Antara Pednekar

Symbiosis, Pune

I would like to thank Aarambh India for having given me an opportunity to intern with them. As a communications intern, it put me out of my comfort zone which led to my growth as a professional. I surprised myself with the outcome. It was an enriching experience to understand a different section of a society altogether.

Antara is a Media graduate from Symbiosis Pune, currently working as a Sales Manager with a food tech company. She interned with Aarambh India in late 2014. While with us, she helped co-ordinate the launch event for this website. She also helped design brochures, banners and created a invaluable photo bank during her time with us.

Pragati Nayak

Symbiosis Institute, Pune

Pragati is a media trainee studying at Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Pune. Previously, she has had wonderful experiences at Teach for India and CYDA as a volunteer. Pragati is also an active part of the Rotaract Club. At Aarambh, she used her inspiration and abilities to design creative communication material for the reporting portal. While here, she also trained and capacity built the Aarambh Communications Team. Her work with us was recognized by UNICEF India and she was invited as a youth speaker during the launch of their report on ‘Child Online Safety in India’

Sree Harshita Gullapalli

New York University

Aarambh, along with Prerana helped me look at the whole picture with a different perspective. I had the opportunity to meet children in a shelter home wanting to study in different countries and getting good jobs so they could afford to help other children because it was their measure of success. I had the privilege of witnessing a moment of immense strength and love from a mother who is a prostitute, who wanted her children to have the best education possible so they can get a better shot at their future and was willing to work all her life to pay for it if that’s what it took. At Aarambh the children came first. It was my absolute honor to be a part of Aarambh and I wish them the very best in everything they do.

Harshita completed her masters in social work at NYU and is looking forward to starting her career in New York. She has been working with survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence and is also a crisis intervention counselor for more than four years now. Among other thing, she authored the counselor’s page on the resource center. She also provided counseling support to the Aarambh staff.

Kiara Godfrey

Deakin University, Melbourne

My experience with Aarambh was more than I could have imagined and hoped for. It was challenging, diverse, insightful and well worth the effort it took to get there! I left India with a deeper understanding not only of the complex issues that Aarambh addresses in the area of child sexual abuse, but a significantly deeper understanding of myself and the kind of social worker I want to become. I was put well out of comfort zone on many occasions and forced to adapt quickly to a culture with values and beliefs that challenged my own assumptions and worldview. On both a professional and personal level, my time with Aarambh was one of the most invaluable experiences of my life that I hope will strengthen my work in the child protection field and allow me to work in a culturally competent way that acknowledges and embraces diversity and difference.

Kiara is from Australia and completed her Master of Social Work at Deakin University in Melbourne in 2015. She worked a project that looked at how different organisations seek to rehabilitate victims of CSA in both India and Australia. She also assisted the Aarambh team members in documentation and was involved in the development of a framework for case management practice. She accompanied social workers on visits to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) sessional court and home visits to families impacted by CSA.

Ishwari Palav

SNDT, Mumbai

“I got an opportunity to do my field work with Aarambh. I worked on a project under which efforts were being made to rehabilitate victims of sexual offences and help then in the recovery, healing and legal processes. Through this project I was able to gain more first hand information & experience on rehabilitation and other working systems. I was able to link social theories with the on ground reality. I would like to thank Aarambh for giving me an opportunity to work with them and for guiding me throughout my field work here.”

Ishwari Palav is a 1st year student of the Masters of Social Work Program at SNDT Women’s University. At Aarambh, she worked closely and extensively on the field under our ‘Care & Support’ as well as ‘Child Friendly Systems in Mumbai’ projects. She shadowed and supported the field teams working directly with child victims of sexual offences & their families.

Neel Shah

Tabor Academy, Massachusetts

When I came to intern with Aarambh – a Prerana initiative, they had the idea that i go to the centers and take art classes. At first i was nervous and kind of tense about the idea as i had never worked with children before. But on my very first day, I was amazed to see how well behaved and great the children were. They were all delightful and energetic which made my work so much easier. They were eager to learn, and it was great to see that they were having fun at the same time. I too was having a great time teaching the children. Aarambh has set a very high bar for me now, as working with them was so much fun that its going to be hard to find another place like this.

At the time of internship, Neel was attending Tabor Academy. While at Aarambh, he conducted drawing and painting workshops for children which culminated in an online exhibition titled ‘artistic azaadi‘.

Tanaay Shah

Tabor Academy, Massachusetts

“While working on collating the data, I learned a lot about the struggles of children in some of the districts of Maharashtra. The office atmosphere at Aarambh was always lively and this helped me settle in comfortably.”

Tanaay is currently finish with Tabor Academy and is on his way to Gettysburg University, Pennsylvania. At Aarambh, Tanaay worked under our Research officer collating and entering data towards our soon-to-be-launched study on the implementation of India;s child protection law in the State of Maharashtra.