Team Meet – 15th September, Youth Hostel.
Date: 15th September 2007
Attendees: Surya, Kranthi, Sunil, Madhura, Jyoti, Santosh, Kunal, Nishant, Dhananjay, Tanvi, Aparna, Manish, Aditya, Karthik, Balachandar, Rahul, Ramesh.
A team meet was held on the 15th of September at Youth hostel, in view of the coming weekend's Oracle-Pankhudi volunteer joint activity. This meet was also to discuss the progress at the NBT Nagar Govt. School and decide on future course of action. All the volunteers had assembled at the venue by 6 pm and we started the proceedings soon after.
The first point of discussion at the meet was regarding the progress and the current stance at the NBT Nagar School. All the volunteers were of unanimous opinion that there were many irregularities in the school administration and that the quality of education being provided was mediocre. Various views and opinions were put forth by the volunteers, as to what should be our future course of action regarding the school and the activities concerning the education of the kids.
A list of long term and short term objectives for the school were presented, which if implemented successfully, could bring about a lot of progress and also prove very beneficial to the kids and the school. The significant points that were covered in it were regarding the establishment of a Library for the kids in on of the rooms, creating awareness regarding Sanitation and Hygiene, counseling the kids; besides providing them additional resources for their over all personality development.
It has been a while since we have been contemplating to extend our educational activities in another locale besides the NBT Nagar and the proposal for the same was put forth in the meet. In the area of Champapet, near LB Nagar, a school named " Teja School" had been established for providing educational facilities for the kids in that slum. The school was established by a Mechanical engineer, who had dedicated his services totally for the upliftment of the kids in that area. Of late, the school has been facing severe financial and manpower constraints and is almost on the verge of shutting down.
This school has been doing some significant work over the past few years but there is still a lot left to be done. Hence it has been decided that in the coming few weeks we would also carry out some ground work there, assess the conditions prevailing and based on the findings, we could commence with our activities for the kids in that area, particularly that school. If things fall in place soon, we will also be carrying out some educational awareness drives in that slum area.
We then moved on to finalize the next weekends activity which would be held jointly by Oraclites & ~Pankhudi volunteers. It would be a 2 day activity. The events for these days and the schedule were finalized. All the volunteers were assigned responsibilities and grouped into the various committees (those of publicity, general arrangements, refreshments, sanitation drive, educational awareness etc…). It was overwhelming to see the participation and enthusiasm of all the volunteers. There were some brilliant ideas that came up, besides a few "healthy" arguments.
We concluded the meet by watching the ~Pankhudi Hyderabad video and with plans to come up with an updated video J. We wrapped up the session by 8.15 pm, to get outdoors and enjoy the drizzle of the evening. Someone of us went around the Youth hostel recollecting the days of the AIM 2, and all the masti and fun we had in the premises. The Army lawns where we had out "Celebration" were lush green with the monsoon, and so were our hearts, filled with desire to add a smile on the face of these kids, and the enthusiasm to be part of a Fun-filled and Productive AIM 3.
Rock on Team Hyderabad!!!Rock on ~Pankhudians!!!
Documented by: Tanvi
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Independence Day
Place: Govt School, NBT nagar Slum
Attended: Surya, Sunil, Kranthi, Tanvi, Aparna, Madhura, Jyoti, Anwesha, Nishant, Ramesh, Siddharth, Vasant, Shilpa ,Dhananjay.
Pankhudi Hyderabad has yet again done a commendable job for the Independence day celebrations. All the students and the volunteers had assembled at the school by 7.30 a.m.It was refreshing to see all the students and the volunteers so early inspite of it being a holiday.We started the activities with the March - Past. All the children including the high school kids lined themselves excitedly as we were ready to march through the street. The excitement of the children was visible all through the march as they chanted slogans of “bharat Mata ki Jai”.
Sadly we had to cut short our march - past as the MRO who was invited for the flag hoisting had already arrived.After the flag hoisting, the MRO gave a small speech followed by a few more speeches by the teachers and a few students. The patriotic feeling was pretty visible as all of us sang the national anthem at full volume.Wonderful performances given by the children, two patriotic songs a dance medley and a skit about importance of education, made us forget ourselves for a while. The children who participated and attended the practice sessions without fail deserve a round of applause, so do the volunteers who taught them the dance so well in such less time.
Chocolates and sweets were distributed among the children that made them all the happier.After the children dispersed, we had a small meeting with the teachers about the academics and it was decided that a test would be conducted on every Saturday by our volunteers.To put it precisely, the spirit of freedom and patriotism was visible just by the attendance of the children and the volunteers.
View the pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/kkranthi/EyeCheckUpCampIndependenceDay?authkey=tbNMS1a-yKM
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62436939@N00/
Cheers..~Pankhudi Foundation Hyderabad
Documented by-Madhura Walvekar
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Visit to Spoorthi Foundation
Day: Sunday, 5th Aug 2007
Venue: Sphoorti foundation, ECIL RoadAttendees: Karthik, Sunil and Jyoti
Sphoorthi is an organization, which works for underprivilegedchildren, their basic aim is to provide home, food, long-termeducation and above all love, affection and upliftment of theirmorals……..
We reached there at 12.30pm as per the time fixed on phoneconversation with the whole soul of the organization Mr. Srivyal.While entering the building we saw lots of volunteers from differentorganization enjoying with kidoosssssssss. But the moment we enteredthe premises the children ran to us with their drawing sheet in handsand started introducing them and demanded remarks on their paintingskills….
At last after a “brief” introduction( tough time for us to remembertheir names) we started tying friendship bands, they were very happyand excited for the band and promise us to nicely keep it till ournext visit. After this we started talking with Mr. Srivyal and came toknow many issues regarding financial support, care takers, school,food, their daily routines etc…Suddenly somebody switch on the musicand all the bacchassssss started dancing …their co-ordination andcraze was awesome!!!!!! infact we cleared our doubt with Mr. Srivyalwhether they all go for dance classes but no the fact is they all areborn dancers…..
Dance continued till their lunch around 3.00pm, they insisted us tohave lunch with them and we couldn’t deny their request …we reallyenjoyed the lunch in their special company. After lunch we played forsome time and finally distributed chocolates to all the kids andwrapped up for day with the sweet memories.
Comments and Observations :
There are 36 children including 14 girls and 4 caretakers…. theyhave 7 rooms (2 for girls, 3 for boys, 1 kitchen and one for caretakers) in the rented building for which they have to pay 4k permonth. Basically quite a few good friends and contacts of Mr. Srivyal in USfinancially support this organization. These children are studying inprivate school(English medium) and daily going for tuition afterschool. They have special English classes on Sundays for an hour and afterthat a special feast….
Although they claim this organization is in grass level but I feelthey have already reached a lot and wish them to continue in betterway……
Documented by : Jyothi Singh
for ~Pankhudi Hyderabad
Venue: Sphoorti foundation, ECIL RoadAttendees: Karthik, Sunil and Jyoti
Sphoorthi is an organization, which works for underprivilegedchildren, their basic aim is to provide home, food, long-termeducation and above all love, affection and upliftment of theirmorals……..
We reached there at 12.30pm as per the time fixed on phoneconversation with the whole soul of the organization Mr. Srivyal.While entering the building we saw lots of volunteers from differentorganization enjoying with kidoosssssssss. But the moment we enteredthe premises the children ran to us with their drawing sheet in handsand started introducing them and demanded remarks on their paintingskills….
At last after a “brief” introduction( tough time for us to remembertheir names) we started tying friendship bands, they were very happyand excited for the band and promise us to nicely keep it till ournext visit. After this we started talking with Mr. Srivyal and came toknow many issues regarding financial support, care takers, school,food, their daily routines etc…Suddenly somebody switch on the musicand all the bacchassssss started dancing …their co-ordination andcraze was awesome!!!!!! infact we cleared our doubt with Mr. Srivyalwhether they all go for dance classes but no the fact is they all areborn dancers…..
Dance continued till their lunch around 3.00pm, they insisted us tohave lunch with them and we couldn’t deny their request …we reallyenjoyed the lunch in their special company. After lunch we played forsome time and finally distributed chocolates to all the kids andwrapped up for day with the sweet memories.
Comments and Observations :
There are 36 children including 14 girls and 4 caretakers…. theyhave 7 rooms (2 for girls, 3 for boys, 1 kitchen and one for caretakers) in the rented building for which they have to pay 4k permonth. Basically quite a few good friends and contacts of Mr. Srivyal in USfinancially support this organization. These children are studying inprivate school(English medium) and daily going for tuition afterschool. They have special English classes on Sundays for an hour and afterthat a special feast….
Although they claim this organization is in grass level but I feelthey have already reached a lot and wish them to continue in betterway……
Documented by : Jyothi Singh
for ~Pankhudi Hyderabad
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Eye Camp at NBT Nagar
Date: 29th JULY 2007
Attendees: Surya, Sunil, Tanvi, Aparna, Kranthi, Siddharth, Abhishek, Preetam, Karthik, Krishna Rao, Karun Kumar, Ganapathy, Trinath, Naveen Kumar, Raju, Jyoti, Manish, Dhananjay, Padmaja, Kunal , Nishanth.
Pankhudi Hyderabad deserves a pat on our back, for the eye camp held on 29th July at NBT Nagar was a great success. By 9.30 A.M all the doctors and volunteers assembled at the venue of the camp and immediately involved themselves in organizing the equipment in the various rooms where the eye checkups would be carried on.
The check up was a 3 step process. The people had to first register themselves by providing their personal information (like their age, name, and for the kids the class and school in which they were pursuing their education). They were then given an Out-patient slip (leaflet) which carried their details along with a Registration number which was allotted to them. They were then directed into another room from where the medical team took over.
The general ailments observed during the camp were reddening of eyes, bad eyesight and loss of vision. People who were advised to use spectacles could obtain them from the very adjacent room.
The response that we had received for this camp was astounding. Within the first 30 minutes of the commencement of the camp more than 100 people got themselves registered. By the end of the day the total number of people who turned up were around 250, a number that left a smile of satisfaction on our faces
Based on the information gathered during the registration, it was possible for us to identify the school dropouts. A few of our volunteers went forward and spoke to their parents and took their feedback so as to be aware of the reasons for letting their kids drop school. Another aspect that had come to our notice was the fact that many of the localites were not aware of the introduction of High school in the same Govt. school premises, resulting in sending their kids to off schools or making them discontinue with their education.
Throughout the day the turnout was on the rise and the camp was conducted very efficiently, without any hassles. The doctors and the medical team took only one break for lunch throughout the day. It was heartening to see their commitment, passion and dedication towards their job. The doctors were presented with a certificate from ~Pankhudi Hyderabad, as a token of appreciation for lending their valuable time and services. A special mention of thanks to the “Rogi Sahayata Trust” for sponsoring this medical camp. The entire activity was winded up by 4 in the evening.
After the camp, a few volunteers stayed back to plan for the Independence Day celebrations that would be conducted at the Govt. school. There were many ideas being popped besides a number of heated passionate arguments and above all a great number of hilarious moments, which are always an integral part of the Parivaar A.K.A Bakar gang, while finalizing on the events.
The eye camp conducted as this week’s activity has been a very satisfying experience for all the volunteers. It was encouraging to see the participation of all the volunteers for this event and hopefully the same spirit and attendance would continue in the future, making each activity as successful as this one!!!
PS: There is an extension of the medical camp (General Checkup) conducted at NBT nagar in the govt. school on 31st July, Wednesday. This would be Exclusively for the Kids of the School, and the details of each child shall be recorded by our Volunteers and a Database maintained for the future camps.
Cheers…~Pankhudi Team Hyderabad
Documented by: Tanvi Rao
Attendees: Surya, Sunil, Tanvi, Aparna, Kranthi, Siddharth, Abhishek, Preetam, Karthik, Krishna Rao, Karun Kumar, Ganapathy, Trinath, Naveen Kumar, Raju, Jyoti, Manish, Dhananjay, Padmaja, Kunal , Nishanth.
Pankhudi Hyderabad deserves a pat on our back, for the eye camp held on 29th July at NBT Nagar was a great success. By 9.30 A.M all the doctors and volunteers assembled at the venue of the camp and immediately involved themselves in organizing the equipment in the various rooms where the eye checkups would be carried on.
The check up was a 3 step process. The people had to first register themselves by providing their personal information (like their age, name, and for the kids the class and school in which they were pursuing their education). They were then given an Out-patient slip (leaflet) which carried their details along with a Registration number which was allotted to them. They were then directed into another room from where the medical team took over.
The general ailments observed during the camp were reddening of eyes, bad eyesight and loss of vision. People who were advised to use spectacles could obtain them from the very adjacent room.
The response that we had received for this camp was astounding. Within the first 30 minutes of the commencement of the camp more than 100 people got themselves registered. By the end of the day the total number of people who turned up were around 250, a number that left a smile of satisfaction on our faces
Based on the information gathered during the registration, it was possible for us to identify the school dropouts. A few of our volunteers went forward and spoke to their parents and took their feedback so as to be aware of the reasons for letting their kids drop school. Another aspect that had come to our notice was the fact that many of the localites were not aware of the introduction of High school in the same Govt. school premises, resulting in sending their kids to off schools or making them discontinue with their education.
Throughout the day the turnout was on the rise and the camp was conducted very efficiently, without any hassles. The doctors and the medical team took only one break for lunch throughout the day. It was heartening to see their commitment, passion and dedication towards their job. The doctors were presented with a certificate from ~Pankhudi Hyderabad, as a token of appreciation for lending their valuable time and services. A special mention of thanks to the “Rogi Sahayata Trust” for sponsoring this medical camp. The entire activity was winded up by 4 in the evening.
After the camp, a few volunteers stayed back to plan for the Independence Day celebrations that would be conducted at the Govt. school. There were many ideas being popped besides a number of heated passionate arguments and above all a great number of hilarious moments, which are always an integral part of the Parivaar A.K.A Bakar gang, while finalizing on the events.
The eye camp conducted as this week’s activity has been a very satisfying experience for all the volunteers. It was encouraging to see the participation of all the volunteers for this event and hopefully the same spirit and attendance would continue in the future, making each activity as successful as this one!!!
PS: There is an extension of the medical camp (General Checkup) conducted at NBT nagar in the govt. school on 31st July, Wednesday. This would be Exclusively for the Kids of the School, and the details of each child shall be recorded by our Volunteers and a Database maintained for the future camps.
Cheers…~Pankhudi Team Hyderabad
Documented by: Tanvi Rao
Sunday, July 22, 2007
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
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
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Visit to Krushi Homes
Date: 10th June 2007
Attendees: Vasanth, Aparna, Tanvi, Snigdha, Jyotsna, Ravi.
It was bright sunny Sunday morning and we were very excited to go to Krushi homes since for many among us, it was our first visit. What added to our excitement was the fact that we would be going there by train.
We all met up at the Secunderabad railway station at 10.00 am and had to wait for a while as the train was delayed by an hour. We reached Gaudavalli station by 12.00. Then there was another 1 and ½ km journey which we had to travel by foot. They were farms, brick kilns, loads of animals and small water bodies on either side of the road. It was a sight to behold and the time passed by in a jiffy, without us realizing that we had reached our destination.
On reaching Krushi homes we were greeted by the enthusiastic kids. They were busy watching a Balakrishna movie being aired on TV. It was nearing one o’clock and sadly Jyotsna, one of our volunteer, had to leave since she had to return to Bangalore on the same evening. For a while we thought that the kids wouldn’t even move as they were deeply engrossed in the movie. Thankfully it was time for lunch; hence the kids and we too moved to have lunch. It was a wonderful feeling to sit amidst them and have lunch with them.
It was now time for Fun, masti and action. After the lunch the kids showed us the plantation work which they have been carrying out, which was quite impressive. It was then time for the most awaited event of the day. Our CRICKET match!!!!!!!! We got segregated into 2 teams and everyone gave their best shot. The match was lively, competitive and very charging….they were pathans, dhonis, sachins and mithali rajs in action…J. Simultaneous we also played Marampiti and Throwball with the much younger kids who could not take part in the cricket match. By the end of it we were completely tired and exhausted and it was also time for us to leave. We didn’t realize how time simply flew by playing with the kids.
Just as we thought that we had wrapped up for the day, we embarked a new adventure. The journey back from Krushi homes to the railway station was eventful and amusing. On our way back we posed for photographs with buffaloes which were daunted in our presence, we also tried feeding a calf, played in hay stacks ( and believe me guys , you all must at least once hear Aparna trying to converse and imitate the buffaloes, it is truly hilarious …J. No sooner did we reach the railway station did it start pouring heavily. We got completely drenched in the rain and we were playing on the railway tracks much to the amusement of the onlookers, enjoying the first showers of the monsoon.
Being with the kids, the child within us resurfaced and we behaved like 10 year olds. It was one of the most memorable experiences of our lives .Hopefully the next time there would be many more of us going together for such fun filled activities to bring joy and happiness in the lives of the kids and also in ours ……
Cheers…~Pankhudi Team Hyderabad
Attendees: Vasanth, Aparna, Tanvi, Snigdha, Jyotsna, Ravi.
It was bright sunny Sunday morning and we were very excited to go to Krushi homes since for many among us, it was our first visit. What added to our excitement was the fact that we would be going there by train.
We all met up at the Secunderabad railway station at 10.00 am and had to wait for a while as the train was delayed by an hour. We reached Gaudavalli station by 12.00. Then there was another 1 and ½ km journey which we had to travel by foot. They were farms, brick kilns, loads of animals and small water bodies on either side of the road. It was a sight to behold and the time passed by in a jiffy, without us realizing that we had reached our destination.
On reaching Krushi homes we were greeted by the enthusiastic kids. They were busy watching a Balakrishna movie being aired on TV. It was nearing one o’clock and sadly Jyotsna, one of our volunteer, had to leave since she had to return to Bangalore on the same evening. For a while we thought that the kids wouldn’t even move as they were deeply engrossed in the movie. Thankfully it was time for lunch; hence the kids and we too moved to have lunch. It was a wonderful feeling to sit amidst them and have lunch with them.
It was now time for Fun, masti and action. After the lunch the kids showed us the plantation work which they have been carrying out, which was quite impressive. It was then time for the most awaited event of the day. Our CRICKET match!!!!!!!! We got segregated into 2 teams and everyone gave their best shot. The match was lively, competitive and very charging….they were pathans, dhonis, sachins and mithali rajs in action…J. Simultaneous we also played Marampiti and Throwball with the much younger kids who could not take part in the cricket match. By the end of it we were completely tired and exhausted and it was also time for us to leave. We didn’t realize how time simply flew by playing with the kids.
Just as we thought that we had wrapped up for the day, we embarked a new adventure. The journey back from Krushi homes to the railway station was eventful and amusing. On our way back we posed for photographs with buffaloes which were daunted in our presence, we also tried feeding a calf, played in hay stacks ( and believe me guys , you all must at least once hear Aparna trying to converse and imitate the buffaloes, it is truly hilarious …J. No sooner did we reach the railway station did it start pouring heavily. We got completely drenched in the rain and we were playing on the railway tracks much to the amusement of the onlookers, enjoying the first showers of the monsoon.
Being with the kids, the child within us resurfaced and we behaved like 10 year olds. It was one of the most memorable experiences of our lives .Hopefully the next time there would be many more of us going together for such fun filled activities to bring joy and happiness in the lives of the kids and also in ours ……
Cheers…~Pankhudi Team Hyderabad
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Health Camp at N.B.T. Nagar
Date: 3rd June, 2007
Time: 9 : 00 am
Attendees: Santosh, Ramesh, Vasanth, Surya, Prabhanjan, Aparna, Snigdha , Tanvi, Kranthi, Siddharth, Chandrika, Mayuri, Sudheera, Dr. Kowsalya, Dr. Shweta.
Agenda: A Health Camp for the Kids of the Surrounding slums, where the kids would be given a general check up, and the necessary medication needed.
“Bright sunny morning…Cuddling yourself in the blanket and lazing on the bed and enjoying a holiday”- The general definition of Sunday in one’s life…
Well We Pankhudians were all set to change the definition.Fun, Relaxation had very different meanings in our dictionary.
Dressed up in white, few holding the banners for a campaign, few others busy tying up the banners, and the rest occupied with arranging things for a Health camp; that was how we began our Sunday. It was around 10:00 by the time doctors came & everybody settled down. It being a Sunday, the slum woke late, just as majority of the city did. As it was the first ever Medical camp conducted by ~Pankhudi Hyderabad, initially we had to rush for purchases here and there and some last moment preparations….so it was an enlightening experience altogether. With 15 of the volunteers assembling, it was an easy task to manage the Arrangements and the Kids at the same time. Initially we had noted down the details of all the kids who had come for the general check up. We noted their Names, if studying or not, if so their School name, Class and Age. We did this in order to maintain a record of the kids in and around that area who had attended the check up.
The Doctors had started the camp with some General Health and Sanitation Awareness tips to the children. They explained the kids how to keep themselves neat and clean, and away from diseases. In fact, it was also some enlightenment to our volunteers as well. As the Doctors were addressing the kids, most of our volunteers were looking at each other, with gestures indicating that even they need to follow those tips. So, thanks goes to the docs for the volunteer enlightenment too.
Within the small breaks that we got in between the checkups …we grabbed the opportunity to have some brainstorming sessions with the doctors on how to go conduct Health camps on a larger scale and what were the issues we had to learn more in organising them. The suggestions and guidance had given us real good exposure on the health conditions of kids in slums and the precautions need to be taken by the volunteers while addressing such kids. The common ailments we noticed among the children of that slum were that- majority of the kids were suffering form allergies of different kind, mostly Scabies. Also, these kids had Vision problems arising from a very tender age of 6 years itself. Malnutrition was also one of the visibly seen problems. And sadly, many of the children were suffering from tooth decay. And the irony was that, we were supposed to give chocolates to the kids after the camp
As we all had a hectic morning, by 1.30 we were all very hungry and were game for lunch with the doctors. To satiate our hunger - we had ordered some very delicious dishes, some informative discussions with the Doctors; was an educative dish for us. And the most favorite of all volunteers - the Fun and Masti ka dish. And as a part of that dish, Kranthi was taken for a ride when everybody ganged up, stole her cell, switched it off, gave it to the waiter and here it comes….it was a surprise dish for the Finance rep- her mobile wrapped into the napkin, nicely decorated on the plate. In the tensed mood little did she know or realize that it was her lost mobile. That was just a preview of what we ~Pankhudians have as fun mantra in activities, adding fuel and making us more enthusiastic.
The Doctors were mighty impressed with the service orientation we youngsters had. And they were pretty anxious and interested to help us in future too. We decided to prepare a document with the help of doctor; for guidelines to the volunteers on teaching kids about Daily health care issues.
The Hard work - left us with immense Satisfaction, Fun we had - left us Energetic even if we were tired, Informative session - was more than lessons for us.
All in all we all had a great Sunday and to make us more nostalgic were the pics of volunteers with Stethoscopes. Am sure that was a fun filled Sunday for all volunteers.
Kudos Hyderabad Pankhudians - We Rock as always!!!
Keep your Spirits soaring high!!!
you can view the pics at
picasaweb.google.com/surya.thecognizant
Cheers…
~Pankhudi Team Hyderabad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)