After receiving few mails of confirmation from Wipro Cares regarding the Cleaning of Plastic from Cauvery Bank river along with Clean & Green Team.
It was very excited to take part in this Awareness program.
No soon the day to start out journey to Muthathi came, it was Saturday morning ( a joli day especially for a software employee ) clock stroked 6 'o' clock in the morning where our two chota tempo vans started from Sarjapur one in RED and other in GREEN colors picked up some volunteers on the way and moved to Banergatta where it stopped opposite to Shoppers stop to add on more volunteers and Cleaning equipment. I remember Preeti & Vijay taking the attendance of volunteers presence over there.
Then we started moving towards Kanakpura road adding more and more volunteers ended in Forty-Four in number.
Moved towards the Kanakapura village and had a stop there where we got a chance to put in Idlies in to our empty stomach.
That was the first time got a chance to see out Wipro Cares chief Sandhya Ranjit she's very simple that I can tell frankly, she poured some instructions about our garbage collection and precautions to take care individually. I also remember some volunteer clicking the snaps at the entire team with Idles in our hands.
After having enough break fast we started our way to destination, as soon as we reached there Clean & Green team over there asked us to divide in to teams of each team having Four members and one Kannadigan compulsory so that to instruct the visitors about the plastic harms.
In no time every body got involved in collecting the Plastic garbage over there.
It's not possible to describe the eve in words I think.....
44 Wipro employees instead of holding Mouses and Keyboards it was replaced with different instruments like gloves and few holding the sacs to put in the Garbage collected and few involved in pulling out the plastic that got stuck-ed in-between the herbs and plants with the help of brooms and sticks.
Finally the release of the project was successful with 197 kg of Plastic in 18 bags.
Totally it was instructed to collect three types of plastics seperately:
1) Thin Plastic
2) Pet bottles
3) Wafers
It was told there that the collected garbage will be sent to KK Constructions where this plastic will be reused to put the roads.
It was suggested that disposing of plastic causes the release of toxic gases so reusing is the best way to avoid that.
Few of our volunteers spoke to localities and visitors to educate them the harm of plastic if not disposed in bins.
There we a got a chance to have a round up discussion how to avoid all this ...?
The solution was nothing but every individual should take the responsibility to mostly avoid the usage of plastic and if not reuse and the least case dispose it in the proper bins.
--Suvarna Lakshmi Thatha
Wipro Technologies
Bangalore
Monday, 8 June 2009
Clean and Green/Wipro Plastic Pickup Drive
Clean and Green/Wipro Plastic Pickup Drive, Muthathi, 30 August 2008.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The weather decided to co-operate thoroughly on Saturday, 30th August 2008, when Clean and Green and Wipro decided to join hands in the plastic cleanup drive at Muthathi, on the banks of the river Cauvery at the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
Preparations had been done with Sandhya, Preeti, and Vijay of Wipro liaising with Clean and Green, who also made the necessary arrangements with the Forest Department at Muthathi to make the Guest House area available to the volunteers to have their lunch, and with Jungle Lodges and Resorts to pick up the collected trash and take it to M/s KK Plastics, who use the plastic in making road-surface laying composite, in a process copyrighted by Madurai Kamaraj University. Many roads in Bangalore are already laid with this composite material.
It was great to see one of the founder-volunteers, Roopa, who had come all the way from her home in Whitefield just to flag us off! Roopa, we did miss you a lot, and hope we don't have to again!
Two buses containing 39 Wipro volunteers, with Preeti and Vijay, and 5 core Clean and Green volunteers: in alphabetical order,Anitha, Anush, Deepa,Rakesh and Sandeep-- along with S. Karthikeyan, Chief Naturalist, JLR, drove to Muthathi via Kanakapura. The buses were also carrying water, breakfast and lunch; the volunteers had their breakfast without having to stop!
While Sandeep, Anush and I went with Karthik to Bheemeshwari to arrange for the JLR pickup, and access to the Forest Guest House, the Wipro buses reached Muthathi picnic area, and with the briefing from Anitha and Rakesh on how to segregate the plastic while collecting it, and how to use the gloves, sacks, and rakes, they started the plastic pickup in earnest.
All the rain and coolness of the past week was a distant memory as the hot sun beat down on the volunteers, who quite literally "sweated it out"! Pausing to rehydrate themselves with drinks of water frequently, they fanned out and collected PET bottles, composites, plastic cups and glasses, and so on.
There were a few funny moments, especially when some of us had to dig out the plastic from the soil where it had got buried because of the rains. "Plastic seems to be growing here!" remarked one young woman; when two young men dug out a really long piece of plastic, we were joking about its being a "Draupadi" plastic!
Usually, the Forest Department officials are also with us, but this time Mr Kempe Gowda could not make it.
It was lovely to see a colourful folk musician who serenaded us with songs about all the local deities from Muthathi, Kaveri and Biligiri Ranganna hills! Some of the local visitors were also curious about us and we took the opportunity of being "educators"...talking to them about the plastic waste and how they should try and use plastic a little less indiscriminately.
In almost no time, we had collected 18 sackfuls of plastic, that Sandeep and a few others stuffed into the sacks, sewed up them (with further jokes about "surgery") and weighed, while the others had a good wash. The total was 197 kg of plastic....a great total indeed, and this time, the C and G core volunteers did feel that the amount of plastic has lessened over the past few months.
When the rest of us had also washed up, we walked down to the Forest Guest House to have a well-packed, and well-earned, lunch! Before lunch was served, Sandeep talked about Clean and Green and how the initiative had started and was being maintained. Many of the volunteers had valid questions, such as how there could be a better visual representation, and how villagers had to be educated to ensure that trash did not accumulate. I must say that this was one of the most interactive groups I have gone with!
A most welcome packed lunch was enjoyed, and then, with the weather clouding over and cooling a little, most of the volunteers opted to walk down the pretty forest path to Sangama (about 4.5 km or so); the rest...rested! Later, the buses took everyone back to Bangalore, and hopefully, we have left Muthathi both cleaner, and more aware of the need to sustain that....!
A very big Thank You! to Wipro for this support; we feel that it was an invaluable beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful co-operative relationship! We do hope that some of the Wipro volunteers will become Clean and Green volunteers, too. Certainly, we found everyone cheerful and happy after a morning of really hard work. Sandhya, and Wiproites.... we look forward to more trips together.
Some of the pictures which I took to document the trip have been uploaded to the Clean and Green Photobucket website at
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk305/cleanandgreen_photos/
If Chenna could also upload some of the video clips that he took, that would be great, and if any of the other volunteers would like to email us with their accounts of the day, or photographs or videos, we would really welcome it!
Anyone who would like to volunteer with Clean and Green on a regular basis can subscribe to the Clean and Green Googlegroup by sending an email to
cleanandgreen-subscribe@googlegroups.com
along with their full names and mobile nos, and I can add them on.
Wishing everyone the very best for the festive season coming up (and long weekends!)
Cheers, Deepa Mohan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The weather decided to co-operate thoroughly on Saturday, 30th August 2008, when Clean and Green and Wipro decided to join hands in the plastic cleanup drive at Muthathi, on the banks of the river Cauvery at the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
Preparations had been done with Sandhya, Preeti, and Vijay of Wipro liaising with Clean and Green, who also made the necessary arrangements with the Forest Department at Muthathi to make the Guest House area available to the volunteers to have their lunch, and with Jungle Lodges and Resorts to pick up the collected trash and take it to M/s KK Plastics, who use the plastic in making road-surface laying composite, in a process copyrighted by Madurai Kamaraj University. Many roads in Bangalore are already laid with this composite material.
It was great to see one of the founder-volunteers, Roopa, who had come all the way from her home in Whitefield just to flag us off! Roopa, we did miss you a lot, and hope we don't have to again!
Two buses containing 39 Wipro volunteers, with Preeti and Vijay, and 5 core Clean and Green volunteers: in alphabetical order,Anitha, Anush, Deepa,Rakesh and Sandeep-- along with S. Karthikeyan, Chief Naturalist, JLR, drove to Muthathi via Kanakapura. The buses were also carrying water, breakfast and lunch; the volunteers had their breakfast without having to stop!
While Sandeep, Anush and I went with Karthik to Bheemeshwari to arrange for the JLR pickup, and access to the Forest Guest House, the Wipro buses reached Muthathi picnic area, and with the briefing from Anitha and Rakesh on how to segregate the plastic while collecting it, and how to use the gloves, sacks, and rakes, they started the plastic pickup in earnest.
All the rain and coolness of the past week was a distant memory as the hot sun beat down on the volunteers, who quite literally "sweated it out"! Pausing to rehydrate themselves with drinks of water frequently, they fanned out and collected PET bottles, composites, plastic cups and glasses, and so on.
There were a few funny moments, especially when some of us had to dig out the plastic from the soil where it had got buried because of the rains. "Plastic seems to be growing here!" remarked one young woman; when two young men dug out a really long piece of plastic, we were joking about its being a "Draupadi" plastic!
Usually, the Forest Department officials are also with us, but this time Mr Kempe Gowda could not make it.
It was lovely to see a colourful folk musician who serenaded us with songs about all the local deities from Muthathi, Kaveri and Biligiri Ranganna hills! Some of the local visitors were also curious about us and we took the opportunity of being "educators"...talking to them about the plastic waste and how they should try and use plastic a little less indiscriminately.
In almost no time, we had collected 18 sackfuls of plastic, that Sandeep and a few others stuffed into the sacks, sewed up them (with further jokes about "surgery") and weighed, while the others had a good wash. The total was 197 kg of plastic....a great total indeed, and this time, the C and G core volunteers did feel that the amount of plastic has lessened over the past few months.
When the rest of us had also washed up, we walked down to the Forest Guest House to have a well-packed, and well-earned, lunch! Before lunch was served, Sandeep talked about Clean and Green and how the initiative had started and was being maintained. Many of the volunteers had valid questions, such as how there could be a better visual representation, and how villagers had to be educated to ensure that trash did not accumulate. I must say that this was one of the most interactive groups I have gone with!
A most welcome packed lunch was enjoyed, and then, with the weather clouding over and cooling a little, most of the volunteers opted to walk down the pretty forest path to Sangama (about 4.5 km or so); the rest...rested! Later, the buses took everyone back to Bangalore, and hopefully, we have left Muthathi both cleaner, and more aware of the need to sustain that....!
A very big Thank You! to Wipro for this support; we feel that it was an invaluable beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful co-operative relationship! We do hope that some of the Wipro volunteers will become Clean and Green volunteers, too. Certainly, we found everyone cheerful and happy after a morning of really hard work. Sandhya, and Wiproites.... we look forward to more trips together.
Some of the pictures which I took to document the trip have been uploaded to the Clean and Green Photobucket website at
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk305/cleanandgreen_photos/
If Chenna could also upload some of the video clips that he took, that would be great, and if any of the other volunteers would like to email us with their accounts of the day, or photographs or videos, we would really welcome it!
Anyone who would like to volunteer with Clean and Green on a regular basis can subscribe to the Clean and Green Googlegroup by sending an email to
cleanandgreen-subscribe@googlegroups.com
along with their full names and mobile nos, and I can add them on.
Wishing everyone the very best for the festive season coming up (and long weekends!)
Cheers, Deepa Mohan.
Sports Day at Viveknagar school
Click the below link for the photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28173170@N06/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28173170@N06/
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Environment Day activites - Sarjapur Campus, Bangalore
When there is a day taken out to stop and do an environment check and to give a thought about what is happening around us, it's made special only by participation. The environment day activities at the Sarjapur campus started off with a free emission check for the vehicles. Many employees took time to get to the emission check stalls and made and effort to get it done to their vehicles.
Saahas, an organization working on municipal waste management and e-waste solutions had put up a stall in front of the learning centre. The main purpose of the drive was to create awareness about the amount of waste generated in the city and the hazardous effects that badly managed waste is bringing about to us. Our daily activities that are so dependent on various products and most importantly 'plastic'. The organization emphasises on the minimal usage of plastic and encourages people to use paper and cloth alternatives. They also has a small quiz on the waste management and gifted employees with a cloth bag on getting right answers!
Saahas has e-waste collection centres in a few places in Bangalore where you can go and dispose your e-waste carefully. The importance of recycling the batteries, floppies, cd's was told because they are extremely unsafe when disposed otherwise. They also set up the e-waste receptacle in offices, shops and apartment complexes.
for details mail to : response@saahas.org or log on to http://www.saahas.org/
Apart from solid waste management they also spoke about home composting and the benefits of it in houses where they cannot dispose the bio degradable waste safely.
For details on home composting log on to http://www.dailydump.org/
Movies were screened all through the day on the theme of environment. Greenpeace, an organization that works on various environment issues played a movie on 'Ganga' and 'Climage Change'. The movie surely did spark of a few thoughts on the viewers minds which lead to a good 10 minute conversation and conclusions about our dear environment and little things that we could do to contribute to a greener world from now on!
Happy environment day!!
Saahas, an organization working on municipal waste management and e-waste solutions had put up a stall in front of the learning centre. The main purpose of the drive was to create awareness about the amount of waste generated in the city and the hazardous effects that badly managed waste is bringing about to us. Our daily activities that are so dependent on various products and most importantly 'plastic'. The organization emphasises on the minimal usage of plastic and encourages people to use paper and cloth alternatives. They also has a small quiz on the waste management and gifted employees with a cloth bag on getting right answers!
Saahas has e-waste collection centres in a few places in Bangalore where you can go and dispose your e-waste carefully. The importance of recycling the batteries, floppies, cd's was told because they are extremely unsafe when disposed otherwise. They also set up the e-waste receptacle in offices, shops and apartment complexes.
for details mail to : response@saahas.org or log on to http://www.saahas.org/
Apart from solid waste management they also spoke about home composting and the benefits of it in houses where they cannot dispose the bio degradable waste safely.
For details on home composting log on to http://www.dailydump.org/
Movies were screened all through the day on the theme of environment. Greenpeace, an organization that works on various environment issues played a movie on 'Ganga' and 'Climage Change'. The movie surely did spark of a few thoughts on the viewers minds which lead to a good 10 minute conversation and conclusions about our dear environment and little things that we could do to contribute to a greener world from now on!
Happy environment day!!
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Science Exhibition at the Viveknagar School
The month long preparation leading upto the Science fair paid off remarkably on the 8th of March.The combed hair, neat uniform and polished shoes indicated how seriously the children took this event. That the children were excited was evident by the look of nervous animation on their faces. Their excitement was contagious and the entire school was buzzing with enthusiasm.
In preparation for this grand show, some children from classes 5, 6 and 7 were selected and grouped to conduct various experiments. While the volunteers had prepared a list of experiments for each group, some of the children came up with their own ideas for experiments- like the model of the Solar System.
We, the volunteers spent quite a few days going over our old school books, brushing up on our concepts of electrons, protons, refraction of light etc. Things we had not pondered about in ages suddenly occupied all our free time- why does light have different velocities in different mediums, what is the summer & winter solstice… and so on. Finally with all the concepts clear in our heads we spent 3 weekends teaching the children the concepts relevant to their respective experiments. They responded intelligently to the concepts and spent considerable time doing homework on it. They then worked on the models and charts for the experiment. This was probably the most exciting time period for the school. Children other than the participants begged to be a part of the show & make models too. While we couldn’t allow everyone to participate (due to the sheer logistical problems), these children were encouraged to help the participants and understand the concepts with them. It was heartening to see all of them working excitedly on scientific concepts.
With the models and charts ready, the day of the Science Exhibition arrived. Each group stood alongside their chart & experiment, ready with speaking matter and nervous about the questions that would be posed to them. The teachers first went around, pausing to listen and question each of the groups on their experiment. It was a proud moment indeed to watch the children respond confidently to these probes from their ultimate authority figures. The other children from the school and the judges also strode around, admiring the work put up. When the day was finally wrapped up, the children were exhausted but proud of their own performances.
When we gave out the prizes the next week at the school, it was another day of pride and joy for the children. The look of pure glee on the faces of the winners and of excitement on all the other participants was the icing on the cake for the volunteers. All the participants received a book from the head master of the school for their efforts. These books were given to encourage them to read and continue their efforts in mastering Science and English. While we bid them all goodbye last week, we thought that there could not have been a better end to the school year than this grand event that showed the children in the best glow of their full potential.
-Swathi Nandi
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Chennai Chapter
Orphanage Visit
If something is ever better than customer delight, it is the smile on the innocent face of a child. A group of 20 Wiproites visited an orphanage El Shadai, located 15km from CDC2, on the 14th July. The children sang songs and put their heads together on to puzzles after having enjoyed the music played by a Wipro-ite. With the distribution of snacks and donation of toys, the event was a definite success.
True knowledge is that shared with those who really benefit from it. Conducted primarily for the 6th-7th standard students, the Learning Initiative at
Learning Initiative Sessions are conducted :
@ TVK, Anna Nagar on second and fourth Saturday of every month
@
http://picasaweb.google.com/WiproCares.Chennai/LearningInitiative
House Keeping Staff activity:
The House keeping staff activity, introduced in gratitude to the clean cubicles and hot cups of tea, is on full throttle. The activity happens every Friday from
Blood Donation Camp
Wipro Cares – Chennai forayed into a new area with the Blood Donation Camp conducted at CDC2 on
http://picasaweb.google.com/WiproCares.Chennai/BloodDonationCampCDC2
Clothes Collection Drive
The clothes collection drive conducted across all the Chennai Development Centers from the 6th - 22nd of August witnessed incredible support from all CDCs. 60 boxes of clothes have been collected. Of the orphanages and old age homes in our list, volunteers have already completed distribution to Little Hearts, Suyam Charitable Trust, Udhavum Ullangal, Good Life Centre, Nethaji Mercy Home and Aruwe. Upon completion we hope to have touched the lives of 2000 people. Special thanks to the FMG & HK team for their timely support in this activity.
http://picasaweb.google.com/WiproCares.Chennai/ToysDistribution
Independence Day Celebrations
Wipro Cares celebrated August 15th with an ebullient crowd of happy children at
Project Nethra
Did you know that there are 6.8 million people in
After a massive eye donation awareness campaign, across all the Wipro Chennai development centers, through FAQ sessions, group announcement mailers and videos, a total of 767 Wiproites have pledged to donate their eyes. The donor cards have been received from Sankara Nethralaya and are being distributed to the registered employees. The donor cards can be collected from the respective ODC volunteers or admin stores at each location.
To take this activity forward, Wipro Cares Volunteers offered to make the donation enrollment task easier for an employee by providing donor registration forms at their ODC.
House-Keeping Staff
For the benefit of the house-keeping staff, who is always around but never visible, Wipro Cares had initiated sessions to motivate, improve communication skills and increase options for employment. The focus is presently on the Pantry Staff of Tower-3. Volunteers conduct sessions every Saturday from
http://picasaweb.google.com/WiproCares.Chennai/ESecure
Sponsor a teacher
Wipro Cares Chennai had selected a graduate to teach the computer science students of 11th and 12th students in the Govt
January Jaunt - 2008
Wipro Cares Chennai celebrated new year 2008 in style by taking School students from the learning initiative on a trip to the planetarium and the Wipro Campus.
It was a fun filled day for the kids and had them motivated to want to study well and reach great heights in their life.
http://picasaweb.google.com/WiproCares.Chennai/JanuaryJaunt
Rs 4 Lakhs for Dining Hall Construction in Good Life Centre – Orphanage
Good Life Centre is a registered non-governmental organization with a goal of social rehabilitation of orphans, mentally and physically challenged and homeless children established in 1996. This Centre runs a residential and rehabilitation Centre, educational program, shelter for homeless children and summer activities . Started with 3 children, now it houses 120 inmates which include orphans, homeless children, neglected children, runaway children and physical or mental deficiencies, chronically ill and bedridden. Providing them food, shelter, education, medical aid and clothing with the support of volunteers. The centre solely depends on public donations to feed the children, lack of funding for basic medicine, hygiene, rehabilitation and education. They deserve the opportunity to go to school, have access to clean water, nutritional food, basic medical care and shelter. In order to provide the basic facilities for the children in a quality environment, Good Life decided to have their own building on the piece of land. In Jan'2006, the Boomi Pooja function was held to mark the construction of Children's Home building; work is begun with the help of major donations received through Hon'ble High Court of Chennai and from good hearted well-wishers.
http://picasaweb.google.com/vbilay/GoodLifeCentreOrphanageWiproCares
Hyderabad Chapter
As part of Wipro Care activities at Hyderabad, Wiproites visit 'Govt Senior Secondary school' near Nizampet, Hyderabad.
------------------------------------
Government Senior Secondary School
Nizampet Village
Hyderabad.
------------------------------------
Government Senior Secondary School
Nizampet Village
Hyderabad.
Monday, 24 December 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, 23 December 2007
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
- Malar Balan
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
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
Monday, 2 July 2007
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
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
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
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
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
Thursday, 17 May 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Story Telling
This is an avenue to share comments and decide the proceedings for the story telling activity.
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