Campaign at NBT Nagar slum

Date: 22nd JULY 2007
Attendees: Surya, Sunil, Tanvi, Aparna, Kranthi, Siddharth, Abhishek, Preetam, Karthik, Krishna Rao, Karun Kumar, Ganapathy, Trinath, Naveen Kumar, Raju, Jyoti, Manish, Dhananjay.

The first Health camp previously conducted at NBT Nagar had been a very enlightening experience to everyone. It has made us aware of the various Health related problems faced by the kids there. Taking into account all the suggestions that we had received and based on our experience, we have planned to organise another health camp along with an eye checkup on July 29 th at the Government school of NBT Nagar.

We all met on the Sunday, 22nd July at NBT Nagar to campaign for the Health camp and try to raise some awareness about the related issues. The most striking feature during this activity was the turnout of the volunteers; it was great to see 18 volunteers all geared to campaign for this cause. There were quite a few people who joined us for the first time, so there was lot of new blood, enthusiasm and spirit.

We first visited the church close by and extended an invitation to all the kids of the Sunday school to attend the camp, as most of the kids belong to that slum. The pastor there was generous, not only did he announce about the health camp but also distributed the leaflets among the people who were there to offer the service. Thus we began our campaign with the divine blessings.

On our return we met Mrs. Vimala, who is a member of the organization, which would be sponsoring us for the health camp. We were then joined by Mr. Ravi, a local leader who came forward to circulate pamphlets about the camp in the surrounding areas, to spread awareness about the medical camp. We then discussed various issues, like the facilities being provided at the government school, the requirements for the health camp, facilities to be provided for the doctors, medicines required etc…

After almost 2 long hours of discussions, we then had another brain draining session (oops!!! Read: More discussions). All of us came forth with our opinions and ideas. Finally it was time for action and to put all our planning to implementation. We were all assigned our responsibilities/duties for the Camp day- 29 th and then we dispersed for the campaign by segregating into 3 teams.

We went door to door informing the locals about the next week’s medical camp. We must admit that though many of our volunteers couldn’t read telugu well, the pamphlets that we got printed in telugu were of real good use. Because of the high attendance of the volunteers we managed to cover the entire area in span of an hour. We also used some of the local shops to put up the pamphlets on display, for the local people would catch a glimpse even there. Overall, the Campaign was highly Successful and Productive.

After the exhaustive campaign, all of us assembled back at the government school. We were completely tired and hungry above all. In spite of the fatigue, we all had our usual fun time- pulling each others leg (specially the Chapter Rep’s ) while we waited for few other volunteers to return. After the fun and frolic, set back home, sure of a much larger turnout for the coming Weekend’s Camp!!

See you guys there!

–Regards’Tanvi Rao
for ~Pankhudi Foundation Hyderabad