Chandrakala Bhangare- synonym of inspiration and hard work

The year 2014 is turning out to be a landmark year in the history of Mumbai Smiles. Till now we have added 2 Balwadis  to our already existing 23 Balwadis and we further hope to many more by the end of this year. The  2 new Balwadis have been added with the help of grant from Cipla Foundation Ltd. Due to this increase in the number of Balwadis, a need was felt to appoint a new field coordinator who would assist in the functioning of these new Balwadis. We saw this as a great opportunity to boost the morale of our existing team members and thus decided to appoint the coordinator for these new Balwadis from our existing team itself. For this purpose, we interviewed Balwadi Teachers and other candidates from within the organisation.

Ms Chandrakala Bhangare, one of our Balwadi teachers was finally selected for this role. Her story indeed is very interesting, inspiring and speaks volumes about the progress and growth that is a result of hard work and dedication. Chandrakala has been associated with Mumbai Smiles since July, 2010 as a Balwadi Teacher. She completed her B.A (Bachelor of Arts) and B.ED(Bachelor of Education) before joining Mumbai Smiles. She used to teach history and hindi to 8th and 9th class students prior to joining Mumbai Smiles. However, she had to leave her job  because of her pregnancy. She joined a non profit organisation – Samajik Sanstha during this period. This is what she had to say when asked about her reason to work even during her pregnancy-” I wanted to work and not  sit at home. This gave me an opportunity to connect with people and also contribute to the society. It was difficult to manage in the first year since I was pregnant and I had to visit office often for training. My husband used to work in the night and take care of kids during the day whereas I worked during the day and took care of  children during night.”

She believes that initiatives by Mumbai Smiles have helped create such a stature, where parents themselves reach out to Balwadis and request the authorities to admit their child in the Balwadis.

She has mixed feelings after being appointed as a field coordinator. She is scared as well as excited to start this new journey. Infact,  she broke down with joy and had tears in her eyes when she came to know that she has been selected for this role out of 25 odd candidates.

In the end, we would like to wish all the best to Chandrakala for her new role and hope that she will add stars to the performance of Balwadis she is associated with.