Pointers For New Volunteers !!!

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 .....!

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

Hi,

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

Email: (onlynishank@gmail.com)

Mob No: 9910137929

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

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

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Ideas/Suggestions for Community Connect !!!

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

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...

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

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

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

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

*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 !

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!!

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 :

Green gurgaon Campaign

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

 

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

AID Delhi magazine November 2009

Pratibimb    

SIEMENS Volunteers speak - Paper Craft Module at Disha

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:

1. Basic paper folding along the edges.
2. Making Boat / Aero planes with better / straighter folds.
3. Basic shapes – Circle , Square ,Triangle and Star
4. Drawing these basic shapes in various sizes.
5. 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:

1. How to use scissors.
2. Cutting out basic shapes – triangle, square, star, plus, heart and crescent.
3. How to use Glue
4. Pasting of these cut shapes on glaze paper.
5. Cutting out the colored shapes from the glaze paper.
6. Pasting the colored shapes on black cartridge chart paper.
7. 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

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.