Shelter home kid, Priti Vala, represents Gujarat at national-level event

Team L&M

Priti Vala, a class XI student at DPS Bopal and resident of Visamo Kids Shelter Home recently represented Gujarat at the National Consultation on Environment and Climate Change with a special focus on children, in Kolkata. The consultation was organised by the Child In Need Institute (CINI).

Priti’s parents are farm labourers hailing from Shergadh village of Junagadh, and she has been a resident of Visamo Kids for the last 11 years.

At the national consultation, she presented her views on how environmental degradation and climate change are affecting children’s playtime. She elaborated on the steps taken by adults, including local authorities to ensure children enjoy outdoor activities without any environmental nuisance.

She lauded the community initiative – Happy Streets – and reflected on AUDA’s efforts towards greening the city and creating safe spaces like gardens, basketball courts, libraries and other facilities for recreation and pursuing activities that contribute to the comprehensive development of children.

In Kolkata, she participated in the launch of the nationwide campaign focusing on understanding children’s aspirations regarding a sustainable environment.

The young girl also shared about her learnings from the workshop organised by Tree Walks in Ahmedabad, held at the shelter home on the occasion of World Soil Day on December 5, where kids learned to enrich soil. And, spoke about waste segregation and recycling kitchen waste to make fertiliser, a practice implemented at Visamo Kids Shelter Home.

Priti was selected to represent Gujarat at the National Consultation based on her performance at the state-level consultation on Children on Environment & Climate Change, organised by Swapath Trust, Ganatar, and Paryavaran Mitra, in November.