11.20.2011

And the senior batch stands suspended

Jaanbaaz, Guddu, and Umesh, boys from the senior batch; all boarded the local bus to school but did not attend the class that day. Instead they bunked the school for a day and went loafing. As expected a note arrived from their school teachers at their houses, through other students. These young boys got a good thrashing from parents, which obviously is to no avail most of the times. The volunteer body of AID-Noida was also informed of the mischief. Finally boys took one hour, in the meeting of students and volunteers, and managed to convince everybody that they had bunked classes to watch the movie “Ra One”. Linkan, Darshan, Anand, Soumitro, volleys present, approached the situation in a light manner, recollecting their teenage days of mischief. Darshan personally believes that parenting, is an art, and one should be fully aware of the circumstances when you have to acknowledge the high maturity level of your ward, and give respect to the young souls which they usually crave for. He candidly suggested boys to go for a show having economical rates on weekends, instead of wasting so much money on a weekday show!
But it was soon apparent that these boys were fooling with the volunteer body, and hadn’t watched the movie at all. Guddu’s mother updated that he was in a town called Haldwani, whereas Jaanbaaz and Umesh were loitering somewhere else. It was disheartening for all volunteers. Linkan says “We have not imparted them these values. At AID-Noida we follow zero tolerance policy towards physical violence against children. We have always made us available in any circumstances. Now we discover that our children are not comfortable with us, and are trying to hide the truth .I am disappointed here, and still trying to figure out where it went wrong!”
Reviewing the entire scenario the volunteer body at AID-Noida has decided to suspend the entire senior batch for a month. Students have been asked to go home and discuss amongst themselves the right and wrong in the situation and come up with a solution which they think might restore the volunteer body’s faith in their conduct.
Anand gupta, a veteran comments, “We have observed certain pattern of change in behavior of our eldest batch. This can certainly be attributed to their teenage. This is a very tender age, and needs extra thoughtfulness. It’s important to maintain the decorum and tell students where a line needs to be drawn. A stick has never helped and never will, as students might rebel and question the authority. It’s important that we challenge their morality. The only method to instill discipline would be to make students realize its importance.”
Jaanbaaz’s father, when asked to speak on the situation disclosed one of his well guarded fears. “One wise old man in my village advised me never to educate my children. He warned that my children would stop respecting me once they are highly educated and maybe even refuse to recognize me. I think he was right, I am sad at the conduct of my ward”. It is not a startling revelation that Jaanbaaz’s father is harboring such fears. It is a usual insecurity which any parent might face considering he is illiterate. But this often leaves one wondering, that education which should empower a society, actually infuses fear of disrespect. Or probably we need to understand and implement the difference between simple literacy and education.
Fretting over student’s progress and doting on them is essential part of mentoring. As one of the volunteers at AID-Noida mentioned, mentoring any child is like part time parenting. But it has its own set of perplexing challenges. While dealing with the hot blood of teenage, a mentor needs to carefully strike a balance between chumminess and strictness. Maybe a strict step would sort out the difficulties which are being faced by volunteers at AID-Noida.


Anvita Shukla

9.04.2011

15 August, this year...


















Happiness has two faces, one which brings smile on your face and second which brings smile on other's face, eventually reflecting on your own. Friends, you all might have experienced the former quiet frequently, but the latter is indeed pretty rare and the one I had at the Independence Day celebrations at AID-Noida was a perfect match.
It was an eventful day. It rained quite heavily the other night, but that did no harm to the enthusiasm of the kids or the volunteers, not a bit. The only fear we all had was a leaky tent over our heads, as it drizzled prior to the performance and after the performance, but the program went far smoother than any of us had expected.
Children and volunteers were full of enthusiasm and I could see a dream floating in their eyes. The dream to do something big, for themselves, for their country. The performance presented by the kids did more than proving me right.
The confidence demonstrated by children like Jaabaaz, Kiran, Aamir, Juleikha, Gulaabi, Sajjad,Ajay ,and others, in each of the events like speech, skit dance or event management is really commendable. They could easily speak/perform in front of a crowd of 100+ people which was by no means an easy task.
The entire program was perfectly balanced in terms of content and duration. Every performance was targeted to impart some meaning to the audience. There were a couple of group songs, a couple of dance performances, a couple of plays and a couple of speech by the kids.
The one I liked personally was the play by means of which children were trying to make people aware that this is our country, it is our responsibility to take proper care of public resources and assist the government in every possible way. It was great to see such small kids understanding and communicating these values, who knows it might have changed many minds. It was written by our own volunteer Anvita and directed by our senior batch student Juleikha.
The other play, written by Soumitro and team, enacted by senior batch children, reiterated the importance of national unity over communal differences. The kids performed very well despite of the very little practice we had.
The climax was even better. The penultimate performance was presented by two little girls, both of them reading a poem each, describing a kid's perspective of education before and after having access to books, school and teachers. The poem written by Darshan was indeed very touching, left me thinking that we need such initiatives in every part of the country where education is not much valued.
The last performance was a group dance, which was more than being cherry on the pie. The dance, performed by Shaahid, Shahbaaz, Jaanbaaz, and our volunteer Linkan, was a call to the other kids and parents in the community to wake up and realize that education is our birthright and we all must get the opportunity to fulfill our dreams.
We also gave out small tokes on appreciations for children who have been consistently performing well in academics and have been regular to school. Children like Anju, Nisrat, Usha, Jiya, Dolly, Kiran and many others were awarded for their good performance.
Our teachers Jyoti ma’am and Kulvinder ma’am also came on stage to talk some wisdom for children. It was not just the kids and teachers, but parents also showed equal enthusiasm. Some of them even came out and spoke on the need of increased awareness and enthusiasms from the community.We were also lucky to have Mr Sanjeev, MD Calypto, present throughout the celebration. He appreciated our efforts and promised us for all possible support from his end for our organization

All in all, it was a memorable experience. I had a very nice time with the kids preparing for a skit that was presented on that day. The kids are good learners, friendly and it’s fun to be with them. I look forward to have more days like this at AID-Noida.

Neeraj

7.03.2011

Restructuring and re-opening of classes

It’s June, hot and dusty month, a beautiful time of the year. Yes indeed, because children are back in the community, and classes have reopened after the long lull. For the past two months, the children were far away from the hustle-bustle of the city. Most of them had gone to their villages and met their grand moms and grand dads. But now, once again, the community is bustling with kids.
Post reopening, there has been some restructuring of classes. First of all, responsibility of senior batch (2007) has been transferred from Prashant and me to Prateek and Darshan. Secondly, I have been given responsibility for the Eureka Batch (2008-2010). Initially, it did not appear to be a very big shift but last Saturday when I went to the class I realized that batch shifting is not that small a thing after all.
To begin with, I will miss teaching the Senior Batch. The batch consists of the eldest and the most responsible kids studying at AID NOIDA. Being the batch owner for past 6 months I had seen a lot : Aashmina performing very funny" tum paas aaye... badbu phelaye" skit, Jaanbaaz, Sajaad and Subi managing junior kids and wonderful sessions on volcanoes, water cycle, earthquakes and many others topics. The innocence, the inquisitive nature and the sparkling intelligence of the kids have spellbound me. In fact, I am personally attached to the senior batch.
So this time, I was a bit nervous, and anxious about the response I might get, when I entered the new class. Will children appreciate the change? Will they listen to me the way they pay attention to Anvita - Eureka Batch owner? What do I need to do to develop that trust? I am not being a paranoid. At Prayas we believe, one needs to connect with children to teach. It is the gradually developed bond of trust which lays the foundation of a healthy student-teacher relationship. I had developed that bond with the senior kids. It took me time though, but slowly and steadily I was able to connect with them. Janbaaz, Sajjad, Subi, deepak, Danista, Julekha, each one of them had specific behaviour patterns and I knew how they would react to various situations.




Anvita arrived early and informed kids about the change. Result: - moment I entered the class Jainab said:"sir hum aapse nahi padhenge, hum Anvita didi se he padhenge”. I sat down, aware of big, inquisitive, confused and baffled eyes quietly observing me and wondering “who is this new guy?” I just maintained a broad grin on my face remembering what someone had said "A smile can go a long way".
We began with formal intro. Children told us their name and their current schools. Most of them were a bit jittery, scratching their heads and speaking in barely audible voice but they still looked super cute. Majority of Eureka batch is girls. The benefit with girls is that they do not create a ruckus like boys do. Upon my turn, I introduced myself to kids and asked them about their summer vacations. Everybody had an interesting story. If some of them just talked about the good time they had with their grand dad, grand mom and other relatives, others told us how they won a cricket tournament in their village!
I met some wonderful kids during the session: Jainab, Quaish, Gudiya and Gia. Quaish in particular, is a very inquisitive fellow. He wants to know new things and tries very hard to grasp everything that is said in the class. When in doubt, he asks most basic of questions without any inhibition. It is these instances that make me feel that we can learn a lot from the kids. We take too many things for granted because we know them now. But we forget the time when we did not know much. For e.g: we all know how to tell time on a Wall clock. Try teaching this to a kid. You will use angles, table of five and clock diagrams to teach them the very basic of all things: Telling time. To summarize, the fundamental concepts are brick walls which need the reinforcement of mortar named “teacher” to build a castle we know as “An Educated Adult”.
This time, the kids are even younger with easy to mould habits and personalities in my batch. We need to tread carefully, one kid at a time, because in a very short time the mould will harden and habits crystallize. We at AID Noida have to make sure that no cracks or air pockets go unnoticed. Let us see how it goes.

Following is the schedule of classes that we would be following from now onwards :-
Academics Classes
Sachin and Fresher Batch: Jyoti Madam
Time: 5.30PM-7.30PM
Days: Monday-Friday

Eureka Batch: Kulwinder Madam
Time: 10.00AM-12.00 (till summer vacations)
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Senior Batch: Kulwinder Madam
Time: 10.00AM-12.00 (till summer vacations)
Days: Wednesday

WEEKEND CLASSES (by Volunteers)
Senior Batch (Academic class): Prateek, Darshan
Time :6.00PM-8.00PM
Day: Saturday

Eureka Batch (Activity class): Himanshu, Prashant and Nakul
Time: 5.00PM-7.00PM
Day: Saturday

Sachin Batch and Fresher Batch (Activity Class): Anvita, Raj
Time: 5.00PM-7.00PM
Day Sunday
Just to remind you all that the weekday classes for senior batches have been reduced to one which is on Wednesday to be taken by Kulwinder Madam. And one academic class will be taken by concerned volunteers on Saturdays.

Himanshu Singh

5.29.2011

As I Experienced it!

We do not invent the wheel every day. But I can at least request you to come and experience AID NOIDA.
I joined AID NOIDA in December 2009, and like a typical overenthusiastic volunteer ran out of steam in a couple of months. But when I came back after 6 months, kids still remembered my name!!! They asked me why had I stopped coming. I knew the answer but was too guilty to admit: I had been plain and simple complacent. That magical moment sealed my relationship with AID.




Do you know which country has the largest illiterate population in the world? It is India. We have an adult literacy rate of mere 66% and child literacy rate of 82%. One might argue that 82% is not that bad but dear friends let me inform you that the world average is around 88%. We are way behind the world standards. On one hand we boast of being the second fastest growing economy in the world and on the other hand we allow this demon of illiteracy to devour our young generations. What should we do? Sit back and relax? Wait for the tiring Right to Education Act, Mid Day Meal scheme and Sarva Shikha Abhiyan to make an impact or should we rise up, take responsibility and try to create a difference through our efforts.

AID Noida is one such education initiative that aims to create a difference and bring a change in our society. AID Noida is an attempt by young working professional to develop a sustainable education model which instils the importance of education among the residents of the Noida slum community.
The model is based on a three step process, each of which aims to develop a self sustainable system.

Step 1:
If the kids do not go to school, bring education to the kids.
Most of the kids in the community do not go to school or drop out because of lack of good government education system. Government schools do not motivate kids to perform well in schools and do not take responsibility for poor academic performance. This unaccountability seriously decreases the learning intent of the kids and forces them to drop out. Smart young souls with huge potential lose their way in the anarchic maze of our education system. Why wouldn’t they? After all, we all need guidance at some point in our lives. In fact, we need it most when we are naive, when we are susceptible, when we are young. AID- Noida provides that guidance which helps in decreasing the school dropout rate. We take up classes on weekdays which cater to primary school subjects such as English, Hindi, Maths, Social studies and Science. The classes aim to develop basic understanding of Science, English, Hindi and other subjects among the kids. But as all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; we organize activity classes on the weekends to develop the kids' creative side. In weekend classes, kids participate in plays, sing songs, play games, identify countries on the globe and learn about earthquakes, volcanoes, rains and lot more. In summary, AID- NOIDA aims to make education fun and enjoyable. But, is this a sustainable model? Without formal education, kids will not progress beyond a limit. They need degrees and diplomas to make it big in life. The next step addresses exactly this issue.

Step 2: Formal education
Once kids develop interest in education, the next step is to ensure their admissions to recognized schools. Prayas Noida volunteers visit various schools in Noida such as Nayi disha, OM foundation and others. They persuade the school management to organize entrance tests and if kids do well admit them with full scholarship. Many of our bright students have got admitted in good schools and are performing really well. For instance, Jaanbaaz, one of our students, has scored 74 out of 75 in mathematics. Just imagine a kid from an underprivileged sector, whose family barely make its ends meet is performing so well in school. AID NOIDA was recently able to admit 4 more students of the junior batch to OM foundation public school.
But again, is this enough? Is this approach sustainable? No it is not. Because AID NOIDA will not be there with the kids forever. In that case, who will encourage them and keep a track of their performance? I know the answer.... It is the parents and more specifically the mothers. Here comes step 3.

Step 3: Educate the women.
Women are the foundation of every society. If the women of the house are educated, it is guaranteed that the children will be educated. Prayas organizes weekend classes for women with an aim of imparting basic education. The women learn basic mathematics so as to keep a track of their house hold expenses. They learn to read and write. Now the community women can write their name instead of using the ubiquitous thumb as a sign of their identity. They manage the family grocery store and maintain the accounts independently as their men go to work. All these small changes have empowered the community women. Now, the women are not just fringe players in their family, they have a voice and an opinion. Moreover, Women have realized the importance of education as they have seen the difference it makes. Hence, they want their kids to be educated. The women keep a tab on the kid's school performance by checking performance reports, meeting school teachers and ensuring that kids finish their homework.

Now, we have a sustainable system in place. A system that thrives on itself: Young children hungry for education - good school system- Parental support that ensures continuity. So friends this is what AID NOIDA does, but what will you do? Most of you were lucky to be born in affluent families. You and in fact I, did not have to worry about the basic necessities of life. We just had them all around us. But look around, there are lot more people who do not have this privilege. Therefore, it is our responsibility to share the gift of knowledge with others. We can take some time out of our lives, not much, just 2-3 hours a week and share our knowledge with the underprivileged. I do not expect you to just come and start changing the world. After all, we are bunch of cheerful young people who are trying to make a difference through education because we believe Education is not a privilege, it is a necessity.

Himanshu Singh

4.19.2011

Updates from Vision brainstorming rooms

Off late, the community center in Prayas has been bustling with various meetings and discussions. We are heading to restructuring and reorganizing our volunteer setup, and also working on infusing it with fresh energy and new ideas.
The mass arising in community towards child education has been a heartening development and it has also thrown some fresh challenges towards our volunteers. This 26 January it rained enrollments on our counter! The initial battle of changing the mindset and making urban slum dwellers realize the value of education has been achieved! But in the process it also requires us volunteers to look for a new goal to achieve. A completely new vision, diversifying from the field of child education. At AID we believe that all problems are interconnected. To build a sound relation with community members, child education is mostly a soft target. It helps us to enter into the community and understand the core problems and get access to faith of community dwellers. As one of the fellow AIDer Prasanna rightly says: - We cannot be mopping the floor all the time, we need to repair the tap, for once and all. Repairing the tap means diving to the core of the issues of social concerns and working on it.
The restructuring of volunteer setup is almost complete with distributing volunteers into various teams of their choice:-




Recently we have realized that galvanizing community volunteers with new and more responsibilities in our movement would be the best way to set equilibrium in the movement and gradually widespread it.
We have included 5 children from our senior batch, which we have been mentoring and coaching from past three years, in the core committee. Gradually we intend to invite more community participation.
Also we have reshuffled our classes to accommodate our latest batch, which was enrolled on 26th Jan 2011. As we have only two teachers, the introduction of junior most batches requires us to reconsider the allotment of teachers across different batches.
To resolve the resource crunch, it was decided that academic classes of senior most batch during the weekdays should be replaced by academic classes for “Sachin” Batch (The euphoria of winning the world cup this year has made us name this new batch after the Legend “Sachin” himself :o)) . This change does not mean that senior most batch will not have academic classes at all. There will be one class during weekdays (on Wednesday) which will be taken by teachers and two academic classes on weekends which will be taken by volunteers.
Now, this reshuffling will also impact the activity classes for Senior, Eureka and Junior Batches. In the meeting it was decided that activity classes for senior batch can be organized fortnightly (during the time slot for academic classes). Furthermore, activity classes of Eureka & Junior batch will be merged together.
All the changes were made keeping in mind the need to focus more on academics for Senior Batch and to facilitate maximum interaction with the Sachin Batch.
The final “proposed” schedule of classes along with volunteer distribution is as follows:
Senior Batch – Academic – Prateek & Darshan
Eureka + Junior - Activity – Prashant & Himanshu
Fresher Batch – Activity – Nakul & Charu
Sachin Batch – Activity – Anvita & Raj

We hope to continue this process of shuffling and restructuring, till we come up with a vision for our organization.
Getting ready to scale more heights!!!!









Anvita Shukla

3.16.2011

AID Prayas.Heading towards Next Generation

As we all believe that a self sustained independent system should be created in the community so that we can focus on the bigger picture. A small initiative taken by Prashant, Nakul, Prateek and Himanshu in the activity class could mark the beginning of the same.

Introducing a new pedagogy in last two activity classes at AID-Prayas. In the class held on 5thMarch, 2011 the senior and the Eureka batch was combined in the activity class. The class was then divided into 11 groups. Each group had one student from senior batch and one student from Eureka batch. The groups were initially formed randomly but teams were changed in such a manner that least compatible students should form a team. Teams were then given half an hour’s time to prepare any performance. It could be any dance, music, speech, song, act, concept explanation anything from this entire universe. The only rule was that both the team members should be equally involved.

Names

Total Marks (*/40)

Rank

Activity Performed

Sakib – Asmeena

34

1st

Comedy Act

Danishta – Aftab

31

Dance

Sona – Ruby

29

Patriotic Song

Subi – Shahbaz

17

Aim of Life (lakshya)

Julekha – Parveena

27

Explanation of working of a volcano

Jaanbaaz – Seefat

33

2nd

Bal Vivah

Lucky – Sajda

25

National Anthem

Sajjad – Hapsa

25

Poem

Deepak – Dolly

29

Comedy act

Shahid – Sonu

33

2nd

Poem

Gulabi – Jainav

29

Conversation related to school

*the marks given are the sum of mark given by four volunteers out of 10, each.

The next activity class took a step ahead. The class on similar pattern was conducted but this time it was conducted by Sona and Jabaaz. All volunteers silently observed the class and the complete class was taken by them. From initiating the concept to team making, query resolving, maintaining discipline in the class, taking individual care and all others aspect were taken care of by them very well. Their first step in the shoes of teacher went very good. If they continue to take such activity classes, may be initially under the volunteer’s guidance then soon, believe they’ll be ready to replace couple of volunteers. Its a happy news to share this with all of you. Ah! Forgot to mention that students review, of them as a teacher, was also very good. They were happy to see Sona and Janbaaz as their teachers and accepted them with an open mind. Merely not an observation but views expressed by children from both the batches.

The purpose of doing so was:

  • Seniors, besides learning for self must also learn to pass on the knowledge they have. A skill required by any and all individual in different stages of life and in different forms.
  • They should have a feeling of responsibility to give back to their own society, which we expect them to do in near future. For them to become role models and future volunteers it is important (as we feel) for them to feel the importance of the same.
  • For juniors, it was important to accept learning and knowledge from various sources other than teachers, Parents and volunteers, who they see as no less than parents.

Further, in future we see to give opportunity to different rather all students from senior batch to step into these shoes and be a support to Prayas.

Appreciative Initiatory by Prashant, Nakul, Prateek and himanshu without whom this would never have taken the shape.

Request to friends and seniors at Prayas to contribute their ideas in context of the above mentioned.

2.21.2011

26 जनवरी .. ek alag subah



सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू-ए-क़ातिल में है
वक़्त आने पर बता देंगे तुझे, ए आसमान,
हम अभी से क्या बताएँ क्या हमारे दिल में है!
राम प्रसाद बिस्मिल के आज से करीब 92 साल पहले लिखी उर्दू की ये कविता आज भी हमारे दिल में देश भक्ति की भावना से भर उठता है.बचपन से इन पंक्तियों को हमने 26 जनवरी / 15 अगस्त पर सुना है.26 जनवरी , गणतंत्र दिवस का नाम सुनते ही हमारे मन में हमारा बचपन flashback में चला जाता है. वो स्वादिष्ट लड्डू, दूर दर्शन पर आती गणतत्र दिवस परेड, साफ़ सुथेरी,इस्त्री करी स्कूल की ड्रेस पहन कर दुल्हन की तरह सजे हुए स्कूल में जाना , स्कूल में बजते देश भक्ति के गाने , स्कूल मैंदान की मिटटी की सौंधी खुशबू और तिरंगे को सलामी देने के लिये गर्व से उचा होता सर.दिल में एक हूक से उद्थ्ती है.पिछले 4 -5 सालों से हम AID प्रयास में इन्ही लम्हों को नए सिरे से ताज़ा करते आयें हैं.हर साल की तरह इस साल भी प्रयास के सभी batch के बच्चे, २६ जनवरी को लेकर काफी उत्साहित थे . कई दिनों की मेहनत को आज उन्ही झुग्गी झोपडी के लोगो के सामने दिखने का मौका था, जो उन्हें केवल कूड़ा उठने के लायक समझते हैं.यह दिन था , अपने दीदी - सरजी की आशायों पर खरा उतने का.इस साल एंकरिंग का दारोमदार था , हमारी चहेती चारू दीदी , नकुल भईया , प्रयास के ही प्रतिभावान बच्चे सीफत और जाबाज़ का, जिसको सभी ने बखूबी निभाया.
सीफत और जाबाज़ के आत्मविश्वास को देख कर, प्रयास की सार्थकता और सफलता पर गर्व महसूस होता हैं .इन बच्चो की आगे बढ़ने , कुछ कर दिखाने की जो ललक है वह तारीफे काबिल है .सभी कार्यकर्म चाहे वह नन्हा मुन्ना सिपाहियों का गाना , Senior batch के लडको और लड़कियों का ग्रुप डांस.सभी में बच्चो की जी तोड़ मेहनत और लगन दिख रही थी.Senior Batch की जुलेखा का अंगरेजी में भाषण को सभी ने सराहा.विशिष्ट अतिथियों में उपस्थित थे नयी दिशा की प्रिंसिपल मैडम, OM foundation से संजय सर और सुनीता मैडम. प्रिंसिपल मैडम और संजय सर की उपस्तिथि ने सारे बच्चो में उत्साह सा भर दिया था .बच्चो के साथ जो volunteer उनकी मदद करने के लिये रात दिन एक कर रहे थे उनकी मेहनत भी साफ़ झलक रही थी.बच्चो से जयादा वो नर्वस नज़र आ रहे थे.और हो भी क्यों नही , प्रयास में यही जिम्मदारी की भावना , एक परिवार की तरह मिल जुल कर काम करना, हम सब के आगे बढते रहने की प्रेरणा है.बच्चो ने एक नाटक भी प्रस्तुत किया , जो झुग्गी की रोज़ - मर्रा की परेशानियों पर रौशनी डालती है , चाहे वो स्कूल जाने मैं आने वाली परेशानी , ड्रॉप ओउट्स की परेशानी , लड़कियों को स्कूल न जा देने , बड़े लडको का जल्दी पैसे कमाने के लिये जुआ खेलना .इस नाटक को देख कर लगा , हमारे प्रयास , धीरे-धीरे ही सही हमारे प्रयास में रंग ला रहें हैं.एक चिड़िया , अनेक चिड़िया वाली प्रस्तुति ने तो जैसे बचपन की याद दिला दी.एक बात गौर करने लायक है, जब भी आप - हम पब्लिक के सामने आते हैं तो हम स्टेज फीयर के कारण नर्वस हो जाते हैं , लेकिन प्रयास के बच्चों को कोई डर नही , कोई स्टेज फीयर नही.आत्मविश्वास से और पूरे जोश के साथ अपना कार्यकर्म प्रस्तुत किया.
इन्ही बच्चों के आत्मविश्वास और लगन को देखा देखी अब तो बच्चो के मम्मी-पापा भी भाग लेने लगे हैं.मुफ्ती जी , जियाउल जी ने जो अपने बच्चो और खुद के परिवार में बदलाव महसूस किये , उन्होंने झुग्गी के लोगो को वो बताया.मुफ्ती जी ने एक घटना का जिक्र किया.उनके बच्चे आमिर और हफसा ने बातों ही बातों में बड़े होके एक के डॉक्टर और दूसरे के teacher बनने की बात तो जैसे मन को छु गयी.हमारा सबसे बड़ा अचिवेमेंट तो महिला कक्षा की महिलाओं द्वारा, अपना अनुभव झुग्गी के लोगो को बताना था.
नयी दिशा की प्रिंसिपल मैडम के झुग्गी - झोपडी के लोगो को अपने बच्चो पर ध्यान देने और उन्हें पड़ते रहने की जो शिक्षा दी थी , हमे आशा है की वो जरूर कारगर होगी.मैं प्रयास की तरफ से उन सभी volunteer को तहे दिल से शुक्रिया अदा करता हूँ , जिन्होंने प्रत्यक्ष या अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से इस कार्यक्रम को सफल बनाने में महत्त्वपूर्ण योगदान दिया!चारू ,लिंकन,नकुल,अन्विता, गौरव,अर्नव,प्रतीक, सुगंधा,श्वेता,प्रशांत,दर्शन,विकास,आनंद , विपिन,कविता सभी का बहुत बहुत शुक्रिया !!मैं प्रयास की तरफ से कनिका और शिवानी का भी शुर्कगुजार हूँ , जिन्होंने प्रयास के बच्चो को डांस सिखाने में कड़ी मेहनत की.हर बार की तरह हमारे रजत सर का भी धन्यवाद् , स्वादिस्ट लडूयों के लिये.हमारे प्रयास के teacher ज्योति मैडम और कुल्विन्दा मैडम को भी बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद्.आप दोनों के प्रयास व् मेहनत से ही , आज प्रयास के बच्चे अच्छे नम्बरों से पास हो रहे हैं.और कुछ बच्चे तो अपने कक्षा में प्रथम , द्वितीय भी आ रहे हैं.
इस बार का 26 जनवरी यादगार रहेगा , बच्चो के दिन प्रति दिन बढ़ते आत्मविश्वास , सभी volunteer के प्रयत्नों , और झुग्गी के सहयोग के लिये.
मेरे दोस्त हमेशा पूछते हैं क्या है प्रयास? प्रयास एक परिवार है, जिसमें हर एक volunteer एक सदस्य है, जिसमें हर एक का योगदान जरूरी है.सही मयोनो में प्रयास कुछ करने की इरादों को वास्तिविकता में बदलने का जरिया है.यह एक ऐसी कड़ी है जो बहुत सारे युवक - युवतियों को समाज के उन सब पहलुओं को हल करने के लिये जोडती है , जिनको हम हमेशा करने की सोचते हैं लेकिन हमेशा परिस्तियों या सरकार पर ड़ाल देते हैं.परेशानियां और अड़चन तो सभी के सामने आती हैं और हमेशा आती रहेंगी लेकिन कुछ करने का विश्वास हो तो सब कुछ हासिल किया जा सकता है.
किसी अनजाने कवी की ये पंक्तियाँ हमारा हमेशा मार्ग दर्शन करती रहेंगी ..
हाथो में हाथ लिये , चले यूही कांरवा अपनी है जमी , अपना हे आसमा आये गए गम , आई गयी ख़ुशी,मंजिल चाहे मुश्किल ही सही
आगे बढे , हाथो में हाथ लिए , यही है दुआअपनी है जमी , अपना है आसमा

Raj Bansal

1.22.2011

Republic Day Celebrations

Dear Sir/Ma'am
On Behalf of AID- Prayas Team, it gives me immense pleasure to invite you to bestow your prescence and be a part of our celebrations on 26th January 2011 in the community center, on the occassion of Republic day
Following is the schedule of events:-
1)Welcome speech
2) National Anthem
3) Prize distribution
4) Cultural Events
5) Experience sharing
6) Vote of thanks
Our team of volunteers and children has ceaselessly worked hard to make this event a success. Your prescence will act as a booster to our morale, so please do not forget to arrive on time and enjoy the Republic Day in a unique way!
Venue:- Sec 16 , Naya baans community center, Noida
Timings:- 01:00 pm -03:00 pm
With regards,
AID-Prayas team

1.05.2011

Christmas Gift - A Day of Picnic with AID-Prayas kids

 If you were asked about specialty of 25th December of any  year ,The elder remember it as  "Christmas Day " and younger one for the "Santa" and his gifts .And here "AID-Prayas" kids got their "Christmas" Gift on 25th of Dec 2010 .

The Gift was indeed a day of "Fulltu Masti" as all were set to go for the Picnic.This is kind of a ritual now for last 5 years that kids  go for picnic atleast once in a year,and this year it was on "Christmas Day" .

One thing amazes once you enter inside the Prayas community for any kind of celebration ,festival or for any gathering.The atmosphere becomes totally "colorful" & vibrant ,It becomes "Warm" with the enthusiasm of  the little scholars and the presence of their mummy's holding hand of their kids.
     Although  Dec 25th was a foggy and chilled morning in Noida ,the excitement to have fun on picnic and warmth of enthusiasm of the kids & of "volunteers" made the morning truly Special & Warm.
       Now the Senior kids have started to take little responsibility of the younger ones . Subi,Sona,Jaabaaz and Sajjad  were counting the kids and making a list of all the kids who will join the picnic .Few mothers were requesting to take the younger kids(3-4 years old) for the picnic as well but strictly denied by the senior kids as instructed to them .
                 "Rajat" the incharge of the picnic,with  "Charu" &  "Linkan" were busy to call the always late volunteers :P and were trying to manage the gathering of more than 60 kids and many parents .Finally at 9 AM some 55 kids were listed to go and few were crying as they were denied to enter the picnic bus being ineligible in age criterion .But later due to their persistent resistance few were allowed and the number of kids reached 57 .
                 Almost 10-15 volunteers joined the group .With good speakers inside the bus and FM   radio, volunteers & kids started to exhibit their Dancing skills  learnt from the so famous Sheila & Munni :) . The "Garam Samosha"  was distributed as breakfast of the day inside the bus only and thereafter this  dancing journey reached "Humayun Tomb" .

             Once you enter inside the main gate of the tomb the very first look of the tomb reminds you "The Taj" in red color .The Prayas family gathered for the "Big family Pic" and then everyone reached the "Humayun Tomb's" main building .As it was a  public holiday so lots of other school kids were there for the picnic as well .We tried to gather all our kids  so that we  can give a small description of "Humayun"  as a Mughal Emperor and about the tomb .
                   The very first look of many kids and few volunteers  was "uff,again the Bhashan" :P ,fortunately it ended in a couple of minutes :) .The surprise of the day was "Santa Clause" distributing the chocolates to all the kids .Yes Prashant in the RED Santa dress  and white beard were actually looking like a" Santa" thanks to his gr8 built :) . From the beautiful Humayun Tomb the "Caravan" reached the as usual lunch site i.e. The India Gate.The witness of Indian armed forces  Valour ,Sacrifice and Triumph .

India Gate's open parks have  always been the best  "lunch destination" for the AID-Prayas family for long time .After reaching there all the kids were in their best mode of "Fun & Joy" .Different set of kids plus volunteers  were enjoying different game of their choice .
     Here comes the Lunch time when volunteers served the lunch to every kid thanks to Smita & ofcourse Rajat for the whole arrangement of nice food ,Senior kids again took the responsibility to serve the volunteers in the end and with that the entire group completed the lunch.
                         After lunch the games continued ,India Gate was full of kids that day mostly in school dresses.Around 4 PM we returned to our bus and started for Noida .This time Rajat was fully supported by other members while singing the one and only song "jihaale maski mukum baranjis"  :) .
The dancing caravan reached Noida after the day of "Fulltu Masti"  and as a ritual ,closing ceremony slogan i.e.  "Bharat Mata ki Jai" :) were shouted 3 times with full of energy .

Apart from 57 kids there were approx  15 volunteers  including Rajat,Charu,Linkan,Anant,Sugandha,Anuradha,Nakul,Arnav,Raj,Prashant,Prateek,Shweta,Himanshu ,Smita & Darshan.
The Santa gave a beautiful day as a gift to AID-Prayas family .

It was real good work of  the group members to make this day "Beautiful" .

"Darshan"