Save the Earth with TARA!

TARA Homes aim not only at protecting children but also at empowering them with the knowledge and wisdom to become responsible citizens. TARA Children are enthusiast ambassadors when it comes to sharing their learnings with their peers. This virtuous transmission circle underpins TARA's action and philosophy.

The question of the environment is crucial in India, particularly in Delhi and it plays a central role in their education.

The Indian Government plans to drastically reduce its carbon footprint, an ambitious target which is still to produce conclusive results. India ranks 177th out of 180 countries in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index report and 10 of the world’s top twenty polluting cities are in India.

These scary figures do not restrain the optimism of TARA and its children. We are convinced that it is the small streams that make the big rivers and that this environmental awareness is first and foremost based on small, concrete actions.

A theatre play

TARA Girls produced a play based on the topic of “Clean India”, a government campaign launched this year. They highlight the necessity of general awareness of the need for a Clean India. They remind that this great cleaning "is not the work of one day, as after the Diwali festival, but an everyday preoccupation". They present the different attitudes and habits to be avoided in daily life, such as spitting residues of "paan" – a betel leaf with areca nut widely consumed throughout South Asia. The play ends with a song whose chorus reflects the commitment of TARA Girls on the subject: "We took the initiative of a clean India, we made this promise to our country".

Flowerpots and compost…

TARA Girls are also enrolled in environment-related activities, based on wasting energy and on the harmful effects of single-use plastic bags. They have since learned how to make bags out of newspaper. More generally, the children in each home had the opportunity to participate in organic gardening workshops. They produce their own compost from the home’s organic wastes. This fertilizer is in turn used to boost the growth of herbs and vegetables that the children have planted themselves. This relationship with the land that TARA is trying to give to children is an important part of their awareness of the importance of respecting their environment. It is a key challenge for a burgeoning India to build its policy on a sustainable vision. TARA intends to make its contribution by raising awareness among these young people who represent the future of their country.

No Waste

The fight against waste is also part of the TARA philosophy. More than the exorbitant price of this waste, $440 billion a year only for fresh produces in India, it is the comparison of this figure with those of malnutrition, affecting nearly 40% of children, that is most shocking. The rule is therefore simple at TARA: zero waste. This means that children must always finish their plate and the quantity of food cooked on daily basis always corresponds to the exact number of people having their meals in the home.

Preservation and respect for the environment play a key role at TARA because, as the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, "we do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it to our children".