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

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

Yoga

Suggestions for Yoga required.