Be the Change you wish to see - Gandhiji

Pointers For New Volunteers !!!

2010-10-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Many of the youth today want to get involved in volunteer work. And it is a good thing as a lot can be achieved in society if volunteers lend a helping hand. We all may get emotional by seeing the plight of the destitute, and we also want to do something for them.

But we should also keep in mind that before going ahead, the momentum should build slowly so that it also thrives with time. I have been involved in volunteer work for more than an year and have interacted with dozens of volunteers, as I was also involved in co-ordination of the volunteer groups when I was in Gurgaon. With many of the new wanna be volunteers I have seen that initially they have a very high level of enthusiasm, but which starts fading away after 2-3 weeks of involvement. They keep getting stuck due to personal or office work. The motivation level fades away. Or they don't feel like coming for the visits etc.

And it can be due to many other factors too. But there are few things one should keep in mind before venturing into any kind of social work or volunteering, especially when one wants to work part-time like during the weekends. I would like to highlight them one by one:

1. Temptation of feel good factor: This is one of the most serious reasons which prevents the serious involvement of the wanna be volunteers. When one thinks about helping the poor or doing something for them, a "feel good" factor creeps in which is quite natural. But it shouldn't remain just a feeling. One may just do something once in a while to satisfy himself that he is doing something good, or may discuss lots of things with people. But someone needs to convert those thoughts into actions too. Just being associated with a volunteer group or NGO and doing something intermittently to feel that I am also a part of change may not actually help. One needs a reality check from time to time to see in what way one is contributing, what difference it is actually bringing in the lives of those for whom one has planned to devote his time and energy. Many of the volunteer groups get involved in more meetings, volunteer get-togethers, discussions and all but the end results become elusive. So in short one should avoid the temptation of feel good factor and actually DO SOMETHING.

2. Volunteering is not always something fashionable to do: Volunteering may not be something very fashionable to do. Sometimes it requires to do the menial tasks which normally no one would like to do but it needs to be get done. If you go inside a slum area and talk to the people there to spread awareness some of the people may treat you very roughly. One needs to get his hand dirty in doing the small tasks which may not always be liking of someone .And one should be prepared for it too. Moreover, being involved in publicity like writing newsletters, organizing exhibitions and all for fund raising, website design , strategy building and all are important, but one should also remember that all of these things revolve around a basic structure where something is actually being done for the poor and remaining of the things act as a support group.

If one is involved in any particular project then he should be ready to handle all sort of work which may involve field visits, asking for funds from people, writing articles, going to market to procure the items required etc. The most important thing is that wheels should keep rolling when one has given a start.

3. Volunteering will not be a smooth ride: One should also be cautious that being involved in volunteering will not be a smooth ride. Suppose you decide to teach a group of poor children. Initially you may get a good response from the group of children but soon you may see that their interest is wavering or they are not being as regular as you expected. So when this happens, new volunteers get frustrated and they tend to back off thinking that it is not worth the effort. But one should always keep in mind the ground realities and the conditions from where these people belong. It may take a long time to see any substantial results. Many of the new volunteers would come for 2-3 visits and will then question that they are not feeling that they are achieving anything or lack of satisfaction, etc. One needs to have a lots of patience to assess any results. Just thinking that visiting an NGO or slum area for 2-3 times and expecting results will only reduce the motivation. Bringing a change requires a struggle and one should be mentally prepared for it.

4. Volunteering requires a lot of commitment : Volunteering is no easy job especially when one wants to do it on a regular basis. If one wants to make volunteering a part of life, then it requires a lot of commitment to finding out time for it on a regular basis. Many a times one has to face a situation where one has to choose between going to a NGO on weekend or going for a movie with friends. If one really wants to devote time to help the needy then one also needs to prioritize things and should make sure that he can find out time for it. Especially like if you are involved with teaching children, then children may become very involved with you and may wait for you every weekend. But if you are able to go only intermittently then the children may lose trust. It takes time to build rapport with children or any other group of people for whom you want to work.

5. You need to find your motivation: You need to find out where exactly your motivation lies. If you are just inspired by seeing someone else doing something, the enthusiasm may soon wither off. You need to sit and analyze what you want to do and for which group of people. If you want to work for a special group of people you need to find out which will give you the most satisfaction. Some people want to work for orphans, some for old age people, some want to work with disabled, some want to work with mentally challenged, some want to work for the disabled, some want to work for preventing child labor, some want to work for women rights, some want to work for rural development, some want to work on health care for the poor etc. Question is what you want to work upon. You need to see where your motivation lies and the ways in which you can help.

I hope these points will give you few insights about factors associated with volunteering.

~~ Nishank

Email: onlynishank@gmail.com
Ph No.: +91-9910137929

After 4 daughters, the pressure to bear yet another child .....!

2010-09-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hi,

During my weekly visit to Prempuri Basti in Gurgaon, I came across a family, where the woman already has 4 daughters, the eldest one around 7 years old and the youngest one about 5 months old. We few volunteers, usually 3-4 in number, go as a small team every Sunday to this slum area located in Sec-32, Jharsa, Gurgaon, where we are trying to work under a Community Empowerment Program.

Upon a brief interaction, the lady mentioned that her husband and her in-laws still want a male child. Her husband is a rickshaw-puller and the lady works as a household maid. The family is basically from Begusarai in Bihar, but has been in Gurgaon for about 12 years now. She also shared that before having her 4th daughter, she used to stay at her in-laws place, who also live in Gurgaon. But after not being able to give a son to the family, her in-laws had asked her to move out and stay separately with her husband and her daughters.

While we were discussing the matter with her, her husband had gone for work. We tried to ask her if we can intervene in some manner to talk with her husband. But the lady told, that she is not much hopeful in this aspect that her husband would be open to discussion. She was also concerned that taking care of 4 children is in itself a herculean task, and that too on a meager income. As per education, she has studied till class 5, but her husband is unable to read and write.

Now this becomes a classic case, where a woman does not wants to bear any more child, but has to deal with the pressure from her in-laws and her husband of giving them a son. Her husband also has 3 sisters, which might add to further desire of having a male child in the family. She was also worried that what if the 5th child is also a daughter. May be some more systematic intervention is required in terms of talking with her husband and her in-laws.

But when the preference for the male child runs so strongly in the family, I have apprehensions as what can be achieved through outside intervention.

May be some suggestions or advice can come handy, as what can be done to tackle this case.

Best regards,
Nishank
9910137929

Initiating a "Community Empowerment Program" at Prempuri Basti in Sector-32, Gurgaon

2010-09-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi,

To give a brief overview, we identified Prempuri around 2 months back, while exploring bastis from where children could come to our teaching center at Unnati. Since then, we had been visiting the basti on a regular basis. Initially, few of the families were reluctant to talk to us, and hence we conducted few weekly open air classroom sessions within the basti itself to gain the confidence of the parents there.

This basti is more than 20 years old consisting of approximately 100-120 families living in that area. There are few families who have been living for more than 15 years in that basti. The people living here are of varied occupations ranging from Rickshaw Pullers, Housekeeping Staffs, Daily Wage Laborers, Domestic Maids, Mistris (मिस्त्री), etc. During some general conversations with the folks there, we got to know that most of the families living there had earlier migrated from Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, etc., but now can be considered a stable population there.

The relative stability of the basti has some inherent advantages in terms of sustaining a long term involvement and working on different aspects of community empowerment ranging from education, health care, adult literacy, labor rights, livelihood generation/enhancement, spreading awareness about Govt. schemes, etc. This would basically involve not just interacting with the young kids there, but also reaching out to elder kids who may or may not go to schools, the elder folks in the community, the women folks there, etc.

So far, our Community Connect programs here in AID Gurgaon have essentially focused on interacting with parents of the kids who come to our teaching centers and the students who come under the RSEP program. However, under the Community Empowerment Program we would be making an effort to reach out to other target groups in the community. For example, it has been observed that the girls in the age group of 12-16 are rarely sent to school in such bastis, as they have to do the household work, look after their siblings and many a times also need to work as domestic help. Later on, it happens that they are married off soon by their parents even without achieving basic literacy. So we need to figure out as how we can reach out to such a target group.

We have refrained here from stating it as a "Community Intervention Program" (which could have been an alternate name), as the idea is not to go there with ready-made solutions and "intervene" in their way of life, but more of an effort to learn from them about the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives and help them out in community empowerment. Moreover, naming it a "project" in initial phases would be avoided, as this would entail having specific goals, deadlines, etc. The idea here is to spend a sizable time with the community, say 6 months, on a continuous basis and build a rapport with the folks there, along with trying to figure out micro-initiatives which can be sustained there.

Few of such possible micro-initiatives can be:

1) Communicating with the folks there about importance of savings and financial planning, especially for the future education of their children.
2) Trying to ensure that at least one person in every family knows to read a newspaper. This would also make them aware of the Govt. schemes on a regular basis. As an alternative, it can also be done as a team work, where few adult folks sit together and one of them reads out the news aloud for other folks.
3) Mentoring and providing guidance to the kids in the group of class 8-12 and helping them out with studies.
4) Forming adult literacy groups for the women folks in the basti.
5) Helping the community folks for their livelihood enhancement.
6) Discussing health issues with the community folks and whether they avail any facilities provided by the Govt.
7) Figuring out better solutions for the day-to-day challenges related to housing, drinking water, electricity, sanitation, etc.

These are just few of the pointers in terms of the different ways we can get involved there. Just to reiterate that the idea is not to go with ready-made solutions to the basti, but to first learn and understand the problems the people living there are facing.

In terms of the requirements of this program, we would be needing few volunteers who can be part of it on a regular basis for a good amount of time. One should bear in mind, that working with communities can be a painstakingly slow process, with sometimes no visible results even in months, especially because of our limited amount of time involvement as volunteers. Going there with fixed goals and deadlines may further add to frustrations and disillusionment.

However, such a program could be a great platform for volunteers who want to learn and get engaged with the communities, along with working on different aspects of community empowerment. It is crucial that the volunteers spend time with the community on a continuous basis to build rapport with the folks there over a period of time.

Hopefully, such a Community Empowerment Program would help in adding a different dimension to the kind of initiatives undertaken by AID Gurgaon.

Ideally, the model adopted for this program would essentially rely on continuous volunteer involvement, instead of raising funds and hiring people.

I have attached below few pics of the Prempuri Basti to give a rough idea.

If you would like to volunteer for this "Community Empowerment Program", or for any related queries, feel free to get in touch with me via phone/email.

Thanks and regards,
Nishank

Email: (onlynishank@gmail.com)

Mob No: 9910137929

Initiating a "Community Empowerment Program" at Prempuri Basti in Sector-32, Gurgaon

2010-07-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

I would like to share details about initiating a "Community Empowerment Program" at Prempuri Basti in Gurgaon.

Prempuri Basti is located in Sector-32, Gurgaon, which falls somewhere between Jharsa Chowk and Rajeev Chowk, very close to NH-8, and is in proximity to the offices located of various companies, viz. Ranbaxy, Punj Lloyd, Adidas, Ciena, etc.

To give a brief overview, we identified Prempuri around 2 months back, while exploring bastis from where children could come to our teaching center at Unnati. Since then, we had been visiting the basti on a regular basis. Initially, few of the families were reluctant to talk to us, and hence we conducted few weekly open air classroom sessions within the basti itself to gain the confidence of the parents there.

This basti is more than 20 years old consisting of approximately 100-120 families living in that area. There are few families who have been living for more than 15 years in that basti. The people living here are of varied occupations ranging from Rickshaw Pullers, Housekeeping Staffs, Daily Wage Laborers, Domestic Maids, Mistris (मिस्त्री), etc. During some general conversations with the folks there, we got to know that most of the families living there had earlier migrated from Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, etc., but now can be considered a stable population there.

The relative stability of the basti has some inherent advantages in terms of sustaining a long term involvement and working on different aspects of community empowerment ranging from education, health care, adult literacy, labor rights, livelihood generation/enhancement, spreading awareness about Govt. schemes, etc. This would basically involve not just interacting with the young kids there, but also reaching out to elder kids who may or may not go to schools, the elder folks in the community, the women folks there, etc.

So far, our Community Connect programs here in AID Gurgaon have essentially focused on interacting with parents of the kids who come to our teaching centers and the students who come under the RSEP program. However, under the Community Empowerment Program we would be making an effort to reach out to other target groups in the community. For example, it has been observed that the girls in the age group of 12-16 are rarely sent to school in such bastis, as they have to do the household work, look after their siblings and many a times also need to work as domestic help. Later on, it happens that they are married off soon by their parents even without achieving basic literacy. So we need to figure out as how we can reach out to such a target group.

We have refrained here from stating it as a "Community Intervention Program" (which could have been an alternate name), as the idea is not to go there with ready-made solutions and "intervene" in their way of life, but more of an effort to learn from them about the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives and help them out in community empowerment. Moreover, naming it a "project" in initial phases would be avoided, as this would entail having specific goals, deadlines, etc. The idea here is to spend a sizable time with the community, say 6 months, on a continuous basis and build a rapport with the folks there, along with trying to figure out micro-initiatives which can be sustained there.

Few of such possible micro-initiatives can be:

1) Communicating with the folks there about importance of savings and financial planning, especially for the future education of their
children.
2) Trying to ensure that at least one person in every family knows to read a newspaper. This would also make them aware of the
Govt. schemes on a regular basis. As an alternative, it can also be done as a team work, where few adult folks sit together and one
of them reads out the news aloud for other folks.
3) Mentoring and providing guidance to the kids in the group of class 8-12 and helping them out with studies.
4) Forming adult literacy groups for the women folks in the basti.
5) Helping the community folks for their livelihood enhancement.
6) Discussing health issues with the community folks and whether they avail any facilities provided by the Govt.
7) Figuring out better solutions for the day-to-day challenges related to housing, drinking water, electricity, sanitation, etc.

These are just few of the pointers in terms of the different ways we can get involved there. Just to reiterate that the idea is not to go with ready-made solutions to the basti, but to first learn and understand the problems the people living there are facing.

In terms of the requirements of this program, we would be needing few volunteers who can be part of it on a regular basis for a good amount of time. One should bear in mind, that working with communities can be a painstakingly slow process, with sometimes no visible results even in months, especially because of our limited amount of time involvement as volunteers. Going there with fixed goals and deadlines may further add to frustrations and disillusionment.

However, such a program could be a great platform for volunteers who want to learn and get engaged with the communities, along with working on different aspects of community empowerment. It is crucial that the volunteers spend time with the community on a continuous basis to build rapport with the folks there over a period of time.

Hopefully, such a Community Empowerment Program would help in adding a different dimension to the kind of initiatives undertaken by AID Gurgaon.

Ideally, the model adopted for this program would essentially rely on continuous volunteer involvement, instead of raising funds and hiring people.

I have attached below few pics of the Prempuri Basti to give a rough idea.

If you would like to volunteer for this "Community Empowerment Program", or for any related queries, feel free to get in touch with me via phone/email.

Thanks and regards,
Nishank (onlynishank@gmail.com)

A Must Watch Video

2010-05-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

To Download this video, pleas click here

Ideas/Suggestions for Community Connect !!!

2010-04-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I want to share few ideas/suggestions related to the Community Connect program which can add some value to our projects:

1) Detailed profiling of parents: While usually our emphasis is on tracking the progress of children, we should also spend some time on understanding the root causes behind the prevalent condition of the parents of the children. For this we would be gathering some information about the parents which will include their current income level, the reasons behind their migration of moving from a rural area to an urban area, the details about their wider family, the facilities they have or don't have in the villages, etc. to enhance our own learning and connecting with the bigger picture of poverty and issues faced by migrant population. Mansi, Dileep, Sneha and myself have prepared an exhaustive questionnaire to collect the related information. Mansi would be soon sharing the questionnaire with the group for a general feedback.

2) Programs related to Adult Literacy: In the long run we should also come up with some programs related to Adult Literacy. While we might be making our best efforts to work on the education of the children, it is equally imperative that we engage the parents who don't know to read and write to enhance their learning. One of the impediments we face that usually both the parents are busy with their work, and they many not deem important to learn alphabets because of their age. However, we should keep underscoring to them regarding the importance of learning to read and write and how this can help them in being more aware of their rights and that they won't be fooled by others who may try to take advantage of their illiteracy. For this, may be we can take help of some teacher who has experience in dealing with adult literacy programs. Along with this, we can also keep some small awareness talks in the basti itself from time to time related to health and hygiene, family planning, importance of balanced diets, their basic rights as migrant population, schemes of the Govt. for the poor, etc. If we are able to work on enhancing the knowledge level of the parents, then it would be a lot beneficial for the well-being of the children in the long run.

3) Raising the income level of the parents:While this could be a very challenging task, we should still keep brainstorming on how we can help in raising the income level of the parents. This can include the livelihood programs we have started with viz. making of spices, sewing classes, etc. We should also come up with solutions which can help in more skill based learning for the male members through some microfinance initiatives or skill building. Another aspect can be of encouraging them to save some money on a regular basis (may be as low as 100Rs per month) and if needed helping them in opening accounts in banks or post offices. If we come across cases, where the father of a child wastes excessive money on drinking, and the onus lies on the mother to sustain the family, then we can also help them to open a separate savings account. Any kind of initiatives helping in raising the overall income level of the parents will in turn benefit the children as the parents will be able to spend more on their education, nutrition and overall well-being.

4) Need of female volunteers for Community Connect: Though going inside the slum areas and bastis may be more challenging for the female volunteers (sorry no gender bias intended), to make the Community Connect program overall more effective, we would be needing more female volunteers in the group to come forward. During the visits, the female volunteers can discuss with the women folks gender specific issues ranging from facing domestic violence, health issues specific to women ( e.g. cases of anemia, osteoporosis, etc.), need of balanced diet and the general precautions in case of any pregnant women around, making the women folks aware about the adverse effects of malnutrition in young kids, how much is their say in family planning, how the women folks see the need of education for girl child, etc. The female volunteers can be of great help in tackling the gender specific issues under the Community Connect program.

5) Distributing hard copies of Community Connect pics and of Unnati/Disha: Though we keep capturing tonnes of snaps from time to time, usually the parents of the children don't have access to the pics of their children we take at Unnati/Disha, or any pics captured during Community Connect. We can get some selected pics printed from time to time and handover to the parents. We can also get some pics of the children along with their parents. This will help the families in adding something to their family album (if they keep one) and also the children can keep them as memories when they grow up.

6) Making a documentary related to Community Connect: If someone has a camcorder, then we can make about an hour long documentary, essentially filming in the bastis we visit and covering the lives of migrant population, their living conditions, the issues they face, etc. This can also include some interviews with few of the parents and some children. Later on, we can upload the documentary to youtube and will also help in publicity of AID Gurgaon along with educating the general public about the lives of slum dwellers.

If you have any more ideas/suggestions to make the Community Connect program a more effective one, then please feel free to share them.

Moreover, to expand the scope of the Community Connect program, we would be needing more volunteers, and the people who are interested should get in touch with Dileep (9310556612) or myself for this. We will also try to make the Community Connect program more effective at Prerna and Shiksharth.

Regards,
Nishank
+91-9910137929

Livelihood Programs @ Shiksharth

2010-04-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Shiksharth, a project in Kanhai Village, Gurgaon was initiated with the purpose to provide the right to education to the not so privileged ones in the village. Five months up and running now, we have developed trust and faith in the hearts of villagers! Nothing is more fulfilling than an experience when someone treats you as his/her confidante. It was overwhelming emotion for me to hear from the village women that they wanted to learn their names and wanted to be independent in their own right!

With these facts in the background, our team thought of promoting livelihood programs. So, here we go- first campaign was launched in January2010 and we called it -"Donate your Newspaper", we have great ideas around that. We collect newspapers from various sources and have conducted a dry run within the team to make bags out of them. The team is now working to market them using the samples. Once the orders are in, we plan to start the production in full swing!

Another program that we initiated in March 2010 is "Spice Making Unit". The first two lots of spices were ground with hand tools, however this week we purchased the grinders and are ready to roll the next lot of spices! The current variety of spices is limited to red chilly powder and turmeric powder. The others in pipeline would include- Mint masala, Jeera masala etc.

The above programs will employ the workforce from the village, primarily the women. The idea is to train them at the Shiksharth premises and provide them a means for their livelihood. We also plan to begin evening classes at a not so distant future where not just their kids but the mothers can also attain some level of literacy!

God willingly, the shine in the country will seep into the grass root levels that will take the country and its people to a better level of being and existence!

Respectfully Yours...

2010-01-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

While many of us have joined hands to work against various issues facing our country, there are some real ground issues that we need to tackle. The very basic psychological need of any human is respect (in its true sense). What would respect mean?

Well, to begin with let us say it is to honour each other's presence! Now, all of us, from the very beginning are so used to of being taught everything, its very rare that we self learn things. So, who teaches us this phenomenon. I would probably appoint "the mother", for no one can be a better teacher for a child than his/her own mother.

My question is- Is that happening? The answer in all probability would be don't think so? We have come to terms with parents providing sex education to their children however, I am yet to see any mother inculcating that emotion called "respect" in her child. But many wonder what is the point that I am trying to make, should we have lessons on respect now? My answer is Yes! It is important for every girl to understand the thin line between self respect and ego; it is important for every boy to understand the thin line between power and dominance.

Things in the past were so simple, the roles were so clear. The mommies were given the portfolio of home management and the daddies had to manage everything else. I still remember my friend's mom giving the job desciptions (JDs) & KRAs of the organization called "family". Here it goes-

Daddy: the one who goes and gets the bread and the butter
Mommy: the one who toasts it and applies butter
Child: the one who gets the first bite

Life was so simple back then. But now, the mommies are in the race to outshine the daddies. In such a situation it becomes very important for every human to understand this concept called "respect". Many marriages are breaking for the want of "respect". I see many times it is not respect but ego! Both men and women fail to respect each other's existence and do not understand the thin lines between various realms of life and proceed to lead a happy and balanced life.

With the roles getting complicated and intertwinned, the concept of respect needs to be schooled to each one of us so that it is not messed up with ego! ELAINE SIHERA an expert author, public speaker, media contributor and lifestyle columnist has worked on the concept of respect and following are the excerpts from her writings:

Often a lack of respect comes from a misunderstanding of the word. We throw around the word 'respect' very glibly, as a single cure-all for our feelings. But respect is not just one term. It carries six other dimensions within it:

1. curiosity: We have an interest in that person. We want to know as much about them as possible, or at least a few key things to start with.

2. attention: If curiosity is satisfied, we move to give that person our full attention.

3. dialogue: We communicate verbally as much as possible because we respect that person enough to want to hear what they have to say. We also take the greatest pleasure in conversing for its own sake.

4. sensitivity: This is at the core of respect. Accepting the person as they are without wanting to change them to suit us; fully acknowledging their values, culture, identity and who they want to be; valuing their contributions, opinions and inputs and genuinely listening to them and sharing their concerns. These are all essential elements of showing sensitivity to the person they are, and wish to be. When we put ourself and our needs first, and can only see our values, cultures and opinions, we are lacking great sensitivity to those we care for and are actually denying them respect, no matter what we say to the contrary.

5. empowerment: Being curious about someone, giving our attention to, having a dialogue with, him or her, and being sensitive to their needs represent the greatest form of empowerment we can grant to another human being. It shows we value them greatly if we are willing to give them our attention and time, and also care about what they value. Anything else lacks respect.

6. healing: Respect has the capacity to heal, especially when we have had past experiences that have been very hurtful or traumatic, so this last dimension is important. When we have had a bad time it is very affirming to be respected and valued by the new person we are attracted to, or the people we interact with, and it is effective in speeding up the healing process.

If we are not really demonstrating those six concepts in various ways, with regards to the one we say we respect, we are not showing them much respect at all.

I find the definiton so beautiful as it fits in every relation- in-laws, lovers, friends, spouse, colleagues and fellow citizens. In a way is that not what our constituition also frames in the form of fundamental rights!

More to follow as I experience life........

Cheers! Kanika

Republic Day Celebration at Shiksharth

2010-01-28T05:21:00.000-08:00

The Republic Day celebration at Shiksharth was the first event hosted there since the school started about two months back. Naturally, there was much excitement coupled with nervouness in the morning air of 26th. All the volunteers gathered at the school and went about making last minute preparations for the function, while the students huddled together practicing 'Saare Jahan Se Accha'.

The students of Shiksharth were soon joined by children from 'Suparna Ka Angan', an NGO run by Suparna ji who hoisted the flag and said a few words of encouragement to the children. Others guests present were Mr.S.P. Singh and Commander Gupta who also shared their thoughts and words with the children. Mrs.Grover, who is a retired school principal and is actively involved at Shiksharth, engaged the children in a patriotic song.

The flag hoisting ceremony and national anthem were followed by a patriotic song presented by students in tandem with a couple of volunteers. A talent show was presented where the children came forward and presented poems and patriotic songs to loud clapping and cheering from their parents and us volunteers. One of the most regular students of the school, Hrithik, was awarded a prize for 100% attendance record.

The sports activities that followed were greatly enjoyed by both participants and the audience; our little event pulled quite a crowd from the adjoining Ramleela ground where the villagers were celebrating Republic Day in their own 'a little too loud' spirit. :) The race were conducted at the back lawn of the school. The children participated in running race, lemon and spoon race and balloon race. The enthusiam of the kids was so infectious that soon it spread to us too and we had a lemon and spoon race as well. :)

Once the children had settled down after the race, prizes were distributed to the winners; sweets and biscuits were distributed to all the children present. The day came to a close with all the volunteers posing together for pictures alongside children and the teacher.

All in all, the day turned out to be simply unforgettable for me and I am sure for the rest of the volunteers too.

Deepak, Nitin, Mohit, Kanika, Piyush, Kunal, Tapas, Mohit Grover, Pretik, Pooja, Mansi and Divya - Thank you so much for all the efforts you guys put into making this event a success.

Cheers!
Mathangi

Shiksharth – A new AID-Gurgaon initiative

2010-01-14T01:21:00.000-08:00

It's been now more than one month that our new educational centre 'Shiksharth' has started. During this initial one month we faced many challenges around infrastructure, water for sanitation, kid's turnaround, kids tracking, teacher monitoring, etc. However, we have managed to overcome most of the issues today. Below are the key areas of our focus:

Infrastructure
We have already taken some measures to improve the infrastructure while some others are in the consideration.

Since the school is running in the open gallery so we have arranged a bamboo chit wall to block the wind from one side.
Purchased 2 plastic chairs, Black Board, locks, stationary, etc.
Resolved drinking water problem.Resolved sanitation water problem.
Resolved electricity problem.

Going forward for couple of months our priority will be ground leveling and tree
plantation. Ground leveling work has been started and tree plantation drive
is schedule in February.

Education
Currently around 30 kids are coming regularly in the school and we are committed to increase the numbers of kids once the weather gets normalized. We are in process of tracking the mental level and development of the kids. We are starting the process to connect with the parents of kids who are coming to 'Shiksharth'. Since we are not enrolling more kids currently so we have postponed the community connect program till the end of February. AID-Gurgaon volunteer, Mathangi, is coming regularly to assist the teacher. Moreover, she is the prime coordinator for the new volunteers willing to join us at 'Shiksharth'. She is in continuous touch with kids and teacher and always trying to monitor their performance and the needs. Recently Mansi Saxena has joined us in our initiative.

Self-Sustainability Initiative
Recently, we have started a campaign 'Donate your Newspaper' in order to raise the funds. We are hopeful that this initiative will help us in creating awareness around our school and also sensitizing people regarding their social responsibility.

Volunteer need for Community Connect visit near Sec-45, Kanhai Village, Gurgaon

2009-12-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Project : Shiksharth
Number of Volunteer Required : 20-30

Purpose:
1. Volunteers are required to make an effort to beautify the school with plantation and levelling. We would like to have activity day once a week, preferably saturday or sunday for this. Starting at 11 and could last for 2-3 hours.
2. Water tank to be installed as it is required for water usage in toilet. Funds required for the first 2 activities.
3. Monitoring the kids enrolled in the school.
4. Mentoring them and connect to their parents.
5. Curriculum development.

Update:

Shiksharth is running properly from the last 2 weeks. Developments in the last 2 weeks are as follow:

A permanent teacher has been appointed and to assist her ‘Mathangi’ and ‘Mrs Grover’ (retired principal) provide their service daily.

Following items are arranged for the school.

1 Black Board
2 chairs
Bamboo Chik to cover the gallery where school is running (see attached pics)
20 Slates for Kids
Carpets, etc.

Some tracking of children is already done by Mrs. Grover and Mathangi..
Some land leveling work has already been started on Sarpanch's orders.
Talked to Gardener of the adjacent park and he would help us in grass and tree plantation in school.

http://gurgaon.aidindia.org/contact_us

Project Prerna

2009-12-19T17:43:00.001-08:00

*Certainly, Slumdog Millionaire is one more example of India’s undeniable brilliance and extraordinary talent that the world is increasingly saying 'Jai Ho'. One can rightly appreciate the wonderfully inspiring story of a poor boy who overcomes all odds to make a million.*

But It’s a pity that even today we are struggling to ensure basic rights to the children who are living in slums.Their right to education, nutrition, health, shelter and protection — stands threatened and undermined.

And the desired changes in the lives of such children will come only when more and more privileged people with a desire to bring changes start participating proactively in finding solutions for these children.

With this conviction, we have started project PRERNA to help the kids in the slums. Project PRERNA is an inspiration to make a difference in their lives.

Prerna was started started on 14th Nov,2009,(Children Day) for Saturday and Sunday Classes only.

*Project faced continuous problems and threats to keep the school running, but the team always loved the challenges coming their way and eventually Brigadier Saab A S Yadav (Retd.) living near by came to the rescue and provided his vacant land to start up the school.*

*Today, we are running this school on regular basis with full time teacher hired. We are teaching around 40+ students in two groups of around 20 each.*

*Remember:* **"No child is born imperfect. Every life is a blessing and a hope for
mankind". *And* "Education is the primary catalyst which transforms ignorance to hope."

Location:
Near Presidency Building
Sector 14
Gurgaon
Haryana

Shiksharth- A means to bright future !

2009-12-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, Nov 6, 2009, Zariya and AID- Gurgaon chapter launched their project Shiksharth to educate the underprivileged children residing in the slums of Kanhai village in Gurgaon. Association for India's Development (AID) is a volunteer movement promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources including land, water and energy, agriculture, health, women's empowerment and social justice. Zariya is a group of young Indians who have come together to become a means to providing a solution to various causes. The group intends to work as a bridge between large social organizations and the lower sect of the society. Zariya is working consistently towards achieving their milestones to contribute to the society. In the pursuit to achieve that, the group is working with many organizations on various projects. However, Shiksharth is the first big step, of team Zariya, in their endeavor to community service. Shiksharth is a community school based out of Kanhai village. The volunteers from AID Gurgaon and Zariya walked around the slums in Kanhai village to spread the word of importance of education for all. The team registered the students into the school and on its first day on Sunday saw an overwhelming response from the residents. The school on its inaugural day marked the attendance for 40 children from the village. Sarpanch Satish Yadav ji inaugurated the school in the presence of the volunteers and a few guests that included Colonel Rajinder Singh. The average age of the children who attended the first day was 8 years. The students were made to learn a few lessons on moral values through cartoon movies and were thereafter provided refreshments. Shiksharth has taken its first flight with one teacher and forty students, and aims at achieving a headcount of 125-150 students to be managed by four teachers. The school will operate, from 9 am to 1:30pm from Monday thru Friday and 9am to 12 pm on Saturdays, in the premises adjoining the temple in Kanhai village. The purpose would be to provide the remedial classes for weak and underprivileged kids and prepare them for admission to the public schools. The project Shiksharth owes sincere thanks to the Sarpanch Satish Yadav ji of Kanhai village for providing the land and all the support and the residents of Kanhai village in showing their faith in us.

2010 Sapney - Dreams for a brighter tomorrow!!

2009-11-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

SAPNEY portrays the dreams held by many underprivileged children. These children who come from families that have more than 5 members to feed each meal work as rag pickers in the early hours of the day. Later, they get dressed and head towards school. Through the little that they learn each day they weave anther part of their dream and we at AID GGN through our projects Unnati and Disha are guiding these children to realise these dreams. Based in the interiors of Jharsa Village Gurgaon, at Unnati and Disha non- formal education is provided to children who come from nearby slums. Once these children progress, they are put into formal schools. Maths, English, Hindi, EVS are taught everyday and special modules like paper crafts, health and hygiene, environment studies, manners and etiquettes are taken up by various corporate companies under their CSR programme or individual volunteers on weekends. With all the support we get through volunteers we have been able to raise the bar both at Disha and Unnati which have crossed 50 students each this winter.The discussions that happen during volunteer meets between volunteers and children have revealed that these children have built dreams of their own where they see happy homes and steady money. SAPNEY expresses this very emotion of these young children who once didn’t even know what school was meant for. SAPNEY captures the true essence of hope and belief these children have grown to hold through the lines...

Aaakhon mein hain sapne hazaar,
Anek rango se hain meri duniya sarobar,
Aasha ke pahiyon pe main hoon savaar,
Kya honge mere sapne sakaar ?
Ban sakti hoon main Miss India…pilot…teacher…
Lagan ki kami nahi,
Hunar mujhme bhi hai,
Apni kabiliyat pe hai bharosa,
Kehna hai mujhe bahut kuchh,
Kya tum sunoge meri baat?

Contributions collected through the distribution of these calendars will be directed towards the development of these projects. Come and support the cause and help nourish a dream...

To book your "Sapney" calendar, drop Anshul a mail at anshul.sach@gmail.com or call him at 9873469546.

You may also place your order by filling the form below :

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Green gurgaon Campaign

2009-11-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you with G² initiative. G² is basically Green Gurgaon Campaign. It’s a dream to make it true, a drive to give back green cover to concrete jungle named Gurgaon. This is an AID- Gurgaon initiative lead by Col (retd.) Rajinder Singh and the action plan was laid with the joint efforts from Forest department (Gurgaon) and the G² force team.

Forest department gave us plants and know how and allowed us to run this campaign on a land near Rajiv Chownk on Sohna Road meant for Plantation purpose.

On 10:00 Saturday morning, we all meet at the spot and found the marked land to be filled with shrubs, wild grass, thorns, bushy plants and uneven surface. Yes! We all took a deep breath …Wow! Yes, it’s a challenging day today.

Pit work was already done at equal distances with the help of a drilling tractor. We inspected the area. And the thorny plants gave us a challenge. Then a truck arrived with full of plants. “Come On Guys – Move”, Munish shouted. We went to unload plants from the truck. Each plant was 20-25 kgs weight. 4 PWD workers too joined us to help us in planting plants. Plants were unloaded into a rickshaw and were shifted to pits area. Plant bags were also passed from shoulder to shoulder and were kept besides pits.

“Hello Guys! Please welcome few more girl volunteers from Evalueserve who have come over here to help us”, Munish said. Nilopher, Sita, Ritika and Rashmi…..were the names if I remember correctly.

A tough task, a big challenge for them – it was a surprise for them as they they didn’t expected thorny, bushy land. Some of us were in sleepers, half pants. So, it was also a test of their will power. Nothing could stop us – Move, Move, Ok, Very Good…Come on Guys…Help him or her OK Get another, take care of plant…Smile please…take a snap….these words were easily heard slogans. Joining hands to pull and push rickshaw to move it to plantation area had its own charm. It required all your muscle power.

Wow! Lovely was the sight of a good team work with a challenging task with scorching sun overhead. Nothing could stop us and our spirits and enthusiasm was on a high. We planted each plant carefully into the pit ensuring good hold of soil. Without taking rest, we planted 120 saplings in 3 hours of activity. When it was done, we also checked each plant to make sure whether it was properly planted or not. Then we sat under a shade of a lone small tree and had some snacks and chatted about our feelings for this noble cause. We tested our physical efficiency without AC under scorching sun. Everybody laughed.

Now, we all have a vision – one day we will have fruits, flowers, shade and can listen birds chirping and singing a song of thanks for us.

A vote of thanks to Forest department, Evalueserve, AID, Volunteers, PWD workers and above all Col (Retd.) Rajinder Singh for making this dream into reality. A foundation of green castle with 250 plants was laid down today with the writings of my pen here for you. Green Gurgaon Dream a Greener Earth Dream ..

Thank you all! Join Us and be the change you always wanted to see around you.

Jai Hind !

Dileep

Rajesh' volunteer experience

2009-11-13T08:09:00.001-08:00

I have been working with AID for almost 4 years now. It has been a great learning experience – got an opportunity to interact and learn from hundreds of volunteers, and most importantly, got a sense of REAL India. We all get to realize how much we have and how comfortably we are living the moment we get to meet people who are struggling to make a living. All of us who cribbed about our schools never thought that even attending a government school can be a luxury.

When we started Gurgaon Chapter of AID four years back, we never thought we will make thus far. But we did. For which I would like to thank everyone for relentless effort and undying motivation.

Initially, as is the case with most of the non-profits, we were struggling to keep up the momentum. Volunteer attrition was high and funds were limiting our ambition. Despite persistent blogging, Orkuting, etc. coupled with exploitation of personal contacts, things were not improving. I wanted to find a permanent solution to both volunteer attrition and intermittent flow of funds problems. And hence, I started to purse Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Evalueserve, a company I am employed with.

Initial days were full of uncertainties. I was pushing hard to make an impression within the organization. There were lot many things that we were doing to get the visibility. A few of them are as follows:

Doing volunteer work within the organization – Doing volunteer work within Evalueserve proved to be instrumental in establishing CSR group in Evalueserve. Under this initiative, we imparted basic education to house-keeping staffs in Evalueserve. Beside education, the objective of the project was to facilitate awareness of health, hygiene among house-keeping personnel. Also, under this initiative training for transport and security personnel was conducted. The objective of the training was to facilitate organizational awareness and general precautions while performing their duty.
Publicizing our work with AID
Initiating environment awareness and resource saving campaigns
Organizing blood donation camps
Organizing exhibition in collaboration with NGOs

Gradually, we started to get traction from employees as well as management. Not only more people joined the initiative but also funds started to pour in. To start with, we were getting funds generated through internal activities. But as we grew in size, bigger ideas started to shape up. In February’08, we ran company-wide fund raiser campaign. The result – we collected Rs. 200,000 spread over 12 months and added more than 100 volunteers to the initiative. The response was not up to our expectation but we were not ready to give up.

We rethought our strategies of reaching out to people to seek support for projects we were running with AID and other NGOs. We formed a core team of 10 dedicated volunteers to drive the initiative in a more focused way. The step helped a great deal in not only spreading greater awareness but also in identifying a lot of passionate individuals. Also, while interacting with individuals across the company, core team found out that people have myriad of notions of what CommuniServe does. And a lot of what people had perceived was not the right picture of what we were doing and where we want to reach.

To convey the message right and clear, we decided to reach out to all 20 groups and 2,000 employees in the company. And CommuniServe Road-show began. Over a period of one month, we sensitized everyone in the company about impact we have had and our focus for the future. This activity provided enormous push to CommuniServe, for we identified 3-4 champions in each group and generated handsome funds to support our initiatives – monthly contribution increased from a mere Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 60,000.

Today, I can confidently say that CommuniServe has established itself firmly. What started with a few people has now become a company-wide initiative. AID volunteers come from companies of various industries. And every company wants to do something for the society. In fact, if you read the policy guidelines, I guarantee you mention of the word society and community several times. What I am trying to bring forth is that if they do not a formal CSR team yet, you can drive the cause. You are equipped with experience and association of AID. And above all, you are sitting on place which is full of possibilities, all you need is belief in the cause and rest would follow.

I would like to end this note with a famous quote from Napolean Hill – “What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.
Cheers,
Rajesh

AID Gurgaon - SPEL collaboration launched at Disha

2009-11-13T07:09:00.001-08:00

AID Delhi magazine November 2009

2009-11-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

Pratibimb

SIEMENS Volunteers speak - Paper Craft Module at Disha

2009-11-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

How will we start the class? Will the children understand what we teach? How will they behave/react? And most importantly how will we handle the situation if anything goes out of control? An array of infinite questions was orbiting our minds for the last 3 days. But all of us had one thing very clear in our mind “We are going there for something good and there’s no looking back.”

Circumspect, Excited, Nervous and with plenty of butterflies in the stomach, the team (ADS, Ashu, Nikhil, Gunjan, Jatin and Nidhi) entered the class. As we entered, we saw 15-20 kids, with an average age not exceeding 5 years, sitting quietly on their plastic benches with their pencils / pads. Some of them even had proper school bags and pencil boxes. The children came up in unison “Good Morning Sir”, “Good Morning Ma’am”. This warm reception eased out all our tensions and raised our confidence. One of the children quickly arranged 4-5 plastic chairs for us and wiped them for us. We looked around and could see their glowing eyes housing a million dreams giving us the impression that YES, we want to learn, grow and rise.

SESSION 1: (9:30 – 11:00)

We kick started the class with an introduction session and basic interaction. It was difficult for us to memorize all the names, so all of them were assigned paper name plates for easy reference. We went from seat to seat distributed them sheets of paper and asking them what all they knew to make with paper. Some of them knew how to make Aero planes , Boats, caps etc and there were some who didn’t know even how to fold the paper properly and there were some who were left blank and were not responding to our call. A certain level of mischief and naughty behavior was natural to this group owing to their age which was in the range of 4-8 years.

The following topics were covered for the session 1 students:

Basic paper folding along the edges.
Making Boat / Aero planes with better / straighter folds.
Basic shapes – Circle , Square ,Triangle and Star
Drawing these basic shapes in various sizes.
The session was ended with a review of all the topics covered.

Some of the children from the second batch came to the school a little early with increased curiosity about what was being taught in the first batch. This resulted in a bit of chaos which was handled smartly by the entire team.

SESSION 2: (11:00 – 13:00)

This batch primarily comprised of students aging between 8 and 11. They showed high resilience, better conduct and discipline. We introduced ourselves to the entire batch. One of the volunteer Ms. Gunjan took the responsibility of explaining the basics to the batch and material distribution. Their teacher Ms. Poonam arranged them in groups of 5 each and the other volunteers (ADS, Nikhil, Jatin, Ashu and Nidhi) took charge one group each to ensure that each group can get personal attention. The volunteers sat along with their groups to connect to the students in a better way and also enable the students to address their doubts directly to the volunteer in-charge of their group.

The following topics were covered for the session 2 students:

How to use scissors.
Cutting out basic shapes – triangle, square, star, plus, heart and crescent.
How to use Glue
Pasting of these cut shapes on glaze paper.
Cutting out the colored shapes from the glaze paper.
Pasting the colored shapes on black cartridge chart paper.
How to minimize wastage of paper

The kids even cleaned up the small bits of paper which were scattered on the floor after session completion.

For both the sessions the bright kids who showed greater skill and enthusiasm were identified. Roop Kishore, Myna, Papya, Afroza, Sandeep, Kareena and Shakeel are few of the many kids who fall in that category.

The following activities have been planned by the team for the upcoming sessions.

For Batch 1: Basic of craft work: Cutting and Pasting – Making envelopes and bags.

For Batch 2: Making Decorative stuff using paints/ glitter and paper streamers. Making Paper bags / envelopes and masks.

The above mentioned plan is completely flexible and can be modified / altered based on the progress / interest shown by the children.

The session really drained us out both physically and mentally, but the entire team was satisfied with the overwhelming response shown by the children and the eventual outcome. The volunteers were refreshed by two mesmerizing numbers played by Nikhil on guitar. Another thing which requires a special mention was the support accorded by Bani, Anshul and Munish. They helped us to establish a stronger bond with the kids. We also got a chance to meet some new volunteers from Aricent, IBM and Jamia.

The Day 1 of volunteering at DISHA by SIEMENS employees was indeed a success and if we continue the way it has flagged-off it will definitely help these children make a career out of it and become self sufficient and have a future which they actually deserve. The association between AID and SIEMENS will actually help these children develop a solid foundation upon which they can build their own castle of dreams and reach the echelons of success.

“There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”

Siemens team visits Disha

2009-10-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today, the 15th of October 2009, just two days before the festival of lights, a ray of light penetrated the rusted window panes of Disha, a school for under privileged children in Jharsa village of Gurgaon, run by AID Gurgaon, in the form of Siemens’ Caring Hands. The school which has only one class room with about 50 children who are taught in two slots by Ms. Poonam is grand in its dream and vision. The children have begun to dream after 8 months of receiving education. The star kid, Papiya, wishes to become a teacher some day. Papiya is instantly noticed because of her brimming confidence and an uncontrollable mouth. Siemens came with almost a 50 plus team to tour the school and at the end of the day, all of them knew the star kid.

The Siemens team brought in food packs from Haldiram’s and provided the children with necessary stationary items. The children were immensely excited in front of the camera and smiled wide for the flash. The children performed a number of songs and received loud accolades. The best moment of the day was when Ms. Menu of Siemens asked the children to participate in a role play. She asked them to become her teacher and make her learn the English alphabets. Our little children proved to be good teachers and MS. Menu had a great learning session.

Siemens’ Caring hands will provide Disha with volunteers for the coming one year. These volunteers will be involved in a number of modules that have been designed to provide the children knowledge beyond the classroom subjects. Their one year commitment with Disha will help the school grow and prosper. This ray of light will surely brighten many more minds and give our students ek nayi disha.

Green Gurgaon Campaign (10th october 2009)

2009-10-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

G-square kicked off on sunday (27th september 2009)

2009-09-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

Place :Near to Rajiv Chownk on NH-8

Timing from 9 AM -11 AM

27 September, SUNDAY

http://gurgaon.aidindia.org/GreenGurgaonCampaign

________________________________________________

Green Gurgaon Campaign

2009

Be the Change .....

_________________________________________________

AID Gurgaon Community Connect 20th Sept. 2009

2009-09-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

On his first AID Gurgaon Community Visit Harsimran says: Today was my first interaction with the families of the kids who come to Unnati and Disha to study. We went to the homes of these children, met them and their parents, listened to their problems and requested all the basti residents to continue sending their kids to school. We were welcomed with bright eyes and smiling faces. Children dragged chairs for us to show their hospitality towards us. We told them that we did not need any chairs and that all we needed was their faith in us. It was a wonderful feeling to get love in return for the love we shower upon them. What more we could have asked for? The parents were equally supportive. After the constant efforts of volunteers and regular teachers, they have realized how important it is in today’s world to educate their kids. We went to three bastis and the response was enthusiastic everywhere. I look forward to more of such visits!

Volunteer Speak - Robyn

2009-09-18T22:04:00.001-07:00

I'm new to this group, this city and India but thought I'd join in and share the progress I've seen with the kids at Disha since I started visiting there a couple of months ago.

I wasn't sure if I'd really have anything to offer given my Hindi is still pretty basic/terrible and I have no teaching skills, but it turns out I didn't need them anyway. I really enjoy painting and so with some encouragement from Sukriti and Anshul I started visiting once a week with some art supplies and a vague idea of a project and off we go. The kids are fabulous as you all know and I swear I am getting more out of this experience than they are. I always come away hot, sweaty and covered in paint and glue but I LOVE IT!!! The teacher is lovely and all of us are benefiting from sharing our English and Hindi language.

All of the kids started off wanting a lot of direction and were practically waiting for me to hold the brush for them but week after week they've become more confident and the natural talent in that school blows me away. A couple of the older girls are producing things that I am positive my friends and family back in Australia would buy in a shop.

We always end the sessions with a photo session. It's always crazy and I think I probably spend about 10 mins of the teacher's lesson time showing them the photos on the screen, plus then we have the farewell parade after our car all the way out of the village. They're so full of energy and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better and seeing what else they can create as the weeks pass.

I'll attach a few snaps below to give you an idea of what they're producing. Today they decorated some cardboard with some of the photos I've taken of them. We did it out in the yard as the school wasn't open and I have a feeling a few extra kids were in the mix by the end of that too. They've also been decorating some white school shirts with fabric paint. Some of them today were writing Disha on the pockets so they've almost got a bit of a team look about them now.

That's all for now. I'll write some more after a few more weeks and attach some more photos too.

Thanks for letting me share in your group and especially to Sukriti and Anshul for introducing me to the project, the school and the kids.

Have a great day

Volunteer Speak - Rohit

2009-09-18T22:03:00.001-07:00

16^th May 2009, 10am. The sun was just beginning to cast its spell of indolence on the world,trying to push everyone in the cozy canopies. Thermometers aiming for a halfcentury, combined with a weekend, there couldn't have been a better excuse foranyone to stay inside the house and sip a cold drink. The team at At Kearney,had different plans. The whether was just too incompetent to deflate theirenthusiasm, as they visited the Unnati center of AID Gurgaon to spend some timewith the kids, and offer them a day to remember.

It was the day the kids wereeagerly waiting for. They had all gathered in the school well before 10,knowing that a little delay on their part would mean missing a lot of fun,soeager were the kids that they quickly finished there daily prayer and PTexercise which was lead by Mamta and Atikool. They were definitely right, andsome volunteers will by all odds learn a lesson or two from them, or even aplethora more!!

The interaction started witha basic introduction. The children greeted all the volunteers with a very warmgood morning, with each child trying to ensure that his/her sound is distinctlyheard by the volunteers, and little kids eagerly waiting for the elder ones tostop, so that they can make their presence felt. Clearly a feeling ofcompetition marked by the presence of respect for seniors! The volunteers hadalready divided the kids into four teams , with around 8 children ineach team. To distinguish between the members of the team, and to induce asense of belongingness in the team, each of the four teams were givenbands of different colors by each AT Karney volunteers who was owning theteam (just like IPL :), which they had to be tied around their wrists. Theywere quickly through with the task, with each child raising his/her hand assoon as he/she had finished. The battle, had begun!!

The fun started with 'tyingthe rubber band game'. A team member from each team were selected, on whosehead other team members had to tie the rubber bands. The team which had tiedmaximum rubber bands, was adjudged the winner. The children were quick torealize the advantage of the person on whose head rubber band were to be tiedto have a long hair. While the member of one team sat down to facilitate easytying of rubber band, the little ones of other team were seen pulling theirteam member to sit down. Not willing to give up at any stage, they decided tojump and just place the rubber band on the head of their partner. A few of themwere actually successful in doing that. A few other children were just toohappy to play with rubber bands among themselves, instead of loosing them to analien head! And there was another set, who after finishing the game simplyremoved and pocketed their rubber band. These were the ones who enjoyed theflavors of both the possession and the competition.

The next game was to writethe maximum possible numbers on the white board in a given amount of time. Thewhite board was divided into two parts, and one member from each team wascalled to write the numbers. Each of the team members were shouting hard tohelp their team member, not realizing that the number they are shouting can beheard by both the team members! The writers relentlessly scribbled among thechaos, inadvertently ending up drawing some random figures instead of writing anumber! Nevertheless little mistakes under pressure do come with their share oflessons. This game was followed by throwing the ball in the bucket, the similarkind of game that we used to play in annual fair of our town. The hit and themiss, the zeros and the ones were all the part of the game. No body worriedabout the score, unless they got a chance to throw a ball in the bucket. Theyreally enjoyed their version of bowling!! The team at Kearney were willing to help at every step,but the children wanted only the resources. Everyone was willing to steerhis/her own ship.Finally the kids gave a chance to the volunteeers of Karney totry there skills in bowling ...but the kids proved themselves better in it ..asnone of them was able to put the ball in the bucket ..

The next game was differentfrom the first two. Unlike other two games which were played in a team, hereeach member had to show his/her individual talent. It was the moment ofrealization for me, as I understood the obvious reality of dearth ofopportunities in a pool of natural talent. It was really amazing to see, howmeticulously the sabeena and tara hadpicked up the dance steps and the lyrics for the songs. More important thanthat was their enthusiasm to show this talent to all those who were there.Thankfully the meaning of shyness and hesitation was missing from theirvocabulary!! There were children who recited some really beautiful poems, and remindedus of our childhood days. This nostalgic intoxication was the defining momentof the day. Some evergreen poems like “Titli udi chat par chadi...and Machalijal ki raani hai ”, can never loose their sheen in our life. They just get lostin our sole, and the children at Unnati helped us find that. In our quest ofdefining their future, they gifted us the memories of our past.

Similar was the case withthe next event. Each of the children were given a sheet of paper for drawing.The flowers, the mountains, the fruits and the stick cartoons, the slanting andsliding lines that were beginning to take a form like their life, and thecolors were beginning to spread both on the papers and their lives.

The events were followed bya nutrition break and the prize distribution ceremony. The ones getting theprize were definitely happy, and there were others who silently watched theprizes being distributed with a glimpse of hope. But the man of the moment wasa kid, who was forthright in expressing his annoyance on a girl being givenprize twice, as Atikool shouted “Isko pehle de diya tha” (Sabeenahas already got the prize) !!. The kid was definitely rewarded with achocolate for his honesty. Those who didn't get the prize also had something tocheer about. Each of the kids were given a bunch of toffees, followed by thepackets of delicious sweets and sandwiches. It was a poignant moment to see thespirit of caring and sharing nature among the kids, as most of them resistedthe temptation of eating the whole packet and instead took it to their homes toshare it with their siblings. Their voice and intentions were loud and clear asone of the kids shouted “Mummy ke saath knaoonga” (I will share it with mymother). I seriously hope we do love our mothers and not just wait for mother'sday!!

The kids had their share offun and we had our share of both fun and morals. At times I am just amazed tosee these little moments offer us some valuable lessons. Like any other day atUnnati I had taken my share of knowledge. I learned that a right blend orresources and guidance can take these children to new heights. I learned thatits important to be in the right place at the right time. If we can ensure thissynchronization for these kids, they will fly on their own. They gave memoments to cherish of my own past, a food for thought to reorganize myrelationships and the motivation to come again.I offered them a bird and theyfetched for me two from the bush !!

Volunteer Speak - Smita

2009-09-18T22:02:00.001-07:00

My first visit to Unnati and Disha…my first visit to the children who study in these education centres and the first one to the parents of these children.

I along with a group of volunteers went to run-down areas in village Jharsa, areas marked by poverty and substandard living conditions. First we met migrant labourers who stay in make-shift tents near the upcoming buildings where they work for a livelihood. We then went to meet rag-picking slum dwellers. For once, I was appalled to see their living conditions. Closed my eyes and thanked God for having provided me with what all I have today.

We all know that for these communities, children are a potential source of income to the family. So it is very hard to convince them to send their children to school. But I was amazed to see the effort put in by AID volunteers to make things work. From my interaction, I learned that Unnati and Disha are preparatory education centres, each with a regular salaried teacher from 9 to 1 on all the weekdays. Here, the children are taught the basics of English, Maths and Hindi. At Unnati, teenage girls are given sewing classes for an hour after the study hours to enable them to become self-reliant. What’s more! Children who perform well at Unnati and Disha are sent to regular private schools such as Vivek Public School, DPS and Literacy India Kristina Makara Vidyapeeth for free. I could see passion in the eyes of fellow volunteers, people who have been volunteering for over a year with AID Gurgaon. Couldn’t stop admiring the patience and consideration with which they listened to the problems of these people. A community of migrant construction workers told that their children had been missing school for over a week, for they had contracted typhoid due to contaminated water supply, thanks to the recent rains! It got us concerned and we made it a point to arrange free medical check-ups and medicines for their children as soon as possible. Another woman shared how after her husband had deserted her, she cleaned utensils and did the sweeping in nearby households to make ends meet for herself and her 12 year old son. Because that was not enough to fetch them the basic essentials, her son had to work as a rag-picker only to earn a meagre 50-100 rupee a day. In such a scenario, it would’ve been irrational of us to expect her to send her son to school during the day. So we suggested that she send him to the evening classes, another arrangement in place for the boys who work through the day.

These are just few of the examples. I can go on and on. Every single moment I spent with those children and their parents was an experience for me. I could see a twinkle, a joy in their eyes. They felt wanted and cared for. I thanked God for providing me with an opportunity to do my bit for these disadvantaged angel-like souls.

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own surroundings, our own cities to remedy this kind of poverty….The combined efforts of millions of concerned citizens could do wonders to help the impoverished.”

Volunteer Speak - Ruhi

2009-09-18T21:59:00.002-07:00

On my trip to India this year I decided that I would like to make a difference, albeit a small one, in my local community by helping those not as fortunate as myself. I love working with children and for this reason was keen on volunteering with a village school of some sort, so I was excited to be accepted as a volunteer during my short stay with the AID Gurgaon chapter. Before arriving I went through all the information on AID Gurgaon that I was provided with, and learned that there were two projects which had been started in Gurgaon, both schools within the village of Jharsa.

On my first visit I was introduced to both schools, and began my work with the Disha School, teaching English to the kids. I was slightly apprehensive as to how my first day would go, but starting from the moment I walked into the classroom, greeted by around twenty grinning faces shouting ‘Goodmorning Didi!’ and ‘Namaste!’ I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As I got to know each child, their distinct personalities set them apart, and a few stood out the first day as being especially bold. When I arrived they were learnin

g how to spell vegetable names in English that day, and I started by helping two cute little girls memorize their vegetable spellings from potato to radish. I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they picked up the information and was even more impressed when the teacher shared one of her student’s notebooks with me. Simple words written again and again both in Hindi and English, then sentences, days of the week, seasons, months of the year, colors, shapes, vegetables, fruits, body parts, counting, mathematics – the children were all familiar with these subjects in English.

In the following days I looked forward to my daily visits, and taught the children simple English phrases like “What is your name?” “My name is _____” and “How are you?” along with body parts, shapes, clothing items and songs and games. As I continued to come, the kids became less shy with me. Soon I had learned most of their names, although some kids would disappear and new ones would show up on a day to day basis. Out of the regular students, several always showed a desire to learn more, to go the extra mile and copy what I had written on the board, though it was not mandatory. They displayed a will to learn, asking me to teach more, and always practicing new material on their own without my prompting. The students were all very bright and I hoped that someone would recognize their potential soon and put them in the public school system, as the other volunteers had told me was possible.

For all their work I wanted to bring them a treat, so one day I brought them all packets of biscuits, along with other more academic materials like flashcards. The packets of biscuits made them very happy, and it really struck me how little it took to put a smile on their faces. Most children I meet seem to need the latest toys, gadgets, movies and music at their fingertips, but in the village I visited I met a set of students who come to school by choice and make an effort to learn, using education as an escape to a brighter future

Volunteer Speak - Aastha

2009-09-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

As they say, life is too short to do all, but there are certain things which should not be overlooked. Like working towards welfare of the society, spreading happiness around and lightening as many lives as possible.

In order to explore these areas I decided to join hands with AID Gurgaon in the noble cause. Previously I was just working off-bench through my Corporate Social Responsility Group of my company (Evalueserve). The idea of getting involved in the AID team was to interact with the target population (young kids) which are directly benefited through it.

I always used to think that not much people are bothered about what is happening around them and no one has enough time to even think about that. But my views were totally changed after I met this team, who if not more is as enthusiastic as I am. I was more than surprised to see the spirit of the members and their way to interpret things. I came to believe that there is no dearth of good people around us, the art to have an eye to see them, spot them. As every one of us is either studying or works to earn our own living, but after joining the team I realized something very special. It is that we have not come to this mother earth just to do any job, but we have come here to provide our services to the society. Everyone in the team contributes to the maximum of his/her capacity. The level of cooperation is very mature among the mates.

We all celebrated Independence Day together with the kids of Unnati and Disha. I think this day is my most memorable independence day till date. I along with the kids understood the real meaning of the day, the future of India has to be as energetic as the kids were on that day. The hope that they have in the eyes generate lots of happiness and content. I look forward to more endeavours with this team.

I just hope that we all keep ourselves involved in the team to the max we can, so that our efforts can in any way benefit the society. Amen!

Buy Children's Paintings to Support their Education

2009-09-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

On the eve of Independence Day, 2009, AID Delhi and AID Gurgaon in association with MyWebEra had organized a painting competition under the name “Udaan”. The competition, in its most healthy form among kids produced some creative and colourful results.

We are glad to share these priceless possessions with you- it is priceless because it is crafted out of the most purest abilities and enthusiasm by our children.
AID Delhi and AID Gurgaon under its different projects named as Aashayein and Jaagriti in Delhi and Unnati and Disha in Gurgaon are initiatives to provide primary education to the underprivileged children and enhance their living by educating them on right nutrition and through various skill building exercises.
“Udaan” meaning Flight (of Freedom) symbolizes the spirit of independence in the heart of every child. The ‘Udaan’ purpose was to make sure that the kids paint their imagination and dream.
The entire amount generated through the sale of the paintings will go towards the education and development of these children and to organize such events at a larger scale in future.
On behalf of the children, AID Delhi and AID Gurgaon, I present to you this opportunity to support and recognize the value and the talent of our budding generation and buy their paintings.
Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.
For further details, please contact me.

Warm regards
Anchit Goel (anchitgoel@gmail.com)
Founder and Coordinator
Project Jaagriti

Click on the poster to go to the paintings gallery.

Photos of the painting competitions held on 15th August 2009 at our project locations

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - Give back to the Community

2009-09-17T20:00:00.001-07:00

Does your company need help in drafting your (Corporate Social Responsibility) CSR policy ?

Does your company need help in identifying NGOs which are doing some genuine work at the grassroots ?

Are you looking for a collaboration with an NGO in Gurgaon ?

If yes, you have reached the right place on the web !

Over the years, AID Gurgaon (a volunteer driven organization) has been providing valuable inputs to companies in adopting CSR best practices free of cost.

What can you do ?

1. Support an underprivileged community e.g. support our community learning centres in different parts of Gurgaon. Join our Adopt a Community Program.

2. Engage your employees in giving back to the society through AID Gurgaon's Corporate Volunteers Program.

3. Signup for AID Gurgaon's Payroll Giving Program and make a BIG DIFFERENCE.

OUR USP : Low admin costs & low eco-footprint as we are a volunteer driven organization

Please note that AID Gurgaon works closely with AID Delhi and AID Noida chapters and are collectively known as AID National Capital Region (NCR). You may visit http://delhi.aidindia.org to know more about our NCR wide activities.

Contact us to know more.

You may refer to http://www.globalreporting.org/ReportingFramework/G3Guidelines/
for guidelines on making CSR reports.

Check out an overview of AID NCR activities.

About Aid Ncr

Rendezvous in Metropolitan Gurgaon

2009-09-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

AID Gurgaon had their first monthly Volunteer Meet on Sunday, September 13, 2009 in Metropolitan Gurgaon. This meet was held to introduce new volunteers to the group, impart the grassroot-level knowledge of the ongoing projects to the new diverse and motivated pool of talent to help them identify the causes and channelize their approaches to combat the challenges.

The team began with small games to ensure that a good level of familiarity is established amongst the volunteers followed by lunch and the discussions over the proposed G2 campaign, development of the students in the educational centers Disha and Unnati, need for special attention to the RSEP students, ways of improvement in the quality of education and to explore the scope of more interaction with the parents to gather in-depth knowledge of their community and expectations, which could facilitate AIDers not just to provide a tailored solution for each kid but also help them find ways to improve the adult literacy and professional expertise. Besides work, the session was enriched with moments of leg-pulling and laughter. In a nutshell, the meeting was a blend of work and masti.

- Neindeep

Volunteers required for UNNATI Regular Education Programme

2009-09-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

During our Community connect programme, it has been observed that the students under Regular School Education Program (RSEP) are not able to match the pace with the regular school. Although their parents best efforts to support their kids but they are not literate to guide them properly. Our checks over the weekends are not sufficient to bring these kids to the desired level; therefore; we require 6-8 volunteers for the regular follow up of these kids.
We would suggest, if 2 volunteers can take responsibility for some kids on alternate days to ensure that these children get regular guidance.

We need people who are willing to take up the above mentioned task. These volunteers could be people who are ready to spend one hour in the evening, such as:

Housewives
Professionals who generally leave office by 5-6 P.M
College going students
Retired teachers
People on vacation, etc.

An early response would be appreciated.

Check out our brochure (print, email, stick it on a notice board)

2009-09-12T22:58:00.001-07:00

AID Delhi Brochure

What can you do? How can you volunteer ? How can you help ?

2009-09-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

What can you do? How can you volunteer ? How can you help ?

At AID we believe that everyone counts. We believe that everyone of us has something to offer to the society and also the capability to be an agent of long-lasting positive change.

As Gandhiji said "What you do may seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it". So, even while we may think that we have just about 10 minutes a day,you can make a difference to lives of many people with what you do in those fewminutes.

Based on your skills, interest and time available to you, you may decide to volunteer in one or more of the following ongoing activities. This list is just a sample and definitely non-comprehensive. Please contact us at to know more about these volunteer opportunities and also to know about what other volunteer opportunities exist within AID Gurgaon and also with AID Worldwide.

Education

*
Teach Underpriviliged Children - AID Gurgaon and its partners hold teaching classes in different parts of NCR. So, if you think that you love children and want to work in non-formal teaching environment with them, we invite you to join us there.
*
Translate - If you know more than one Indian language, then you can translate short children stories, health pamphlets, concept cards etc. from one language to another. This will help create awareness amongst people who we at AID Gurgaon are unable to reach because of language barriers.
*
Digital Unify Programme - Since you are reading this on a website, you are already computer literate. Digital Divide bodes huge inequities in the future. Through digital unify programme we reach out to communities and train members of the community on how to use computers and then internet. If you think that you can share your skills - jump in :)
*
Initiate an education project in a nearby slum

Networking and Marketing

* Help us in putting up AID stalls in your college, company, society, factory, function.
* Help us in fund raising activities
* Networking with various like-minded organizations.

Spread Awareness

* Spreading awareness about women rights
* About issues of national interest like ILR, energy and water conservation
*
Social Justice Campaigns - Being the capital city of the country, Delhi offers the wonderful opportunity of participatory governance. If you are interested in fighting against social injustice that is prevalent in almost all spheres of life, then we have lots of opportunities for you.

Presentations/IT Support/outreach

*
Website Updates - If you have been surfing long enough, you already know that updated websites are a pleasure to visit. So, help us in the challenge of keeping this website interesting and exciting to visit over and over again.
* Make teaser campaigns, posters, presentations for AID Gurgaon.

Buy or donate

*
Tshirts, diaries, calendars - Buy them and support our work.
*
Books - After academic year is over please collect books from your friends or relatives.These will be distributed to poor children.
* Clothes - Give your old clothes (in good condition). This is on a need-cum basis.
* Buy handicraft items, spices made by our partner NGO - Parichay (check projects section).
* Join our meal a month program.
* Donate your PC/Laptop and other computer accessories in working condition.
* Donate digicams so that our volunteers can take pictures of our work on a regular basis.

Miscellenous

*
Write - Pen is mightier than a sword. AID works at the grassroots in different parts of India. We partner with hundreds of initiatives doing great work. They were almost always started by someone like you and me. Write about them and spread the word so that we spark off many more minds and similar initiatives.
*
Read Newspaper - We know that you must be reading it already. Just keep a pencil and paper handy and also record the coverage given to different topics in your daily newspaper.
* Spread the word about AID - There might be some of your friends waiting for an opportunity. Why not you show them a way. Spread the word about the activities of AID.
* Join and invite your friends to join AID Delhi fan page on facebook.
* Join and invite your friends to join AID Delhi/Gurgaon/Noida communities on orkut
* If possible please share AID related events posted on AID Delhi fan page @ facebook onto your personal profile and request your friends to do so from time to time.
* Set your gtalk/yahoo/facebook/orkut status messages to socially relevant news links or AID Gurgaon website link
* Use orkut promote feature to spread the word about AID. Look for AID videos and click 'spread'.
* Share AID Gurgaon news items, pictures, videos etc. on your facebook/orkut profiles.
* Use AID Gurgaon website URL or AID video/article URLs as your email footer/signature.
* Email our newsletters/website articles to your friends.
* Publicize our work through your blogs/websites.
* A picture is worth a thousand words. Click photos and share with people far and wide.
*
Travel - Travel to different AID projects. Meet like-minded people. Critically evaluate projects. Give suggestions for future growth and feedback for improvement.
*
Talk - Have you ever felt strongly about an issue. Don't you want to talk about it? Talk about it to us. Your views will enrich ours and our inputs may add perspective to yours - a win-win relationship :)

Contact Us

2009-09-11T23:06:00.001-07:00

A brief glimpse about Unnati !!!

2008-05-09T00:15:00.000-07:00

This write up on Unnati was written by Sanchit few days back.

How the seeds were sown - Unnati was started by AID Gurgaon volunteers in Jan 2007. It was on their way back from Mobile creches that the volunteers came across a slum besides Rajeev Chowk. They decided to visit the basti and found enormous scope of improvement in the lives of the people. The most striking aspect was the need for education of the innocent children who spent most of their time playing or helping the parents in their jobs. So the volunteers decided to do something for them and hence came the idea of setting up a school near the basti itself. So it turned out that on Republic day, the school was started without any shelter on a piece of land lying vacant very close to the basti. Very aptly, the school and the basti were given the name "Unnati", meaning progress.

The beginning - It's been a long journey for Unnati marked by lots of ups and downs. The first real progress was made when the volunteers were able to find a room in Jharsa village (walkable distance from the basti). It was a significant milestone but was followed by another one when with kind help from Literacy India, the volunteers were able to find a regular teacher - Sumanji. Without doubt, a lot of credit goes to her as traveling everyday from Palam Vihar to mainstream Gurgaon is not an easy task.

Keeping the momentum going - Once the school started, the volunteers realized that the inhabitants lead a very hard life. It could not be taken for granted that once the school had started, the children will keep on attending on their own. The parents as well as the children had to be kept motivated all the time. So the volunteers kept visiting the school as well as the basti on a regular basis. This ensured that the attendance did not drop significantly at any point of time.

The Independence Day 2007- With Independence day approaching, the volunteers saw an opportunity to hold big celebrations which the kids would hardly have seen and experienced till now. And it did work! There was flag hoisting, singing of the National Anthem, sweets and lots of fun. The amount of fun that the kids had was evident from their faces. And it was realized that such events do mean a lot for the kids especially if they haven't had too many opportunities.

More bastis and loosing out on the original Unnati basti - As the days progressed, the regular drop in attendance started to give a few headaches to the volunteers. Even regular visits to the basti were not enough to keep the kids and their parents motivated. This was of-course coupled with the frequent migration of some of the families in the basti. Thus the volunteers had no other option but to look towards more bastis. If you've visited Gurgaon, you would know that there's no dearth of construction sites and thus the bastis. So they found out not one but three of them, located near the school. Today the school has a strength of around 60 children and the classes are held in two batches - 9.30am to 11.30am and 11.30am to 1.30pm. But there's a bit of an irony - that not a single kid comes to school from the basti from where it all started. The volunteers though have not given up and keep visiting the Unnati basti once in a while.

Republic day turnaround - Last month, Unnati celebrated its first anniversary on Republic Day - 26th January 2008. This time along with the flag hoisting, singing of the National Anthem and sweets distribution, the volunteers thought of something special. So the idea of holding a sports event came up. The events included relay race, ball-in-the-bucket and spoon-race to name a few. After the games, a prize distribution ceremony was held where kids coming out in flying colors in the games as well as academically were awarded medals and prizes. Apart from this, with the generous help of Hero Honda sponsors, school-bags, water-bottles, tiffin-boxes and study-kits were distributed. In the end, it was a well planned and executed event and the smiles on the faces of all the kids throughout the day said it all!

Looking forward - The volunteers are working hard to maintain the momentum that has been gained with enormous amount of hard work and dedication put in by the whole team of AID-Gurgaon. There are plans in coming April-May season to get a number of students admitted in recognized schools. If we can pull this off, it would another milestone in the chapter of Unnati!

Glimpses from Unnati:

Children busy at Unnati's School !!!

Volunteers also involved in interacting with children along with their teacher Sumanji !!!

Every child gets a limelight :) !!!

It takes time to build rapport with children !!!

Kids of Unnati !!!

Children doing the tasks given !!!

Children happy after getting benches for their school !!!

An empty shop which was converted to Unnati's school !!!

More such ad hoc schools are needed to bridge gap for the children who don't receive regular schooling !!!

Volunteers also visit the basti to encourage children to come to school and to interact with their parents !!!

Republic Day Celebrations @Prayas, Gurgaon

2008-05-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Given below are details of the Republic Day celebrations at the Prayas centre, Gurgaon in January 2008.
Volunteers from Evalueserve and Sparsh organized Republic Day celebrations at the centre to interact with the students. Varun, Abhinav and Ankit from Evalueserve and Sumit, Priyanka and Shweta from Sparsh volunteered and conducted the program. The volunteers kick-started the celebration by educating the children about the importance and relevance of the day by recapitulating the historical events surrounding the day This was followed by a brief round of introductions.

The volunteers organized a host of activities such as flag-making, poetry recitation and prize distribution. The flag-making session was started off by dividing the children into teams of five students. Each team was encouraged to choose a representative name and assigned a volunteer to guide them. The children were then educated about the structure of the national flag and each student was then provided paper and colours to make one flag. The children were told that their teacher Mr. Devendra would adjudge the best three flags and the students who made them would be acknowledged. The children spent considerable time and effort to make their own flags. The end result was terrific and choosing the top three flags proved to be a very difficult task. The students were then given their flags and photographed with their flags.

The flag-making activity was followed by a poetry recitation activity. Each student was encouraged to recite poetry in front of everyone. The students then came up and recited poems learnt in the school.

Finally, much to the delight of everyone, sweets were distributed to all students at the centre. This was followed by a prize-distribution ceremony to acknowledge the hard-work put in by the students in the school. Essential stationary materials such as pencils, sharpeners and erasers were provided to all students who are capable of writing. The volunteers concluded the session by stressing the importance of attending the school regularly to all the students present.

The activity was well received by the students and saw good participation. The day provided the volunteers a great opportunity to interact with the students, who with their friendly demeanor lent warmth to the otherwise chilly day.

A journey called Unnati !

2007-12-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

This video gives you a glimpse about our journey at Unnati. Hope you like it. Do post your comments too.

Independence Day @ Unnati

2007-09-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
This is an Update of Celebration of Independence Day at Unnati written by our volunteer Srinivasan

----

Dear Friends,

What a way to celebrate the 60th year of Indian Independence and the 150th anniversary of the 1857 Freedom Struggle! To quote that ‘in every crisis lays an opportunity’ would just be a formality.

The Independence Day celebrations began in the early morning hours of August 15, but the foundation for this ‘unprecedented’ event was laid a couple of days back by two spirited men; Sachin from EVS and Shankar from Hero Honda. Shankar had an idea that was aptly supported by Sachin. The finale was a soul-touching Azaadi ka Jashn with our very own Unnati. It was a pleasant surprise that the volunteers list was dominated by techies from Hero Honda. The support cast included the Guru Sumanji (and her daughter Priyanka), Manisha (EVS), Isha, Manoj Rathi (Market RX), Asutosh and Tarun (EVS), Rajesh khanaaji, Kashyap, Kamal, Akhilesh (all from Hero Honda), Harkeerti and of course, yours truly.

Sachin, Shankar and I landed at ground zero at 7.30 AM and were amazed to see the young and adorable kids waiting for us. Sachin and Shankar had intimated them earlier about a possible celebration and we could sense that the kids were pretty expectant as this was their first. We also overheard the localites that the kids were anxiously wandering around Unnathi since 6.00 AM in the morning. Sumanji Sr. and Jr. were energetic from the very beginning; they spread the colors of independence on a beautiful rangoli. I was assigned the task of calligraphy. I beautified the wall with the letters of ‘Independence Day’. Forgive me if the letters look twisted and tweaked in the photographs. Meanwhile, Sachin and Shankar made the necessary arrangements for the all important ‘flag-hoisting’. The landlord was very supportive indeed. By 8.30 AM the trickle of volunteers began and by 9.00 AM we were 10-12 in strength

Rathi bhai took up the task of teaching the kids the importance of the day. They displayed tremendous enthusiasm during the ‘class’. He egged them on the verses of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. By 9.30 AM they were ready for the finale. Isha and Manisha kept themselves occupied with the little ones. The live-wire Kashyap captured those fantastic moments in his Handycam. The entry of a huge box of jalebis signaled the beginning of the flag hoisting ceremony. As we all sang the National Anthem in chorus, the tri-color unfurled itself and started rattling in the wind, making us remember those heroes whose blood sweat and tears brought us Azaadi.

Soon after the kids tasted the mouth watering Jalebis and called it a day. A short round of volunteer introduction then followed. We then left the place with a sense of fulfillment. This is just the beginning. Time shall stand testimony to all future events.

I would like to thank all the volunteers for their whole-hearted support in making the event memorable. Others need not feel left out, there is always another day. Life is calling…where are you?

Jai Hind. Vande Mataram!

Yours truly,
Srinivasan

Chidiyaaa Udd.......

2007-08-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

It was a sad day for Unnati...

Nishank was leaving Gurgaon....

He is heading to US for his higher studies.... However, we were happy too as finally got what he was waiting for..

Guess what, it was Eisha's b'day too....

Hurrey...

Party time!!!...

Eisha brought Paties, chips (i just love them...) and cake for everyone.... Awesome...

Children were also very happy...

Oh shucks!!.. how can i forget Dairy Milk...(I hope everybody remembers this one.. )

She got Dairy Milk for everyone.... :)

Ahem.. Ahem..well i shouldn't say but I was really very hungry... forgot to had breakfast in the morning... but got so excited when I saw so many things to eat... :)

You can say i was like this....

as if i was seeing all this for the first time...

He was a bit confused ye kya ho raha hai... mummy ne to bola tha school mei padai hoti hai... par ye to bohot acha school hai ... :)

Now see how happy everyone looks ...

Kuch baaat hai Dairy Milk mei....

Well this was not all... after the school was over and all the kids were gone it was time to show your skills... eh? skills...Now you will ask me what kind of skills....

Look at this....

Manish showing his skills....

Infact I must say he is very good at it..

I also learned from him that I should also start practicing it.... It can always help you as an alternate career option...

So after everything was cleaned it was time to sit together for a serious meeting.. humm.. AID Gurgaon was about to have a serious meeting....

Guess what... the meeting turned out to be 'Chidiya ud' competition...

Chidiya ud..
Maina ud..
Kauwa ud...
Bhais ud...

ud gayi ungli... Ooops I got out.. :(

But competition was still going on and all the volunteers were busy keeping their eye on their fingers ki kahi galat janwar pe na ud jaye...

One by one volunteers were getting out... and competition was getting tougher.. but in the end we had two champions...

Champ Manisha and Champ Eisha.... ( Clappings for their maiden victory... )

Well I'm practicing hard these days to win the next AID Gurgaon Chidiya Ud competition...

How about AID Inter Chapter Chidiya Ud competition... Its not going to be easy to take over the AID Gurgaon team..

Check out the AID Gurgaon champions...

Many people asked me that what is all this happening...

I think social service is not about just carrying jhola and moving everywhere... its about joining with people.. its about making good friends.. its about having fun ... its about spending fun time with kids... its about you.. its about them... its about all of us...

Its about bringing the change....

being the change...

I am proud to be the part of AID Gurgaon

Dance Dance Dance

2007-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

Dance Dance

I just love dancing.. so when Shilpi told me that she can get her dance teacher at Unnati to teach dance steps to kids, I got excited...

Wow...

Dance...

I started waiting for the weekend when the dance teacher will be visiting Unnati...

I reached the class in the morning and this is what i saw:

Awesome... :)

Everyone was dancing :)

Even the boys were learning classical dance...

1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2,

All the hands in the class were moving on this rhythm...

Children were really loving it...

They even made Himanshu dance with their moves:

Check out our spiky :)

Doh!!.. what to say about him... Looks like he is trying to fly...

Tara and Durga came out to be the best dancer and in the end also showed their dance to everyone....

Well this was not the end... after the fun time it was time to study...

Eisha (our visiting teacher from outside India :)) started the class with numbers...

1, 2, 3, 4, .....6, 7, 8..

It reminded me of my childhood.. how hard it was to remember that 8 comes after 7 and 7 comes after 6.. ufff.... I really couldn't understand at that time that why can't the 8 come after 6!!!.. they are easy to remember, isn't.. aaah.. only God knows the reason..

After the numerical class it was my turn... and i started revising them about chuha...

RAT MAT CAT NAT ... i don't know what all...

Hey do you guyz saw... Unnati is now all changed... Have a look at the board... its changed from the black board to white board....

Check out our posters..

I would give the credit for all the changes that are recently going on at Unnati to Eisha... she is a Gem of a person... She is teaching the kids with full dedication..

Hats off to her..

Guyz.. Unnati is progressing!!!..

Spiky..

2007-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hey people did i tell you about spiky...

Naah...

We have a child whose hair style is no less than hair styles of models..

I guess he can easily replace all the models in the Garnier hair Gel advertisement...

Here is our spiky...

Girls vs. Boys

2007-08-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

First of all sorry, sorry, sorry...

I know i'm very late... but despite of all the efforts by this mean world to stop me... I am here to tell you about the Unnati's visit...

Well well, we started the day with some english class, teaching the children about how to greet a person when you meet them for the first time...

How du du du... (basically that means How do you do?)
I am phine, Thanku ...
Wat is yur name?

I hope from the title you all must have got an idea about what i'm about to tell you...

The WAR which is going on since years and still no decision has been made...

The historical war between girls and boys... We decided to finally make an end to it by having a hot competition between girls and boys...

Well everybody know that this is just a formality and its unanimously known that who should win... but we still thought of having it so that the other party feels comfortable... :)

If you guyz remember we had a similar competition sometime back in Mobile Creches and you know how won :)

Girls and boys were separated and Unnati was divided into two teams.... Girls were on the left side and on my right were boys...

Questions started...

Datto ko english mei kya kehte hai... Teeth

Sir ko english mei kya kehte hai... Head

Ungaliyo ko english mei kya kehte hai... Fingers

Girls .. Boys.. Girls.. Boys..Girls.. Boys..

and teams started answering one after the other... I was impressed by the way they were answering the questions...

Though both the teams earned the same points no. of points but boys were answering in a better way :)

Ofcourse

Well its obvious too.. :)

We raised the level of questions and the war started again...

Questions-Answers, Questions-Answers, Questions-Answers

both the teams were fighting and volunteers got equally involved in the competition...

Slowly, the competition which started with a close fight finally got completed when one team took over the other team with few points....

Do you want me to tell you who won...

Ofcourse Boys!!! :)

I know now people are going to kill me after reading this post.. :)

Happy Unnati!!!...

What do you think.....

2007-07-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the people who have been reading this blog regularly since its first few articles...

Now we would like to hear from you..

Please let us know about your experiences and what more could be done to improve...

Do you know the people behind...

2007-07-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Many people who visit the blog always want to know about the people who are involved in these projects....

Well there are many and what could be better than introducing them in to everyone. So i thought of starting a series of posts about them.. about us... in which i will be introducing all of them one by one...

They are not different but they are still not the same... They are very similar to everyone but they still make a difference....

Would you too like too...

Today's volunteers are these two guyz:

The guy on the left is known as Rajesh (passionate about biking) and on the right Himanshu (want to be an entrepreneur in his life)...

Well everybody know that we had a plan to visit Unnati this Saturday but it was raining heavily in the morning . Many people didn't turned up due to this reason. Pretty obvious.. its not easy to go out in rain, and that too in the morning when you would love to have a tea in your bed...

But there are few for whom rain doesn't make a difference.

Himanshu came far away from Delhi to Unnati inspite of the heavy rain fall that morning...

Hey guyz, i guess many people doesn't know, Himanshu also takes care of our Finance, he is our so called Treasurar... Guyz who are interested in writing GMAT and want any tips, feel free to contact him.

Now what to say about Rajesh, we all know that how difficult it is to wake up early in the morning...... and that too on a weekend!!

Rajesh didn't sleep the whole night to keep himself awake so that he can visit Unnati the next morning... thats commitment..

You know what.. children call him Krissh.. (i don' t know why... I guess he must have really given lots of choclates to these kids for getting this name....Well bribery works everywhere :))

Rajesh has been affiliated with AID Gurgaon from a long time and has spent a lot of time in Mobile Creches. He is also amongst one of the initial members who got themselves involved in initiating the CSR activities in Evalueserve.

Creativity

2007-07-14T00:33:00.000-07:00

Art....

Just check these out...

These children are really creative.....

What M.F. Hussain started doing in his old age.. these children are doing now..

A serious one.. with long black nose...

Smiling Mummy (from Egypt)...

Angry young man!!!...

lol...

What to say about this...

This is worth million dollars ($$$) ...

Look at one of the artist who drawed the above pictures...

Our cute small Sania Mirza...

Hurrey!!!!...

Now every child at Unnati has his/her own bag....

Thanks to Literacy India. They were really very helpful in everything.

2007-07-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

hello

Cartooon Cartooon Cartooon

2007-07-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Everybody says its not easy to control kids.....

Who says??

I say you just need a camera and they would all turn into this...

Just check out the smiling lot.....

But here they are not because of Camera, but because of this:

Cartooooooooooooooooooooooooon.....

We all have seen a lot when we were kids..... so we thought why not they....

Check her out.... she is trying to make her place.....

You say kids... Now check them out...

Even they are busy......

Who cares what is happening outside.....

BUT.....

While everyone was busy watching, and i was enjoying seeing everyone, there was someone who is not interested......

Did you see him..... Can we do something for him.....

What more.....

Check her out........

She want to see everything herself......

So these are the kids.....

They are the one with whom we like to spend our time on weekends...

Would you like to....

Exploring the creative side of the children!!!

2007-06-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

This Saturday at Unnati's school children's teacher couldn't come. So it was up to the volunteers as what activity we conduct for the children. Drawing sessions had been carried out from time to time. So we thought of doing something different.

Finally we decided to conduct a collage session for the children. It was a very new thing for the children. Even we had tried such kind of stuff long back when we were small. So it was sort of new thing even for us. But anyways we went ahead with it.

So we gathered the required things: chart paper, glue, old magazines and newspapers, scissors, etc.

Everyone busy with their work!!!

Initially it was a bit difficult to explain to the children as what was to be done. So we just asked them to cut different objects they can see in the magazines and paste them on the sheets.

Every work requires concentration!!!

To involve the children in a better way we pasted a blank chart paper on a board and asked the children to paste on their favorite photo which they got from the magazines.

Where will I find my favorite pic!!!

Children are also getting some help!!!

I need to hurry up!!!

See even I have found something!!!

Children pasting their favorite pics!!!

Here is the 1st masterpice!!!

For two other chart papers we gave a "people" theme to children where they could put pics only having people in them. And we got a great variety. Children had amazing choices.

A great work in making!!!!

And here is the 2nd one!!!

And finally the 3rd one!!!
Which one is the best??

After the collage work was done, children were asked to clean up everything. And they did it so diligently. These children are really disciplined.

See even I am helping in cleaning!!!

Let's finish the work fast!!!

So finally we are done with the work!!!

Now we want to fly away!!!

Celebrating those little moments at Unnati!!!

The previous Saturday we also showed Tom and Jerry animation movie to the children. Most of them must have never seen a laptop closely before. They were really happy to watch the animation show. A lot of things can be done with a classroom.

Every one watching keenly!!!

Who is smarter, Tom or Jerry:)) ??

With all these little initiatives, we are trying to fill the moments which these children would otherwise miss in their childhood. There are so things to enjoy, to learn for a child. But they should be given an opportunity for it. These children are no less talented than the other children who go to English medium schools and learn computers. What we need to do is to provide a good learning atmosphere for these children, which will help in creating a better future for them by enhancing both their academic and creative potential.

~~Nishank

A Saturday at Unnati's School

2007-05-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

So another weekend had come for volunteers!!!

But it was a typical school day for the children of Unnati. So we thought of making it fun for the children. Afterall, going to school should also means fun.

A Saturday at Unnati's School............!

2007-05-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

So here comes another weekend for the volunteers!!!

But it was a typical school day for the children of Unnati. So we thought of making it fun for the children. Afterall going to school should also means fun!!!

So the day starts with who all can recite poems.

One needs confidence to speak in front of everyone!!!

Even I don't hesitate in coming forward!!!

Here the drawing session begins for the children. All want to show their creative skills. No theme is given to them. Everyone starts drawing according to their wish.

I can draw really well; just give me some time to finish!!!

Some younger children just want to do the coloring. So they ask their teacher to give them something to color :)

Teacher, please give me some drawings to fill with colors!!!

My name is Priya, and what is yours??

Everyone is busy with their work!!!

See I can read this book!!!

Given the right kind of environment to learn, along with some guidance and encouragement can do wonders for the education of these children. Every child needs proper nurturing to grow up as a competent individual.

I want to fill this drawing with so many colors!!!

I want to ride on this school bus!!!

Will I get a "good" for my work?? Please tell me teacher!!!

Want to meet my friends??

Meet my new friends at school!!!

We girls are no less than boys!!!

Whose smile is the best??

Can you see my "close-up" smile at behind??

Even I want to be in the photo along with these kids!!!

Time for a group photo.......Say Cheese!!!!

How is my drawing??

And how is this one??

Which is the best one??

An online drawing exhibition!!!

We had a great time with the children at their school. It was reminiscent of our own school days too.

We all should try a little from our side to enable education for the children, for whom going to school otherwise just remains a dream. A little bit of time from our weekly schedules and some fund raising on a regular basis for running such initiatives can help in starting hundreds of such schools across India. Let's not wait to do it when we will get some more time, when we will be a bit free, when we will go to this place, when the things will seem right!!! Let's start the change from where we are.........We will be able to find the time...........Things will get right........Let's be the change we want to see..........!

~~Nishank

Unnati at its best!!!

2007-05-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

A view from inside..

Can you see how happy these kids are studying in school...

They want to study... they are different... they are not the ones who want to spend their life picking rags...

They are just like us..

Have you ever seeen a hand like this...

This picture is drawn by 'Hansa', a very good student and an innocent girl at Unnati. You would always see her similing in the classroom.

She wants to fill everything with colors..

Here she comes...

This is our teacher :)

She reminds me of my Hindi teacher. I was very afraid of her in school.

When i visited the classroom at Unnati for the first time, she looked at me and I couldn't stop gazing at her and I felt like she would say "Deepak!!! where were you, I don't know how many times i have told you to write clearly, when are you going to learn"

But she is good :) bach gaya

Did you see that...

Commitment of these kids!!

They have came up with their own ways to come to school. I also felt like cycling... it would be fun!! :)

I am bored of bikes :(

Now look at her, she would be half of my size and see her dedication...

These children really want to study.... they want to be like us!!

Shouldn't we help them...

Help them

First day at School for children of Unnati !!!

2007-05-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, i.e. April 28th was the scheduled day for the inauguration of school at Unnati. The volunteers had gathered there by 9:30 a.m. Sumanji (children's new teacher) had also come along with her husband. First we had to go inside the basti to gather the children for the class. It seemed that many of the children had forgotten during the week passing by that they had to get ready for the school!!!

We tried to gather as many children as possible. Some were feeling a bit reluctant while some were very excited. Many of the children told they will get ready in few minutes. We had to convince few children to come with us. Some of them asked where the class is, how they will go etc etc. We were a bit worried as how the children would go in the scorching heat. Immediately few of the elder children suggested that they will take their Redhi (the rickshaw used to carry goods) with them and the younger children sat in a group in that. (Now that's called best use of the resources available !!!)

In half an hour we all went to the classroom. We then arranged the different things we had bought for the classroom. Also Lord Saraswati's photo was arranged on the table for Puja. Meanwhile all the children had gathered in the new classroom. Few were making lot of noises. But still they were far more disciplined in front of their teacher. Then we had a small prayer session where all children recited the prayer along with Sumanji. After that we distributed sweets among the children. Few of people living in that area who were passing by asked us as what was happening there and we explained them that we have started a new classroom for children.

Then Sumanji first took attendance of the children who had come there. After that, she started with the teaching basic alphabets to children while the volunteers were helping in managing the children. Many of the children they were taking a good interest. Few of the children had already gone to their schools in villages and they were more eager to come forward and show what they know. But most of the children among them had never gone to school. For them, this was for the first time a classroom experience. The fans in the room were a lot helpful in offsetting the effect of summer. Nearby a bucket filled with water along with glasses was kept for the children if they felt thirsty.
After studying for sometime children were getting a bit restless. Moreover, since it was the first day we expected that it would be the case. Meanwhile, Sachin and Pratik had also brought few old clothes which we had collected earlier and we distributed it among the children. We told the children that they would need to come to class daily from Monday onwards. We also told them that they would be getting stationeries to use if they would come to classroom regularly. Finally the children and volunteers departed around 11 o'clock.

Now we need to ensure that we are able to successfully run this school for children. Such a classroom means that even these children won't be deprived of education, though in a bit informal way. What is more important that they should also be able to read and write and move ahead in life, so that their future doesn't remain dismal just because their parents couldn't afford to send them to school.

~~Nishank

Have you tried teaching kids??

2007-04-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this blog, there are 99.99% chances that you have gone through typical school education, with teachers teaching in classrooms. Do you remember your school days?? Going to school every morning, meeting friends there, playing with friends during the break, sometimes getting scoldings from our teachers and what not!!!

Every child wants to go to school. It is a place where one gets to learn so much. Just imagine how different your life would have been if you had not been able to go to school. We should be really thankful to our teachers who have helped us all the way in our journey of education. But still there are so many children in our society who cannot go to schools because their parents cannot afford to send them to school or may be they have to work as a child laborer.

Even if not a regular schooling, at least some form of alternate education should be enabled for underprivileged children. We at Unnati, have been trying to teach the children on our own whatever little things we can teach to them. It constantly reminds us that how difficult it is teaching children sometimes :-) !!! But at the same time it is so much fun trying to explain things to children. After all what's the use of all our education if we are not able to teach at least few children.

Aashish explaining to kids how a clock shows time!!!

Manoj is the favorite teacher of the kids these days!!!

Not that difficult to make children listen to you!!!

Sometimes you also need to play along with children!!!

Children @Unnati are missing Gyanesh these days!!!

It's not always that easy to explain things
to children!!!

Every child wants to learn!!!

What if these kids go to regular schools??

We are in process of starting a classroom for these kids. We have arranged a teacher with the help of Literacy India for these kids, who would teach them from Monday to Saturday. We have also rented a room not very far from Unnati and the kids would be going there in a group daily along with their teacher. Our aim is to ensure that these children should also benefit by education like other children with whatever means possible. We thought that this may not be possible by just teaching or spending time with them on weekends.

So when these kids would go for the regular classes, they would be provided with required stationeries, some nutritious thing to eat, uniforms in future etc. This would help in keeping these children motivated towards studies. We are also having a talk with their parents to send their children regularly for the classes. Once this initiative starts running smoothly, we would definitely be seeing some visible changes in a period of 6 months to 1 year. Moreover, since Literacy India already has a great deal of expertise in providing education to underprivileged children, these children would be benefited too with the curriculum followed by Literacy India.

But to support such a initiative requires money too. Given below is a rough estimate of the expenses that would occur every month.

Expenses	Amount in Rs.
Teacher Salary	2000-3000
Room Rent	1500
Meal for Children	2000
Literacy India School Monitoring - Transport	0500
Miscellaneous (Books, Stationary etc.)	1000
Total	7000-8000 /Month

Moreover, we need to ensure that at any point of time we have sufficient funds for at least 3 months to ensure that the classes for these children doesn't get hampered due to lack of funds.

You can also help these kids!!!

We really need people like you.

To know more how you can help these kids, please have a look at the following link:

http://gurgaon.aidindia.org/node/16

To know more about activities and details related to Unnati, please go through the following links:
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AID Gurgaon New Project - Unnati ( A look inside the basti, and the people living there!!!)

Republic Day - Initiation day for Project Unnati! (Well what could have been a better day to give it a start)

Unnati off-league ( Time to think how we can bring at least some progress ("Unnati") in lives of these people!!!)

Deciding the Strategic Moves ( Teaching the kids and also brainstorming as how to take things ahead)

Unnati - A parallel world ( Implementing a Modern Open Gurukul!!!)

If you would like to get more details related to this initiative or have any other queries, you can get in touch with following people:

1) Deepak Syal : deepak.syal@gmail.com; Ph no: 09810297880

2) Nishank: onlynishank@gmail.com; Ph no: 09910067703

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Sponsorship of education of 10 children for an year facilitated by AID Gurgaon.

2007-04-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Recently AID Gurgaon facilitated sponsorship of education of 10 children for an year. For this INR 30,000 was handed over to Literacy India. Out of this INR 24,000 was donated by Evalueserve and INR 6,000 was given by AID Gurgaon. This amount would be used in providing education to 10 children at Literacy India under their Vidyapeeth Project (http://literacyindia.org/WEBSITE/html/Vidyapeeth.htm)

Literacy India is a nonprofit organization registered as a trust under the India Trust Act, 1872. Since its inception in 1996, Literacy India has been working towards education of underprivileged children living in slums and rural areas in and around Gurgaon, Haryana. In addition to providing non-formal basic education to children, Literacy India has set up vocational training centers for girls and village women.

Literacy India has been doing a splendid job in reaching children from poor families who cannot afford a quality education. They have different projects targetted for different age groups of children and women. By raising sponsorships we are able to ensure that at least some children are being able to get education in a regular manner.

Here are the brief profiles of the children who would be benefitting from the sponsorship:

1)

Name: Pooja
Age: 10
Class: V
Sex: F
Father’s Occupation : Security Guard
Mother’s occupation : House wife
Brother : 3
Remarks : Neat & clean, obedient
Activity : Dancing

2)

Name: Komal
Age: 11
Class: V
Sex: F
Father’s Occupation: PEON
Mother’s occupation: House wife
Brother: 1
Sisters: 4
Remarks: Well dressed and well behaved

3)

Name : Manisha
Age : 10
Class : V
Sex : F
Father’s Occupation : Sweeper
Mother’s occupation : maid
Brother : 1
Sister : 1
Remarks : Good in studies

4)

Name : Ajay
Age : 13
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : labor
Mother’s occupation : daily wage laborer
Brothers : 2
Sister : 3
Remarks : Hard working student and punctual

5)

Name : Rodhi
Age : 13
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Gardener
Mother’s occupation : Maid
Brother : 1
Sister : 1
Remarks : Family going through financial crisis.
He is very Naughty but an intelligent student.

6)

Name : Santosh
Age : 14
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Cook
Mother’s occupation : House wife
Brother : 1
Sister : 1
Remarks : He always stood I in the class.
In previous terminal exams he has
scored 100% marks in math.
He was a working child mainstreamed after counseling

7)

Name : Rajiv
Age : 15
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Peon
Mother’s occupation : House wife
Brothers : 2
Sisters : 2
Remarks : He is good and obedient student.
He stood II in the previous terminal exams.
He was a working child earlier mainstreamed after counseling.

8)

Name : Srikant
Age : 14
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Unemployed (Alcoholic)
Mother’s occupation : Household worker
Brothers : 4
Sisters : 3
Remarks : He always scores good marks in the class.
He is liked by all his teachers for his good manners and obedience.

9)

Name : Shyamal
Age : 13
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Driver
Mother’s occupation : Maid Servant
Brothers : 2
Activity : Participated in many theatrical production of Literacy India
Remarks : He has transformed from a shy Bengali speaking boy to a good student as well as good actor.
Now he can converse in hindi fluently

10)

Name : Bittoo
Age : 12
Class : V
Sex : M
Father’s Occupation : Pvt. Service
Mother’s occupation : Maid Servant
Brother : 1
Sisters : 2
Remarks : He is a well-behaved boy. He is a very sincere, hard-working student.

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Given below are the details of the expenditure that would be incurred for each child:

Sr. No.	Expenditure Heads	Amount per child
1	Uniform Expenses	350
2	Books and Periodicals	450
3	Stationery	500
4	Snacks for children	350
5	Teaching Aids	450
6	Teacher's Salary	600
7	Visit to other places	150
8	Administrative cost	150
	Amt. /Child/ per year	3000

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Also, here are few pics of the Literacy India center at Sector-23, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon. We got a chance to capture these pics when we went to Literacy India.

Classrooms at the Literacy India Center

What a serene surrounding for the children!!

Manish with children at Literacy India

Now computers are there for everyone to learn!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since many volunteers of AID Gurgaon are working in Evalueserve, it helped us in mobilizing the funds through the Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) initiatives. These kind of sponsorships help institutitions like Literacy India to impart education to underprivileged children.

People working in different companies through their CSR teams can try to raise sponsorships for such children or can even undertake to sponsor one child on their own. By raising funds from time to time we can ensure that though we may lack time to volunteer due to personal commitments, we can still make a difference in lives of these children. For any kind of details required related to sponsorships, please drop a mail at: gurgaon@aidindia.org

Do you like spending time with kids??

2007-04-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

17/03/2007: It was a typical saturday morning. Weekend had started. This time other volunteers couldn't make it to Mobile Creches. Our new member, Sandra who is from Germany was really keen to go to Mobile Creches to meet the kids. So we reached Mobile Creches by 10:30 a.m. As there were only two of us and around 30 kids, it left us a bit perplexed as how to catch the attention of the kids. Normally we divide the kids in a group of 4-5 depending on availability of volunteers and go through what all they have learned in past few days and asking them few questions, clearing their doubts etc.

Sandra is still in the process of getting familiar with Hindi, so that she can interact more freely with the kids. So to keep the kids engaged we finally thought of teaching the kids how to answer if someone asks them in English, "What is your name?" The idea was that if Sandra asks them the same question, they would be able to smartly answer in English. All the children were told to sit in a circle and we started with a kid at random among them asking, "Tumhara naam kya hai?" He replied just by saying "Ajay". Then I had to tell him that you reply by saying, "Mera naam Ajay hai". He repeated it in a bit slow manner.

Then we asked the children that do they want to learn speaking in English and all replied in unison that they want to. So I asked Usha to stand and repeat with me that if someone asks her, "What is your name?" , then she should say, "My name is Usha". To that she tried to say slowly "My.......naam.......izz......Ushaa". But it was a good effort and she tried to improvise it too. Thereafter, each one of the kids was asked to stand and answer in the same way. Some of the kids were feeling too shy to speak. Some of the kids were saying in a very nice manner. For some it was sounding greek and latin. But at least it enabled to catch their attention.

Meanwhile some of the children were playing with Sandra, and were saying ,"Didi, Idhar aao naa!". Sandra really likes to be with these kids and even kids want her to teach Hindi quickly :-) . They were teaching her that a Cat is called "Billi" in Hindi and a Rabbit is called "Khargosh".

Later on we asked two of the kids to come at the center of circle, and to follow the simple exercise:

Ajay: "What is your name"?
Suraj: "My name is Suraj".
Suraj: "How are you?"
Ajay: "I am fine. Thank you."

Many of the children repeated this exercise. Few of them got a bit stuck while trying to repeat the sentences. Some displayed amazing confidence.

But it left me wondering that how much effort it requires in teaching just 4 lines of English to these kids. In the coming times how much learning and education(and the quality of education) is going to be possible for these children, when there parents have to keep moving from place to place every 2-3 years to a new construction site in search of some work. How many of these kids would be able to come out of the labour class, and get a chance like other privileged kids to learn computers and speak fluent English? Or would they become the next generation of labourers due to the lack of education even though they want to study and go ahead in life? Sometimes I really feel lucky that I was able to get a decent school education. How much education would be possible for these children? And what as educated individuals can we do for these children? Should we leave things for them on their fate?? Or can we come forward and do something worthwhile for them??

~~Nishank

People who are part of History

2007-03-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

They all are different..

But they all think the same...

They all want to do something different...

27 people attended first Community Service Hour (CSH) of AID Gurgaon.

Would you like to be part of this...

Do you think like them...

Come be a part of US!!!

Unnati - A parallel world

2007-03-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Modern open Gurukul...... Unnati!!!

Nishank's picture.....

Oh i'm sorry i mean the picture drawn by Nishank... There is nothing to laugh over here... he is a good artist...

Now look over here... This is a picture drawn by one of the kid of Unnati. After the drawing was complete i asked few questions to the kids.

1. How many tails does a mouse have?
Ans. Unanimously 'one'

Great!! I was impressed...

2. How many legs does a mouse have??
Ans. Unanimously 'four'

Impressive ... I liked that

3. How many ears does a mouse have???
Ans. Unanimously 'two'

By this point i truly believe that they know everything...

Next question..

4. How many eyes does a mouse have????

Guess whats going to be the answer!!!

Give you a hint.. again look at the picture, can you guess now...

Ans. Unanimously 'one'

Phew!!!... What a great chuha we have drawn, he has only one eye Doh!!... Then suddenly I heard a voice from the group - 'The other eye of the mouse is behind the board' lol...

At one place where the kids were busy with drawings, the other place was quite athletic...

There is no doubt that kids are expert in everything, you don't need to teach them. Now look here...

After the drawing session was complete, we had a rhym session..

Rupali who came for the first time to Unnati, took over the control... She started with a new rhym 'Hathi raja jhoom ke' and the kids repeated after her.... 'Hathi raja jhoom ke' Well i was one among them too... I also learnt this new rhym that day..

I revised few rhyms 'Chanda mama door ke' with them... Do you guyz remember the rhyms which our nursery teacher used to teach us. I really like this one 'Machi jal ki raaani hai' :)

Rupali again in action....

Sandra was again with us with our visit to Unnati....

Just a thought in the end - When somebody from outside can come and work for us, why can't we ??

What she has to say!!!..

2007-03-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

I hope you all must have already seen the pictures of Holi at Mobile Creches ... Now you all must be knowing Sandra too...

Here is what she has to say...

For as long back as I can remember, it has seemed to me that India is the world’s most beautiful country. After a five-week holiday here some years ago, I made up my mind that I would come back again. And now I am here – not as a visitor but as an Evalueserve employee with Gurgaon.

My original plan was to travel around on weekends and discover the fantastic places all around me. But then, I read an article about volunteer projects – and realized that this was that what I really wanted to do. Being in contact with underprivileged people, teaching and helping children who cannot afford to go to school to acquire an education (and often do not have enough to eat), and helping them aspire to a better life – that is so much more important than only looking at a wonderful landscape!

Well, at first I was really afraid of doing this. (I am a real coward and am afraid of everyone and everything!) I was worried whether the children would like me and how I would communicate with them, since I do not speak Hindi and they do not know English.

However, when we went there and I met the children for the first time, I was so happy – nothing can compare with the beautiful experience I had interacting with them. They were so happy seeing us, and although they are so poor and deprived of opportunities all children should have, they were so friendly. They called me Didi – what an honor for me! They were not afraid of me at all. Moreover, language was not a problem. I tried to teach them English and they taught me Hindi. I think they really enjoyed hearing me trying to speak Hindi, making mistakes all the time. It was great fun for me too.

I cannot imagine spending my weekends in a better way than working with these children. And whenever I have time (and you can be sure I will do almost anything to make time for these children), I would like to spend it with them, teaching them, helping them, and trying to make a difference in their lives.

-- Sandra

Would you like to say something to her....

Mobile Creches Holi!!!!

2007-03-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

This time we had Sandra, who is from Germany, on the visit to Mobile Creches.

Couldn't you see how sincere they are..

Now look at Rachit!!! Looks like he is going to teach everything in a day...

They all look the same...:)

Dance Dance.....Spice Girls live performance.....

Bura na mano Holiiii hai!!!....

Rachit busy with colors.... will somebody color him up!!!!

Sandra in her full mood, enjoying the festival of colors!!..

Now look at this...

Common guyz kaha dekh rahe ho...idhar dekho hamari photo khich rahi hai....

Unnati off-league...

2007-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

The first day when I took slate in my hand. This is what I wrote....Peoople of different cultures living at the same place, sharing same problems, fighting together for living....
I am proud to take responsibilities.. do you!!....
I want to study but i have my sister to carry...
Bread pakoda at his best...:)

Deciding the Strategic Moves

2007-02-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Here is how Sachin describes the visits where the next moves are decided. The best part of these meetings are that they can be very well called Volunteer Informal Meet. The new volunteers and the old volunteers very well merge with each other and decide the future course of action.

During last week we visited Unnati on Sunday, 18th February. We went to Unnati around 2 p.m. We gathered all children from jhuggi and started our regular classes. This time, environment of class was different than our routine classes at Mobile Crèches and Unntati. Children were assembled on green grass under blue sky in a perfect natural world. We divided children into two groups. Gyanesh, Anurag and Aakash were busy in teaching one group and on other hand Manoj, Vineet, Rachit and Jivtesh were managing the second group. Meanwhile Sumit, Manish and Ashutosh also joined us and helped in handling the kidsJ!!!

Nishank and Anil bought slates for the children. Mahesh and Arun were ensuring that every newly admitted child should get slate and chalk. In between for some time a flock of sheep also joined our classesJ!!!! We carried out our classes till 4:30 p.m. At the end we distributed books to some bright children. We also went inside the basti for some time as few of the volunteers had joined us for the first time and they wanted to see the condition there.

Before departing, we had a discussion on following points:

* Hiring a full time teacher for Unnati if children continue to show interest towards studies

* Addressing health related issues of the community i.e. creating health and hygiene awareness in the community by arranging Heath talk with the help of Dr Vineet, distribution of medicines etc.

* Meal a Month program of AID.

* Arranging AID Gurgaon monthly update meeting for all Volunteers and Donors

* Sending monthly update of AID Gurgaon activities to all Donors with a ‘Thank You’ note

* Finding alternatives for distribution of collected clothes.

* Reaching out to more volunteers in Gurgaon, especially for creating buffer for smooth functioning of the projects.

* Collecting funds in a more systematic way for the future spending

We have collected funds of 2.5 k on Sunday (Thanks to all Donor-cum-Volunteers). Now we are growing rapidly, first time in history AID Gurgaon witnessed so many volunteers together (total 15 volunteers) (Thanks to all)

Hurreey Picnic Time!!!!

2007-02-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here is how Nishank describes it:

The volunteers who went for the picnic were Manish, Rachit, Saikat, Sachin and me.

For Manish and Rachit it was the time they were interacting with Mobile Crèches kids. The bus for the picnic started from Mobile Crèches center at 11 o'clock. There were total 40 kids and all were excited about going for a picnic (these kinds of outings are rare things for them!!!). The bus it seemed was a little bigger for them as they were sitting in a very disciplined manner. (I was expecting lot of hulla gulla J)
The bus took around an hour to reach Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. In the bus we were trying to talk to the kids but seems they were more engrossed watching the sceneries outside. After reaching the sanctuary we had a group photo with the kids. We never expected that we could get such a serene and natural surroundings near Gurgaon. At that time we also came to knew that children from another Mobile Creches center too have joined us for the picnic and soon we had a bunch of around 80 kids. After going inside the sanctuary, first we went to a small gallery containing posters of different migratory birds along with detailed information about them. The children were looking at them with lot of curiosity.

Then we moved on to go near the lake where most of the birds were there. The lake had some marshy areas to keep the birds at bay from people visiting there. After reaching near the lake we realized that we were missing binoculars. (After all there is a difference between a sanctuary and a zoo). However, the children enjoyed even seeing the birds from a distance. Rachit and Saikat were busy photographing birds using zoom of the camera. Manish and Sachin were busy ensuring kids were not running here and there.

After spending some time near the lake all the children gathered near a tree. There we all sat down and few of the children recited poems. Even Sachin recited a poem for the children which the children followed in chorus. After spending some time there we realized that it was lunch time for the children. We finally decided to return to the bus. While returning we realized that we had come along a long way. The kids were going in small groups. They were asking lot of questions out of their curiosity which we were trying to answer in our best capacity. J For the lunch we went to a park just next to the sanctuary. All the kids were made to sit in a big circle and the lunch was served for them.

After the lunch the children started running here and there and were enjoying playing among the greenery. We also had a brief drawing session for the kids where they were supposed to draw watching the natural surroundings. Then children were then given toffees. Finally it was the time to wrap up and go back.

While returning the bus had to stop near a railway signal for about fifteen minutes. The children got a chance to see "Chuk Chuk Rail Gaadi". Finally the bus reached Mobile Crèches center at 5 o'clock. The children were very happy that they went on a picnic. It was really nice to see their smiling faces.

If you want to watch the complete album for the Mobile Crèches picnic, you can follow this link (courtesy Rachit) :

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/chawlarachit/MobileCrechesPicnic?authkey=5oQJkMTYt3Q

Hope we keep having similar events for children in the future.

Republic Day - Initiation day for Project Unnati!

2007-01-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

Nishank experience of the day:

I tend to remember that on last Republic Day I was watching “Rang De Basanti” in PVR. The movie was great and thought provoking too. There was a scene in the movie where the actors were sitting in a bar and complaining “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta!”

Well how easy it is to just watch the surroundings around us and shrugging off that nothing can be done!

But coming forward and bringing some change is a different game.

Unnati is supposed to be one such example.

I am sure we all want to see a developed India where there is an equal opportunity for all to succeed, where every child can go to a school. Where no child has to spend his childhood working day and night to earn a living instead of being able to play with his friends. Where people are not trapped in a vicious circle of poverty but have a chance to lead a decent life.

But just having a dream is not enough. The question is how much does it matters to us to achieve that dream.

We have an excellent opportunity to bring the change we envision. Being the youth of the nation we have a great responsibility on our shoulders as how we are going to shape up the future of the country.

There will always be only 24x7 = 168 hours in a week for us even if we yearn for more. In this limited time only per week we have to manage our time between our work, our family and friends, our hobbies and anything else we want to do. Things won’t change in a weekJ. But slowly and steadily if we move towards the goal, with our collective efforts we can achieve a lot. It’s not just about doing things here in Gurgaon, or being part of AID Gurgaon. It’s about asking ourselves as what role I am going to play and why. It’s about though being anywhere in India, or even outside India, but working towards bringing the change. But when we are able to do something near our immediate surroundings then changes are most perceptible.

When we come ahead for volunteering we are helping people who may be totally strangers to us, but still we share a common bond among us. They may be quite lagging in terms of education, income etc. when compared to us. But they are also citizens of the same India. Globalization and economic development shouldn’t remain a prerogative of few who are able to get decent education and get plugged-in in the system to enjoy benefits brought by Information Technology, Outsourcing, Foreign Direct Investment etc. Off-late we have seen that gap between Haves and Have-nots is increasing day by day but at some point the trend needs to be reserved. And for that we need to do something about it. It’s responsibility of each one of us.

Or else there is a simple solution. We can simply sit in our air-conditioned offices, sipping a cup of coffee and saying, “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta!”

Oh I yet have to start regarding the update on activities!

When we reached Unnati the children became excited and started making noises. We tried to gather all the children at one place. But they were not listening much to us. Some of the elders there intervened and helped us in keeping the children disciplined. We had plans of distributing slates and toffees to the children. We had taken 70 slates with us, but soon we realized that it was not enough. We got a bit confused as how to proceed ahead. But anyways we decided that the elder children would be given the slates first followed by the younger children. We decided to first note down the names of the children.

It seemed to be an arduous task. Sachin and Sumit were trying to placate the children. Deepak took the lead in between and children spoke following him, “Hum sabko padh likh ke bada aadmi banna hai”! That time we didn’t have a pen and paper with us. Then Mr. Mohd Rafi (I hope you guyz have not forgot Shahrukh and now we have Mr. Rafi) immediately arranged it for us. He is the owner of a tea-stall there and he is one of the few people to whom we had a talk initially regarding our plan of teaching children there.

Manoj started jotting down the names of the children along with Ravi. They jotted down the names of the children to whom slates were to be given. Then we started calling each child by his/her name to handover the slate/chalk and other children clapped with it. Meanwhile Deepak was busy in taking the snaps. Amit, Ankit, Rachit and I were busy opening the packing of slates and handing it over for distribution. The parents where happy that something good was happening for their children.

When we had distributed few of the slates we saw that few of the children have already started writing down their names on the slates. It was really nice to see that. One by one our stock of slates were finished and still few younger children were saying that they too want the slates. We told them that we will soon arrange the slates for them too. At that time the toffees came handy as we said that we will give toffees to them and told children to stand in line. After that we handed over the toffees which appeased the younger children. Even few of the elders said that they too want the slatesJ and that time we said that today slates are only for children.

We also had a chance to interact with the parents and some of them were asking regarding schooling for their children. Even some of the adults there want to learn reading and writing. It was a really nice experience and a bit unique way for celebrating Republic Day for us.

Once we go to that place, it makes us wonder that how these people are living in so abject poverty. How they must have faced this gruesome winter in their patch-like homes. What is the future going to be for these children for whom the present is in this dire condition? How much these people can think of education for their children when they are surviving on hand to mouth existence and not sure of what they will earn the next day.

And the most important question is, “Will things ever change for them? “

Want to be different!!

2007-01-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

Join this Group!!!

They are all the same but still they are different....

Changing the unchangeable things is difficult, but there are few people who still change them..

Are you also one of them...

Join AID Gurgaon

AID Gurgaon New Project - Unnati

2007-01-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

AID Gurgaon NEw Project - Unnati

After successful running of AID Gurgaon Mobile Creches, now with Nishank's continuous efforts we have a new project in our group. Nishank named it as Unnati. The project has been started from scratch and volunteers will be working without the support from any other NGOs. I believe the volunteers now are experienced enough to make this project a success.

Here is how Nishank describes his views:

Hi all,

Here is a brief update on the new project to be initiated by AID Gurgaon. There is a slum area which is located 5 mins drive from Evalueserve’s office (near Rajeev Chowk, close to Delhi-Jaipur highway). The slum area is called “Ret-Mandi” by the people there. On Saturday, January 20, 2007 while returning from Mobile Creches, Sachin, Munish, Sumit and I went for the survey of the area. The basti consists of more than 50 families with around 150-200 children.

The basti is on a barren land where people have put patch-like shelters. The basti is around 6-7 years old and some of the people keep coming and going if they are not able to get any work. Most of the families there hail from Rajasthan. The people there are basically daily wage earners surviving on hand to mouth existence. Their occupations vary from working as mason, labourers, making ropes, selling things on thelas etc.

The children there have no access to education. Some of the children there have been to school earlier, but had to leave their studies in between. There we met a boy “Shambhu” who has studied till class 5. His father was asking if Shambhu can be admitted in some school. We talked to few more people there and their responses were really good. They told that hey would help in every possible way if we start some teaching activity there. Even the children there want to study. The parents said that since there is no school nearby they are not able to send them school. Moreover affordability is an issue for them as sending to school means expenses in fees, uniforms, stationeries etc., that too when they have no regular source of income. Finally we returned from there and told that we would come the next day too.

Yesterday Sachin and I went to talk with more people there. We gave Shambhu a Hindi Storybook, a notebook and a pen. He even read aloud a paragraph from the storybook. Seeing him other children also told that they want notebooks. Even some of the adults there told that they want to learn reading and writing. There are children of all age groups. They were busy playing with their customized toys. Few of the adults there told that teaching these children is next to impossible task as these children won’t listen to us. We told that we will try our best and asked them to be a bit strict when we will start classes thereJ !!! We also took few photos of the children and the place there. The children were very excited to get themselves photographed.

We are planning to start classes there on Saturdays and Sundays. (On Saturday from 3-5 p.m. and on Sundays from 2-5 p.m.) Here we should strive for overall community development here rather than only the education of children. In this slum area no NGO or Govt. body visits and there is a lot of scope and challenge to do something constructive here. We will have to start things from scratch here. One of the possible names for this project can be “Unnati” as these people really need some development.

CSR in AID Gurgaon

2007-01-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

With efforts of the volunteers finally we were able to successfuly form a fully functional CSR team in the first company Evalueserve. Wouldn't you like to know why i mentioned it as fully functional?

Here are the few points lined up:

Successful completion of winter clothes drive
Successful execution of teaching program of the house boys within the company by CSR volunteers
Success of bottoms-up approach in forming a CSR team
Involving CSR volunteers in other AID Gurgaon projects such as Mobile Creches
Growing volunteers every month
Donation drive
and lots more

Now the plan is to form similar CSR teams in other companies in Gurgaon. A list of companies have been identified and bottoms-up approach will be used to form the core of the CSR team.

Keep checking this post for the updates....

Kids Ralley...

2007-01-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Mobile Creches celebrated 'Bal Adhikar Diwas'

This saturday was somewhat different. It was late morning and we all reached Mobile Creches with the usual plan of teaching kids. To our suprise what we all saw was something different!!! All the kids instead of being inside school, were standing outside with posters and banners in their hand. It seemed as if some army is ready to attack.

I was surprized but then someone told us that there is a awareness rally organized today. All the kids were supposed to form a group and walk in their community. Kids were carrying posters in their hands with different messages written on it.

This was their fight for education.

Whoops... then what to think, I also took a poster in my hand and became part of the rally.

I could imagine the rallies in 1940s for the fight for freedom. This was very much the same for these kids.

However, this was fun!! fun for them and fun for all the volunteers.

We all were moving in the small lanes of the community (designed like jalebi, we were moving round and round from one lane to the other) with shouting aloud the messages that were written on the posters. Everyone from the community were looking us (which we all wanted) and trying to read what was written on posters.

Though there was no teaching that day, we were not able to teach something to kids, but i learnt one thing from the ralley "We don't value things that we get with ease, the value of those things are only known to those who are deprived of them"

Bhaiyya aa Gaye :)

2006-09-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

A wave of enthusiasm ran through the kids as we reached the Mobile creche - our lethargic bodies too got charged the moment a loud "bhaiyaa aa gaye" fell on our ears. This seems to have become a routine now (no wonder we are excited to meet our little friends every saturday).

This time Shashank got a jigsaw puzzle (animal pictures in every jigsaw) with him that attracted a lot of kids [chorus: bhaiyya main bhi khelunga]. We thought of fostering team work in the kids and divided the ones that were interested into three teams. Each team was given a separate jigsaw puzzle to solve. The desire of being the first one to solve was so strong that they focussed on our lip movement and waited for the "Start" signal. Some of them of-course did not wait :D.

Initially we thought that this exercise would be difficult for the kids. However they proved us wrong. One of the team was extremely quick at knitting the pieces together. I could see the glitter in their eyes everytime they were able to piece an animal together. They quickly finished their jigsaw and I began telling them the animal names. There was haathi, saanp, cheetah, sher and another one whose name I was unable to recall. Without much hope I asked if any one of them knew it's name. No one replied. I let it go by.

While some of the kids were busy with the jigsaw I looked around to see what others were up to. One of the groups that was being taught by Priyanka was making a lot of noise. I went closer to see that Priyanka had drawn a human figure (it looked more like a ghost..he he- don't tell Priyanka ;)) and marked the various body parts. She was explaining where nose, hair, teeth etc. fit in. She asked me if I could take a quiz since she had finished teaching. I agreed and quizzed the kids by placing my finger on the body parts. They answered quickly confirming once again that they are quick learners. Priyanka had already taught the kids Twinkle twinkle little star (with actions) so I tried my luck with teaching "Johnny Johhnny Yes Papa". Frankly I had forgotten the verse when Priyanka remined me the lyrics. My actions combined with my verse's hindi translation ("jonny beta tumhe cheeni khaee hai- nahi papa" ;) ) made the kids laugh and gag. I am hoping that they would remember the song (and the hilarious actions :D) the next time I pay them a visit.

Priyanka then taught the kids how to write their names in English, which they picked up quickly.

Meanwhile it was Munish's turn to teach the younger kids and face the heat :D. It really is not easy teaching kids alphabets however he did a good job.

Ashwini (aka Dhoni - as suggested by the Mobile Creche teachers :D) taught another group extremely deligently.

Rajesh too taught kids in his very unique and energetic "samajh aa raha hai na bhaisahab" andaaz.

As we were about to leave , one of the kids came to me and said "Bhaiyya wo nevla tha". Quickly the animal whose name I had forgotten flashed before my eyes. I cursed myself for not being able to relate the figure to the word. I looked at the kid and mumured "Hats off buddy - way to go!".

Get up everyone its time for Yoga!!!

2006-06-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yoga time for all of you!!..

For those who didn't go to Mobile Creches this time really missed the joy of Yoga. This Saturday I planned to do something which is different from mathematics, science and all, so I thought why not experiment 'Yoga'. The nice weather and the raining mood raise the excitement.

When I reached there everyone was studying, so the first step was to get everyone in a circle so that everyone could see everybody else (I didn't knew what would be the repercussion of this). The very first thing turned out to be very difficult for me, phew!!.. I told everybody to cross their legs and Doh!! Believe me this was the first time in my life I found that there are 15 different ways in which you can cross your legs. Every kid has its own way of sitting. So the few minutes went in getting all the kids sit in a similar pose. It looks easy but buddy it was not. Some of the kids have legs like rubber band (I know you wouldn't believe), you make them cross their legs and just turn around and you would find their legs (Wooops!!.. ) again in the same state as they were before. But finally I managed to get everyone in the same position.

Now it was time to get their thumb and middle finger together (big mistake!!). I told them the same line which I just wrote here and made the mistake of my life. I forgot that every kid had two middle fingers and everyone was ready with his own combination. But, I found a quick and easy solution to this problem by telling everyone to get their thumb and 'first finger' together. Sigh!!.. Thank God you have given us only one 'first finger'.

So now everyone was ready to start and sitting straight in Yoga position.

Now it was the time for the first exercise. I instructed everyone to close their eyes and take deep breath in.

Guess what!!..

Every kid had its one eye open and one closed, peeping to check that others have closed their eyes or not. Now every kid thinking in the similar fashion lead to a new form of Yoga ' Kid Yoga'. Keep one of your eyes open and one closed, Doh!!.. ( Hey hey I coined the term 'Kid Yoga' and I am the first person on this earth to teach that unusual thing.. lol.. I guess I can go for a patent!! Lol..)

Well, all the exercise kept on finishing one by one and ended with shavasan where every kid was lying still on the ground. Ok ok I accept they completed this asan again keeping their one eye open and one closed to see that other kids have closed both their eyes or not. And similar was the case with every kid.

So finally we completed all the exercises keeping one eye open and one closed.

And yeah how to forget a good dose of laugh that was attached with every exercise we did. Every kid was laughing looking at others performing yoga and he didn't knew that others are laughing on him lol..

I hope next time everyone who missed would be there.

Hooooooreeey!!!!!

2006-05-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Shahrukh is back in school!!!....

Moreover, Laxman's parents have agreed to send him to school.

Hip hip hooorey....

Attrition at School

2006-05-01T01:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were quite disappointed to learn that a couple of the kids have dropped out of school and have started working at the shops in the slum; one of them being Shahrukh Khan.

It seems that the kids themselves would rather go to school than work, but their parents insist that they do otherwise. These kids earn anywhere b/w 400 and 800 rupees a month working at these places, which is not a very small amount of money for these guys.

The teachers at MC said that they will speak to their parents; if they fail to make an impact then we may have to step in. I’m quite appalled that it’s so terribly difficult for parents to understand that their kids tomorrow is more important that the extra money today.

Do people have suggestions on how we should try and tackle this issue? Swapna suggested that we try and teach then crafts which can be sold to generate money for these kids.

Like to go for Partying...

2006-04-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

This time i'm not going to write what we did last Saturday, i'm going to show you. Let me take you through the world full of life:

Here is Prafulla teaching kids (Ooops... higher mathematics), but I guess kids were smarter than us, they started playing game (magic of numbers) with us and could guess any number that we think in our mind... (i was impressed)

While Ruchi was busy with small kids...

Saurabh was teaching the other group...

Now look at Prafulla and me, I guess instead of teching them we have learnt their way of greeting Doh!!.. Salaaaaaam Namaaaaste

Last time we taught all kids how to write their name in english. I was not sure if they would still remember but to my surprize when i told everyone to write their name they started laughing at me (one kid said "are bhiayaa aap bhi kyaa choti choti cheeze poochte ho.. ye lo..") and they all wrote their name correctly..

Now comes the twist, I guess everybody remember Shahrukh Khan, yes our own Shahrukh Khan. He stood up and asked me to write my name on his slate, well at that point of time I was clueless... but later I observed that he was trying to learn how to write our names. He wrote my name (frankly speaking his writing was much better than me, i think my school teachers were right, I need to improve my handwriting ...lol...) then it was turn of Prafulla and now look Shahrukh's concentration...

Here is our group

Oh i forgot, this time we had Dr. Rahul Verma and his wife Dr. Sumedha in Mobile Creches. They had a talk with MC coordinater Asha and discussed about the health of children. Now they would be visiting MC every week (Kudos for both of them). Asha was so hapy to see Doc that she couldn't stop herself thanking our group. I think we all should thank Dr. Rahul and his wife (three cheers for both of them).

Hey wait wait, can you guess who clicked all of these pictures..

I can bet you could not..

Kids of Mobile Creches :)

I never knew... Sun can be Blue!!

2006-04-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend only three of us were there. Sapna was ready with some A4 sheets, Prashant brought some candies and I was entering there with "no ideas what to do" in my mind. But once you are in, you really don’t need any idea. Refreshing smiles, curious faces, "namaste bhaiya" sound in the air...and you are totally into a new world.

Our "A for apple" team was busy doing some hard-code math this time:-). Moment I think of teaching something, very next moment they make me realize that they already know much more and I can really learn a lot from them. I sat in the middle and they were jumping over me.."bhaiya meri book dekho..bhaiya meri book dekho". I took one of the notebook in hand.. "2+3=5" was first entry on it. I remembered the day when, to add 2 and 3, I used to draw two bars...and a circle and three bars and count them all together. From counting..to sums..I thought to teach them some tables. I asked.."2 ka pahada kisko kisko aata hai" and there was Lalit (he is really good at many things) behind "bhaiya mujhe 20 tak aate hai".. I said "kyaaaa????" and thought.."graduation ho gaya par aaj tak mujhe 20 tak pahade yaad nahi hue"... It was so much fun teaching them some math tricks. They loved the one..using which you can generate (without remembering) the table of 9 just by writing 0 to 9 forward and backward.

At the other end, where Prshant was busy with camera session with kids, Sapna was enjoying drawing classes with them. I sat with one group and asked one of them make my sketch. If you dont care about the ratio of my head to my tummy...I was looking
cool:) with 5-5 fingers in both my hands. I would really recommend all the advertisement agencies to meet such creative minds. Looking at many concentric circles on a paper.. I asked "ye kya hai".. and he replied in a soft voice "ghar". Who knows he might be the first in future to make circular pyramids with top views as concentric circles? There were multicolored Indian flags, orange stars, triangular kites, one wheel car.. I was really lost into those colors. When I came out... the sun was really blue!!!

Fund's (Bizarre idea)

2006-03-30T00:29:00.000-08:00

Hey friends,

Till now Deepak has summed up most of the ideas for ‘fund generation’. (Just to add, please read comments to Deepak’s fund raising post, Nishtha has provided some excellent thoughts on elimination of ‘adsense’).
I also thought about this fund raising campaign. However, was not able to think on lines of fund generation using Internet = ( I have different approach. Let me take all of you through my approach.
What we need is some cash so that we can buy relevant things for children of ‘Mobile crèches’. Now, I feel that people are hesitant about giving cash (I know we can convince some for cash). So, what can people give? Clothes? (Na…. bad idea), Food? (Worse idea).
Hmmm…. After much thought I came to conclusion that there must be something that is basically rag to people, yet it has some cash value. I guess its old newspapers. (What…. Am I sounding crazy????????). Actually I have made some analysis for this too.

Assumptions:
A typical housing society (carlton/weelington/maple heights…e.t.c.) has 15 floors, 6 towers, 6 houses per floor. This gives me 5*5*15 = 540 houses per society.
1/3rd of people will be interested in contributing.
Study:
We will approach all the 540 houses and ask them to provide us with the bundle of old new papers (Obviously, we will give them details that why we are doing so).
180 people (1/3rd) will respond. On an average they will sell 5 kg’s of rag. This comes out to be 900 Kg’s. Now comes the cost per kg. I guess its 4.50 INR per kg. So it comes out to be 4050 INR. (Sounds like easy way of getting funds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Now comes the best part. Considering that all my assumptions and study has one or the other flaw (some may think its total crap), but I still feel that we can at least raise somewhere around 1000-1500 INR per society by just asking for old newspapers (their way for contributing money) and selling them.
Hope that my crazy idea makes some sense.

The trouble with life is, by the time you can read a girl like a book, its time to wake up

2006-03-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (sunday) was great!!

I saw "Love Story" in the morning. She didn't look like the heroine of the movie, but I don't know but the movie reminded me so much of her. Whatever, last few hours were simply great. I would have spend my whole life for those few hours, guess what spent my whole evening with her. It started with a cheeze tomato onion Pizza and what could be the best thing to have and that too with her. She loooks like any other girl, and yeah loves to talk and shop as other girls do (I think they are born with these skills). Whenever i'm with her i just don't waste time looking at anything else Doh!!. May be i'm foolish or better to say addicted. I think the whole credit goes to Hindi Movies. These things are expected to happen in these romantic movies where a boy in his 20s gets in love with with a girl in her early 20s. Whatever, we still know that silly movies like Niel and Nikki are still being made, promoting the multiplex chaap girl who wears a three year old's bathing suit to parties, drinks, smokes, uses foul words and calls herself independent.

Anyway, dream ended and i woke up in bed. Open my eyes in this hard real world. I am still thinking, if this is life or that was. Ok Ok i accept i'm an engineer, these things are not for me.

I am still in my bed and already late for office. Typing this stuff for last 20 minutes and still thinking when i should get up from bed. Now i should get up and brush my teeth. Oh that reminds me of our group. Last visit to Mobile creches was awesome. I was the first one to reach Mobile Creches. Rest of the group was a bit late. This time there were so many volenteers that it was hard for kids to choose which didi or bhiaya should be given the opportunity to pick them in their lap. You will soon be reading someone describing the whole story minute by minute.

Well i forgot what i was thinking to write and wrote all this silly stuff. Anyway, guyz what have you thought about fund raising activity. Ok let me summarize for all of you and you can put your thoughts here. The options we have:

1. Putting adsense on the blog.

2. Hosting a website where we can sell the products such as cards made by children.

3. Generating funds from corporates.

Please feel free to add more in case I missed any. Yesterday i came across one more idea for fund raising, what do you think about this.

Oh damn i have to go to office, i need to shut up and go and brush my teeth.

“Something” turned out to be much more..

2006-03-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hey people,

After lots of efforts and dishum dishum with blogger for the day, Ajay was not able to log on and finally he has to use my ID.

Ajay's experience of his first visit to Mobile Creches:

Deepak asked me “Are you coming to Mobile Crèches this Saturday” and without thinking much I said yes, may be will do something rather than sitting idle at home and watching TV. But “something” turned out to be much more than what I had thought of.

The plan was to meet in front of Cyber Park building at 10:00 am. I was a little late and reached there around 10:08. I found no familiar face and thought that it may be because I am late. But it turned out to be other way round. Anyways, all the people who planned to go to MC that day reached the Cyber Park building around 10:30. After everybody was there we (Deepak, Saurabh, Priyanka, Sapna and I) left for MC. One thing worth mentioning, as Deepak has already included in one of his previous mails to AID Gurgaon, that Sapna was well on time.

When we reached the gate of MC we could clearly hear the voices of the kids. As this was my first visit, I saw in one corner kids were studying, while in other, kids from one to three years of age were crying while some were busy in their own world. When they saw us they started shouting namaste didi and sometimes in between namaste bhaiya could also be heard :((. Some came running towards Saurabh expecting him to lift them over his shoulders and after that what could have happened you know, he could not have let their expectations down. Deepak also got busy with kids and Priyanka and Sapna started playing with small (one to three year old) kids. After namastes (milna milana) was over Saurabh started teaching them how to make frog (Origamy), while rest of us joined the kids. It was great fun throughout the time we were busy learning how to make a frog. Ooops, I forgot to mention about Neha, who also joined us a few minutes after we reached there. Well, it seemed she was really good and experienced at spending times with kids.

After the frog was made, one more thing was left to be done and that thing was teaching kids about computers. That required a lot of efforts and who other than Deepak (Masters in khidki, Certified by Bill Gates institute) could have done it better. All the kids were excited and surrounded Deepak, sitting with Laptop in his lap, and we could not see and hear what happened after that.
It was their lunch time and time for us to leave, guess what; again a lot of didi was heard with some bhaiya in between. When we were coming out I heard one of the kids asking when are you going to come back? And we all know the answer to this question we will be going this Saturday and will be a part of their sports day.

See everybody there…

Disclaimer: The information and thoughts in this post is the property of Ajay Panwar. I am no where involved. Though i wanted to make some modifications but i'm going to do them in comments. (I will see you Ajay)