Monday, August 21, 2006
Turn around of a local government-aided school…
… because of the commitment of one enthusiasitic and committed volunteer!
Small actions, may one day create a big impact.
Dear friends and family,
I had a very pleasant experience one morning this past week (on Wed, Aug 16th to be precise), when I asked my colleague, quite casually, how his weekend and his holiday was (Aug 15th was a national holiday for India’s Independence Day and many people took off Monday – to get a 4 day weekend).
This is a brief narrative - summary of a few minutes conversation with this colleague of mine….
He seems to have spent his holiday and weekend, not going to a resort to wipe off the stress of IT work in Bangalore, not catching that extra sleep we all need after a “hard weeks’ work”, but just like many other weekends of his, he spent it with much satisfaction, working with children in his neighborhood Govt-Aided school – Nobel school it’s named he said – a lofty name for a very modest, maybe even very poor school.
He got the children plain white A4 size paper and a bunch of colour pencils/crayons/paints. And asked them to let their imagination go wild (See pics of the children drawing). Every child had the opportunity to draw and paint. As part of this year’s Independence day celebra
tion at that school, after the flag hosting, they gave away prizes to the first 3 “drawing competiion” winners. The children were awed by the compass box and other small prizes that my colleague donated. He said he was so pleased to see them open and explore the contents of the box, how proud they were with their achievement and reward. I’m sure it must have been immensely satisfying to him too. Governnment-Aided means very small funds from the government 
will come in and most all of the benefits will be kept away and cannot percolate to it. He’s been going to that school on weekends for a couple of years now. And has seen a lot of progress, some of his doing, some cause he acted as a catalyst of change…
One year he bought them note books and pencils/pens. Another time he got them uniforms and then more recently he bought shoes for the poor children, after his kids noticed that “they had no footwear at all”. He does not solicit funds but some of his close friends who know of his work, seem to be regular contributors.
He pointed out to about 4-5 offices around us and said, that was the space of 3 clasrooms in the school. Very crowded it must be – children from 5-7 grades (classes) fit in there, and study.
It was dark and he got light bulbs fitted. They were so pleased to have a bright classtroom!
Government schools receive mid-day meals as part of the program but Govt. aided schools do not. He was able to locate a local agency that works for Govt. Aided schools and provides that benefit. So, he brought the mid-day meal scheme to this school he has “adopted” I would say. With a cheer in is face and sparkle in his eyes, he said “the kids seem to have put on some weight” from when he first started working with them over 2 years ago :)
The local Rotary club got wind of this school and pledged some support. A local politician too, saw the “turning around” of this school. Thought this colleague of mine was from an opposition party (and was doing this stuff to gain community support!). So, he also started supporting the school, to keep up his name and fame in the community. In any case, it’s wonderful that positive energy can also spread fast and wide.
So much growth, in the positive direction for, 100 children or more – some of whom may be our future leaders, scientist, researchers… The ernest efforts of an individual will pay off.
It was our 18th wedding anniversary this weekend. I made up my mind to skip eating out in celebration (as we always do) and contributing some mite to this school. Yes, even that much (a coupleof thousand rupees when we go out as a group) goes a long way…
[ASIDE: We did go out to lunch with a group of close family members, to celebrate two birthdays AND our anniversary, but it was my cousin’s treat :)]
It was very refreshing to hear of an NRI (Newly Returned Indian), in such close proximity to me (just the opposite cube -- couple of feet away from my office!) contributing silenting to his neighborhood on this return to Bangalore from the USA.
On another note, I wanted to tell you about a radio program I used to listen to. It’s called “Humankind” and airs on Oregon Public Radio or perhaps National Public Radio. Some of you (in Oregon or perhaps anywhere in the US, or even perhaps anywhere in the world (they have streaming audio) maybe regular listeners of this show too. It’s a program by David Freudberg – Voices of Hope and Humanity. Wonderful stories you can listen to experts of and purchase media too at: http://www.humanmedia.org/catalog/home.php
Stories on Lifting Up those in need, about Peacemakers, about People who Inspire, about Social Consciousness, about Taking Care of Yourself, About Simplifying Our Lives, about Young Voices – leaders of tomorrow and a whole lot more! The website has a wealth of heartening true life tales and will provide you days and years of positive energy and inspriration, I think.
-Sri
“Do not overlook tiny good actions; thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel” – The Buddha
Small actions, may one day create a big impact.Dear friends and family,
I had a very pleasant experience one morning this past week (on Wed, Aug 16th to be precise), when I asked my colleague, quite casually, how his weekend and his holiday was (Aug 15th was a national holiday for India’s Independence Day and many people took off Monday – to get a 4 day weekend).
This is a brief narrative - summary of a few minutes conversation with this colleague of mine….
He seems to have spent his holiday and weekend, not going to a resort to wipe off the stress of IT work in Bangalore, not catching that extra sleep we all need after a “hard weeks’ work”, but just like many other weekends of his, he spent it with much satisfaction, working with children in his neighborhood Govt-Aided school – Nobel school it’s named he said – a lofty name for a very modest, maybe even very poor school.
He got the children plain white A4 size paper and a bunch of colour pencils/crayons/paints. And asked them to let their imagination go wild (See pics of the children drawing). Every child had the opportunity to draw and paint. As part of this year’s Independence day celebra
tion at that school, after the flag hosting, they gave away prizes to the first 3 “drawing competiion” winners. The children were awed by the compass box and other small prizes that my colleague donated. He said he was so pleased to see them open and explore the contents of the box, how proud they were with their achievement and reward. I’m sure it must have been immensely satisfying to him too. Governnment-Aided means very small funds from the government 
will come in and most all of the benefits will be kept away and cannot percolate to it. He’s been going to that school on weekends for a couple of years now. And has seen a lot of progress, some of his doing, some cause he acted as a catalyst of change…One year he bought them note books and pencils/pens. Another time he got them uniforms and then more recently he bought shoes for the poor children, after his kids noticed that “they had no footwear at all”. He does not solicit funds but some of his close friends who know of his work, seem to be regular contributors.
He pointed out to about 4-5 offices around us and said, that was the space of 3 clasrooms in the school. Very crowded it must be – children from 5-7 grades (classes) fit in there, and study.
It was dark and he got light bulbs fitted. They were so pleased to have a bright classtroom!
Government schools receive mid-day meals as part of the program but Govt. aided schools do not. He was able to locate a local agency that works for Govt. Aided schools and provides that benefit. So, he brought the mid-day meal scheme to this school he has “adopted” I would say. With a cheer in is face and sparkle in his eyes, he said “the kids seem to have put on some weight” from when he first started working with them over 2 years ago :)
The local Rotary club got wind of this school and pledged some support. A local politician too, saw the “turning around” of this school. Thought this colleague of mine was from an opposition party (and was doing this stuff to gain community support!). So, he also started supporting the school, to keep up his name and fame in the community. In any case, it’s wonderful that positive energy can also spread fast and wide.
So much growth, in the positive direction for, 100 children or more – some of whom may be our future leaders, scientist, researchers… The ernest efforts of an individual will pay off.
It was our 18th wedding anniversary this weekend. I made up my mind to skip eating out in celebration (as we always do) and contributing some mite to this school. Yes, even that much (a coupleof thousand rupees when we go out as a group) goes a long way…
[ASIDE: We did go out to lunch with a group of close family members, to celebrate two birthdays AND our anniversary, but it was my cousin’s treat :)]
It was very refreshing to hear of an NRI (Newly Returned Indian), in such close proximity to me (just the opposite cube -- couple of feet away from my office!) contributing silenting to his neighborhood on this return to Bangalore from the USA.
On another note, I wanted to tell you about a radio program I used to listen to. It’s called “Humankind” and airs on Oregon Public Radio or perhaps National Public Radio. Some of you (in Oregon or perhaps anywhere in the US, or even perhaps anywhere in the world (they have streaming audio) maybe regular listeners of this show too. It’s a program by David Freudberg – Voices of Hope and Humanity. Wonderful stories you can listen to experts of and purchase media too at: http://www.humanmedia.org/catalog/home.php
Stories on Lifting Up those in need, about Peacemakers, about People who Inspire, about Social Consciousness, about Taking Care of Yourself, About Simplifying Our Lives, about Young Voices – leaders of tomorrow and a whole lot more! The website has a wealth of heartening true life tales and will provide you days and years of positive energy and inspriration, I think.
-Sri
“Do not overlook tiny good actions; thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the end will fill a huge vessel” – The Buddha
# posted by Sri Renganathan @ 3:01 AM 
