“Every Child Deserves to Experience Nature”
Our Vision
“Kids in Nature” is aimed at giving children and young people a positive new perspective on their lives by changing their focus, directed towards nature, the environment, emotional development and social and democratic ways of life. It will thus install emotional stability, empathy towards others and the environment, resilience and trust and pave the way for to a future in peace and harmony.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create a place in complete nature surroundings that’s safe and easily accessible, so children, especially those living in difficult life situations can access nature and spend extensive time in nature. “Kids in Nature” wants more children to spend more time in nature so they’ll have the opportunity to explore, play, honour and learn from nature …..
Our Process
We approached Action for Children’s Environments Trust to help us conceptualize a permanent facility for the Kid’s in Nature programme, as they had a long standing relationship with The Hope Project working with our children to understand their neighbourhood and child friendly places. ACE Trust conceptualized the design programme for this project, identified the most appropriate site for the project and supported us in securing the land. They then embarked in a codesign process with adolescent girls and teachers of The Hope Project School.
The girls had participated in Kid’s in Nature camps in different ecological zones of India prior to the decision to create a permanent facility. The girls and the teachers who accompanied them in the camps worked with ACE Trust to ideate their new facility. The girls participated in various visioning workshops and worked with simulation tools to design the nature retreat.
This will be a place where poor urban children can get away from the city and can discover themselves and the world around them in a secure natural environment during school holidays. Kid’s in Nature will provide “hands-on” opportunities to learn about the natural environment, as well as crafts and cuisine from the local community.
The importance of nature experience
for the everyday life of children
Modern scientific studies show that the connection to nature, even if this is only temporary…
- improves the quality of life of every child
- Contact with nature reduces stress in children
- reduces attention disorders
(Taylor et al. 2001) - and reduces behavioral disorders, feelings of anxiety and depression, while at the same time increasing self-esteem and sociability
(Wells & Evans 2003, Moore 1996)
Other positive traits are
- better concentration and self-discipline
(Wells 2000; Grahn et al. 1997; Taylor et al. 2002) - increased fitness, including coordination, balance and agility / agility / flexibility, fewer illnesses
(Grahn et al. 1997; Fjortoft & Sageie 2001) - increases peace and harmony with the world
(Crain 2001) - increased creativity, improved language skills and improved social behavior
(Moore & Wong 1997; Taylor et al. 1998; Fjortoft 2000)
Playing in a varied natural environment reduces or eliminates bullying (Malone and Tranter 2003) and promotes gender balance.
There is a silent revolution in progress against the nature deficit disorder (Louv) of children in poor urban conditions.
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TESTIMONALS FROM THE PROJECT TEAM
“ When I joined the Hope Project in 2010 as ED, I took a conscious step in directing my skills towards developing the Grass Root Organization to become a stable sustainable support centre in its community and carry the success stories from there to more and more areas. Constrained living surroundings for the young in the urban slums leave hardly any space for a happy carefree childhood. I support the Kids in Nature Program because I see the urgent need for the children living in such conditions to connect to nature in order to develop their hidden potentials so they may grow up to become contributing members in their societies.”
“ Exposure to nature has always been one of the core elements in my work with young children. Since my initial involvement with the Hope Project in 1985 I have dreamed about expanding the scope of nature experience for the children at Hope beyond the short visits to the nearby parks. Once I was on a pilgrimage with Deborah Morin, a close friend and well-wishers, in the upper Himalayas, completely absorbed in very beautiful natural surroundings. Here the vision of bringing the Hope kids to nature for the sheer experience of such beauty and harmony was planted.”
“ I have a long-standing relation to the Hope Project since 1986. As a sociologist I am concerned, among other things, with research about miserable living conditions among poor people in low-income habitats and communalism in Indian society. Children in such an environment suffer severely, and are at high risk by exploitations such as drug addiction, prostitution and domestic violence. I support the “Kids in Nature” programme because I recognize that children’s play in nature contributes to their future in peace and harmony.”
” The idea for Kids in Nature first occurred in 2002 on a pilgrimage to Gangotri with Carmen Hussain. The Hope Project had realized its vision of meeting the basic needs of the people it served. They helped nourish, educate, provide care & micro-loans, and set families up for sustainable, independent, healthy living. All that it lacked was an element of play and connection to nature – an outlet to not just sustain and support life, but enrich and enliven it as well.
In my life, I have always found communion with nature to be the ultimate source of peace and pleasure. The Kids in Nature project was created to give that to the children, who deserve most to smile and laugh and run and play and grow in all the ways that nature intends for them. The future of this project is bright. Endless opportunities exist to expand the Kids in Nature vision in connecting kids to nature. I’m humbled and grateful that the Hope Project now not only meets the needs of the people it serves, but instills within them a sense of fulfilment that transcends survival and becomes joy. ”
“When I was studying the Hope Project’s Kids in Nature program in 2005, for most of the Basti children the little Chatri Park in the neighboring district of Nizamuddin West was the only place where there was any nature at all. On the trips there, I noticed how the children spent happy hours in the park. I realized how important it is for children from poor inner-city backgrounds to experience nature as a living space – especially in contrast to their spatially cramped conditions, in which they have to fulfill roles that are not suitable for children……”
“Children unfold their potential in nature. Wonderment, exploration, and a sense of natural expansion and possibility in open air environments fosters creativity and imagination.
As a community-based program, the Hope Project’s Kids in Nature program provides a structure that builds self-esteem and shared values that fosters each child’s uniqueness. Such an environment provides a strong basis for emotional resilience and enhances individual gifts and strengths. Kids in Nature offers common interests that bring kids together rather than personality interest which limits perspective. Children, when tending animals, feel freedom to express love and care to creatures who accept their affection unconditionally.
Too often, stress can be prevalent in a child’s life. Nature can soften that stress and the peer pressure that comes with it. Hearts and minds need space to stretch their feelings, experiences, and intelligence.”