About 55 participants from State Bal Bhawan, Assam took part in a two-day e-workshop on “Sustainable Lifestyle and Non-Violent Communication” organised by GSDS on June 8-9, 2020 to understand the concept of mutual coexistence between nature, human and wildlife and sustainable lifestyle was discussed. The process of how non-violent communication is used in daily life was also discussed. Shri Gulshan Gupta, North East Coordinator of GSDS coordinated the programme along with Ms. Prerna Jindal, Project Coordinator Srijan Kendras GSDS. Ms. Binjumoni Das, President State Bal Bhawan, Assam, Ms. Kavita Bhattacharjee and others were present on the occasion.
The two-day workshop saw several interactive sessions with the participants wherein they were briefed about different concepts of Non-Violent Communication (NVC); the importance of mutual coexistence and its necessity in the present day and time when the entire world is gripped by the COVID -19 pandemic.
Speaking to the children Shri Gulshan Gupta shared the Gandhian principles of NVC and how these principles could be applied in the environment to reduce what he called ‘violence in environment’. Through various examples of mutual coexistence for sustainable life style, Shri Gulshan Gupta reiterated the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi who said that Earth provides for man’s need but not greed.
While sharing her ideas on the whole subject, Ms. Kavita Bhattacharjee said that children and adults need to avoid small frictions either within the families or outside as she believed this could pave the way for mutual respect and develop team spirit. She welcomed the efforts of the GSDS in initiating this virtual workshop and said that the pandemic has brought many unknown, unheard families together.
Echoing a similar statement, Ms. Rumjhum told the participants (mostly children) that they should learn good things and ideas and apply this in their daily life. She told the children that they should begin from their room, by cleaning the room, switching off the lights before leaving the room and so on, which she believed would make the environment more compatible.
Ms. Prerna Jindal also conducted a few reflective sessions and left the children with questions and exercises related to the whole idea of tackling a fight through nonviolent methodologies due to some misunderstanding; managing unwanted situation in the family; or methods for controlling anger to avoid disputes.
The two-day workshop saw several interactive sessions with the participants wherein they were briefed about different concepts of Non-Violent Communication (NVC); the importance of mutual coexistence and its necessity in the present day and time when the entire world is gripped by the COVID -19 pandemic.
The second day of the workshop started with a Motivational Speech on Non violent Communication by Ms. Madhurima Choudhury, Prominent and Popular Actress and Artist of Assam. The children were quite inspired and motivated by the speech. Children came up with their own stories, sharing their experiences. The children (participants) displayed their presentations and reflections through art, poetry and speech.
The session was co-ordinated by Ms. Prerna Jindal and Mr. Gulshan Gupta. This was followed by a theme speech by Ms. Prerna. The interactive session was very lively. There was a video play session where videos of dance, song and mime acts related to environment conservation and COVID-19 awareness, performed by some participants of State Bal Bhavan, were played.
Children came up with their own stories, sharing their experiences. They also took part in planting trees and saplings as part of the exercises given during the workshop, while maintaining social distancing norms.