October 1st is celebrated as the World Elderly Day each year to celebrate all the senior citizens, and acknowledge their contributions to our society. The UN has declared the present decade (2021-2030) as the decade of healthy ageing, which is aligned to the SDG goals of ensuring improvement of lives of older people. GFF Helps India, observed this day by celebrating it with the senior citizens of all the three villages of Pudung, Chibbo and Bong. We started the event by offering them with traditional dhaka khadas to pay our respect to them and celebrated the day by cutting cakes holding a fun quiz competition. The children also got to learn a lot from the elders about the culture and history of the place through the quiz competition. The elderly people were very happy as it was the first-time celebrating World Elderly Day which made them feel honoured and special.

Engaging children in art has many benefits for their healthy development and creative expression. GFF Helps India conducted an Art Therapy Workshop at Pudung SOGG Learning and Information centre on 7th of October. The resource for the workshop was Miss Achal Agarwal who specialises in Art Therapy and has worked with many schools and Kalimpong Police Department as well. Through this workshop Miss Achal taught the children how art can bring physical, mental and emotional stability which can enhance patience and one’s focus.

The children learned how to use different kinds of paints and materials to create art. A vital part of this workshop was to show children how playing with colors helps in generating happiness and bringing calmness within oneself.

Ensuring a safe environment for children is an utmost priority and responsibility of a society. Young kids are vulnerable and therefore it is very important to educate them about the laws protecting them and how and where to seek help. On 14th of October we held the “Childrens Safety & SA Awareness Program”, at Bong SOGG Learning and Information centre. Both the parents and children from Deorali, Lower Bong village attended the program. We were very lucky to have Miss Manju Rai from Bal Suraksha Abhiyan (BSA) as the resource person. The children were made aware about the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and about various cyber crimes taking place. Miss Manju also explained the parents about the importance of creating a friendly environment for children as it helps creating a sense of safety and trust in their relationship. The children were taught about good touch and bad touch and how there is no shame in asking for help. Miss Manju addressed all the queries that the children had in their minds. Awareness around children’s safety and SA is very important as it helps the children be informed, protect themselves and seek help.

On the morning of 4th of October, a very disastrous event took place in Sikkim and Kalimpong district. The South Lonak Lake (glacial Lake) burst, causing sudden rise in the water level of Teesta resulting in flash floods leading to massive destruction. GFF Helps India representative, Surabhi Subba volunteered in field assessment, relief distribution and visited the affected areas – Rangpo, Teesta, Bhalu Khola. Many people lost their family members, livelihood and houses. In such testing times, coming together as a community and helping each other is extremely necessary and GFF Helps India will continue to extend our support