Pankhudi Foundation Blog

On 14th November we were able to provide the children at SRMAB with a fun filled day of recreational activities on Sports Day – to get away from the everyday and do something different. The day started off at 9:30 am with the arrival of around 60 children ages 8 to 19 years and volunteers from Pankhudi to SRMAB play grounds.

The inauguration began with prayer and the children were divided into several teams. The day’s sports events were full of a variety of games including discus throw, shot put, javelin throw, frog jumping, spoon race, running race, book balancing and break the pot. The SRMAB grounds come alive as the students cheer their friends who hold high the flag of sportsmanship and competitive spirit through the various events from team sports to individual ones.

The Event wrapped up about 2 PM and the event in all was a success. The Pankhudi team participated enthusiastically in setting up each race. This was really a day to remember and we are thankful to SRMAB for giving the opportunity to make Sports Day a memorable one for all the kids and volunteers here at Pankhudi.

Pics of the event: The photos are 3-d so you will be able to feel the love and fun we had http://picasaweb.google.com/vaibhav.kumar/SRMABSports#

Everyone of us wait for weekends after a tiring or not-so-tiring week. Even I am one of those. I have always looked forward to the weekends. But there has been a small change. The change is the reason. Previously I used to wait for weekends to have fun with friends, sleep for the whole day or travel around. But now I look forward to it to meet a few sweet, little kids.

This change happened after my first visit to SRMAB. I joined an NGO called Pankhudi Foundation as a volunteer. One of the initiatives of the Bangalore chapter of the foundation is of teaching computer and English in a school for visually challenged students. I was really nervous before my first visit as I had never had a chance to interact with such differently abled people. My brain was juggling with the thoughts of how to teach them computer when they can’t see the keyboard and the monitor.

Entered the class of around 10 students. Joseph Sir who himself is also visually challenged introduced me to the kids. All of them seemed to be very enthusiastic about learning computer. I was surprised with the way they located the computers, started the system and putting on  headphones and all without any help. I was in a state of shock seeing them behave like one of us. Suddenly the room was filled with a noise. Just then I realized that it was a text reading software. All the kids were busy typing on notepads. Some of them were quite well-versed with typing, formatting. I was surprised with the way they used all the shortcuts for all the actions. Even being a computer engineer I am not aware of all those shortcuts. Infact more than teaching I think I have to learn a lot of things from them, not only the shortcuts but also the confidence and grace with which they do all the things.

I came out of the shock state after the end of the one and half hour class. It was really surprising for me to see them use the computer so comfortably. But this surprise was only for the first day. Now I was convinced that they can do all the normal things like us. They are no different than me or you. We just need to treat them as a normal human being and help them in building their confidence and make them on par to compete with the others in the society. They do not have the power to see but they have dreams, dreams without colours. So, if anyone of you want to put colours to their dreams can contribute by joining Pankhudi Foundation as a Volunteer or contact me for any other details.

Now I wait for every Saturday. I love going to take computer classes for them, hearing the noise of the Jaws software and their calls of “Ma’m Is it correct??” .

Image Courtesy: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/yatin.sethi/VisitToSRMABBlindSchool#

Should I call it chaos or peace?

Not sure if it was a state of shock or discomfort. The ambience was full of noise made by the text reading software. Some 2-3 old dysfunctional computers were lying in the corner. It was a small computer lab with old paint covering the wall. The light although dim, was enough to penetrate every corner of the room. I took a deep breath and walked to one of the six terminals spread around the room.

“Type properly Renuka… put your index fingers on F and J”.

… for detail see the original post :

http://bizarrefeelings.blogspot.com/2009/05/pankhudi.html

Let us all wish the very best to the new team and hope that each one of them will set an example of highest level of coordination, team work and dedication while taking the whole Parivaar together.
Pankhudi Bangalore Chapter New Representatives for the year 2009:
Chapter Rep/Head: Vaibhav
Finance Rep:         Deeptangan
PR Rep:                Lipika
Content Rep:         Pravesh

Congrats Guys!!!

Dear All,

I am posting the brief minutes of the meeting. 5th was an extraordinary lively day, with many volunteers (old, new, regular) ones coming together… We had a really nice, brain-storming volunteers meet.

People present (17)- Ajay, Archana, Ayan, Lipika, Mridula, Neeraj, Pallavi, Pooja, Pravesh, Rahul. Ramkumar, Ritu, Santosh, Shreekant Jha, Tanu, Vaibhav, Vivek.

The list of the things that we came up with
(i) Need to talk to SRMAB principal to nominate a coordinator to send kids to the class on time. (Responsible person: Ram Kumar).
(ii) Need to talk to SRMAB principal to change the English class time table. We thought it would be more effective if we have English in the morning time. (Responsible person: Ram Kumar).
(iii) Talk to Pune chapter to get the English teaching material. We will see if we can use Pune chapter material in SRMAB (Responsible person: Ram Kumar).
(iv) Communication skills development program: Conduct test for English class kids and divide the class in to 2 groups depending on their communication level. Quarterly exam for English class kids, Preparing English teaching material by 20th April, Audio lesions to the kids(Once in a month using computer), Maintain volunteers attendance(Online), Tracking students progress(we will keep a Notebook in classroom to write the kids progress, kids attendance, etc.,), Uploading offline tracking info to online by Content Rep.
(Responsible persons: 9th std: Rahul, Pallavi; 7&8th std: Lipika, Ajay, Anshuman, Vivek; 5&6th: Srikanth, Ramya, Lakshmi narshima; Overall participation: Pooja)
(v) Computer Education: Tracking of progress, Monthly targets, Dividing class in to groups depending on their level, Possibility of Network setup in lab. (Responsible persons: Ayan, Pravesh, Tanu).
Talk to School chairman Mr.Srinivas regarding UPS installation. (Responsible persons: Vivek, Ram Kumar)
(vi) Clothes, Books and Toys collection drive in April: We need to find out the Organization to donate the stuff. (Responsible persons: All Members)
(vii) Need more volunteers for English classes in a govt school in Hoskerahalli for class 1 to 3. Timings are 9.30 to 11.00 for about 3 days in the week (no weekends). Please contact Mrs.Radhika bhat for more info.
(viii) We have 10 computers to donate to school/organization. We need help from all members to suggest the names of the school/organization (Responsible persons: All Members)
(ix) Team outing in May: We need suggestions on good outing places. (Responsible persons: All Members)
(x) 2009 activities plan: If we stabilize our SRMAB and N.R.Colony activities then we can think of starting new project in Slum area.

After the meeting, we went for lunch with the team and discussed about movies, food and other stuff

Thats all from my end.

Meeting pics are uploaded to  http://www.pankhudifoundation.org/photos/main.php/bangalore/teammeet/

“Pankhudi has no employees and every individual associated with it works only as a volunteer”
For your reading:  http://www.livemint.com/2008/10/25000214/Pankhudi-Bangalore.html

Dear Friends,
This is to inform you that Pankhudi Foundation has entered into a web-based joint campaign with a delhi-based restaurant networking company called FoodiBay (www.foodiebay.com). Foodiebay.com is a student-alumni venture of IIT Delhi graduates.

Campaign Schedule:
27th October, (00:00 hours) – 11th November (00:00 hours) – Test-campaign – non-payable to Pankhudi
11th November (00:00 hours) – 26th November (00:00 hours) – actual campaign – payable to Pankhudi (Rs 3/new-visitor to FoodieBay’s website via Pankhudi)

The dual objective of this 1-month joint-campaign are:
1) Spread awareness about Pankhudi Foundation
2) Generate funds

To maximize the benefit of this campaign, all members and volunteers of Pankhudi Foundation will be required to put in their due efforts to circulate the message across all our friends and social circle. PR Cell will remind you about the payable/non-payable period of this joint campaign.

Any query can be directed to chapter PR Reps or directly to pr@pankhudifoundation.org

Helping hands are better than praying lips…

Ever wondered how the victims of the horrible floods in Bihar are coping up? You must’ve felt pity for them; you must have prayed for them…And did you ever hope to get a chance to bring solace to these poor lives??? Did you ever hope to do something that could bring their lives back on track???

Well, here is your chance to do a good turn!

We at ~Pankhudi are starting with a Collection Drive for the Bihar Flood Relief Fund. The collection drive will go on from 27th September 2008 – 4th October 2008. At the end of this drive we shall send all the collected material across, to the ones who need it the most..

Remember, the victims need help NOW….So, please do not delay your simple acts of kindness….

You can contribute any of the below mentioned items (in good quality):

Dry ration : Rice, Pulse, Gram, Chiura, Cooking oil, Gud, Sugar, Tea, spices, Biscuits, Namkeen, Packed eatables and Infant Baby’s milk powder.

Utility items : candles & matchbox, torch & batteries, storage & cooking utensils, tarpaulin, feeding bottles, buckets, ropes, Mosquito nets, stoves,

Clothing : large quantity of sarees, bedsheets, shirts, T-shirts, kids clothes, towels, daris & all kind of usable clothing & footwear.

Logistical support :
~ Transport support to reach the material to effected areas
~ Space for collection centers
~ Facilities for local pickups,
~ Volunteers for sorting / packing.

If you can convince your organization (schools, colleges, corporate), or a few friends, or just yourself, it is welcome all the same. For the Relief, every small help matters…a lot!!

So let’s all work together and make at least a small positive difference to our distressed brothers and sisters there!

For any queries/more information, Please contact….
Vaibhav: 9886796985
Lipika: 9945600788
Arvind: 9845761239
email: bangalore@pankhudifoundation.org

Click here to see Poster:
http://www.pankhudifoundation.org/bangalore/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sahayata-poster.JPG

Pankhudi Foundation is on its way to conduct its 3rd Collection Drive across Bangalore. The collections from this campaign would be donated to the Sri-Lankan Refugee Camp/School (also known as Rajiv Gandhi International Academy – IGIA) at Yelahanka, Bangalore.

Click here to see poster:



The Plan:
We will be starting early – around 8:30 AM with the collection drive and plan to return by 12 noon. We are booking a tempo and all members would be picked up from near thier residences along with the collections.

Timings:
Day – Sunday – 15th June
Time – 8:30 AM to 12 noon

What to Collect:
Clothes, Books, Toys, or any other useful household items.

Wish to be a part of this? Connect with:

Yatin Sethi – yatin.sethi [at] gmail.com
Sonali Majumdar – crazedflyer [at] gmail.com

(Please visit http://www.pankhudifoundation.org/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=11723 for picture gallery)

Hello All,
This one is long….you can go and get a 2 min walk before u start reading it I have been dying to write it this mail from the moment I came back from the school. Cant wait any more…here I go

It was 9:15 when we gathered around the basket ball court and we had kids chirruping around and parents eager to know where are we going and whats going to happen there. I being the route leader ( if such a thing exits ! ) I explained to ppl how to reach the place around 10 times…( ppl chose to come one by one may be to help me revise the route properly! ) and we left at around 9:30.
As soon as we reached, catching our breaths and looking around, waiting for Joseph, the kids were already jumping and playing in the small play area with the rides. Finally, we somehow managed to get them together at one place with Joseph introducing himself and talking abt our entry into the school and the introductory session we were about to have. Do u think I am going too slow? please forgive me for this but I enjoyed each and every moment of today’s visit and I want you to enjoy it too!

So now we proceeded towards the examination hall where we were waiting for Laxmi Iyer Sir to give us an introduction. ( Check out the picasa album to get a feel of the cosy setting we had there). Here comes the head of the department “L I ” sir. Yes, L I Sir, thats what kids call him and thats how he loves getting called…a very nice person with lot of enthusiasm, wisdom and patience. He started with an introduction to the school and an introduction to how our visually impaired friends do their studies and make their living. He told us amazing stories of the visually impaired achieving feats in life ! One story was about a 3 yr old kid saving his father’s life and getting a bravery award from the karnataka govt ! We started getting applause after each such story. ( Wait, applause! ) A truly inspiring and encouraging session for the kids as well as the parents.( and for me it was not just a session…it was enlightenment )

Joseph couldnt wait any longer to take the kids to a hands on session where they could meet and see visually impaired and become friends with them. We started with the “Resource Room” which had a great many tools and resources to play with. A small 10 min demo of the tools from an expert in the lab is what the kids really enjoyed ( kids being kids…they have to have fun with the tools )

Next we went into the computer lab where we had Sheela, Nagaveni and Renuka ( 7th standard girls batch) doing typing practice. What can be more intriguing than seeing the blind using a computer comfortably ( and I would say “grace” , honestly speaking I see more grace in the blind than us! ). Kids were happy and surprised at the same time.

Now this one was a total home run. I dint expect to see a dance performance during the visit. Joseph took us to the dance room where all kids sat sweetly cuddling and looking at the performers. We had two performers, one the dance teacher Mr. Manjappa and another his student Ninesh. Manjappa is a limca world record holder , with a record of being the first blind to perform kuchi pudi and bharatnatyam form of dances!!! They gave us a brief session on how the blind learn and perform such an expressive art. All the parents and the kids were totally mesmerised and amazed with the kind of proficiency with which the Nineesh danced with a pot full of water on his head and a “thaal” ( big plate ) under his feet.

Too long…and no one could wait to see the dairy where the cows are fed and milked by the students. Am really sorry that I forgot to take some photos there but the scene was amusing . The cows were having their lunch and “L I ” Sir were telling kids how to touch and feed cows. Just imagine , kids coming one by one and jumping and screaming out of happiness just after touching the cow . The scene was worth a watch!

The last but the most important destination was the card-board factory. Here the kids could see how the visually impaired could run a whole factory all by themselves and make a living out that. Even I was surprised to know that all were visually impaired and were working so comfortably around the big machines as if they could see as good as I could. ( Picasa Picasa Picasa)

Today, was an amazing,full of fun and a great learning experience for L & T South City. I wish you ppl could share all the fun with us.

(Please visit http://www.pankhudifoundation.org/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=11723 for picture gallery)