madurai c anuja a class 9 girl has been participating in all the painting competitions in her school but she is yet to win a prize a resident of valluvar nagar in tuticorin district anuja has passion for painting but she cant hone her skills through professional courses as her parents are labourers she is one among 50 underprivileged students selected for a camp to kindle creative selfexpression in children the workshop named art for self expression for rural children is now on in madurai children of labourers mostly working in match industry are attending the camp conducted by the centre for education development action and research cedar an ngo working for rural children the young participants are mostly residents of villages in sivakasi and kovilpatti areas at the threeday camp the children would be exposed to street theatre folk arts painting and yoga classes cedar took up the initiative as poor children find it difficult to pursue their favourite art forms and hobbies this is the 25th camp in the last 12 years the children are camped at the centre for experiencing social cultural interaction cesci which is at kadavur 20 km from the city like anuja a gayathri a class 8 girl from kumarikulam is learning drama and folk arts a alagumariappan a class 10 student is learning parai a folk music and dance form t chinnaraj joseph managing trustee of cedar said such camps enable unprivileged children to articulate in a better way improve their self esteem and encourage their participation in various educational and social activities several children who attended the camp in the past could make their mark in their field these children are from villages which do not even have proper bus connectivity and good schools they are selected by volunteers working in remote villages said chinnaraj a former principal of the american college in madurai