IIT
Madras every year conducts a cultural festival called SAARANG where students
from all over the country visit IIT. This year it organized the event for 5
days from 21st to 25th of January 2010. They invited
Ekal Vidyashram, an SVO of Tamilnadu, to participate in the event by having
a stall during that time to propagate the activities of Ekal and also to
sell the products produced by tribal people in their villages. Thanks to
Mrs. Priya Ravi who was instrumental in getting the stall at IIT. During
these 5 days, we could speak to couple of hundreds of students who were
stunned at the spread of our activities and its reach. We could also sell
the products. Ivil, an organization consisting of IIT students, which is
working for the betterment of Indian villages, is very much interested in
working together with us.
Rotary District Conference 2010 (RI DIST 3201) was held at CODISSIA
TRADE FAIR GROUNDS, Coimbatore on 14th February 2010.
FTS Coimbatore chapter's Vice President Sri Mohan Sankar gave a talk on
FTS and Ekal Vidyalaya. Many people were stunned to know about the
welfare activities for the tribals through Ekal Vidyalayas. There were
more than 1000 Rotarians from Coimbatore and Kerala who attended the
conference. FTS was the only outside organization which got this
opportunity in this conference.
On the occasion of Sankranti, 400 blankets
and 200 jackets were distributed to the full time Karyakartas of Ekal
Movement in J&K region. They expressed gratitude to the FTS and the
benevolent donors for this act of charity.
The villagers of
Kadabasanta, Dhenkanal Anchal of Orissa are so much concerned that they
have constructed a hut by their joint efforts to run Ekal Vidyalaya.
I
arrived at the railway station and was promptly picked up by Mahendra and
Kapil and few others. I was treated especially well from the beginning.
We first went to Rehi to visit the Vidhyalaya that I donated money for.
I was greeted with Malas and felt such sincere appreciation for my
contribution that I can not describe in words. It was very quickly
apparent that the school was a great benefit for the village. The
Acharya, Aarti, then gave the students a lesson; so I could see what the
class structure was like. I was impressed at the level of knowledge of
the students as they did extremely well in maths and in writing their
ABCs. We then visited Bermi village where I had a similar experience.
Feb 15th : Rehi + Shaktesh Ghar & GMY Centre
Chauha
Next
day we went back to Rehi so I could give a short lesson about space.
Mahendra helped greatly in giving this lesson. The students seemed very
eager to learn, which I believed was due to Mahendra’s enthusiastic
teaching style. I had a great time in this village and felt that I
bonded with the students and teachers. I brought some things from
America for the students including NASA stickers, postcards with
pictures of various planets, candy, and toys. The bond with the students
was very apparent as I walked with the village
leaders, they too walked with me to the car.
Later that day, we saw the GMY centre Chauha. It was nice to see what
large aspiration Ekal Vidyalaya has, since they are planning on building
a higher education centre.
We
also visited a government school as a point of comparison with Ekal
Vidyalaya schools. However, the age group of those students was older (7th
class), so a direct comparison could not be made. On a future trip, I
would be interested in seeing how students from Ekal Vidyalaya schools
compare with students from Government schools.
On
this day, we also visited another Ekal Vidyalaya, Shaktesh Ghar. This
school experience was similar to the earlier one. This night, I
stayed with Mahendra in his village and thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. His whole family treated me very well and Mahendra showed me
his entire village and introduced me to many Ekal Vidyalaya members.
Overall, I am very happy that I took the
time to visit the Ekal Vidyalaya schools. Seeing the impact that a
single dollar a day can make was astonishing. It is nice to know that
these villagers lives will actually be changed because of the people in
this organization. While I was greeted as if I was a hero, the true
heroes are the people spending everyday of their lives devoted to making
a difference, the people of the Ekal Vidyalaya programme. I would
specially like to thank Mahendra for personally taking care of me this
entire time. He helped make this experience very special. From my brief
observation of the teaching style, my only suggestion for improvement is
that I am not sure if the students are encouraged to ask questions. For
example, when I wrote a maths problem on the board, my style of writing
numbers is different than what the students were used to. Instead of
asking what the number was, the students stood puzzled.
Overall, I am also quite impressed with
the teaching style and abilities of the Acharyas.
On
7th February 2010,
a bright sunny Sunday morning, we (12 members including families) left
Belgaum with a lot of enthusiasm for the Vanayatra to visit the adopted
school at Village Bhalke. Driving through the nice scenic roads towards Goa
we reached Khanapur at 10 AM
where Mr. Vishwas Hublikar of Ekal Abhiyan was waiting for us. We then drove
further to Gunji. On the way we were explained the functioning of Ekal
Vidyalaya & various experiences were shared by Mr. Vishwas in a very
friendly manner. Mr. Netaji Desai of Khanapur Anchal joined us at Gunji.
A very
tiny village Bhalke was silent & the first words that the members of our
team spoke out were “Wow. What a peace!!”. The village was silent because
most of the people had left for the work. Mr. Subhash Ghadi was waiting to
welcome us. We were welcomed in a traditional manner.
The
school was held especially for us on a Sunday. The school was conducted in
the local temple in the village. Children were very curious to see the
guests. They started the school by lighting the lamp by the Teacher – Mrs.
Kavita Ghadi & the group invocation song, followed by self introduction. We
interacted with the teacher to know about the daily proceedings & how the
education is imparted. She was free and frank to share her work. As a sample
demonstration random questions were asked to the children & they were also
asked to solve a couple of mathematical sums.
In our
visiting group we too had children from our family aging between 8 years to
13 years, who study at different schools in Belgaum. They then sang a few
patriotic songs and prayers. The children at Bhalke school were then taught
Maths by Mrs. Anupama Mamdapur & Social Science by Master Ashwath Islampure.
We had
carried a few puzzles, number games & foot ball for the children & the same
was donated by our employee Mr. Manoj Deshpande to the school. The teacher
received the same on behalf of the school. Mr. Anil Islpamure & Mrs. Roopa
Lokur then taught the children how to use the games & solve the puzzles. The
kids were very much cheered up to see something of their interest and were
very much spontaneous to spot the opportunity to learn something new. We
were delighted to see their sharp minds enjoying the games.
We then
requested the teacher to show us how the games are conducted usually & the
same was demonstrated by playing 3 group games. We were highly
impressed by the involvement & commitment of the teacher Mrs. Kavita Ghadi.
Our
employee Mr. Annaiya then distributed sweets, which the children enjoyed.
We then
moved around the village and visited the Vermiculture project & Brick making
activity. We were informed about the basics.
Lunch
was then organized at Mr. Ghadi’s house and we were served delicious food
with all love and affection by the family.
Having
enjoyed the overwhelming hospitality and witnessing the spark in the eyes of
the children, we started our journey back to Belgaum at 3 PM, with a jubilated mindset & a sense of satisfaction that
we are also able to participate in this programme & be useful to someone!!!
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