Aid Delhi Newsletter August 2009

Association for India’s Development

August 2009

Delhi Chapter Newsletter Editorial

Table of Contents Editorial Project Updates AID Aashayein AID Gurgaon AID Jaagriti AID Prayas Jamghat Parichay

1 It’s always a privilege for me to write an editorial and meet you all through AID NCR’s newsletter. After a short break in newsletter we are again back with the summary of the work done. The updates from the coordinators will give you a clear insight about the happenings at the projects. While Jaagriti, Prayas, Parichay and Jamghat are doing well Aashayein with it’s revived energy with a set of enthused volunteers are redefining their path while Gurgaon guys have got enormous volunteers about whom Munish have mentioned in the updates. This newsletter also presents a painting from the painting competition conducted at project Aashayein, Jaagriti and Gurgaon on the occasion of Independence Day, in an event called Udaan, in collaboration with a web based company mywebera. An inspiring story by Radha from Parichay adds up value to this edition. Radha is so passionate about teaching and one day she’ll be one of the best teachers in her locality. Apart from our regular projects, AID NCR also had events organized by its volunteers for the I am No Lab Rat campaign to generate awareness among the people about the adverse health effects of GM foods. A Brinjal festival at ST microelectronics is something to mention about and there were movie screenings organized by volunteers in different colleges as well. Please do visit the site http://iamnolabrat.com to learn more about the same. There are more such events on the pipe line.

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Children’s Corner

esjh dgkuh & jk?kk dqekjh]

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My Painting - Prince

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Volunteer Speak – Robyn

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Article Should a Delhiite dump his/her car and switch to public transport – Anuj

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Photo of the Month

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Contact us

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AID NCR also has spread across the NCR and now supporting projects going on at Munsiari. The recent funding for the solar lighting of village at Munsiari kick started the collaboration. Along with this AID NCR would also soon consider supporting the educational initiatives by community women at Bhalaswa village in east delhi. AID NCR signed an MoU with Evalueserve to work towards a target of admitting a minimum of 500 children to formal schools by 2010. With all the on going efforts and new volunteers strength we think it can be achieved with ease. We also had a tree plantation drive along with Kalpvriksh at Navakriti school a couple of weeks back.

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But this is not all, a teacher has been appointed at Aashayein who will be taking 2hrs classes from Monday to Friday. Children have been divided into 2 batches according to their age- senior group (7th to 10th class) and junior group (3rd to 6th class). The teacher will join from next week.

As we are compiling the newsletter after a break, I’ve not discussed about any particular issue at the editorial but from our next issue onwards, we’ll be having a focused editorial. September is a happening month with a lot of festivals following. I wish our readers advance wishes for Id and Dusherra.

The next big event on the Aashayein activities calendar for the month of August was the Independence Day celebrations. On 15th August, amidst rain and patriotic fervor, the national flag was hoisted and songs of “desh-bhakti” were sung. The main focus of the event was the Udaan- Painting competition sponsored by MyWebera. Along with that various competitions were organised like Independence Day Trivia, Leader Recognition Competition. The event ended with distribution of refreshments and kites.

Also we’ll soon have a new team taking over the responsibilities of AID NCR and will contribute to grow the organization to newer heights Happy Reading Selva +91-9891358457 [email protected]

http://picasaweb.google.com/aid.delhi/IndependenceDa yCelebrations2009AtAashayein#

Project Updates: AID Aasahyein

On the occasion of Independence Day, we took the opportunity to release Aashayein blog. It is an initiative to connect better with people.

"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, Sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon ...must inevitably come to pass" -Paul J.Meyer

http://aidaashayein.blogspot.com/

And so was the case with Aashayein in the month of August when after months and months of planning and strategizing, with the ceaseless efforts of the volunteer team, those plans bore tangible results: a freshly painted new room complete with electricity supply and the fittings, blackboard, models made by children.

Volunteer meet happened as usual. Everyone was filled with ideas and plans for Aashayein. Due to newly found friendship and a great rapport between the volunteers we now have a great team that works together, celebrates together. This is the 3rd consecutive month where we have collected MEAL A MONTH. The collections are increasing every month.

Regular weekend classes were taken by Volunteers but with a new agenda. Saturdays are now dedicated to dance, music, art classes. On Sunday, Audio Visual aids are being used to teach varied subjects like Human Anatomy, India’s map etc.

University Awareness Drive is one of the major ventures of Aashayein starting from 28th August onwards. Screening of AID’s 5th Anniversary video along with Aashayein’s video will take place in association with Pravah. Street plays will be done by volunteers in the respective colleges. Posters and Flyers will be put up in colleges. Along with that T-shirts and Handmade bags will be sold by our volunteers.

Dance classes have got a heartening response from the children which was evident from the reluctance everyone displayed in ending the class and halting the music beats. To the foot tapping numbers, the children were instructed in basic dance exercises and various positions with a few elements of jazz dance thrown in.

On the Cards is our plan to raise funds through Candle and Diya making for Diwali. Volunteers and children together will make them. Along with that various other items will be sold in attractive packing to corporate and women’s club.

Same goes with Sunday classes. Children are excited and eagerly responding to Audio-visual classes. 2

A picnic to Rail museum is also planned for the month of September. We have planned to celebrate birthdays of children and volunteers together on the last Sunday of every month to strengthen the bond between our team.

Nutrition Program It started in Disha on the lines of Unnati, and programme is now running on regular basis. Children and Teacher, coordinate among themselves for the smooth running of this programme.

Also, here is the link of Aashayein video made by Anirban. A great video that bought smile on our faces and took us down the memory lane.

RSEP All the children admitted under this programme rejoined the school In July .A big setback was Sanayak, who dropped out in between from Pallavan, as per her grandparents he went to his home town in Bihar. Progress of the children is being checked regularly by the volunteers. There have been few challenges with these children, but volunteers are trying to motivate the children their parents and are meeting the teachers in the school for tracing the progress of these children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dUaGt9EnEg Project Location: Timarpur ( 10minute walk from Delhi University metro station ) Regular Class timings:

Tracking sheet of Progress of Children at Disha As per the understanding reached between AID - Gurgaon and AID-Atlanta, it was agreed to give a monthly progress tracking sheet of the children at Disha. This was a requirement for the funding assistance for AID-Atlanta. Rohit Gupta (McAfee) took over this task voluntarily and has submitted one report, which was posted on website also. He is working to develop a model which is easy, simple and credible. In between as backup Swati Sinha (Law Student, Final Yr) had volunteered for this task, she is observing this model and is working closely with Rohit for better understanding.

Weekdays – Mon – Fri: 5:00 – 7:00 pm Weekends - Saturday: Sunday :

4:30 pm -6:30 pm

11:00 am – 01:00 pm

Regular volunteers: Anandita, Deboshree, Nikita, Srishti, Manoj, Swastik, Neelu, Harpreet, Prachi New volunteers this month: Nikita, Srishti, Ritu Contact Information: Prachi Aggarwal – 9811462868 Prachi Aggarwal

Independence Day Celebrations I-Day was celebrated with lot of joy, excitement at Disha .Children from both schools gathered at Disha along with volunteers, teachers and few visitors. National Flag was hoisted and National Anthem was sung with pride. There was lot of performance by children which was a great learning for the fellow children and for volunteers also.

[email protected] +91 -9811462868.

Project Updates: AID Gurgaon Corporate Collaboration AID – NCR took initiative to share a vision with Evalueserve, to mainstream a minimum of 500 underprivileged children in to regular schools. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Evalueserve and AID –NCR, whereby EVS had assured volunteers and committed funding to AID projects across NCR region to help achieve the target.

Creativity Classes These classes are run by Robyn, who is one of our International volunteers have been regularly coming on the Tuesdays and have come with a ART PLAN, which shall serve the purpose to guide interested new volunteers to join in these classes . The plan will be finalized soon and shall be published on the website.

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Health Initiative “If problems are interconnected so shall be the solutions” Team Guragon had a detailed discussion on this aspect and came on the conclusion that apart from Education and Nutrition, child health should be the component our strategic efforts towards mainstreaming of these children . Further this was felt imperative when few our RSEP children felt ill and missed their classes for one whole week .We are planning to work out this with some hospitals in Gugaon and would soon come up with a plan on this . Out Reach Efforts Bradley Gamage, Sapient-UK Director and Directors of UK Health Services visited AID – Gurgaon projects and were amazed to see the performance of the children and humbleness of our efforts. They had great time at school and amused the children by their magic tricks .We plan to take this association with Sapient to higher levels, for which volunteers are constantly following up. Prachi (Project Aashayien) and me also accompanied to the slum areas where these children live .Ruhi an international volunteer also helped visitors to show around . Volunteers have been working regularly to reach more and more corporate for Volunteers, resources and funds for new and existing projects in Gurgaon. As a result few corporate representatives had visited us and have appreciated our efforts and looking forward to work with us. Also some corporate had requested us to give a presentation at their offices. Volunteers are very excited to start a new project in Gurgaon and have been regularly doing ground surveys and community surveys in different location in Gurgaon. Once team finds some new committed volunteers to manage these projects these will be started with no scope for delays. Adult Literacy This program was started with an object to facilitate the Adolescent boys who work throughout the day and are willing to study in the evening and are interested to learn computers. The project is in trouble due to lack of volunteers to monitor it on daily basis and basic infrastructure .We expect to get furniture from AT Karney very soon next month. Also talks are on with another corporate company to get few computers, so that this project could be accelerated and expanded. Also lack of proper modules and an experienced teacher is major challenge faced by this programme. We are still open to NAME this project..

Skill Building Programme for Girls Sewing classes were started at Unnati a month back by Literacy India .As of now there are Six sewing machines and 12 adolescent girls .The response have been very good and there is very good scope to scale this programme. Community Connect Among Gurgaon AIDers it’s popularly known as “Basti Visit “. This is being done on regular basis on Sunday evenings. Objective of these visits are constantly re-discovered and achieved by volunteers. Purpose of these visits is: • To get connected with the community. • Win their confidence • motivate them to send there children to school • make them realize the importance of education Recently we had few international volunteers joining us on these visits. IT Updates It was a grueling month for the IT team as we did a lot of fine tuning of our website and had a lot of things to report to our well wishers :-) For the past few months, we have been trying hard to make our website more users friendly and informative. Some key updates are: > AID Gurgaon volunteer opportunities were posted on various web classifieds. > Volunteer experiences, project updates, pictures, slideshows and much more were posted on AID Gurgaon website regularly. > New features like facebook fan box, volunteer registration link, contact us form, projects map and tell a friend have been added. > Updates were posted on social media like orkut, facebook, twitter and various other community portals to create mass awareness about our work. > Google analytics has been very helpful in understanding the shortcomings of our website and we have tried to rectify them as and when time permitted. As a result of our online efforts, we have got a decent number of volunteer requests via internet in spite of substantial downtime of AID Gurgaon website due to server problems. We hope to keep all our well wishers informed about our work regularly in the future as well, so please keep visiting our website (http://gurgaon.aidindia.org).

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Our Web coordinators Anirban, Puneet and Sanchit are never short of ideas, and are passionate to volunteer in this way. They infact set a model in volunteering and show the flexibility of options to volunteer with AID. Just one need to donate is his/her little time! New Volunteers updates! This month good number of volunteers came forward and showing there commitment and desire to make this society more inclusive and share this vision with us. However it was observed that its something lacking on our part that we are not able to retain these volunteers .We are have initiated a volunteer management plan where we will decide the proper volunteering modules which can give an ease to volunteering considering the grueling work pressure on the volunteers working with corporate in Gurgaon. Also we strongly feel personal commitments also should not suffer on weekends, so this way we need some innovative to work out with such volunteers. Following are the new volunteers:Dileep: Works with Evalueserve as Research Associate and has been working with fellow AIDers on all Saturdays and Community Connect on Sundays. He is actively participating in discussion with community people and closely monitoring the Adult literacy programme. He keep on motivating adolescent and adult men working in his company and business centre, who work as guards, housekeeping, and office boys to add value to there work by acquiring technical skills . Gauri Mathur A Psychology student studying in Noida she volunteered during her summer vacations at Unnati. She have been working on the English literacy of children and worked very hard with full commitment during her vacations .She now comes intermittently as most of the time she is in hostel in Noida. Rohit Gupta An Engineer by profession he works with McAfee as a Software Engineer. Rohit enjoys the analytical work in his profession and choose the similar volunteering activity in AID Gurgaon also. He volunteers every Saturday at Disha, where he works to track and analyze the progress of the children. Rohit feels that "Educating a child today is equivalent to uplifting a full family in the next generation”.

During one his visits Rohit shares “I learned that a right blend or resources and guidance can take these children to new heights. I learned that it’s important to be in the right place at the right time. If we can ensure this synchronization for these children, they will fly on their own. They gave mementos to cherish of my own past, a food for thought to reorganize my relationships and the motivation to come again. I offered them a bird and they fetched for me two from the bush!! “ Smita Singla An Engineer by profession and works with Floor Denial. Smita is very passionate about seeing the change around her…..positively. She have been accompanying on Community Connect and have is working to play an active role in Publication team of Gurgaon. She feels “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 angellike 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.” Swati Sinha A final year Law student in Delhi she lives in Gurgaon. Swati has been volunteering since June. She bring along with her a charm that engages all children in Unnati , to such a level that children forget all other voluntees present there. She prepared children on song “Ek din mitjaya maati key mol, jagg mein rehjayenge pyare tere bol” which inspires not only children but we volunteers also. She aspires to work with UNICEF later in her career. Aastha Chalana An Engineer by profession she works as Research Associate with Evaluserve. Aastha joined AID through the CSR cell of Evaluserve and had actively participated in the Independence Day celibrations. She is very keen to work on Out Reach Endeavour’s of AID_Gurgaon and looks forwards to work on it. Recently she posted her experiences in the “Volunteer speak “on website where she says

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As they say, life is too short to do all. But Sangarsh Seva Nirman can anyways be carried through out one’s life. In order to work on these lines I decided to join hands with AID Gurgaon for this noble cause. The idea of getting involved in the AID team was to interact with the potential population (young children) who is directly benefited through it. In this age of neck to neck competition, mad race of earning money, fame and respect. I always used to wonder if there are some people who actually think anything over and above themselves. But after meeting the team my views got transformed. I met some great people, 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. According to me, when we help people or work for them, we in turn help ourselves. The rewards we get are beyond obvious and tangible. We develop as a person and a human being. So according to me my contribution to society is more my own progress and happiness. I shall keep my up all my sincere efforts to work the max I can. Varun Jain An Engineer by profession works with an overseas commodity trading firm. He joined us first time on ORM and is willing to work with publication team and modules development team of Gurgaon. Prateek Vijayvergia Software Engineer by profession and working with Royal Bank of Scotland in Gurgaon. Prateek while sharing his first view at AID-Gurgaon that involved community visit was a mixed-bag. He felt sad to see that so many people live without proper shelter (forget electricity) in such conditions but at the same time he was pleased and motivated to find that even in those small basti's (slum-dwelling houses) the children were so eager to learn. He very keen to work in educating chlidren and look forward to work on it. Other Volunteers of AID –Gurgaon

Volunteer Dilip (Comverse)

Visit frequency –Roles Kumar Regular-Cordinates Unnati Project and Nutrition Programme. Shankar Kumar (Hero Intermittent –On Community Honda) Connect and Events

Anirban Mudi (University of Calgary,Canada ) Bittu (Construction Suprivisor)

Regular- Remotely works on Web Cordination

Munish Duvedi (Quintiles Transnational Corp.)

Regular-Cordinator Gurgaon

Intermittent –Out Reach Efforts and Local Village Support Cordination. Aashish Kumar Regular –at Unnati ,conducts (Maruti Suzuki) Dance clases Robyn (International Regular –On Tuesdays – Volunteer) Executes Art Plan Sukrit Chopra (HR - Intermittant Consultant) Puneet Sharma Regular-Remotely handles the (Aricent Technolgies) web cordination and the Financials of AID –Gurgaon. Anshul Sachdev Offline -Due to Personal (AT Karney) Reasons AID

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Munish Duvedi [email protected] +91-9999623000

Project Updates: AID Jaagriti Project Updates The month of August was very exciting for the Jaagriti children as well as the volunteers. Many new volunteers have joined up and are very actively taking part in all the activities. Following has happened at Jaagriti in August 09: 1. Arts Classes: The classes, started in July 09, have been really going on well, with the Children showing a lot of interest to learn new drawings, shapes and about usage of different colours. The volunteers take 2 hour classes every Saturday with around 35-40 children. For pictures of the classes,

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please visit: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/anchitgoel/ArtsClas sesAtJaagriti?feat=directlink 2. Independence Day Celebrations: Project Jaagriti celebrated Independence Day with a lot of activities, including singing, flag hoisting, balloon competition, painting competition etc. For many Children, it was the first time they got to know about the significance of the day and why and how we celebrate it. And for most of the volunteers also, it was the first time they had celebrated the Independence Day in such a manner, with true spirit of contributing towards the welfare of the nation. At the painting competition, children displayed their arts skills, learned during the arts classes and came up with wonderful paintings on the two themes “I love my India” and “Draw as you like”. At end, total 5 winners received lunch boxes and drawing books. The competition was sponsored by Mywebera. For pictures of the Independence Day, please visit: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/anchitgoel/Indepen denceDayCelebrations?feat=directlink

Project Updates: AID Prayas The month of August was very significant for AID-Prayas .We celebrated "Independence Day" in a very nice way .The whole event was very well planned and executed by Raj & Linkan. Both took the lead with support from all others .Each child was excited about 15th August and they worked hard along with volunteers to perform different activities like Song ,Dance etc .We were privileged to have Nai Disha Founders (Capt. Jaiswal & Col. Jeeta ram ji ) ,Principal and teacher with us on the event .The entire Prayas family did a wonderful job to make the event a success . 15th august is always an inspiring day for all of us but for AID-Prayas it's special, since 2007 .The celebration of 15th august 2007 at Nai Disha inspired us and the aspiration from there lead us to produce the result s and bring us to a position whatever we are now. And 15th August 2009 inspired us in a way that our team decided to make a robust plan of opening a school for under-privileged by 15th august 2010. Our different classes for different batches are running satisfactory .Three batches are catered in the evening, night and weekend class, and the best part is that all the volunteers are doing their part exceptionally well. One major development has been “Charu our most dedicated volunteer" took the charge of children in the next year batch i.e. "fresher’s batch" along with other volunteers. Now the situation of crisis which existed after the departure of our full timer Abhinash is resolved for this batch :) .

Events planned in next month :

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc8g8qms_5338 s9cdk Project Location : Dwarka. Regular Class timings: click here to learn more Regular volunteers: Aayush, Aditya, Abhishek, Anchit, Ankit, Debashish, Gaurav, Joy, Kshitij, Manish, Nishit, Rahul, Rajeev, Saurabh, Vivek.

We had a parents meet to understand their issues and children who are not going to govt. school can be admitted .We are going to admit rest of the children into govt. school with the help of volunteers very soon .

Contact Information Anchit Goel - 9818115226 Anchit Goel

Our last year and this year batch children (around 25-30) are doing good into the school .From last month we have arranged a school bus for them which is becoming helpful for them to be regular at school. Raj is taking activity classes for these children on weekends and Anant has started computer classes

[email protected] +91- 9818115226

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Rotary Club came to celebrate Independence Day with the children. It all started with the national anthem sung by children. They organised a painting competition and also gave kites to the children to decorate the area. There was a prize distribution ceremony as well.

Apart from all above we’ve divided some key responsibilities within the executive committee for better functionality of our work i.e. posts like Volunteer coordinator ,Community coordinator, Event coordinator ,Project coordinator has been created and assigned to key volunteers .

Live on Campus, a website portal for the University students also did a small event with us. They taught yoga and meditation to the children. It was followed by some dance and origami. Children just loved making different things with paper.

Events planned in next month : Teacher’s Day celebration, Id Celebration, Project Location : Sector -15 & Sector – 16, Noida.

We also had 15-20 volunteers from Taiwan who spent few hours with children at outdoor shelter. They played games with the children, danced and sang songs. They also taught children a song in their native language. It was fun.

Regular Class timings: Click here to learn more Regular volunteers: Volunteers with Freshers batch :Charu,Daisy,Nirmala,Megha ,Anvita,Sonika Volunteers with Eureka batch :Charu,Akanksha,Dileep & Shweta Volunteers with Senior batch :Raj,Rajiv,Sugandha,Linkan,Gaurang,Gaurav, Anant & Darshan Prayas Executive Committee :Vikas,Anand,Raj,Rajiv,Selva & Darshan Treasurer :- Anand

We have volunteers from abroad who spend time with children, teach them and play with them. They try their hand on teaching alphabets and numbers which children learn at an instant. They also teach the children to draw and paint which children enjoy the most! Night walk has always been a thrilling experience. We did a night walk with an NRI group from US called INSPIRE. There were around 25 students who came with us on this trail to Old Delhi. They had a learning experience.Also we had a Night Walk with volunteers and general people to make them aware about the miseries people face while living on streets.

There may be many people whose names might not be mentioned in the list above but Prayas is doing good because of each volunteer’s contribution.

Events planned in next month : Id Celebration, Nightwalk

New volunteers this month: Shweta, Nirmala Contact Information Rajiv – 9811981809

Project Location : Ladoo Sarai [2 shelter homes] & Jamma Masjid

Darshan Mehra +91-9818361122 [email protected]

Regular Class timings: Any day and anytime Regular volunteers: Suchita

Project Updates: Jamghat

New volunteers this month: NIL Jamghat has seen a tremendous growth in the past and is still on uphill. It is constantly being supported by its volunteers across the globe.

Contact Information Amit Sinha - 981870715 Priyanka

Leaders for Tomorrow, a unit of Lady Shriram College made a visit for compassion at our indoor shelter. Around 7-8 students came in and taught thumb painting to these children. They distributed story books, games and clothes as well. They spent a lot of time and had a blast with the kids.

+91-9811656740 [email protected]

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Project Updates: Parichay

Parichay (Main Center) Highlights: 1. Monthly Sale at STM: Rs. 9675 2. Independence Day was celebrated at Parichay with great enthusiasm. The whole program was planned by senior children and women of Swayamsiddha Mahila samooh. Delicious lunch comprising Chana masala, Aloo dum, masaal Kachori, veg biryani, boondi raita and shahi toast was cooked by senior children and community women for more than 140 children and community people. Children from Gyanodaya were also present to celebrate the day. Flag hoisting was followed by cultural program presented by children. Kites were distributed among the children at the end of the day 3. Preparation for Deepawali stalls have begun at Parichay. Children are busy preparing torans and other handicrafts items. Diyas, gel candles, greeting cards, and other gift items will be available for all our supporters. This year, we plan to introduce Parichay-made chocolates as gift packs. Project for Mentally Challenged: 2. A 3-days awareness program was conducted by Vijay Bhaiya in a local Public school near Parichay. Bulbul and Rai Singh accompanied Vijay Bhaiya to the program. They engaged school students in several group activities to inform them about various types of disabilities, and how such children need to be dealt with. Aids like flip charts etc were used for presentation of concepts.

Prizes will be distributed to those who demonstrate exceptional knowledge. Parichay also plans to involve such children in the awareness program. 1. Vijay Bhaiya plans to organize a workshop at Parichay on August 31 for interns and children who are keen to contribute to the project for mentally challenged. Some community people who have shown interest to work on this project will also attend the workshop. The objective of conducting the workshop is to orient children, interns, and community people on how to interact with the targeted schools for the awareness program. Gyanodya Updates: 1. The literacy classes are catching up fast at the new centre. 22 students have been regularly attending the literacy classes, being organised by Haseen, who is now studying in class 8th. 2. 3 students have been admitted to the local government school. 3. Parichay organised a meeting with community ladies on August 23. They requested Vijay Bhaiya to start a livelihood program, similar to one that is being run at Parichay. We plan to introduce embroidery and handicraft unit for such ladies. A second meeting is being planned in the next month. Events planned in next month : Teacher’s Day celebration, Id Celebration, Roza Iftar party & Dusherra Project Location : Tukhmirpur, Bhajanpura. Regular Class timings: Any day and anytime Regular volunteers: Puneeta New volunteers this month: NIL

3. Parichay will organise a poster making competition on August 31. Prizes will be distributed to the winners of the competition and the selected posters will be utilised to generate awareness in other schools.

Contact Information Vijay Bhaiya – 9810753425

4. Parichay plans to organize a short Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) session for children to ascertain their awareness level on issues related to mentally challenged children. 9 does).

Puneeta Chugh [email protected] +91- 9891217839

Children’s corner

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esjk uke jk/kk gSA igys eSa xk¡o esa jgrh Fkh] vc fnYyh eas jgrh gw¡A tc eSa xk¡o esa jgrh Fkh rks eu gh eu lkspk djrh Fkh fd esjk uke Ldwy esa dc fy[ksxkA eSa dc cM+s vkSj vPNs ls Ldwy esa i<w¡xhA eSa viuk liuk dc iwjk d:¡xhA eSa gj fnu ;gh lksprh jgrh Fkh fd eSa vius iSjksa ij dc [kM+h gks ikÅ¡xhA cgqr le; chr x;kA ,d fnu eSa Qwyksa ls [ksy jgh Fkh] rHkh esjs cM+s HkbZ;k us dgk jk/kk Ldwy esa uke fy[kkvksxhA Ldwy dk uke lqurs gh eSa mNy iM+hA EkaSus dgk& ^^g¡k&gk¡ D;ksa ugha! blh fnu dk rks eSa bUrtkj dj jgh FkhA**

^^eSa ugha tkÅ¡xh** eSaus dgk] ^^eaS rqEgkjs lkFk tkÅ¡xhA** esjs ikik eq>s fnYyh ys vk,A eSa ogk¡ ij lc ls feyhA eaS fdlh dks tkurh ugha FkhA blhfy, eSa pqi jgrh FkhA tgka ij ge jgrs Fks] ogha ij ,d i<+kbZ dk lsUVj FkkA ogk¡ lc ‘kkafr ls i<+rs FksA ,d ckj eSa f[kM+dh ls >kad jgh FkhA rHkh ljth izkFkZuk djkus vk,A eq>s f[kM+dh ls >kadrk ns[kdj dgk] ^^vki dk ;gka uke fy[kk gS\** EkaSus dgk] ^^ugha!**

HkbZ;k us dgk vPNk rks pyks vHkh ds vHkh uke fy[kkrs gSaA Ldwy esa x, vkSj uke fy[kk;kA eS jkst i<+us tk;k d:¡] dqN eghus i<+kbZ esa è;ku yxk vkSj fQj i<+kbZ ls eaS nq%[kh gks xbZA D;ksafd tSlk eSa pkgrh Fkh oSlk dqN Hkh ugha FkkA eSa lksprh Fkh fd lqcg mBdj ugkdj Ldwy tk;k d:¡xh vkSj NqV~Vh gksus ij ?kj ij cSB dj i<+k d:¡xhA

ljth us dgk& ^^rks ;gka D;k dj jgh gks vius ?kj tkvks ?kj dk dke ns[kks! vxj ;gka vPNk yxrk gS rks dy ls vkuk ‘kq: dj nksA**

vkSj gksrk D;k Fkk------

dqN fnu ckn esjs ikik us esjk uke cM+s Ldwy esa fy[kk fn;kA ogk¡ ij lHkh ,d tSlh Mªsl esa vkrs FksA gj dke iwN dj djrs Fks vkSj dqflZ;ksa ij cSBrs FksA

eSa ogka ls pyh vkbZA nks rhu fnu ckn esjk uke mlh lsUVj esa fy[kk fn;k x;k ftldk uke Fkk& ^ifjp;*A

lqqcg gqbZ dke esa yx tkvks( Ldwy dk Vkbe gks rks pys tkuk vkSj NqV~Vh esa ?kj vkvks [kkuk [kkvks] ?kj ds dke dkt esa yx tkvksA fQj D;k FkkA u rks i<+ ikÅ¡ vkSj u gh [ksy ikÅ¡A cl dke esa yxh jgw¡A dqN fnu ckn esjs ikik vk x,] eSa cgqr [kq’k gqbZ esjs ikik vk x,] esjs ikik vk x,--- iwjs xk¡o esa eSus Madk ctk fn;kA ,d fnu eSaus ikik ls dgk& ^^eSa Hkh ‘kgj tkÅ¡xhA eSa i<+uk pkgrh gw¡A eSa viuh ftUnxh esa dqN cuuk pkgrh gw¡A**

eaS cgqr [kq’k FkhA pkj ik¡p efgus gh gq, Fks fd esjh fdlh ls Hk;adj YkM+kbZ gks xbZA pkj&ik¡p fnuksa ls esjs cMs+ HkbZ;k vk, gq, FksA muls ;s lc ns[kk ugha x;k blfy, oks eq>s xk¡o ys x,A tc eSaus fnYyh esa uke fy[kk;k Fkk rc esjk uke Ist Class esa fy[kkA eaS xk¡o xbZ rks ogka Hkh esjk uke nqckjk ls igyh d{kk esa fy[kk x;kA igyh d{kk ls eSaus rhljh d{kk rd dh i<+kbZ eSaus xkao esa dj yhA

^^Bhd gS**& ikik us dgk ys pyw¡xkA eaS cgqr [kq’k] bruh [kq’k fd Hkw[k gh u yxs] esjs isV esa ;gh xqnxqnh eprh jgs fd eaS vc ‘kgj esa tkÅ¡xh vkSj
pkSFkh d{kk esa vkus okyh Fkh fd esjs ikik vk x,A eSa xkao esa pkSFkh d{kk esa tk jgh Fkh exj ‘kgj esa uke fy[kk;k rks fQj ls nwljh d{kk esaA eSaus nwljh d{kk dk uke lquk rks ,slk yxk iwjh i`Foh gh iyV xbZ gSA eaS cM+h Hkh Fkh] vxj fdlh Hkh cM+s bUlku dks bruh esgur djus ds ckn Hkh dqN u feys rks dSlk yxsxkA

HkkHkh cksyh& ^^rqe dgha ugha tkvksxh] rqe ;gha jgksxh esjs lkFkA** eSaus vius ikik ls dgk fd HkkHkh ,sls&,sls cksy jgh gSA lkjh ckr crk nhA esjs ikik us dgk& ^^lgh rks cksy jgh gSA vxj esjs lkFk tkvksxh rks rqEgkjh ns[k Hkky dkSu djsxkA**

eaSus rks le rel="nofollow">k Fkk fd vc eSa dHkh vkxs ugha c<+ ikÅ¡xhA esjk i<+kbZ esa fcYdqYk eu ugha yx jgk FkkA ifjp; esa esjs ljth us eq>s le>k;k fd i<+kbZ D;k gksrh gSA ljth fdLls dgkfu;k¡ lqukrs x, vkSj eq>s lc le> esa vk x;k fd i<+kbZ ls D;k&D;k gks ldrk gSA mUgkssaus esjh ftUnxh esa vk’kk dh fdj.k txkbZ vkSj eSa eu yxkdj i<+us yxhA

^^eSa [kqn viuh ns[kHkky dj yw¡xh**& eaSus dgk& ^^rqe ys ds rks pyksA** ikik us dgk& ^^ugha rqe ugha tkvksxh] rqe ;gha jgksxh HkbZ;k ds lkFkA eS rq>s dgha ugha ys tkÅ¡xkA**

blh esgur ds dkj.k eSa viuh d{kk esa izFke vkus yxh vkSj vkrh jgww¡xhA

eSa rst&rst jksus yxhA esjs ikik tkus yxsA oks HkbZ;k ds lkFk tk jgs Fks cl vM~Ms dh vksjA

eSa vius ljth ls ok;nk djrh gw¡ fd bl thou esas t:j ,d fnu vkleku Nwdj fn[kkÅ¡xhA ;s esjk ok;nk gS vius ljth ls vkSj [kqn esjh ftUnxh lsA

HkbZ;k ikik dks lkbZfdy ij ys tk jgs Fks eSaus ns[kk fd oks rks tk jgs gSa A eSaus Hkh Bku yh fd eSa ‘kgj t:j tkÅ¡xhA eSa Hkh ihNs&ihNs Hkkxus yhA

& jk?kk dqekjh] d{kk & 7 10

Children’s corner My Painting: Prince

Name :

Prince Kumar

Project :

Jaagriti, Dwarka

Event :

Udaan – Painting competition on the occasion of Independence day in collaboration with MyWebEra.

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Volunteer Speak: Robyn Every Tuesday morning at Disha the children and I get creative and messy with all sorts of art materials. It’s always lots of fun and we teach each other English and Hindi along the way. They continue to think my attempts at Hindi are hysterical (as do I) but are very encouraging and I have noticed week by week a steady improvement in their English so well done to their teacher!! Something else that I’ve noticed is how much natural talent these children have when given some materials and a topic. A couple of them in particular blow me away every week. This has motivated me to come up with a plan/guide for these sessions the aim of which is to help me and any other volunteers who come along to ensure that the classes have some structure and a whole variety of techniques and materials are shown to the children. We will also have a theme each month that we’ll work around (eg solar system, plants, animals, weather, food, countries). It’s still to be finalised but hopefully will be helpful long term.

Once the walls are full (which wont be long) I’m going to get some folders that can be used to give them each a portfolio of their work. It should be a good way of seeing their progress over time too. The best thing of all is to see them have fun each week, spend time with them, get incredibly messy with them and learn together. We always have a lot of laughs!

This month we dedicated one session to Independence Day and they proudly held up their final product for a photo at the end of the class (a slightly chaotic but fun tradition we have at the end of each and every class!!)

Next month we’re planning to do some printing, paper folding and focus on the topic of countries. Wish us luck!!! Robyn Lister [email protected]

We also put together the first Disha art “newsletter” for them to take home to their parents. It contains photos of things they have created during the sessions and they decorate it before taking it home. A lot of the art they make has gone onto the walls in the classroom so this way their parents get to see it also.

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5. Delhi Metro - even if crowded - is comfortable because of A/C coaches... People don't mind standing in A/C coaches for fast travel... If A/C buses are introduced on the corridor, it would make the travel much more convenient... The low-floor DTC buses are also comfortable, but AC buses would increase the comfort... The travel in such buses would also be pollution free and therefore healthier...

Article: Should a Delhiite dump his/her car and switch to public transport – Anuj Grover The Times of India had thrown open a blog to record what people wanted to say about the possibility of people dumping their cars in favor of public transport on the BRT corridor. I felt that smart people would definitely prefer the switch... Here is why :-) -------------------I think Delhi people are smart...

6. Delhi Metro is preferred mode of transport because it connects the most congested parts of the city... BRT should be implemented in the congested regions of the city and its utility will become more than evident...

The success of Delhi Metro in converting people from car travellers to users of public transport can be replicated..If we look at reasons why people switched from private cars to public transport, we notice a few pertinent things:

7. Delhi Metro has been expanded to mesh around the city... Similar exercise should be done for BRT... If public transport across the city is fast, people would not mind changing buses to reach destination because they will get end-to-end fast connectivity...

1. Petrol and fuel prices are sky-rocketing... People want to cut down their cost of living in times of such inflation... They are looking for alternatives

8. Delhi Metro is a good example to prove that people switch from private transport to public transport... I personally have very high hopes with BRT... This despite the fact that there is some teething troubles at the moment

2. Driving on Delhi roads is a night-mare... If you drive to office and take about 1 hr in one side commute (quite normal), then by the time you reach office, you are tired enough to not be able to contribute fruitfully for at least another 30-45 minutes... And if by chance you meet an accident on the way (again scratches are quite commong), forget about making good use of about 1-2 hrs...

Anuj Grover [email protected] +91-9910013387 This article of Anuj was written on May 2008.

3. Delhi Metro offered fast travel... Speed of buses in BRT will be very good (since as newspapers report, the BRT corridor is almost vacant).. This means, that commute time through buses would also reduce... 4. Delhi Metro offered predictable travel time... This was significant gain when compared to traffic-jams ridden road travel... With the advent of BRT, we do not expect to see traffic jams in that corridor... So the public travel will become more predictable than private transport... So, DTC can come up with time-tables of their buses - when a bus would reach a particular stop etc (just like done by BEST in Mumbai and public transport fleets in other countries)... Natural logic would mean, people would switch..

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Photo of the Month

The smile says it all. Volunteers and Children of AID Unnati at Gurgaon.

Feedback: [email protected] Web: http://delhi.aidindia.org Phone: +91-9818248459 Send your Cheques to Selva Ganapathy.R Department of Chemical Engineering, Publications Team : AID Delhi Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi - 110016 Hauz Khas Phone: +91-9891358457, +91-9818248459

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