Train them young – Little Lake Keepers Wake the Lake!

by February 11, 2014 Environment

Report by Jesse Jonathan, United Way of Bengaluru

On February 9, a beautiful Sunday morning, more than 500 children came together at their local Uttarahalli Lake, on a mission to raise awareness on the dire state of the lakes in the city and prompt action. United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe), under its “Wake the Lake” campaign along with the Uttarahalli Magekere Walkers’ Association engaged children of various ages from different schools by conducting a painting competition based on the theme Water.

The children also participated in a lot of fun activities based on the theme. Education sessions were conducted informing the children of alarming facts and the sorry state of the city’s lakes. The students actively participated in a Quiz Competition on water bodies.

Anjani, a differently abled artist from UWBe’s partner NGO ‘Samarthanam’ created a silhouette of the Uttarahalli Lake on canvas. He guided the children on colouring the outline to finally create a grand picture of the Uttarahalli Lake. The audience present at the event coloured and signed their names onto the canvas.

At the end of the activity, 10 paintings & 5 quiz winners were awarded during a Prize Distribution ceremony.

Pics courtesy United Way
For more pics, please see the United Way facebook page here.

 

Sections:

About Arathi Manay Yajaman

Arathi is a market researcher who loves to run and write. She has been actively involved in issues that affect citizens, including apartment management, waste management and lakes. She used to live in Mumbai and is now based in Bengaluru, working as a Community Anchor with Citizen Matters.
Read more by Arathi Manay Yajaman

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Bengaluru lakes are changing, and birds are paying the price

by , , , , and October 7, 2026 Environment
From disappearing reedbeds to altered shores, here is why some of the city's lakes are thriving while others face ecological collapse.

While bird detection trends over the years clearly point to the decline of Bengaluru’s shoreline and vegetated-edge habitats, numbers alone tell only part of the story. In Part 3 of this four-part series on the state of the city's waterbirds, we have used a scoring system to understand how stressed the lakes and the microhabitats within the lake are, based on the bird diversity they support. We explore how lake shape, permanent inundation and shifts in citizen-led management might explain why some lakes may thrive as wetlands while others collapse.  For instance, at Kasavanahalli, the Pied Kingfisher and the Coot…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Flawed EIA, lost livelihoods and flood risk: What the Mamallan project destroys in Nemmeli

by October 2, 2026 Environment
Replacing Chennai’s living 'coastal shield' with a freshwater reservoir destroys 16 fishing villages, bird habitats, and flood protection.

As work on the Mamallan Reservoir project is picking up pace, environmentalists and locals dread the devastation it is unleashing. The project not only threatens the fragile Kovalam-Nemmeli coastal wetland and the habitats it supports, but also poses flood risks to communities living nearby.  In an earlier article, we showed how field studies by the Suzhal Arivom team documented the damage this project will cause to the local ecology. Based on that same report, Part 2 looks at how the project impacts the daily lives and livelihoods of people in the Kovalam-Nemmeli area. The project can trigger the erasure of…

Continue reading