aid delhi newsletter (july-september 2010)

8/8/2019 AID Delhi Newsletter (July-September 2010)

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2

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chancesof survival as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

– Albert Einstein

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it ."-

H.E. Luccock

nvisioning a better world is the first step towards making a dif-

erence. However, our work doesn‟t end there. We need to be pre-ared to tread the roads less travelled. We need to walk through,

and in hand, in rain and in sunshine, and bring at par our vision.

We need to align ourselves towards the purpose- the purpose of

eing the tidal force, shaping the cliff of social wellness, whilst

emoving the ills and overtaking the norms. This job is not an easy

ne.

Association for India‟s Development (AID), Delhi chapter, com-

rises of ~20 such committed citizens and every month we keep

dding to our mission enthusiasts who join us in perpetuating the

wave of change we intend to bring.

he AID Delhi Publication team releases its first newsletter, re-

ecting the work that has been done by our dedicated volunteers

n the past three months. We have had our share of encourage-

ments and disheartening experiences. We gained insight and learnt

many new lessons. It was through the collective effort of our vol-

nteers that we were able to compile all these into a newsletter and

ive it the current shape.

n this edition, Moon Garg, puts forth her view on the schemes

dopted by the government for the girl child. This is followed by

pdates from our different projects- Pehal and Meri Udaan. Our

olunteers penned down the events that were held within the past

hree months that included the AID NCR Operational Review

Meet and Independence Day celebrations. Updates from Project

aksham, a micro financing initiative that has currently joined the

ortfolio of different projects under the AID Umbrella, followext. In our „volunteer speaks‟ sections, one of our school coordi-

ators, writes her experience of volunteering with AID Delhi as

he one that made her realize her goals as a social worker. Next,

ur partner project- LearningInq provides us with updates of theirrojects. The newsletter concludes with updates on the various

und raising initiatives undertaken by AID Delhi and treasury up-

ates for the quarter.

he newsletter has been beautifully designed by our designer,

Harsh Kalra. Together our team hopes that the newsletter proves

o be an enlightening and inspiring read for one and all.

Zulaikha Urooj Rahman

Publication Coordinator, AID Delhi



3

Schemes for the Girl Child

– A Savior or Farce!-Moon Garg

t‟s ironic to see, that even today, a girl child- whether born to a wealthy or a poor

person- is unwelcomed by so many. It‟s not only the fear of dowry that most worry

about, it is also the fact that the girl shall leave them one day, leaving no one to take

care of them.

The sex ratio of India is 927 per thousand males. The sex ratio of some states speak

volumes about the plight of girl child in India. For instance the sex ratio of Delhi is

915 per thousand males which is below the international standard of 952.

The Government of India , in its effort to combat this social illness, has announced a

number of schemes such as Laadli, Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent Girls,Balika Samridhi Yojana, Kishori Shakti Yojana, Nutrition program for Adolescent

Girls(NPAG) and others. All these aim at improving the health status and provide

opportunities to the girl child in the areas of education and career development. Some

of the schemes, also, provide incentives to people on registering the birth of a girl

child.

How ironical it is that we need a scheme to make people realize the importance of a

girl child. A girl child, who later is the one who gives birth to another life, is a victim

of homicide herself. She not only suffers when she is not even born in the form of

emale infanticide but also subject to violence and humiliation at all stages of life.

The government has dedicated a day to the girl child and thinks it is the most effec-

ive step that can be taken to give a girl child her share of importance. But this day

merely gives media, celebrities, and the government opportunities to inundate people

with several facts, activities and programs.

Dedicating a single day to the girl child and starting schemes in the name of provid-

ng the girl child with resources for development is not enough. The real tribute is

when people recognize and appreciate the presence of a girl child in their lives.

A girl is not merely a girl but a mother, a wife and a responsible person contributing

o family and the society.

f we really want to see a change in the way a girl child is perceived in this country,

we need to change the thought process. The change has to begin from our homes, and

t is only then that we could become role models for others to follow the right path.

Are we ready to lead?

A million plastic bags are consumed every minute, and 1500 bottles trashed every second!! Reduce and reuse plastic



4

Crying is indeed healthy…as long as the tears are washed with a handkerchief, not a tissue paper!

Project Pehal

The remedial classes in the MCD School, BT block, began on the 10th of

May. Fifty students from classes 3rdto 5th were enrolled. The students were

segregated into different lots on the basis of their classes. In the 2 hour

classes held after school, our able teachers Mr. Uttam and Ms. Mona em-

phasized on strengthening the basics as well as help the kids cope with

their school syllabus. The students were given ample supportfor the preparation of their mid-term examinations.

However, as, we continued to face resistance from the school

authorities, we have now closed our program in this school.

We have been conducting remedial classes in the MCD School, Sahipur,

which are held from 2 pm to 4 pm, 6 days a week. The teaching patterns of

our classes pay special attention to the problem areas of the students. A dis-

tinct syllabus has also been devised for the same. Along with academics, we

are also conducting skill building sessions for the children.

The students were given thorough support for the preparation of their mid-

term examinations. After the examinations were over, their syllabus was

again revised to incorporate all subjects that required attention.

The reading hour is now followed by skill building sessions, where, musicand art is taught.

We have witnessed encouraging results as more than half of the students

take keen interest in their studies and activities organized for

them.

Every alternate day, a volunteer pays visit to the school ensur-

ing the smooth running of our program.

In this course, the efforts of Pehal teachers are noteworthy as

they have been taking equal responsibility in making the school

program a success with their constant support.

-Ashmeet Bilkhu

-Aditi Sachdev

MCD School, Sahipur

MCD School, BT Block



5

The next world war will not be fought over land or oil, but over water!

- Serageldin, World Bank

Meri Udaan

There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: adult (15+ years) literacy rates in 2009 were76.9% for men and 54.5% for women. The low female literacy rate has had a dra-

matically negative impact on family planning and population stabilization efforts in

India.

In its effort to bridge the gap, AID-Delhi started with its Adult Literacy Program,

“Meri Udaan” on 6th July, 2010. The program currently is running at two centers in

Shalimar Bagh slum- BG 1 block and BC Bagh. A team of dedicated volunteers

went to the homes of various slum dwellers, motivated the women and girls above

15 years of age to study and were successful in convincing around 30 females who

got themselves enrolled for the one-hour daily classes as this will not affect theirregular routine as well.

The program initiated with females learning how to write their names and signatures. Basic knowledge

about our national language- Hindi, along with simple day to day calculations in the form of basic Mathe-

matics is being taught to them. The class is an interactive one and the problems faced by the women in any

concept are catered to.

In Hindi, they have been taught “Varnamala” and can now form words with and

without “matras”. Stress is also being given on developing their reading skills asmuch as writing skills.

Mathematics forms an integral part of their daily classes so that they can use thebasic arithmetic operations to deal with the shopkeepers and are not cheated. Till

now, they have learnt how to count and are currently working on addition of two

or more numbers.

Apart from that, volunteers visit the site and monitor the classes regularly, making sure that the classes are

carried out without hassles. Any problems faced by the women that prevent

them from coming to the classes regularly are also dealt with.

Regular oral assessments are done and a written examination is scheduled

every three months.Every issue our society faces is like a link of a chain. Each issue is con-

nected to another, either directly or indirectly. And illiteracy is the strongest

link of that chain. We at AID Delhi look forward to be able to weaken this

link through our volunteering efforts at Meri Udaan.

-Vipra Dhawan



6

Even Sachin is betting for it now! Take restrained bucket baths, as opposed to long showers/ tub baths.

-Anandita Yadav

Operational Review Meet,

September 2010

The quarterly installment of AID Delhi‟s Operational Review Meet (ORM)

took place on Sunday, the 26th of September, 2010 at IIT Delhi. While AID

Delhi played host, there was a sizeable presence from AID Gurgaon, AID

Noida and AID Faridabad chapters as well. Representatives from our partner

NGOs like Learning Inq also were present.

This ORM consisted of a motley group of both old and new volunteers. With a

view to welcome the many new members to the AID family, the day‟s proceed-

ings started with an interactive theatre workshop conducted by Mr. Zubair

from Khoj. The various fun-filled activities planned by Mr. Zubair served as

the perfect ice-breaker. At one point the volunteers, divided into two groupswith their hands connected to each other in a circle, were jumbled into a

„human knot‟. As the teams worked furiously to „un- jumble‟ themselves with-out letting the circle break, Mr. Zubair subtly drove home the point about how

„problems within our community are interconnected (just like our hands) and it

is only through our diligence and working together as a team that we can over-

come them. Next on the agenda were the updates from AID Gurgaon , Noida

and Delhi. The ORM has always been a great opportunity for the AID volun-

teers who have been dedicatedly working behind the scenes in their respective

chapters to come together and interact with a larger audience about the prob-

lems faced, lessons learnt and experiences gained during their work. This mu-tual exchange between them yielded some suggestions and some solutions to

the many issues discussed.

A new innovative addition to this ORM was the informative quiz conducted by

Pulkit. With the aid of audio-visual clips, the quiz covered an array of topics

from water conservation to vegetarianism and even sustainable agricultural

practices. Each question became a nodal point of discussion amongst the vol-

unteers and the quizmaster, while at the same time it was also a great learning

experience.

With our heads teeming with so much information and statistics, the meeting

naturally progressed to an open discussion where AID was formally introducedto new volunteers, new initiatives taken up by the respective chapters were dis-

cussed, some critical issues were debated over, and other loose ends were fi-

nally tied up equipped with suggestions from old volunteers and fresh inputs

from the new volunteers. Hence, concluded the September edition of the Op-

erational Review Meet.



7

Delhi alone guzzles 4.5 crore liters every day for car washing! Why pour water where a wet cloth would do?

Independence Day

at Pehal-Surabhi Keyal

India celebrated its 63rd Independence Day on 15th August 2010; Pehal

volunteers took up the initiative to celebrate it with the children of the

MCD School in Sahipur.

The main idea behind conducting the event was to enrich the kids withknowledge of the brutal struggle India had to undergo while achieving

independence. It was to instill into them the feeling of patriotism and

make them aware of the great freedom fighters who led our country free

from British rule.

The program started with the flag hoisting ceremony, followed by the

national anthem. Thereafter, the children performed a dance and sang a

patriotic song „Saare Jahaan Se Accha‟. A skit based on the importance

of the three colors in the National flag was then presented. We felt really

proud as the efforts of the children & volunteers faired really well.

We then had a successful sports session where we conducted sprint

races. Many students participated in the competition & showed great en-

thusiasm. The children who won the race were awarded. In the end, a

march-past was done by the kids that concluded with a final call of JAI

HIND and VANDE MATRAM!

The children rehearsed for the events, weeks before the Independence

Day as they were enthusiastic about the celebrations. It paid off well and

the event was a grand success. It felt like walking down the memory lane--- our school time fun and celebrations, and then everything fading in to

the call of VANDE MATRAM.



8

Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it’s most important that you do it.

– M. K. Gandhi

Implementing AID‟s Philosophy of Seva, Sangharsh & Nirmaan has

been a continuous endeavor of AID Delhi.

To move one step ahead in this direction a new project has been

started. This project is a micro-financing project catering specifically

to rickshaw owners. The project name “SAKSHAM” has been unani-mously decided by AID Delhi volunteers as this name depicts

“making someone capable of doing something on its own”.

Project Saksham started with the idea to stop the exploitation of rick-

shaw owners as they have to pay rent to their rickshaw lenders, with-

out being able to save any money. This initiative provides them with

an avenue to buy a rickshaw without having to pay the lump sum cost

of the rickshaw. Rickshaw owners will get the rickshaw

from SAKSHAM and can start returning the money on a weekly ba-

sis, till the money the money equivalent to the cost of the rickshaw is

returned.

Based on calculations, it was found that the whole cost of a rickshawcan be easily given back by rickshaw owners in 7 months.

Note:

1. SAKSHAM will

not charge any interest

from the Rickshaw

Owner.

2. Though project

works on same phi-

losophy as that of

AID, SAKSHAM is

not an AID endeavor

SAKSHAM: A Micro-Financing

Initiative-Vikramjeet Singh

http://projectpehal.blogspot.com/2010/09/saksham-micro-financing-initiative.html






9

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In- deed, it is the only thing that ever has.

- Margaret Mead

Volunteer Speaks...

Each night passes by promising a new day of full lessons and wide horizons. As was the case when I

marked my beginning with Association for India‟s Development (AID). My pursuit for social work probed

me in to looking for NGO‟s and hence began my search. I wrote countless mails to various organizations,

filled a number of volunteer applications online, and called up different people but all to no avail. My search

then, brought me closer to 'Aashayein' an AID Delhi project by two of my colleagues.

Eager to join the race, I exchanged basic information with them and landed on their project. It was then

when I understood the term social work. I realized that the urge to do something is not enough and one

needs to be more specific.

I needed to chalk out a way which would benefit the kids around rather than just teaching 2+2=4 which eve-rybody over there was taking care of. Eventually, lacking means in myself to do 'something', I left

Aashayein only to make a more meaningful comeback in „Pehal‟. This pause gave me more than I can ask for. It gave me a good time to introspect my goals. It not only answered my quest on what I should do but

also on how to do it.

I took up art classes on the project. My idea, while I work with kids is "self expression". The chief concern

is to make them unlearn all that they are forced to learn. It doesn‟t matter how you paint, what really matters

is what you paint and this, forms the basis of my art classes at Pehal.

With AID, I realized my goals and found the platform to achieve them. I hope this journey continues to helpme make a difference in the lives of the children I work with.

-Ashmeet Bilkhu



10

A screen saver “saves” nothing! Turn off the monitor each time you step out for 3 minutes, and the CPU while going off for 30 minutes.

Partner Projects

In the last few months, the LearningInq team has been redoing its door-to-

door survey, based on a grid, to ensure that every single house on the se-

lected block is able to access education. Mapping has been carried out

where we have revisited every adult and child in the demarcated geo-

graphical area to know about their education status. It was devastating, as

we covered around 50 houses, we found that around 100 children are ei-

ther out of school or need supplementary education to be able to stay in

school.

Although the target for each school is 100 families, we realized that we

had to stop setting limits as the number of children who needed our atten-

tion could be more than 150 from just 50 homes.

There are 93 children in one centre and 60 in another who are regular to-

day

What has happened in the process is that LearningInq has updated a de-

tailed databank of the families in the demarcated area. Also, the reasons

for lack of access, the reasons for drop out from formal schooling, the an-ticipated and existing challenges with retention and the challenges for

mainstreaming per child per family, have been identified.

LearningInq started a scheme where we received donations to do one

„exposure trip‟ per month (every Second Saturday) to a public place of in-

terest. We have had one such trip to the Science Museum. The pictures tell

a story of immense excitement and we were able to get a lot of leverage

for the schools in terms of increasing attendance and having children

choose LearningInq schools over the many unqualified tuition teachers'home-based enterprises.



11

This September, AID Delhi clubbed the celebrations of Raksha-bandhan with its fund raising initiative.

Rakhi stalls consisting of decorative rakhi‟s, Loombas, Bracelets, Envelopes, Soan, Tshirts, Rakhi

Thalis and Roli Chawal Boxes, were set up in different corporate houses such as ST Microelectronics,

Colt Technologies, Evalueserve, and SEZ.

In addition, as a part of our fund raising initiative, we have also started printing customized corporate t-

shirts for corporate houses like Aricent.

Love to teach children? Love to write, report and design? Care about the environment? Want to strengthen Rights?

Worried about new policies?Simple steps by which YOU can make a difference:

Visit http://delhi.aidindia.org

Register yourself as a volunteer

On receiving a welcome note

Subscribe yourself to the volunteer e-group

One of our volunteer coordinators will contact you within a week.

Contact [email protected] for any further questions

Understand the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in India and incorporate CSR as an integral part of

business strategy

Develop a community engagement strategy.

Bring together NGOs working in diverse fields like education, health, environment with corporate/funding

agencies to tie up partnerships through discussions.

Develop environmentally and socially responsible products and services.

Engage your employees in giving back to the society through AID‟s Corporate Volunteers Program.

Provide cost effective solutions to the problems of underprivileged communities Encourage your employees

to participate in environment related initiatives.

Total Funds Raised Rs. 35,865

Total Funds Spent Rs. 33,615

Funds Raised by Meal a Month/Individual donation Rs. 10,260

Funds Raised by Merchandise Selling/Stalls Rs. 25,605 Funds Spent on Education Rs. 32,035

AID DELHI TREASURY

Don't blow it. Good planets are hard to find!

JOIN US!

AID DELHI FUND RAISING INITIATIVES

REDEFINE YOUR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)



Donate

All donations to AID Delhi are directed towards education, health & nutrition, skill- building, campaigns

and other activities. You can donate towards AID and its activities in the following manner:

Meal a month: An initiative to donate an amount equivalent to one meal of yours to build future India.

Even a single penny counts! Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500...Whatever a meal costs you, we‟d like to share

your platter. Donate Books: Donate academic books of your children after they‟ve completed studying from them.

Pledge support for formal education of a child/ childrenThese contributions are entitled to a 50% tax exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

How to donate in India

ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS Internet banking users can make electronic trans-

fers to AID-India's ICICI Bank Account.

CHEQUES

Cheques can be drawn in favor of AID-India's

ICICI Bank Account and can be either mailed to

or deposited at any ICICI bank branch.

CASH Cash may be deposited at any ICICI bank branch

quoting "AID-India" on the deposit slip.

AID-India - ICICI Bank Details

Branch: Royapettah High Road (RHR)

Location: Chennai

MICR code: 600229007

Account No.: 602201200299 (Savings)

Beneficiary address: 7/4 Besant Road, Royapettah, Chennai. Phone: +91-44-42106493, 28350403

To receive a receipt for your donation, please send the following details to [email protected]. Your name and permanent address

2. Date , amount and mode (e-transfer, cheque, cash) of donation

3. Bank details together with the Cheque/Receipt number or E-transaction ID

If you are outside India and want to contribute to AID India‟s Delhi chapter, then do mail us your cheque

(in any currency), drawn in favor of "AID-India", along with a cover letter stating the purpose of dona-

tion.

AID INDIA- Bank Details for International Transfers

Punjab National Bank - 0306010100082696PNB Extension Counter, D A V School (under Anna Salai Branch) 383, Avvai Shanmugam Salai,

Gopalapuram, Chennai 600 086, Tamilnadu, India

IFSC (NEFT/ RTGS) code - PUNB0030600

ABA or SWIFT routing number of PNB India - 000046612 in the name of PNB FEO Chennai. CODE -

PUNB IN BB MF

AID-Delhi – Mailing Address House number 161, C-13, Sector 3, Rohini-85

Contact us:each us at: www.aiddelhi.org

AID Delhi on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/delhi.aidindia

AID Delhi on Twitter: http://twitter.com/aiddelhi

AID Delhi on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AID_Delhi

aid delhi newsletter (july-september 2010)

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