Jyoti Verma
Shubham Housing Finance, in collaboration with Tatsat Foundation, organised a workshop on birds for children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities at Saksham Trust, Noida. The chief guest of the workshop was the Nest Man of India, Rakesh Khatri, who has been working in the field of environment conservation for the past two decades and has confidence that artificial nests can help birds in sustaining themselves in cities.
The workshop conducted in was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of Shubham Housing Finance, a leader in providing housing finance solutions to those with informal incomes. It trained students in both online and offline modes on types of birds and how can we build homes for them and help them survive in mega cities like Delhi.
The half-day workshop had sessions on types of birds, their physical features and ways to identify them through their calls, beaks and claws. An interesting part of the workshop was an activity on nest making by Rakesh Khatri. The students made nests for birds from the nest kits brought by Rakesh Khatri. The children made nests from these kits, which were later put up at the school.
Pushpa Madhwal, Senior Special Educator, Saksham School said, the education model of the school emphasises on practical learning of visually impaired children. “It was a perfect and beautiful real-life exposure for children, where the concept of nest making was made understandable through nest kits given to them. There were tactile sheets for them to know more about birds, their sounds, beaks and claws. The way the Nest Man conducted the workshop made the children aware about the importance of building houses for birds. Building nests not only helps these flying creatures, but also gives us humans happiness.”
A volunteer at the workshop, Anil Kumar Tiwari, Relationship Manager, Shubham Housing Finance branch Noida Sector 2, found the workshop a perfect learning experience on a subject not many find important. “The workshop was for everyone, from children to teachers and corporate professionals like us. It was an outstanding experience of connecting with people of all abilities and ages over an interesting activity like nest making.”
The Nest Man of India, Rakesh Khatri has conducted thousands of such interesting workshops across the length and breadth of the country, leaving only the state of West Bengal. He has also conducted workshops on conservation in Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey and Myanmar. His workshops have benefitted school children from private and government schools to schools like Saksham dedicated to persons with disabilities (PwDs). “The PwDs are led by sixth sense. Today, we saw yet again that these children can make nests the same way the so-called abled persons make, sometimes even better than them,” said the naturalist after the workshop.
