KK visit - June 2010

Dear Friends,

We visited KK old age home and provided dinner to residents the past weekend. Thanks to volunteers who joined in spite of rain in Chennai.

Going forward all our visits would be on the first Sunday of the month and  we have booked the same for future visits.

Snaps are at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/natadreams/KKOldAgeHomeJune#

Anbudan,

Natarajan

New center in TN - Tirukoyilur

Dear Friends,

I take great pleasure in sharing this news with you. One of our friends Mozhiarasi contacted me sometime back through Mani and expressed her desire to start classes at her village near Thirukovilur. 

I happened to discuss with Mozhi today after long time and learned that Mozhi has started taking informal classes for the children near her house. These children are currently coming to her house during weekends for clarifying their doubts.

We will be starting formal classes at the school premises from next academic year. Mozhi is in the process of organizing all this. A few of friends and I, we would also visit the place to kick off the first class ain the next two months.

I am sure this new chapter of DI will serve many more kids. Please join me in wishing Mozhi all the very best.

Regards,

Natarajan

DI Valasarawakkam - Updates

Dear All, I would like to update a few things. The classes at V'vakkam are going at regular pace. We have got 3 new vols for our chapter, named Sriram, Haneefa, Subu. Nata referred Subu to me and he inturn got 2 of his friends. Thanks to Nata. We have started with Computer fundamentals. Sriram, Haneefa & Subu handles computers.Kids, are really showing a large interest towards this move. As a result we are getting a reasonale turn-outs to the classes. We v'vakkam vols were planning on how to begin with the computers for quite some-time. I always use to keep in touch with the school's HM as to know about, computers' status. To our surprise, we came to know that the computers in the school was loaded with Linux rather than with Windows. Though we, vols knew a little about Linux, we want the kids to get hands-on training in windows first. Even the school teachers were demanding for Windows only. So, we decided to start the class with our DI computer, arranged by Sriram & Bharathram who  initiated the V'vakkam chapter along with Nata.  Then some of our vols went to On-site location as part of their profession. I also spoke with Nata about this. He immediately referred Subu to me in no-time and we successfully started with the computer classes Thanks & Regards, K.K.Aravindhan

Medical project - Chennai

Dear Friends,

Recently we got a medical request for Ms.Padmavathy's cancer treatment. She is the mother of one of a student's who has approached us for educational support [ We could not support as his marks were very low]. Our friends Divya and Vishnu visited the patient in person and verified the case. Based on the details, it was decided DI would give 10,000rs for this surgery.

Through this project, we also got to know a new partner organization called V-Share. They have provided partial support for this patient and Mr.Prakash from V-Share is in touch with the doctor regularly as well.

Lakshimpathy, the student, met me last morning and collected a check for Rs.10,000. He gave me the receipts and documents today morning.  I conveyed our team's best wishes for his mom to recover soon.

Regards,

Natarajan

DI Highlight

Dear Friends,

I take great pleasure in sharing a small story that shows the fighting spirit of our kids. Navaneethan is one of our bight students in Adyar class. Currently, he is in ninth standard. Six months ago, we decided to provide Navaneethan scholarship for his typing exam.

The exam is due next month and I happened to meet the instructor. He was not very happy with the performance of our students [ couple of them are eligible to appear for exams next month]. He said he has to try hard and train to get them pass. After this interaction, I met our students and briefed them about the discussion. I simply said, "you guys have set an example for the other fellow students who are coming for the typing class, if you guys fail, then this would only create a fear in other students mind".

Just a few minutes back, I got a message from Navaneethan - 

1st Test. Paper 1 - 20, Paper 2 - 30 Total = 50 Result = Fail

2nd Test. Paper 1 - 0, Paper 2 - 24 Total = 24 Result = Fail

3rd Test  Paper 1-39, Paper 2 -  82 Total = 121 Result = Pass Rank = 4th in class

4th Test Paper 1- 64, Paper 2 - 80 Total = 144 Result = Pass Rank = 2nd in class

God has blessed us to have wonderful kids to with. Our children are the best and they are someone who can go beyond our expectations. It is us, who has got to be there for them. I am very very happy today and am sure they would come out with flying colors. One more important thing - As soon as I announced this in group, our friend Pallavi came forward to support his entire course. Am sure she would be proud and happy as we all are!!!

Regards,

Natarajan

DI five years celebrations - Fun outing

DI five year celebrations - ECR outing report

Student performances in DI

Dear Friends,

I take great pride and joy in sharing this good news with you all. Our students, rather I should say our younger sisters, Fathima [ Seventh semester 74% ] and Bhuvaneswari [ 3rd semester 88.5% ] have scored excellent marks and have made us all proud.

The marks they have scored is the proof for their wonderful commitment to the cause and zeal to be on the top always. I am sure they would soon achieve their desire to be self reliant and not just bring DI possible only for their family, but also to very many families similar to theirs. 

Deepambigai - Student at Anna University whom we are supporting has scored  75% in her 6th semester. Our student Ponni as usual has come out with flying colors scoring 74%. She stands joint third in department.

In addition, Ponni also has cleared OCA with 71%. If you remember, we took the decision to support Ponni for this exam with complete faith that she would clear it. She has proved her worth.

Please join me in congratulating all these students in their stupendous educational achievements.

Regards,

Natarajan

Road safety competition in Chennai

Hi All,

Partnering with ArriveSafe, Dream India conducted a drawing competition for children in the Government school in Valasarawakkam, Chennai on the 1st of November. Though we did not get selected for the final round, the kids did extremely well and  managed to bring out the best of their knowledge by way of drawings. The volunteers used this opportunity to thrust the importance of good traffic culture, to the kids. The drawings can be seen below

Thanks
Varun R
Dream India

Children's Day Celebrations 2009 - Adyar, Chennai

Dear Friends,

On Nov 14th, we had a fun filled Children's day celebration at Adyar school.

The event started with explaining some facts about Nehru ji & his family tree. Students were asked to speak few sentences in English about Children's day. Then, both 8th & 9th students were combined & grouped into 3 teams.

The first event was 'Dumb Charades'. It was really entertaining when the students were trying to do some action about the personality. They were taught to break up the name of a person & then to explain. They really enjoyed it.

Next event was 'Man Hunt'. Students were explained about the rules of the game & personalities were given for each team in tandem. Though there was chaos in raising questions by the kids, towards the end they understood the game well.

Lot of enthu was displayed by the students. Chocolates were distributed to the kids.

Two Students from each team was given the prize for their active participation in the event.

All the kids were gifted with a yellow colored Smiley ball as children's day gift.

Navaneethan, a 9th standard student was given gift & round of applause for being the Overall best student for this year. Few other students were mentioned for their merits.

The day was really memorable for the students as well for volunteers.

Thanks & Regards

Partheeban.B

Mayanoor Sports Club - Inauguration

Dear Friends,

I am extremely happy to share the wonderful news that with the help of Mr.Gunasekaran, we have started our very first "Dream India sports club" for Mayanoor school children. 

It has been dream of a few of our friends in DI to create awareness about physical activities and provide a platform to bring the talent of children in various sport. It is then, we met Mr.Gunasekaran sir, HM of Mayanoor school. Sir told me about his dream of starting a sports club for the children and with the consent of our trustees, we decided to execute this project. 

Our friend, Manikandan [ DI Mumbai and Chennai volunteer] would sponsor this sports club entirely on his own. Dream India also thanks Mr.Gunasekaran for giving us a chance to start this sports club and for his wonderful support.

A brief note on Mr.Guna sir: He gave up his lucrative job overseas and came back to India with a burning desire to become a teacher. The students of Mayanoor are the one blessed to have Mr.Guna as their HM. Sir is one of the action board members of our Partner India Sudar.

It is important to note that Mr.Guna sir is gonna take care of the payment to the coach every month on his own. We cannot find a better person than Mr.Guna sir to start this sports club.

Regards

Natarajan Raman

Dream India Science Exhibition 2009 - Adyar Government School

Dream India conducted Science Exhibition at Adyar Government School on 21.11.09 for the students of Class 8 and 9.

The Students split themselves into 12 teams consisting of 2 to 4 students. A whole gamut of  topics were selected which included Rain water harvesting, Electric train, Periscope, Optical Illustration Using Lenses, Glass Moulding,  Parts of human body, Importance of Wild life, A walking robot, Essentials of Vitamins, Pedal Car, Global Warming, Park, Volcano, Electrical Conductivity, Few Chemical Experiments etc.

We were surprised with the creativity that these students demonstrated knowing that they never had the opportunity to organise an exhibition or visit one!

It was very tough to decide the winners as most of the students excelled in their creations. The winners were announced based on creativity, cost, communication skills, presentation and teamwork. There was an unanimous decision for the first prize winner as they stood out from others through their demonstration skills, low cost and the simple yet interesting product. There were 2 second prize and 3rd prize winners. We also gave 2 special prize.

The models were displayed to all the school students on Monday.At the end of the show, both the students and the volunteers were glad at the outcome. We hope to have similar events in the future.

Regards
Kavitha

Diwali celebrations 2009 - Vasantham and KK

Dear Friends,

All our children thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Diwali and the smiles in their faces left us all satisfied.

This year we bought crackers for Rs.5000 which was distributed to the following homes:

1) Anna Nagar class
2) Adyar class
3) V'Vakam class
4) Vasantham and
5) SV Home

We also bought sweets for our children. KK visit happened exactly a week before diwali and we gave 30rs for each grandmas as stitching charge apart from dinner. They were very happy and blessed all our members.

KK Home



Vasantham Home



Regards,
Natarajan

2009 Diwali celebrations, Chennai

Dear All,

I would like to share about the diwali celebration which we had it in our DI Valasaravakkam School on 11.10.09 (Sunday). We arrived in the school around 10.00 a.m. We waited for the kids to come and settle down. By 10.30 we started our celebration. First, we asked the students to come and speak a few words about what DIWALI meant to them ? Also, we asked them to share about their previous diwali experiences. Unforgettable incidents, their activities on that day, etc., We volunteers also gave them a brief description about DIWALI and its significances.

Next, we had sweets distribution. We had only very few number of students. The school watchman also co-operated with us. He too enjoyed seeing the kids coming up and speaking about DIWALI and singing songs about diwali.

We started bursting the crackers. The kids were showing keen interest in burning the crackers. We volunteers also bursted along with them.

Throughout the bursting session, we vols ensured that no kid is bursting alone. We had constant monitoring on them. We took photos of it. Nata, you could have also joined us in the celebration today. Thank you very much for your efforts to get the crackers for our DI.

The photos are aired in my picasa album.

The link : http://picasaweb.google.com/kkaravindhan/DreamIndiaValasaravakkamDiwaliCelebration#

I really thank all the volunteers who made a wonderful effort in giving the kids 'A DIWALI FEEL'.

NB: Sriram & Bharath, we all really missed you. All the students conveyed their diwali wishes to you.

Gandhi Jayanthi celebrations 2009, SV Home

Dear Friends,

Like last year, we celebrated Gandhi Jayanthi at SV home this year too.

Quiz Prelims:

We started the Quiz Preliminary round around 9 AM. 50 students from SV home and 3 kids from Adyar school appeared for this. Janu and Ravin conducted the prelims.

Elocution competition:

This was followed by Elocution competition. Around 20 students from SV Home and Adyar school spoke. For the first time, the students also spoke in English. It was simply amazing to say the least. For someone who has seen the children speak last year, the performance has improved very well. It was a sight to see the children speak very confidently on stage and then run on to hug Kamala madam with huge relief. They had put in a lot of efforts and we could see the results very well.

Dr.Subash, Janakiraman and Sreeja were the judges for the Elocution competition. Snacks was served during the break.

Cultural programs:

After the snack break, children sang some patriotic songs, played a skit and a couple of dances. The songs and drama had very good meaning and brought the creativity of the students to the stage.

Lunch:

Thanks to Vasantham Mrs.Alli madam, we could get couple of rice, sweet, and couple of side dish all included for just rs.30 per person. Last time we had to spend more than 1500 extra, but madam took pains for us to order food for Vasantham and then send it from there for us. This saved us a lot of money and also gave us more variety to serve the kids.

Ice cream was given after lunch and it was time to start the quiz program.

Quiz:

Ravin, our official DI quiz master, started the quiz program. 9 teams of 3 each was selected and after various rounds of eliminations, 3 teams emerged as winners. It was good to see Adyar kids being part of SV home teams and work together and emerging winners. Janu shared on the areas the kids needs to work on to improve their general knowledge.

Vasantham Kids:

Around 8 Vasantham kids came along with madam. Shridhar and Jaikar Ganesh participated in elocution competition. This was the very first time the special kids of Vasantham participated in a program along with normal children. Special thanks to SV home kids and Kamala madam who encouraged the children to participate.

Every single person present was taken by surprise when these kids spoke without any kind of struggle or stage fear. It was just a perfect speech. Later, we came to know that Shridhar could not even stand up and walk when he joined Vasantham six years ago. He could not even speak then. All of us at DI can be proud that our function served us a platform for a special kid to display his special talent. His transformation is an example of dedication and the divine work done by Vasantham. His father had come in the evening and when he learned about Shridar winning prize [ We gave special prize to all Vasantham kids ] along with trophy, he could not stop breaking down.

Sathish, the cute and lovable kid of Vasantham, danced to a mixture of songs and this was followed by a group song. Sathish became a hero and all children mobbed him to shake hands with him.

Prize Distribution and Cultural:

Mr.Suresh Kamath, MD, Laser Soft, Mr.Murugesan and Mrs.Alli Murugesan joined Dr.Subash as chief guests for the prize distribution function. DI friends gave special memento for chief guests made by Vasantham children. Dr.Subash gave a wonderful speech and took time to congratulate Sathish for his wonderful dance performance. Mr.Suresh Kamath was humble and graceful as ever. Mrs.Alli Murugesan thanked DI and SV home for giving a platform for special children along with other kids.

The kids were very happy with the prizes. First prize winners got 4 books, trophy and a certificate. Second prize winners got 3 books, trophy and a certificate while third prize winners got 2 books, trophy and a certificate. For the first time, we gave a small token of gift to each of the children who performed a dance or drama or song.

Janu thanked everyone on behalf of DI, couple of kids shared their thoughts and later Kamala madam delivered vote of thanks. Later we took a few group snaps. Janu, Arunan and myself stayed back to discuss about studies and other things with children.

I take pride in sharing the message from Mr.Suresh Kamath sir - "Dear Natarajan and all Dream India friends, thank you for inviting me and giving me an opportunity to be with you and see those beautiful children smile.Honestly, you inspire me. For me, Dream India is really Dreams come true. God bless you all. Warm regards, Kamath".

The above message is a true reflection of sir's kindness and humbleness.

Sreeja, Kavitha, Arunan, Poornima, Manivanan [ YHM ], Janu, Ravin and Parthy took care of conducting the event smoothly. The event at SV home would have always been special, but this time, the presence of Vasantham kids only made the event very special. DI can certainly be proud of doing things first time and this event is an example of the good work God has chosen us to execute.

Anbudan,

Natarajan

Dream India

Children's home visit - Chennai

Dear All,

It gives me immense pleasure to share about our DI Valasaravakkam project - 2. As part of our second project we planned to visit 'Ramamoorthy educational & rehabiliation trust ', a home for parentless children on sep.20 (sunday).

We DI vols reached the home by 9.15 a.m. and had a brief introduction with the kids & trustee. We also had a special guest Miss.Shobana, HR of L & T with us.

Then we started with prayer.Our first event was 'Word Anthakshiri'. We had this event to enrich their vocabularly and develop spontanity.That seems to be very interesting. We gave chocolates to the winner and runner.

Our next event is 'Passing the ball'. Something like 'Musical chair'. We'l play a music and kids need to pass the ball from their hand to others without dropping it. It was very interesting towards the end.

Third event was 'mini snow bowling'. We piled up the cups and asked the kids to come in turn and throw the ball towards the cup. One who made least number of cups intact will qualify for next level (i.e., We'l extend the distance of meters). Again one who made least number of cups intact declared as the winner. To our surprise we had a many close calls. So, we equally gave them the chocolates as prizes.

Next we played 'Dumbsharabs'. We splitted 20 kids into 2 teams and we vols joined in their team and played along with them. Category was film names. Many came up with tough names that we couldn't guess it.

Then we had lunch from 12.30 p.m. - 1.30 p.m.

Post lunch we started with the 'screening of Tom & Jerry' cartoon. This is the most interesting of all. Kids were enjoying to their core & laughing out loud, by there alomost we came to know about our success. We provided with the snacks like biscuits, juice, chips (One of our vol[Ashik] bought it from Kerala) to them while watching the toon at 3.30 p.m.

I prepared a feedback form and asked them to fill it up and give me. I asked the kids to 'feel free in writing'. I'l go thourgh it, scan and send you soon.

In the end we had some culturals like asking the kids those who are interested in singing, dancing, doing mimicry, poem reciting. They voluntarily came up the performances which were too good. Finally, we asked few kids to come up and speak about the day's events and how they felt. All were happy in attending our sessions.

I hereby take this opportunity to thank HR of L & T Miss.Shobana for coming and spending her day with kids and DI team.

Thanks & Regards,

Aravindhan

KK - September 09' visit

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday, September 6th, our team visited Kaakum Karangal old age home and provided dinner to the residents as a part of our monthly visit.

They were all very happy to see us after almost 3 to 4 weeks. One of the paati's (grandmas) sang a prayer song and this was followed by usual prayer. They have been asking for some cash to be given for the monthly expense like getting extra tablets, drinking coffee etc. We have started giving 20rs each [ 36 residents ] for this purpose.

Next visit is on October 11th, Sunday.

Regards,

Natarajan

Dream India

Madhumitha - Cornea Surgery

Dear Friends,

Sometime back, we got hearing aid for a kid called Madhumitha from Pondicherry. This family was known to us through my brother. Father lost his job because of recession in export clothing units. He is now doing electrician work as and when he gets. Ms.Hemalatha, mother of Madhu had to undergo cornea replacement surgery. The total cost was around 8000rs and they approached us for assistance.

Upon verifying the case, it was decided that we can partially support by paying Rs.5000. I am also discussing with my brother about finding some employment opportunity for Madhu's father and empowering her mom through some vocational training.

Regards,

Natarajan

New DI chapter - Coimbatore

Dear Friends,

Our friend Shyam is now doing his MBA at PSG and has started our Coimbatore chapter. As you all know, Shyam has been a pillar of support for DI Chennai at Adyar school and was mainly responsible for the Pollachi educational festival we conducted last year.

It is no wonder that a guy of his energy level has taken the next step to start our new chapter. Along with our YHM friends and his college friends in Coimbatore, we have taken the first step of activating DI chapter at this city.

We need volunteers, especially girl volunteers for the project mentioned below.

Place :Coimbatore

Location : Gandhi ma nagar (Next to peelamedu Level crossing)

Genre :Ment for only girls from 1 std to 12th std

Requirement:Part time volunteers Especially Girls (Like as explained before) little fluent in tamil*

Classes on:Only sundays between 2pm to 5 pm

Please spread the word and help us find more volunteers.

On behalf of all our chapters across India, I wish Shyam and our DI Coimbatore friends all the very best.

Anbudan,

Natarajan

Dream India