Saturday, December 20, 2008

Clean road campaign - Pune

Hey hello everybody... 
 
We all (Deepak S, Deepak P, Ashish and his Parents, Nupur, Ashwini, Gagan, Amit, Sameer D Sir,Preetam, Priyanka, Surendra, Swati, Jeevan, Jyoti..... (Junta pls add the names if I had missed out anyone..) )
 
Starting on with the Shramadan....
 
All of us... were there on the lanes of Donge Apla Ghar Ashram.... picking up the mud and clear off the big stones and mending the road... for a change we had all the techies sweating out on the scenic hillock of Donge.... Must say.. Kaka was there encouraging all of us and yeah working too....... it seemed as if we were on a great mission full of enthu and beaming energy cheering each other, laughing and cracking jokes too........ In nutshell an ultimate example of Teamwork by Team DI .......can be seen on the way to the Aapla Ghar Aashram at Donge the approx 1 Km stretch road was ready to use.
 
Kaam k baad Dhamaal
 
The evening program started off with the Marathi traditional folk songs more famously known as Barood sung by two elderly women.
Kudos to their energy level at that age too..... they were really awesome...... sending out the goodie goodie messages specially for the kids like being helpful to talking about the worldly pleasures to youth...their songs had it all......the best thing was the way things were presented. :) This was followed by the felicitation of the singers.
 
Bhogan time
 
The mausis of Apla ghar served mast mast traditional dishes with hot kheer as desert.....
 
Baccho ka Kamaal
 
Now starts the asli dhamal..........the AG kids did wonders....with their dancing and singing talents....offcourse with Deepak dada n Priyanka didi's creative guidance. Itta mast tha k Kaka ne bakshish b di... :)
All of us singing our gutts out in the moonlit chilly night around the campfire.....and ya how can I miss out...Amit playing his mouthorgan...kya fundu bajata hai yar good going... sahi mein had an awesome evening boss!!!
 
Thanks to all !!! (padhnewalo ko bhi.... :p )
 



Warm Regards,
Jyoti

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Chennai - Valasarawakkam updates

Dear all,
Classes at Valsai is going on fine. Some 2 months back we had only 4 students coming to class regularly. The strenght drastically reduced from about 20 to just 4. Even we had some 8 girls coming to classes for some 4 weeks. But after their quarterly examinations girls stopped coming and some boys also. Think it may be due to their examination results.

As of now about ten boys are coming to classes. We regularly teach computers. The strength is consistent for the past 4 to 5 weeks. I think the parents of these students are very much worried about their MARKS now itself. Many students are going to tuitions now itself. And parents are feeling this class does not increase their performance in examinations. Hence I feel they are reluctant to sent their children. Probably from next year we need to take classes for Sixth students, who are relatively free from pressure of examinations and marks.

Thank god we have now 10 student and some 5 to 6 of them are really interested in learning and intelligent also. They are really gaining a lot from the classes.

Regards,
S.Sriram

Chennai Anna Nagar Update

Dear All,

Things have been moving at a slow pace in Anna Nagar classes. But thankfully - steadily.

Rains did hit our classes badly and water had entered a lotta homes in the street crippling the day to day activity of our kids and their families. Few houses don't actually have floors - which meant - water actually seeped into their homes from the ground also; bad state.

We did not have classes during that Saturday; Durai was able to go in on Sunday. However, we contiued with our classes from the following week. Last week, they did not have power supply for three continuous days - not sure if it continued after last Sunday.

Thanks to Amsa and family (the owners of our classroom) - they had already cleaned our class room by removing all the water that came in with all their hard work. This actually saved us a lot of time and start off the classes immediately.

The kids are in good shape and thankfully no illness or casualties because of the rains.

September 2008 marked the completion of the first year of our Small Savings scheme. With all the hard work and diligence shown by the kids, we were able to sustain the SSS for 11 kids (as planned). The second year of the SSS could have started on a better note though. Thanks to rain and Teacher's/Children's day celebrations the kids had in their schools, not much contribution came in from the kids for the months of October and November. As always, we were able to fill in and make up the initiative going.

Thanks and Regards,
Vishnu.
Chennai Anna Nagar Classes.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Plans for Adyar school

Dear Friends,

I met Mr.Jayaram, the HM of the Adyar School today morning. Thought of giving you all a quick updates on the meeting.

  • Date for elocution competition, quiz and others: We have decided to conduct the program on Saturday, Jan 24th, 2009. The prize distribution would be done on 26th to mark the republic day.

  • Sunday, 28th, 2008 would be the day for Birla planetarium visit. Will speak to SV home and most probably club this together. HM requested me to get a written letter permission from each of the children's parents. There are around 15 of them and we would take care of it coming week.

  • Computers: Rotary club [ We know Mr.Rajshekar who heads this very well ], has already donated 5 to 6 computers, but they are just being kept idle in a room. HM agreed to let us check the state of the PC's and install them properly this Saturday after the class. I have told him that Dream India can deploy a computer teacher paying a salary of 1500 - 2000rs per month. Until we find a teacher, I would be visiting the school on day time to teach children.
Just a very pleasing note: Looks like even during that terrible weekend when rains lashed Chennai, Children had come for the classes. But HM asked them to leave as he knew it would be tough to conduct classes. "We have got a bunch of kids who are really sincere and it is our duty to ensure we give them the best" - This is what each volunteer at Adyar feel.

Each of the projects above would be shared with all city group with complete documents. I have copied only Chennai and Bangalore because people from nearby can plan to join one of the events.

Anbudan,
Natarajan
Dream India
www.dreamindia2020.org

"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma

Updates from Chennai Chapter

Dear Friends,

Chennai is still recovering from the recent heavy lashing of rains and this has resulted in postponing a lot of events planned by us. However, I am writing this to you to all to give you an overall idea of what we plan to do in the near future.

Adyar Class:

The Adyar class is going on fine. We have 15 students who attends the classes regularly. These children are really eager to learn and classes these days happens for more than 2 hours. The students simply do not want us to leave.

Plans for Adyar:

  • Children to share their work on Dream India Year book within two weeks. [ It is half yearly time, so all would need extra time.]
  • Children's trip to Birla Planetarium
  • Trying to conduct a workshop on create stuff using clay. I have already written to Mr.Vincent about the same. Details on what it is http://vincentsjottings.blogspot.com/2008/11/school-principal-nirmala-was-doubly.html
  • Conduct elocution competition, Quiz program and others for students from 6th to 10th. This would happen sometime n January.
  • I would be meeting the HM tomorrow to discuss about all the proposed actions above and also about a computer center for school.
SV Home:

SV home is badly affected by rain and children have been sent home. I am in constant touch with Kamala madam to find the latest information about the situation there.

Plans for SV home:

  • Trip to Birla planetarium [ Mostly would like to combine this with Adyar children ]
  • Set up library at SV home.
  • Set up a computer center at SV home.
  • Would meet madam to discuss about Dream India year book work.
Vasantham:

Have spoken to Alli madam about kids work for Dream India year book. Will keep you all posted.

KK Home:

Have to discuss with in charge to see if the residents of the home would like to contribute for DI year book. Will keep you posted.

Vishranti Home:

Chandru and I, we visited this old age home yesterday. This home is already getting a lot of help and have very big contacts. We would have nothing to do here for now. The residents are very well treated and the infra structure here makes one think of the poor condition at KK.

Also a few of our volunteers joins the reading sessions at T.Nagar blind school and St.Louis in Adyar whenever possible. I would be visiting couple of government schools at Shollinganalur and Semanjeri [ there was an article in local daily ] soon to figure how we can help these corporation schools.


Please share your thoughts and ideas on the proposed plans mentioned above. I have given a complete picture of what happens on DI Chennai chapter in and around Adyar area.


Regards,
Natarajan
Dream India
www.dreamindia2020.org


"Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress." - Mahatma