An interesting experience penned down!

This is an experience written by a girl student of the Tamil School in Vivek Nagar. Ammu belongs to the 7th standard and wanted to pen down her thoughts about a memorable trip to the planetorium with the Wipro Cares Volunteers.

Since her words are in tamil, here is an explanation of her experience:

We the children of goverment school and on 24th of november 07 , we went to a trip to the Nehru planetorium. There, we got to know about the solar system and also the view that we saw gave us a feeling of a trip to the solar system and back. Also, the wipro cares volunteers treated us with love and played with us like friends. After luch we played for a while and then retured to school in the bus where we laughed and danced with fun.This day is very memorable and will remain in our hearts for a long time.

R. Ammu , VII std
My Sincere thanks to Wipro Volunteers.

JLN Planetarium & Energy Park Outing

It was a welcome break for the Viveknagar school kids from their routine school work and exams. The outing to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and the Energy Park on 24th November 2007 in view of children's day celebrations, turned out to be a very exciting and memorable day. The kids returned back to school with loads of learning experience. It had been their first visit to the planetarium and they were awestruck on seeing the beautiful star studded night sky and constellations inside a small closed room!! The show in Kannada was about our Solar System Family that included the planets, their satellites, the constellations and also the occasional visitors - the comets. It also enlightened them on the process of rotation and revolution. After the show, the kids got their weights measured and were given print outs of their weight in all the different planets in the Solar System. They were then taken to the Park area in the planetarium that contained various play and learn science exhibits like the ‘Merry Go Round’, Kaleidoscope, Phone Dishes, Resonance Pipes, See Saw, Pendulums, Swings, etc. The lunch was provided in the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park, where they were also taken to see the Solar Energy Model house and cars. And sadly as all good things must come to an end, the kids returned back to the school with a heavy heart and an enriched mind.

- Malar Balan

My Day with the school Kids

“How can you hate something that you like so much?”. I woke up early in the morning with this philosophical thought as the alarm in my mobile promptly went off playing my favorite song. After hitting the snooze button with vengeance and lavishing some curses on great inventions, I dozed off to sleep again. But alas, that electronic marvel dutifully played back the very song soon after 5 minutes. GRRRR, how I hated the song that instant, which was responsible for ending the last few ecstatic moments of my sleep. Slowly I opened my eyes thinking yet another routine day in office. But wait a minute, it is ‘Saturday’. I sat upright in excitement, “Yippee... This is not just another day; it is my day with the school kids”. I leapt out of the bed with a spring in my feet and a hum in my lips. Lo! I was ready in a trice and off I went to the wonderful school.
The Government high school, situated in Viveknagar is adopted by the Wipro Cares Team. The school in turn is divided into 3 more sections as Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. The school mainly consists of lesser privileged kids from the nearby slum areas. The Wipro Cares team manages around 250 kids from the classes 3rd to 7th. A huge number indeed, considering the fact that there are just about 25 volunteers available on a typical Saturday.
I walked into the familiar school premise that was bubbling with joyful and beaming kids, only to be embarrassed by the fact that so many volunteers had already turned up and had started off with the ground work for the day’s activities. Well, I can’t find enough words to describe the dedication level of the Wipro Cares volunteers, simply amazing. “Hmm, guys, let us see what happens next week”, and thus I made up a silent resolution to be the first to school next week.
All of us, the volunteers gathered together to be briefed upon the activities for the day and how to go about the same. There were three kinds of activities decided for the day,
Planting of trees by the kids.
Video clipping on Global Warming
Stressing the importance of discipline and cleanliness.
After the little briefing session, we the volunteers separated off to go to our respective classes and I made my way to the Tamil section, the naughtiest set of students I had ever come across.
I entered the class expecting chaos and disorder, but to my disbelief, the kids were all quiet and neatly seated in the class. It was like a fairy had put a spell on them gluing them to their seats.
We started the class by asking the kids to repeat the little prayer song that was taught in the previous class, and we were immediately rewarded to hear them recite the entire prayer with so much of zeal and passion. We finished all the grouping, tying up the little ribbons according to the house color and made the kids sit house wise. We then proceeded to teach the importance of trees. Each student was asked to come up with a unique point that says how trees help us. They compiled up a huge list of usefulness of trees that included trees giving us air to breathe, food to eat, a habitat for the birds and animals, keeping down the temperature, bringing cool showers, etc.. Whew! Great thinkers they are.
The purpose of making the students understand the significance of trees was very important because, it would lay the foundation for the gardening activity and also make them more socially inclined.
The next activity, teaching discipline to the kids, was not a very easy task We actually taught them how to maintain pin drop silence by dropping a pen on the floor ( may be we should here after call it as pen drop silence). The importance of using the words ‘Please’, ‘Thank You’& ‘Kindly’ were stressed by asking them do role plays, where in one kid borrows a book from the other using the pleasing language. We also stressed upon the fact that they should be on time to the class and not give lame excuses for coming late to the classes by having another funny role play.
Now it was the time for most exciting activity of the day, yes the planting of trees. Kids were taken in a line and were asked to plant the trees according to their houses. Wow, you would not believe the enthusiasm that the kids displayed when planting the trees, so much of enthu that they actually went around planting the trees allocated for the other groups also. It was not just planting the sapling, adding the manure, covering it up with sand and sprinkling water, but they also cleaned up the place around the young plant, gave it a brick border and bonded with their plant immediately. The bonding of the kids with the nature was what we had wanted and we were extremely happy to see that happening.
The kids were then taken to the video room to watch a clipping on Global Warming that again reiterated the importance of trees. Kudos to the Visual Team for arranging the video session successfully against all odds.
And that concluded yet another fruitful and enjoyable Saturday. Kids are always kids no matter what, they inspire you, make you think differently, convince you that there exists nothing but happiness in this world. They are full of energy and life which are so contagious that, just a few hours with them every week can make a huge difference to our lives.
End of the day as I laid down on my bed recollecting all that I had done for the day, it was a very satisfying feeling that warmed up my heart. I closed my eyes consoling myself that the next Saturday is not far away.

Malar Balan

Volunteers Outing (10th June)

After slogging for almost two months, in an effort to gear up for the upcoming academic year at School, the Wipro Cares volunteers felt that they needed a break and hence evolved the idea of volunteer outing. June 10, 2007 was not the usual lazy Sunday morning but saw the Wipro Cares volunteers all set to go to Sivasamudram Falls and Talakadu. All arrangements, right from transportation to food and taking First Aid kit, were all coordinated and executed well, though in a short span.
We started around 7:30 a.m. from Bangalore, filled with enthusiasm and zeal to make the most of the day. The picturesque beauty of the villages, farms and mountains en-route left some of us spell bound. We spotted a suitable place and halted for a quick breakfast of Idly and Vada. We reached Sivasamudram falls at around 11:30 a.m.; we spent some time there and headed for Talakadu, our main destination. It was almost lunch time when we reached Talakadu, so we decided to have our lunch and then get in to the water for a great splash. The boat ride in the “round boat” was an enthralling experience. The riverside had a nice sand beach, and with its natural backdrop of forest and mountains, it was an ideal location for playing games. We played various games like Dog and Bone, Kho Kho, Chain running and catching, and Dodge ball. We were almost in oblivion, when we were reminded that we needed to start our journey back to Bangalore. It would not be right if one thought that we were all tired and exhausted by the End of Day, instead, the return journey saw us filled with more exuberance. Through out the return journey, we were al dancing, singing and having non-stop fun.
This outing was an excellent opportunity for us, the volunteers, to build a good rapport among ourselves and to know each other better. And, we are sure that this will go a long way in making it easier for the volunteers to coordinate better among ourselves for the various activities at school and make a bigger difference to the society as a whole.


Sonal

Global Warming Awareness campaign

FIRST DAY OF THE NEW ACADEMIC YEAR AT VIVEKNAGAR SCHOOL

…novel plans, new faces, fresh smiles and a big dose of new hope

The Viveknagar school project opened again on the 23rd of June with a lot of fervor & hope. After a long break for Summer Vacations, the children & volunteers were both eager to work together. The day started with the volunteers (abundant in number and eagerness) meeting at 9:30 am- to take stalk of the tasks for the day. Volunteers of the respective sections- Telugu, Kannada & Tamil, then engaged in serving breakfast to the children and interacting with them to ensure that they ate right.

Classes began with the volunteers teaching the children a new prayer in English. It was interesting to see how children who scarcely know English were able to recite the entire prayer by themselves after repeating it a few times. The learning capacity of these children is simply awesome.

As a precursor to activities to be held at the school this year, the children in each class were grouped into red green, blue and yellow houses. Little ribbons of this colour were tied around their wrists to indicate their houses. This was a definite hit with the kids. This, and of course the chocolate treats that we gave each of them, at the end of the day.

The classroom activity for the day was drawing & colouring. This activity was chosen for the first day in class, as normally children really enjoy it. Our thinking was vindicated by the looks of pure concentration on the little faces once they were given their drawing sheets and crayons. Classrooms which were noisy and un-controllable one minute turned into the working studio of great artists the next. The objective of the activity was to give free reign to their creativity and teach them to work peacefully in groups. Naughty boys and shy girls mingled freely to share crayons & ideas. It is fascinating how much a drawing can tell one about a child. The little Picasso’s and Da Vinci’s also produced a master piece on the graffiti sheet that was put up for them. They used vegetables, paints and the help of a friendly artist to come up with a truly splendid picture.

We have been planning several activities for the children of the Viveknagar Govt. School over the past weeks. While there was satisfaction in producing well-drafted & detailed activity plans, the real pleasure was hearing the children say as they left for the day- “Thank you & we hope that you will be here again next Saturday”. I for one, certainly will.

SWATHI NANDI

Volunteers Meet

Hi
The last meeting of Wipro cares -Blr held at K2 office was attended by Sandhya from wipro Corporate.Sandhya heads Wipro Cares.
one decission that was taken was to hold a volunteer day in Bangalore foar all the volunteers of Wipro Cares across location.
It will be a one day activity.
Plz give your suggestions as what all things can be done for the volunteers day.

Story Telling

This is an avenue to share comments and decide the proceedings for the story telling activity.

Civic Sense+General Awareness

please give ur suggestions for civic sense and general awarness activites

English

As english plays a major role in todays's world.
We plan to take english as a major activity for the coming
session

Sports

Suggestions for Sports required.

Yoga

Suggestions for Yoga required.

Visual Teaching

Suggestions required for visual teaching .

A note on the medical camp held at Vivek Nagar Govt. School

On the occasion of World Health day, April 7th 2007 the Wipro Cares Bangalore team held a medical Camp at the Vivek nagar government school to provide a general checkup for all the kids in the school. This group of 17 volunteers started the planning and organizing the event a week back. The main aim of the camp was to spread awareness about hygiene and self keeping among the children and also the parents who had witnessed the camp. The Volunteers also made use of the opportunity to interact with parents by preparing a feedback form which focused on the child’s aspirations, his learning environment, his future goals and also specific concerns if any. The volunteers would work on the feedback forms received and get back to the kids to provide help in the relevant areas.
The medical camp was a huge success with the overwhelming response from the enthusiastic kids.212 kids were registered most of them with their parents or guardians. Dr .S.Sridhar, Dr. Prashant P and Dr. Jyothi who have their own private clinics, had presided over the event to give in their valuable time and efforts for this noble cause. The doctors incessantly examined all the kids and they were provided with medicines right there for minor ailments such as Cough, cold and fever. The volunteers had brought in basic tablets, ointments and tonics over the doctors’ advice and the kids were given medicines according to the prescription. Few of the kids who were diagnosed with serious problems or sickness, were taken up for follow-up with the parent and the school headmaster by the volunteers immediately.
Even though the day was tiring and hot for the volunteers and the doctors and kept them at their toes for 6 hours continuously, the eagerness of the kids responding in different languages and the commitment from the volunteers peppered the room with fun and laughter. To avoid a long drawn queue, the kids were made to sit in their classes; the teaching staffs of the school served a huge helping hand to the volunteers in managing the kids and making them sit patiently. The kids were of varying ages ranging from 4 yrs to a maximum of 12 yrs. The fright in some of the tiny ones faces as their turn with the doctor approached was pacified by the kind words from the doctors and also the freebees they received from the volunteers while leaving the room. All the kids were given a tooth brush and soap sponsored by Wipro Consumer Limited. This not only helped in spreading awareness about cleanliness among the kids but also to put a smile on their beautiful faces as they left the room which was the unquoted aim of the entire event.
At the end of camp, the doctors expressed their delight and ecstasy in being a part of the event. They also mentioned that it was a pleasure in lending their time and services for the kids which is an opportunity not got often. For the volunteers it was like the first step towards the scores of other aspirations they are yet to materialize and are still in the pipeline. They have great plans in the academic year 2007 when the kids return after their holidays to contribute more than that was done the previous year by regular indulgence and constant interactions with the kids.

- Sripriya Padmanabhan

Weekly Meeting Summary held on 31/03/07

Hello All,
The MoM of Saturday's Meeting(25/03/07) On "Vivek Nagar School Review" is plcaed in the Files directory in the group(wiprocares-blr). The Next week, i.e 07/04/2007, we are going to organize a Medical Camp in the school for the children. All the details of the Medical Camp Activity has been consolidated and is uploaded in yahoogroups. Request all volunteers to come to the school by 09:30 AM

Regards,
Bharath

Meeting Summary 25/03/07

Dear All,
Last saturday(24/03/07), few of the volunteers visited Parikrma(NGO) with chetan getting the permission. We got some valueble feedback from them on how we should organize ourselves for summer/Medical camps. They also gave some good advice on how we should function to get better results. We had a meeting the next day to discuss on how we should go ahead considering
their inputs. Srinivas has prepared a nice presentation for the meeting. The presentation and MoM is kept in YahooGroups-->wiprocares-blr->Files directory.

Last meeting concentrated on issues such as
-->volunteer introduction, understanding their expectations
-->Setting up goals for the next two months
-->Identifying challenges
-->Role Identification for our work
-->Action plan for imminent activities such as Medical & Summer Camp

To improve connectivity among us, personal information is collected and has been uploaded in the YahooGroups->wiprocares-blr->Databases->Contact Information.

Please feel free to modify/add your information if it is not available

We Planned to have an another meeting and is scheduled Saturday in K2 office from 10:00 am. Looking forward for you all for the next meeting.

Agenda for next meeting:
-->Consolidating feedback from volunteers on issues discussed
-->Planning for the cirriculum
-->Finalizing an end-end plan on the Summer Camp activity.

About Wipro Cares

Wipro Cares is an initiative by the Wiproites, their family members and friends to contribute in the areas of education, community and social development. Wipro Cares philosophy is to utilize the collective wisdom of volunteers to bring long term benefits and satisfaction to the community, as we believe that providing funds alone will not help the community.

Wipro Cares contributes through two pronged strategy: enhancing learning abilities of children from the under privileged sections of the society and providing rehabilitation to survivors of natural calamities.

Learning Enhancement:

Wipro Cares has initiated Learning Enhancement Programmes at schools catering to the children from the under privileged section of the society. The main objectives of this programme is to improve the standards of learning, build confidence, ignite curiosity, broaden their awareness levels, improve their communication skills in English , build a healthy self-esteem and help them break through self imposed limits to achieve his/her greatest potential.

In line with its focus, these programmes have been successfully implemented in Olcott Memorial School in Besantnagar, Chennai and Government Secondary School in Viveknagar, Bangalore. As we go along, we plan to roll this programme in several more schools and in other cities.

Disaster Rehabilitation:

Wipro cares has adapted Pushpavanam village in tsunami-ravaged belt of Tamil Nadu with a desire to rehabilitate survivors and rebuild the village.Wipro cares did it part in mobilizing the funds and set up a team to evaluate damage during cyclone in orissa and earthquake in Gujarat. The rehabilitation work was started after discussions with survivors and analyzing their needs.

This is a unique corporate experiment to channelise the contributions of the Wiproites matched by Wipro, and the desires of Wiproites to make meaningful contributions to society, on a continuous basis.