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Association for Protection of Child Labourers ( APCL)
welcomes spring along side with its members and friends in a
New Year show. This is going to be the 11th show
organized by APCL. The shows are organized by a group of
volunteers at the public relations section of APCL. The
upcoming show is scheduled for 21 Esfand, from 10:00 to
21:00. The location of the show is Narges Restaurant, Naz
Alley, Movahed Danesh Street ( Aghdasiyeh), Tehran, Iran.
Preschool Graduation Ceremony
On 9 Day, 1388, APCL celebrated the completion of a
preschool course which was launched in collaboration with
UNHCR in Tehran. The graduated preschool children celebrated
the event by having a cake with the logo of APCL on it and
received school bags and some other presents. At the end of
the ceremony they took pictures with their teachers while
wearing graduation gowns.
APCL Kitchen, Up and Running
Again
On 23 Azar, 1388, APCL’s kitchen resumed work after some
repair work and renovation. The kitchen is used for
preparing midday meals for the children. Given their tough
living conditions, child labourers are usually deprived of
an appropriate diet and thus they lag behind their peers in
terms of a healthy growth. The kitchen is supervised by the
Health section and is financially supported by a group of
donators. APCL seeks to make up for the nutritious
deprivation of the children through supply of meals as
advised by nutrition experts. Currently the children are
provided one warm midday meal a day.
Report on Preschool (5-9 year
old) Children’s Nutrition- Azar 1388
Note: As you will find out through the report, the children
targeted in this trial, suffer from the worst types of acute
malnutrition. This can be more or less generalized in the
whole population of the children attending APCL.
Objective: Since the families of child labourers usually do
not observe an appropriate diet, the children are severely
prone to malnutrition. Thus a nutrition survey was carried
out to measure the level of malnutrition as a preliminary
step to enrich the meals the children are given at APCL.
Method: Children’s height ( without their shoes on) was
measures against a wall. They were all weighed while wearing
light clothes and without having their shoes on. The heights
for each age and weight were compared to the NCHC curves.
The Results are as follows:
Key words:
Acute malnutrition: The child has been suffering from
insufficient energy for a long time.
Chronic malnutrition: The child suffered from malnutrition
sometime in the past, but he/she can be in a normal
situation at present.
Acute and chronic malnutrition: The child has been suffering
from lack of enough energy for a long time, so much so that
he/she suffers from low height for age on top of low weight.
Another
Support Centre
In cooperation with the cultural and social department of
Tehran Municipality District 15, APCL launched a new
support centre for child labourers on 15 Mehr, 1388 with the
aim of winning support for the working and vulnerable
children. The mobile social relief team of APCL- including
two social workers- patrol the area to identify child
labourers. The project will be running up until 21 March
2010.
APCL-UNHCR Joint Project
In line with its educational objectives to provide the
deprived children with educational opportunities, APCL
signed a trilateral agreement with the Iranian Ministry of
Interior and the UNHCR to increase its preschool classes to
two. The two classes host 46 students.
Currently there are another 120
children on the waiting list; however due to limited
resources and educational space, the chances of having more
classes for these children are meagre.
Bamdad ( Dawn) Library Reopens
Bamdad library was reopened in the joyful presence of
children enriched with the odour of new books and a jubilant
spirit after it was painted and renovated with the help of
donators. We hope that library can serve the children as an
opportunity to get further familiar with the world of books.
New Academic Year Feast
APCL celebrated the start of the new academic year on 16
Mehr which coincided with Child World Day. More than 430
children – all members- participated in the event,
performing joyful and educational programs to make the day a
memorable one.
The new academic year celebration
was launched after repair work and painting at the
association and the children’s presence could be felt all
through the event.
New Academic Year at APCL
The start of the academic year is typically marked by new
clothes, bags and shoes for most children; however here in
APCL, children celebrate the start of the year simply at a
place which provides them with a chance for schooling.
Once Again, the Old Building
During the repair work, an old well hindered the process of
the old building renovation. Fortunately the incident
happened during the 10-day summer break when the children
were not in the building. APCL’s building is located in a
very old area of the town and given the limited financial
resources, access to a safe and standard educational space
is not feasible currently. This is while APCL embarks on
repair several times a year and every time on top of the
financial burdens, part of the already limited education
space becomes unavailable to children. We hope that with the
help of APCL supporters, we can have a suitable standard
building in the near future where the children can enjoy
schooling.
Awaiting School
After the exams, child labourers at the Association for
Protection of Child Labourers have a 10-day summer break.
The break is an opportunity to renovate the old building.
The funding of the repair project was provided by a donator
and some of the former child labourers helped with
supervision over the project. Educational courses are
available to all children during the 12 months of the year.
10th
APCL Show
APCL launches its 10th show on the even of the
fasting lunar month of Ramadhan. The show puts on display
and sale food and cultural items and includes a special
program to welcome the fasting month of Ramadhan.
Location: Abouzar
Educational-Cultural Centre, Shahid Mohebbi Alley, Shahid
Pour Ebtehaj ( Darabad) Street, Niavaran, Tehran, Iran.
Time: 30
Mordad, 1388 11:00-22:00
A memorable day for APCL
children
Childhood is associated with joy and laughter and here in
APCL, in a feast, the joyful laughter of 350 children could
be heard. Like in previous years, this year too, APCL
celebrated the World Day against Child Labour. At 7:00 am,
the children arrived at APCL in little hasty steps to
celebrate the day. The ceremony was held in a cultural
centre outside APCL where a variety of educational and
entertainment programs were organized. The children arrived
at the centre in 8 buses. This time affluent North Tehran
was a place for fun rather than work for the children of the
South. The programs were:
- Breakfast ( juice and cakes)
- Music
- A theatrical performance by a group of APCL children
- A statement by the children on the World Day against Child
Labour
- Games and entertainment
- Mid-day snack
- A performance by the State Broadcasting Organization for
the children
- Lunch
- Awarding APCL children
APCL would like to thank all those who helped in arranging
and organizing the event and those who made the event
feasible through their generous financial support.
Young Bread Winners
The class starts at 6:00 pm when the day’s work is over.
This is probably one of the rare classes where the tired
students eagerly sit in the class awaiting the teacher;
their faces tired of the day’s chores, their eyes filled
with enthusiasm to learn and their hands presses the pen on
white papers with utmost zeal.
Many child workers lose the chance to study and this in turn
makes it very difficult to find a solution to their other
problems. The Education Section of APCL has for the first
time set up a class for children who cannot attend classes
in day time. The class hosts 18 students- three 12 year old
boys and fifteen 17-18 year old boys. All of these boys work
in workshops during the day.
Young Filmmakers in Cinematic
Museum
The Association for Protection of Child Labourers took the
children attending filmmaking courses to the Cinematic
Museum. The course instructor is Kaveh Mazaheri who teaches
16 students. In another occasion a group of children who
were just interested in filmmaking were also taken to the
Cinematic Museum.
Traffic Rules and Children
In a move to familiarize the children with traffic rules,
APCL arranged for a visit to the Traffic Park. The visit was
facilitated by the District 12 Municipality for 40 children
in three groups. The children watched slides and videos on
the issue were taught how to cross the street, as well as
importance of wearing a seat belt while in a car and paying
attention to traffic lights. The visiting children were aged
7 to 13 and were mostly elementary school children.
Reza Abbasi Museum , Welcomes
Child Labourers
APCL children visited Reza Abbasi Museum in three groups. It
was the idea of the children’s history teacher suggesting
that it would be useful if the children could see what they
study in textbooks in real. District 12 Municipality
arranged for transportation.
Goodbye Illness
A vaccination project was carried out in the Health Section
of APCL in cooperation with a health and medical centre in
East Tehran. The project will cover all APCL children.
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