- Trip on 18/03/09- With Thinesh, to deal with the acute spread of conjunctivitis
- Summary of trip on 14/03/09- Bhavya- on the educational program ; Rifa- survey on health and vocational training
- Cases being followed up: CSOM (unsafe type) ; Post-partum complications.
- We worked on plans for the upcoming trip on Saturday, primarily involving the educational program for children.
- Activities to mainly revolve around team-building.
- Objectives for the Educational Program were laid down; In order of priority they are: Health awareness, team-building, values, citizenship, etiquette, creativity enhancing activity.
- Vandhana and Vasundhra to work on translation of skits to Tamil; the skits are to be enacted by the children in their allotted teams/groups.
- Meeting with the HOD of Community Medicine is also on the cards.
Archive for March, 2009
Minutes of Meeting held on 17/03/09
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009Trip to Ramavaram Tomorrow
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009Tomorrow a few members from our group will be going to Ramavaram to treat what appears to be a minor epidemic of conjunctivitis. This was noticed on last Saturday’s trip to Ramavaram. Several members will be accompanying a doctor on this trip.
The trip will be leaving at 4:30PM.
If you are interested in going, please contact us at +91 9789901650.
We had a board meeting today, and Rifa will be posting the minutes of it soon.
Photos from Saturday's Trip
Monday, March 16th, 2009Some more photos from last Saturday’s educational trip. Generously contributed by Jaba:
Recent Developments
Sunday, March 15th, 2009We’ve been at work at a couple of things over the last few days:
- The educational programme that was kicked off yesterday was a big success. We see a lot of potential for it going forwards. We need help to run the sessions and to plan the sessions. If you are interested in doing either, please let us know. If you can volunteer for one weekend a month, that would really go a long way to making this programme a success and a positive force in these children’s lives. If you have any ideas on activities we could do, please let us know as well – we’d be grateful for your help.
- Medical care: this has been another ongoing issue this week. A few months ago, Nagajyothi, a resident of the community, came to our attention for having a dangerous form of a middle ear infection. She required surgery, but due to the ensuing monsoon season, this never happened. We finally are making progress towards getting her that surgery; hopefully in the next two to three weeks. In addition, we are now trying to assist another young lady with post-pregnancy complications. As Nivedita pointed out, there seems to be an epidemic of conjunctivitis in the community and we are going to try and get some doctors out this week to help them.
- The board meeting: is scheduled for this Tuesday at 4:15. All are invited as usual.
Children’s Programme, Day One – March 14, 2009
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Today’s educational programme with the children got off to a wonderful start. We were a bit concerned at first that we would not have enough Tamil speakers, but as usual, it worked out. The actual programme turned out slightly differently from what we had planned, but overall we all felt that it was successful.
After arriving at Ramavaram, it took us some time to figure out exactly where to gather the children. We tried the side of the road, but it became difficult with passing buffaloes and cars. So we decided that we should cross the water and go into the field. Some of us, especially some of the girls, were slightly reluctant, but in the end everyone rolled up their pants and waded straight through the stream.
All of the children were collected into a circle, where we worked on learning names. Soon they were separated into 5 smaller groups, with one Sangam India member per group. Each child was given a paper with pictures to color – the Indian flag, a house, a flower, and an apple. The children were taught the importance of sharing the crayons that were provided, and of returning everything at the end of the activity. Everyone from the ages of 2 to 12 involved with the activity, and seemed to enjoy it. Each group leader explained the importance of each item and conducted a discussion in the small groups.
After a brief break, we had a learning session on handwashing. One of the children came to the front of the group to show what he had learned the last time we held a handwashing lesson. With plenty of interaction and audience participation, Malar conducted an excellent lesson.
Overall, I think that today was an excellent chance for us to see that given the proper circumstances, our group can really make a difference in this community. The children are very responsive, and even more importantly, the parents were actively involved in our activities. The sight of fathers sitting with their children, drawing and coloring, was a truly heartwarming one. We hope to take our lessons and curricula to the next level soon, and maintain a good education scheme.
In addition to the children’s programme, Ritika, Sindhura and Rifa conducted a brief survey of about 15 houses, regarding occupational status, health status, and educational status in those households. The results will be published after information has been gathered from all the houses.
As usual, we had a few medical cases which we have requested to come to the hospital. Also, there seems to be a small epidemic of conjunctivitis among the children. We will take a doctor with us in the next few days and try and treat this as best we can.
We are all looking forward to next week’s program, which we think will be great. We are in need of Tamil-speaking volunteers, especially men. If you are interested in coming out, please email us or give us a call, we’d love to have you.
Visit Tomorrow to Ramavaram
Friday, March 13th, 2009Tomorrow we are going on a visit to Ramavaram to begin our weekly curriculum with the children there. We discussed this with the people in the community in last week’s meeting and the reception to this idea was very good. It was requested that we meet in the afternoon, so this is what we are going to be doing.
The trip tomorrow plans to be at Ramavaram at 4:00PM and the session will begin at 4:30. Please let us know if you’d be interested in coming!
The program is in development; this week’s session will be more of an introductory one in nature. If you have any ideas, please let us know.
The aims of the sessions will include lessons on positive thinking, moral behavior, and health and hygiene. We might also teach other things, such as English language, in the future.
Visit to Panchayat School, March 4, 2009
Thursday, March 12th, 2009written by Mounica S., one of our deputy board members
At one of our previous weekly meetings, it was agreed upon that we should take a step forward and start the children’s education plans. Malar and I were put in charge of surveying the two local schools the children attend – the Panchayat School and St. Thomas Mount.
On Wednesday last week, we set out to finish what we were assigned. We took the bus to Mount road and walked through many bylanes and finally reached the Panchayat School. We had decided to visit this school first, without any prior intimation.
We spoke to one of the teachers we came across and explained the purpose of our visit. She directed us to the headmistress who was reluctant at first to give out information – she had misunderstood our survey to be a government investigation into the number of dropouts at the school. After we assured her that we were just students from a private organisation, she seemed more at ease and was ready to give out the necessary information.
Thanks to Malar’s communication skills and her ease with people, we got all of the information we needed.
- Four teachers, including the headmistress, teach the children five subjects – maths, science, social studies, English and Tamil in a government-approved activity-based learning approach.
- Since the teaching and learning is activity based, i.e. the children are promoted to the next ‘class’ only after passing the previous level or task, admissions are taken year-round.
- The working hours for the children are from 9:30 to 4:10 including a recess and a lunch break.
- Two subjects are taught in a day
- Drawing and painting are the only extra curricular activities for the children.
- The children are given a midday meal which is comprised of rice with sambar everyday, egg three times a week, sundal on Tuesday, and potatoes on Friday.
- It is a completely government-funded school, i.e. the children are provided books, uniforms, stationery, and a mid-day meal absolutely free of cost.
After finding out the necessary information, we thanked the teachers for their time and patience and as soon as we stepped out, the children from Ramavaram and some of the other children surrounded us, asking us to visit them again.
On the whole, it was a pleasant experience for both of us, as we got to see the children after a long break. It was certainly touching that they remembered and welcomed us.
Ramavaram Trip, March 8, 2009
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Today we had a wonderful trip to Ramavaram that most of us have agreed was quite productive and a great kickstart to this year’s work. Six of us were there, one of whom was Saikiran, who was there for the first time. We decided to hold a small meeting with some of the community elders, including Ponnuswamy, Pitchaimani, and Santhanam, and along the course of the meeting many other individuals joined us.
The topics discussed were our plans for them, what they would like from us, and how to execute all of these plans. We explained that our main goals for them are:
- children’s education, both formal and informal
- the general health and well-being of the entire community, and
- ensuring that everyone is employed and can take care of themselves.
They were happy with the goals that we have set and expressed their enthusiasm and agreement.
The first change that we are making is that we will be starting a weekly educational program for the children. We have instated a lesson planning committee that is in charge of detailing the curriculum, headed by Bhavya Krishna. She will need help and those of you who are abroad and would like to help in some way with Sangam India work can certainly contact us to get involved with this. The goal is to make learning fun for the children and to encourage them to think big and set and reach ambitious goals.
They have also asked us to help them in rebuilding two bridges which collapsed in the recent flooding. We will further discuss the best way to go about this in a way that does not go against our policy of engendering an independent, self-sufficient way of living.
We were very happy to hear that two Sisters from the nearby St. Thomas Mount Church have volunteered their services to teach the preschool age children everyday in a daycare type format if the community can build them a small Balwadi. We are hoping to get involved in this project so that we can also use the space on the weekends for our programs. We will of course share any updates we get on the subject.
We also discussed vocational training and the general occupational status of the community members. Many individuals, especially women, have expressed their interest in being trained in some vocation and in receiving some assistance in finding jobs. This is still a project in progress, as our search for local vocational training institutes continues.
We were approached by several people who had medical complaints, whom we briefly evaluated and advised to visit the hospital outpatient department.
We will be visiting about ten houses every week to evaluate their status, needs, and management plans. This will start from this weekend’s visit.
Overall, we are very happy with our progress today. We all felt an overwhelming sense of goodwill and friendship that we hope will continue as we follow through with these ideas and plans that we’ve started out with. We would like to thank Vandhana, Sivaprakash and especially Saikiran, who jumped right in even though it was his first time at Ramavaram, for helping us immensely by assisting us in overcoming our language barrier.
Minutes of the meeting- 09/03/09
Monday, March 9th, 2009Plans to unfold over upcoming months:
- Women’s employment (vocational training)- To contact Andhra Mahila Sabha, Chennai ITI- Ayesha
- Make arrangements for the basic amenities such as blankets, utensils, story books for the children- Collective effort
- Work synergistically with the local tutor to make lessons more fun for the children.
- Bridge construction- Only to subsidize the cost- to encourage a self sustaining attitude
- Field Trip- As an incentive only for children with 100% attendance at school.
- Mounica gave us a briefing on the Panchayat School and the details of it’s functioning.
- Shift visits from weekends to weekdays- for the convenience of the Sangam volunteers
- Decide on a lawyer to work for the NGO status- Shilpa
Plans for the week ahead (till Sunday 15th March’09)
- 11/03/09 (Wednesday)- People with ailments that require immediate attention are to come to SRMC for a check up.
- 15/03/09 (Sunday)- Games, recreational activities and lesson plans to be worked out- Bhavya, Mounica, Navyatha.
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