Pankhudi Foundation Blog

Team:
·         ~ Pankhudi Chennai
Date:
·         25-Feb-2007
Venue :
·         Avvai Home, Adyar
Participants:
                             
·         Divya
·         Muthalib
·         Mathu
·         Mehar
·         Sasikant
·         Shobana
·         Sivakami
·         Renuka
Activities:
 
·         Separation of Kids into various classes
·         Delivering Speech
·         Knowing about scientists
·         Birthday celebration for the kid Swetha
 
Experiences and Challenges
Separation of Classes:
·         One major difficulty we faced with the children was that few were interested in only games and few were interested to learn new things.
·          So going by majority when we play, we actually lose the gems who want to learn.  So from going forward we will have split of activities.
·         We will have four classes or activities every week going forward from this week. Science and experiments based on Science ( Major Teaching Focus here), Only Games, Physical Training, English. Each of the regular volunteer will be the host for these activities. Each kid has already subscribed themselves in the activities.
·         So each volunteer can focus on kids interested in their activity. This will help us in identifying the talents of children in their field of interested. Though we can split the children into much broader spectrum this is just an experiment.
·         All these weeks we only had everyone together. We need to see how split of activities work out. If successful we can have many fields of interest classes taken.
·         Last week, since Veena and Nayeem took Laptop and gave a presentation about Gandhi the entire crowd was controllable. Every week one presentation will be there common to all kids.
·         The other major problem we faced was that we cannot control the children. Each of the kid was in their own world (that is the characteristic of kids). It was quite difficult for us to tell them what we are up to. I tried to be little serious and sorted out things. When we started there were only 13- 15 kids. Most of them were taking bath. After sometime we had only 5 – 6 kids with us listening and others were in play mood. I am totally into the fact that we can’t do anything with their freedom. Only thing we could we can do is give our full efforts to the kids interested in learning.
Delivering Speech
·         I took a book which has 101 topics and essays about it. We made the children read it. We gave each kid a chance to read the topic of their interest. It turned out to be good. They were good in reading a paragraph. At the end of every topic, we would ask the meaning of what they understood from it. Still we need to train the children to listen when others read. I think they will get it slowly.
·         In the middle we were giving small instructions on how to read and deliver.
·         We have given the book to the kids there. Have asked them to prepare on topics of their interest and to deliver a speech without seeing paper.
·         It is just a healthy competition.
·         Hoping to see good speeches next week.
Knowing about scientists
·         I got a printed material of all Indian Scientist in a big banner like sheet of profiles of more than 20 people. It extended to about 2 meters.
·         Before actually displaying we asked who is a scientist.. name few scientists you know etc.
·         They were able to name very few scientists from India.
·         After we displayed, the kids were interested in reading. They in fact were not able to identify any Indian scientists.
Health Problems faced by children
·          There is one thing which we need to discuss to the management of the home. It is with respect to the health of the Kids there. There was one kid called Ramya. She was crying so much that there is Sinus for her and her headaches so much. But the caretaker who is responsible to take her hospital is not present. So there is no one to take her to hospital.
·         It was really uncomfortable seeing her suffering. We had no clues how to handle this. There was no one to talk to on this regard.   This will be action item for me this week to talk to management and do something for it.
Birthday Celebration:
·         This week we initially planned to celebrate the birthday of a kid – Swetha
·         We thought of having a cake cutting function and gift her with some books. As Veena pointed out this may affect the other children and everyone else would want to celebrate and some would be there who don’t even know their birthday. So we decided to celebrate it in a simple way.
·         The kid Swetha welcomed us with a warm smile. She wore a new dress and was very happy.
·         We thought we will celebrate birthday once all activities are done so that the concentration of the children would not be missed. It was lunch time and when we decided to sing song and gift the book we realized she was missing.
·         We came to know that her mom has come and she left in the middle of the activities to see her mom unnoticed. We sent one girl to bring her back (She was with her mom in a nearby place). But by the time she was back with us most of the children left to lunch.
·         So there 8 of our volunteers and few other children when we sang birthday song for her.
·         Then we gave a Tamil Book as a birthday gift, Chocolates to distribute to the kids in Home and her classmates in school. For next few mins I was not able to grasp what was happening to her. She was wordless. She was happy. She wanted to tell something but only gave us smiles back. I felt it was more than happiness.
·         We told her to celebrate the day with happiness and also distribute the chocolate to her classmates. She fed chocs to all of us there.
·         I guess she was admitted n this home last year and today was the first day her Mom is visiting her. She was delighted for it too.
·         Later when we were discussing the plans to be carried out for next week, Swetha interrupted us, with her mother. Her mother seemed to be so younger and she talked with me for few mins
·         She told that she was so happy that we celebrated her birthday requested us to continue coming to the home and take care of Swetha. We promised we will do that.
·         Later, one of our volunteer shared the story behind Swetha. Swetha father expired some few years ago leaving Swetha, her sister and her Mom. Her younger sister was adopted by their relatives itself. But no one was ready to adopt Swetha. Since Swetha faced some medical problems her mom faced financial problems too.
·         It was the decision of Swetha that she would stay in a home like this until her mom comes to a good position. She also said that instead of staying in relatives home, who hate her, she was much happier in staying in an orphanage along with her friends.
·         It was really touching the hearts of us… Needless to say, every kid in the home would be carrying a similar story like this and it gives us additional responsibility to us to bring smiles to them.
A beautiful transformation:
·         Possibly this could be most wonderful feeling I had got in Avvai home in the past 8 weeks.
·         Revathi was the toughest kid for me to handle for she was very naughty. She was the most uncontrollable for me. It is not that she won’t be in activities. She would be in activities. But never allow anyone to speak about.
·         She enjoys interrupting in middle and discouraging other students when they speak out. Today as when the kids started reading out the essay she was disturbing. She was not able to sit in a place and was roaming about here and there.
·         It was highly distracting and we requested her few times to be quiet. I used to make her sit with me so that she will be little silent. But not this time.
·         I told her – I want to talk to you for sometime. Will you come with me. She was first reluctant and then she said Ya.
·         Then we both started roaming together. My hands over her shoulders. I showed all the love possible to her. I was careful not to hurt her or scold her for her behavior. We just started talking about her studies, her interests, what she thought about me, what she wanted etc.
·         I am not a psychologist. But I was quite aware of the areas which a kid is vulnerable to. I never touched those.
·         I made her feel I am there for her and promised to her in learning math’s and English in weeks ahead. Then I was asking what are the problems faced by her. In this total span of 20 mins, never I took my hand off from her. I felt it assured her that I am really concerned for her and I was!!
·         She then shared her dream of becoming a police inspector. There is a gem hidden in every kid.
·         After spending few more mins together, we joined the other kids in the activity.
·         She was totally opposite the moment we returned back. She was quite and receptive to what others were reading.
·         When she was reading, she wanted me with her holding the book. I don’t have words or I may not be able to actually describe what I observed.
·         She took the responsibility of taking the book with her and motivating her friends to prepare for a small speech competition for next week.
·         We didn’t talk anything more. But some one she assured me there will be a positive change in her. I was able to feel it from her eyes.
·         What big thing can I do than this? Bringing up a positive change in a kid. It was just a few kind words that made all the difference. This is what we used to call “Pankhudi Touch” – Touching lives of someone with a magic wand called “Love”
Plans for next Week
 

·         Muthalib will be handling Science related activities.
·         Mehar and his team will help the children in learning English. They inturn will learn tamil from them.
·         Swetha volunteered to teach singing to the children.
·         Me, as usual going to sit and look around if things are happening fine
·         From March each of us would contribute a little amount to manage the expenses on carrying out the activities.

posted by Veena:

Five of us namely, Gowri, Vijay Shreya, Nayeem and I met up at Besant Nagar beach  

The issues discussed were: 

Lack of volunteers to carry on the activities

Lack of focus

Inactivity over the past few months 
 

The new members did not have much idea about pankhudi hence we explained to them what pankhudi does and what it aims to achieve.

Vijay being from Trichy (he is currently pursuing his MBA from NIT Trichy). He said he will propagandize about the organization. He will popularize through the college intranet and try to mobilize some volunteers. He comes down to Chennai once a month and agreed to contribute during that time. 

Gowri knows a lot of people who can contribute towards the various activities we are planning, hence agreed to mobilize volunteers.  

We also discussed about the few activities we are planning to start

1. Chetpet Destitute home: planning to speak to them and get to know their needs and how we can contribute
2. Taking up a project in a juvenile Centre (an idea different from orphanage). Located one in purushawakkam. Need to go ahead with getting the permission from the concerned authorities. (A daunting task though, because juvenile centres are run by the government, but thought of giving it a try).
3. Village development project: plans to visit the New Life orphanage and know their (and the village as a whole) needs. The idea of starting a library and counseling for the children about the various educational opportunities available in the cities should be discussed with them.

The main problem identified was Lack of volunteers:

We agreed to spread the name of pankhudi through our network of friends. We also decided to hold the meetings more often and create a pankhudi Chennai community on orkut so that the name spreads. 

Plans for this week:

Submission of letter of request to the concerned officials of Chetpet orphanage

Coming up with new ideas of doing things differently

We agreed to be in touch via mail and discuss and would meet up next week with more volunteers at the same place 

Team:
 

·         ~ Pankhudi Chennai
Date:
·         10-Feb-2007
Venue:
·         Avvai Home, Adyar
Participants:
·         Divya
·         Muthalib
·         Mathu
·         Veena
·         Nayeem
·         Shreya
·         Swetha
·         Sasi
Activities:
·         Arranging Names by Alphabetical Order
·         Memory Game – Remembering names in Alphabetical Order
·         Singing a song – Theme : Keeping Ourselves clean and Active
·         Science – How clouds are created
Experiences and Challenges
·         Last week, we planned to teach them English. Few volunteers who were interested were tied up in other higher priority works.
·         So there were no activities planned for English. I felt I had enough knowledge (??!!??) in English to teach them something on the fly. So we entered the home without any fixed plans. As usual we were flexible.
·         As soon as we entered the home, we expected the children to be waiting for us. But this time we had relatively lesser strength. Many kids were taking bath
·         This time instead of having activities in the ground we decided to carry out in a huge auditorium. It also had a black board, which eased our work
·         There was huge confusion in who sits next to whom. So we asked the children to stand in Alphabetical Order.
·         When the name starts with different alphabets they didn’t have problem in standing in order. When the first alphabet of two names are same ex (Ramya, Revathi) they had confusion in standing order.
·         This sparked an idea. The topic for teaching is ready “Alphabetical Order”
·         So we asked the children to sit and I wrote the topic on board and when I turned back I found almost half of the crowd missing.
·         Was this because of the distaste the children have towards educational system or that they really got scared of my teaching.. I didn’t dare to ask them.
·         There were comparatively few children when I started telling about what is alphabetical order.
·         I stumbled to teach even basics. Since they were almost good in sorting based on first letters I started teaching them how to sort when first letters are same. First based on second letter then based on third letter. Ex: Ramya, Revathi and next was Aruna – Arumugam.
·         After teaching to a little extent, I gave a list of 12 names and asked them to sort. Yes as expected not everyone had the interest to solve it. This is again distaste towards assignments.
·         So to motivate I told, chocolates for all who solve. To the surprise few children completed and said I don’t want anything. I just like to solve it.
·         Soon few others also joined the group and tried solving it. The learning experience for them was very minimal. But for us it was much more.
·         In the meantime we had another challenge. Till these days we never handled them in the perspective of teaching. To build up a rapport we started with fun activities and games. But they had a mindset that we are there only for games.
·         So when we started teaching them they lost interest. This was clearly visible when they ran away to Swetha and complained that they (We) didn’t play with them.
·         Swetha gave idea we can play memory game so that they will remember order of alphabets and it would be fun too.
·         I hope almost everyone know this memory. We must sit in a circle. First person starts with a word starting with alphabet A for ex:” Apple”. The next person must say first word and then say another word starting with B say “Apple, Bat” .. and so on.
·         I didn’t find they enjoyed that much. When we reached the alphabet “V” almost everyone lost interest. We had to drag the game till end.
·         Once this game was finished, We tried a new experiment. I just read the lines of a tamil poem, and asked the kids to put tune for it.
·         First I read, aloud. Next time when I read, they repeated with actions for each line. And next time when I read, they repeated with a tune ( Common tune for all rhymes)
·         It was atleast good because everyone byhearted the song after fourth time. (Sorry I dont remember the song to mention it )
·         After this we made the children to sit and muthalib started questioning about rain and clouds. Each one of them had their own story and poems about Rain.
·         Afterwards he (Muthalib) asked why clouds are Black and Grey sometimes while others are White.
·         The children proactively told, “The cloud is like Muthalib Anna, it didn’t take bath so it is dirty” (No offences meant ). Few others honestly tried answering. The water from which the cloud formed could be black water etc.
·         After sometime, Muthalib explained why actually Clouds are black and grey.
·         Honestly, I didn’t know the answer before. The water vapor can arrange them in different density. If they are so dense they won’t allow sunlight to pass through them so they appear Black. But if we go in flight, all clouds are white only.
·         After this the kids the best thing happened. They started asking questions
o        How water created
o        What is atom
o        How universe is formed
o        How man was created.
·         This means they eventually need to be explained the entire Big Bang theory itself.
·         After some chit chat with the kids, we left the home
Key Learning:
·         Everything we wish to teach the children must be taught in the way of joy and fun. In precise they must not feel that they are actually learning and we must not know that we are teaching.
·         Don’t take any topic for granted. We need to prepare for every topic. The children are not like Software engineers to accept whatever we say ( No worries. I am software engineer too). They ask questions. Especially questions for which we don’t know answer.
·         There are some kids who want only fun. There are some kids who really want to learn something. In the course of playing and spending fun time with kids we must not while away the precious time we have got to teach the children.
·         Children have lot of things to teach us. We must not have the Ego that I know everything. I am here only to teach. That attitude doesn’t work at all.
·         If a kid is not interested in the class, lets not force.
Plans for next Week:
·         Muthalib will prepare answers for the questions children asked.
·         Regular English classes going forward. Just we need to find out how to carry out in a much simpler and effective way.
·         Veena and Nayeem will prepare some presentations about some topics along with pictures so that kids can enjoy it.
·         Should we split the children into two group – Fun and Learning. It is yet to be decided.
If anyone interested to join the team please shoot a mail to divya.senthu@gmail.com