and a smile…

So the celebration was a great success!

The most popular activity was Face painting! By the afternoon the children’s faces were full of color!

Another activity was natural playdoh! They first draw on paper and then fill the formes with the playdoh. The children created many beautiful colors!

Tasting and Guessing - This game is a blindfolded discovery of taste and smell. The children were given different foods to guess what they were!

The speciality of the day -  Vegan muffins, rosella leaves and seeds, tapioca chips, cinnamon, star anise, citrus leaves, turmeric, and chili powder, and banana…   They loved it!!!

There where also many performances during the birthday!

There was a puppet show, capoeira (Brazilian dance), clown and magic perfomance, body percussion and more

full of colors!

And THEY Handled well!

HI !

The project has progressed and developed in respect to our approach with the children. We try to include more children from surrounding villages and create more expressive and diverse activities such as; drawing, artrecycling garbage, garden, swimming in the mud pool (with a boat), and possibly a new hut and playground if fundraising is successful.
We also try to give children more freedom to decide what they want to do so they can express their own creativity!

Its been an amazing few weeks in Children’s Land capped off by a beautiful celebration of the Sadhana Forest Recycling Festival!!  As the mist cleared on a gorgeous Saturday morning, the sound of young eager voices filled the air.  Both the Tamarai School and New Colors arrived simultaneously and right away we all headed to the Recycling shed, grabbed all the random materials we could carry and marched into Children’s Land to work on the construction of GARBAGE MONSTERS!!!

Everyone was so creative, transforming old broken telephones into a chest, and old chappals into hands!! Within a few minutes the children decided that one Garbage Monster would get lonely and the built two more from scratch!

This are the children from New Colors.

This was such an amazing project and it was really a special opportunity to see children from both communities working some well together, supporting eachother, and communicating so effectively to create a garbage masterpiece!!

This are the children from Thamarai.

Whilst the Garbage Monsters were magically coming to life, children were taking a colorful plunge into the HOLI celebration, covering themselves and eachother with non-toxic colorful powders to celebrate the sub-continents most colorful festival.

For a little energy boost, the hardworking Sadhana kitchen delivered a divine assortment of ‘Holi Poli’; like Ragi Chapathis but filled with a mixture of jaggery and bananas!!! Whilst snacking we were surprised by a visit from a Magician-Without-Borders from Belgium.  He mystified Children’s Land with his various tricks and showmanship.  Some children especially enjoyed volunteering to particpate in some of the tricks.  THANK YOU MAGICIANS-WITHOUT-BORDERS!!

After all the hard (but SUPER fun) work on the Garbage Monsters, a Holi Poli treat and a magic  show, the children were ready to put on their own show.

Together we crossed over to Children’s Land’s own open stage were children (and children at heart) treated everyone with singing performances, dancing, and games.

It was such a special moment to see the children open up an perform their talents with confidence and laughter of course!!!

After a closing circle and a group wave we transitioned to the  transformative experience of diving into the depths of the mud pool to cool off after an wonderful Sunday Morning in Children’s Land!!!

Thanks to everyone for your support and interest in Children’s Land!!!

Photos by Anisha.

Text by Adam.

Sadhana Forest is happy to be collaborating with The Cookbook Project in Children’s Land.  This past Friday a group of street children from Tribal Villages came to Sadhana Forest for the first time.  These 11 children have had very little connection with the natural world and were mesmerized as soon as they stepped into Children’s Land, climbing trees, investigating all the vegetation and feeling that exisquite sensation of the contact of bare feet with the Earth.  After an opening call and response song (I SAID A BOOM-CHICK-A-BOOM) the group headed into the forest to investigate the buzz of organic life pulsating all around.

After the forest investigation the group moved to the Dosa Kitchen to begin a Cookbook Project  workshop focused on Food Culture, hygiene, and nutrition with Adam and Lissy.  The group began by discussing food culture and each person drew their favorite food from their culture along with the ingredients and those who were able to included a recipe.  Everyone loved drawing their favorite foods and learning the English words for different ingredients and sharing with the group.  After all the  discussion about food we made our way to the Main Hut to enjoy a Sadhana Lunch.  Addmittedly the children were hesitant to try this food, especially the sauerkraut, but after many asked for seconds, thirds, and even fourths (!!!!) it was clear that they enjoyed the delicous, and compassionate food whipped up Sadhana Chefs.

For round two in the Dosa kitchen the children tried to identify South Indian ingredients while blindfolded using their sense of smell and touch to figure out the ingredients.  After we discovered which ingredients we were working with we played a round of Food Geography during which each children was in the Americas, Africa, Asia, or Middle East group and tried to identify the original location of each food, exploring the globalization of food culture.  The children were astonished to learn that the chili pepper, a staple in most Indian cuisines is originally from the Americas!!

In our final Day 1 activity we investigated snacks!! Snacks are such a fun part of the day but unfortunately most people, especially children reach for highly processed, chemical-filled snacks rather than reaching for a gift from nature.  We examined the ingredients on a pack of strawberry biscuits, most of which were unpronouncable versus the ingredients of a beautiful yellow banana or a handful of peanuts.

The children were able to quickly recognize why whole natural foods are much better, tastier, and healthier than processed junk food snacks.  And then of course, we filled up on bananas and peanuts.  After all this hard work and eating, we finished the day with a glorious mud pool bath.  Stay updated for news from the second day of the Food Project workshop coming soon!!!

Text and photos by Adam.

The construction of basic infrastructure of the Children’s Hut, the pillars of support!

We want to thank all who contributed in different ways for this first victory.

We are very happy, felling strong and motivated to continue!
The next step is to raise more funds so that we can move to the next phase of construction!

So thanks to all who believe in this project and thanks for the support given at all levels for the realization of this dream of the children of Sadhana Forest.