First time since Aashayein Foundation Mysore started its Sunday Breakfast Service in Jan '10, its volunteers visited an old age home as part of the activity. The place called "Home for the aged" was situated near Gandhinagar, Mysore and houses more than 140 inmates in a vast building that catered to most of the needs of the aged. Started in 1971 by The Bishop of Mysore, the institution looks after aged people of both the sexes, irrespective of their caste and creed. It depends completely on public charity for all kinds of monetary help.The place is well managed by many volunteers who have divided themselves into various departments like kitchen department, etc. It has a huge kitchen, many dining halls, well maintained rooms for staying, a drama hall and a very beautiful church. The residents here make various items out of wood, straw etc. which is put for sale at the entrance of the building. Every month they even celebrate birthdays of all inmates.
It was a completely new and different experience for AF volunteers to visit such a place and they couldn't help admiring the good work done by all the volunteers who stayed there and looked after the aged people. AF wishes to visit many more such places in future and support their cause. The volunteers also planned to initiate a new activity separately for old age homes where they could visit them on a regular basis and entertain them by performing various activities like singing, drama etc as AF has always believed in spending time with people for whom it matter the most. Many more good deeds to be done, smiles to be brought on many more faces, as always said, the Aashayein caravan shall go on.
Aashayein Foundation is organizing a summer camp for the children of class 9 and 10 at Guru Malleshwara High School, Doora Village, Mysore District. The camp will be held on eight days spread across four weeks. A total of about 50 children will be benefited from this initiative.
The objectives of the summer camp,
·To generate an interest towards science and inculcate scientific reasoning among the children.
·To demonstrate that the process of learning can be fun and interesting in an attempt to improve the retention rate at the school.
·Focused career counseling and personality development to motivate children to pursue higher education.
·To inculcate the habits of hygiene, cleanliness and social responsibility among the children
Activities:
Some of the key activities planned for the Summer Camp 2011iinclude,
·Science Experiments: Children will perform interesting experiments that will help them understand the basic concepts of science and promote scientific reasoning
·Craft and painting: An opportunity to pick up or hone the creative talent.
·Career guidance: The interactive session will give explore the interests of children and share information on the exciting career opportunities in various fields.
·Cultural activities: These sessions will bring out the hidden talent within the children and will culminate with a grand closing ceremony featuring stage performances by them.
·Games: An innovative approach to promote working in teams.
·Natural History Museum: A field trip to the Regional Museum of Natural History, Mysore.
·First Aid: A session on understanding the basic first aid procedures for common injuries/emergencies.
·Fun with Maths: This session will aim to simplify and generate interest towards one of the most dreaded subjects.
·Computers: An interactive session about understanding the wonder machine and its applications.
The children will be served with lunch & snacks on all the days of the summer camp. About 30 volunteers are working closely to make this project a grand success. A similar camp was successfully organized by Aashayein Foundation during 2010 at Govt. High School, Hadinaaru Village, Mysore that benefited about 60 children.
How can you help:
You can play a vital role in creating special moments for children which have a positive and long lasting impact in their lives. Help us reach out to children who have never had an opportunity to be a part of any Summer Camp.
Volunteer to help making the project a success
Monetary Contribution towards the project
All contributions are tax exempted under section 80G of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961
A Novel painting competition to bring together the children from various backgrounds of the city
A novel painting competition was organized on January 30, 2011 in the city at the Open Air Theatre by the Aashayein Foundation. ‘Kaamanabillu 2011 – Fill colours to life’ brought the kids from mainstream schools and those from NGOs, anathashramas and other special learning centres on a common platform to showcase their talent. About 160 children participated from over 12 institutions.
The event also provided a platform for the NGOs and special schools to showcase their efforts in promoting education among the orphans, physically challenged and the not-so-privileged sections of the society. Separate stalls were set up portraying the vision and efforts by each of these institutions.
Sri. Nagendra Kumar, Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI), Mysore was the chief guest. Hon. H.P. Sandesh, Principal District and Sessions Judge, Mysore presided over the event. Speaking at the occasion, Hon. H.P Sandesh emphasized the need to co ordinate efforts from the youth to secure the future of the children. Mrs. Juliana Lobo, Head Mistress, Bastipur Govt Higher Primary School was also present at the occasion. She expressed happiness over the progress of Shikshana Abhiyana at her school. Aashayein Foundation teaches English to 50 students at the Bastipur Govt. Higher Primary School.
Megha M (St. Joseph's Central School) won the first place in the competition while Priyanka BV (Nirmala Convent) and Abijana N (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) bagged the second and third place respectively.
A medical checkup and blood donation camp was also organized on the sidelines of the event. A total of 37 visitors of the event donated their blood at the occasion.
The event also marked one year of operations of the Aashayein foundation in Mysore. The foundation works towards raising the aspiration levels kids especially among those from the not-so-privileged sections of the society. The foundation has operations in Bangalore, Mysore and Hyderabad and reaches out to the children through innovative programs such as Shikshana Abhiyana, Sunday Breakfast Serving, Bachche Mann Ke Sachche and Pustaka Abhiyana.
Children’s Day marks the celebration of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s (fondly called Chacha Nehru) birthday. It commemorates the love he had for kids & is a day for celebration for children all over India.
Aashayein Foundation, Mysore celebrated Children’s Day at the Government School, Bastipura in Srirangapatana District with the school children from standard 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th. This is the same school where AF-Mysore conducts its weekly ‘Shikshana Abhiyana’ activity. Around 40 Kids had assembled on the occasion.
What is Children’s Day?
The activities of the day started off with Mr. Rameshbabu, talking to all the kids on the importance of the day; why the day & what it means.
Questions were asked on topics ranging from children’s day to politics to sports.
Consolation prizes were awarded to the ones who answered.
Let the games Begin!
First event of the day was the Rangoli competition
This event had 14 teams registered. Most of the kids were in groups of 3, but some preferred doing it alone.
It was a tribute to the creativity of the kids that they could come up with such beautiful & colourful designs in such a short duration.
Not only were their rangolis beautiful, they had the colours of their innocence filled in them.
The volunteers too had their share of the fun, in helping out a few of the kids with their rangolis.
This was then followed by the Individual competitions & sports activities.
Do you Cycle?!
The event was a ‘Slow cycling Race’. The one to reach last without touching feet on ground was the winner.
This event was a lot of fun with the volunteers also trying out their skills. It was also appreciative in the way the girls too came forward to participate.
The event had its own share of joy, excitement, falls & successes.
Drinks Break!
With the sun deciding to give competition to the bright lights at the school grounds (the children), it was time for a drinks break.
Students & volunteers alike lined up for the lemon juice being served.
Lemon spoon!!
The next event on the sports list was the lemon juice ...BURP!!..OOPS!!...the lemon & spoon competition. This activity saw a lot of excitement among the kids with them calling out the names of their friends as they raced on field.
A few lemons spilled here & there, only added to the excitement. These were cheered by the enthusiastic crowd as much as the winners were!!
Phew!..Lunch Break...Finally!!
The children, the volunteers & all assembled were extremely tired with the exertions on field. It was time for some food. Bisi Bele Bath & Curd Rice were served for the kids. A special mention of Ms Rupa Rao who provided sponsorship for the lunch served on the occasion.
A lot of activities were going on in the classes as the food was being served. The picture shown gives a glimpse of the same.
Just look at all the hungry people out there!!
Can u race!?
The final sports activity of the day was a ball race wherein tennis balls were placed at regular intervals on the race track. The participants are supposed to get the balls back to the starting line & then finish the race.
The sport had a lot of excitement with the crowd at its vociferous best with all the energy generated from the wonderful lunch.
Show me your talents!!
The talent show is a chance for the kids to exhibit their skills in a host of cultural activities.
A lot of them came prepared & performed activities like singing, dancing & drama.
This platform served as a chance for the students to not only exhibit their talents, but also to get rid of their stage fear, if any.
And the best part-Prizes!!!
With all the events wound up, it was time for the prize distribution. The function began with providing each child with a story book each & sweets as a token for their participation on the day. This was further followed by the prize winners for the group & individual events.
Special prizes were given to the best performer in the English classes conducted as part of ‘Shikshana Abhiyana’ at the school.
Token of appreciation was given to the teachers who had made it to the celebration despite it being their only day off in the week. A few books were donated to the school library so that it could be of further use for the kids studying at the school.
A special mention of Mr. Rameshbabu S who provided for the sponsorship of the prizes.
Thus concluded, a wonderful day, spent fruitfully for all the AF volunteers in spreading happiness among children on ‘their’ day. AF-Mysore offers a note of thanks to all the sponsors without whom the event would never have been a success.
To quote the ‘Spiderman’ movie dialogue differently,
” With Education (Power) comes responsibility, a responsibility to empower others & make a difference to society”
