Every fifteenth day, the Pediatric Cancer Ward at AIIMS Hospital, Bhopal, sounds a little different. There are puppet shows. The rustle of paint and paper. Sometimes the unmistakable hush before a magician’s reveal. Then come the clapping and the laughter – a roomful of children forgetting, for a few minutes, where they are.
Project Arunima was built around moments like these.
It began with a question: what helps a child through the hours when the treatment is over, but the day isn’t? Project Arunima, conceived by senior member Rita Dalela MJF of Bhopal Majestic Lions Club, District 3233-G2, grew from that question. Doctors treat the illness. Project Arunima looks after the hours in between — the boredom, the loneliness and the long stretches of waiting that are just as much a part of childhood cancer as the treatment itself.
Twice every month, volunteers bring magic shows, puppet shows, painting competitions and storytelling sessions into the ward. Storybooks, toys, colouring materials and nutritious snacks come with them. For children in the middle of cancer treatment, a colouring sheet and a new puppet character can do something a prescription cannot — give a normal afternoon back, however briefly.
Over the months, senior Lion leaders, doctors and international guests have joined the sessions, sitting beside children for an hour of painting, asking about their drawings and favourite stories. So far, 352 children and their families have been part of Project Arunima. Volunteers have contributed more than 100 hours of service, while US$474.85 has been raised to support the activities and supplies that keep the program going.
The ward returns to its usual rhythms after each session — monitors, rounds and the quiet of recovery. But once every fifteen days, it sounds the way every children’s ward should: filled with stories, paint and the laughter of children who, for a little while, get to be children again.