ABOUT US
GaMaBhaNa is a UK based social community initiative founded in March 2017 by Santosh Deshpande and Supriya Deshpande and supported by like-minded, passionate people based in the United Kingdom, Europe, India and USA. We teach Marathi language for free, conduct workshops for children, run a free Marathi library for adults, and much more.
We also put on special musical and theatrical events. See separate tab for Music.
WHAT DO WE DO?
FREE MARATHI CLASSES
We teach children from ages 3-23 to speak, read, and write Marathi-- completely free of charge. Originally classes were held face to face across the UK but with the Covid-19 situation, classes were moved to Zoom-online, with over 150 children from across the UK and Europe learning Marathi in a fun and informal way.
ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN
We conduct a variety of workshops such as an annual Ganesh Murti making workshop, music workshops, outdoor trips/walks- strawberry picking, farm visits, nature trail, Christmas celebrations in an attempt to help the children learn and have fun at the same time.
STEM FOR CHILDREN
We focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for children. We organise science workshops by the likes of Prof Samir Mitragotri (Harvard University) and Prof Shekhar Garde (Rensselear Polytechnic Institue, USA). We take the children to annual Big Bang Science Fairs in the UK.
During Marathi lessons, we encourage discussions around STEM
FREE MARATHI LIBRARY
We run a library of Marathi books for adults - a collection of over 300 Marathi books. Books delivered anywhere in the UK to people's doorsteps and collected for no charge at all. Books are posted with a pre-paid stamp for people to post back to us when read.
CHARITIES WE SUPPORT
We support various charities in the UK and India, including Balkalyan Sankul (an orphanage in Kolhapur), Snehvan and Mind UK. We only charge for professional events to cover the costs and any money remaining is donated to charities like these.
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We would appreciate your support, participation and most importantly time.
WHY DO WE DO IT?
Passion!
We treat this initiative as a social investment with "change in society" as our currency. It is to make our society better and give our children a proud identity of being British/European Indians. The children are enabled to relate to their roots and all-around, can become better citizens. They can communicate with their family in India: learning a new language is always beneficial, and if possible, they can also access the incredible literature, music, and knowledge that is available in Marathi.
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Website for free library: https://www.libib.com/u/gamabhana
Browse the website, send us a message with the book/s you would like to read and your address. We will send the book/s to you with a pre-paid stamp for you to return when finished reading.
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