Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A lil about the last Spoorthi Activity, 26th Jan 2011 :)

26th January 2011, a holiday lazing in the couch making no effort to
start the day. Then rings the alarm along with the to do list. Forcing
the hand towards the alarm and checking the list, jumps out to the
floor with a sense of urgency rush to the washroom and get ready in a
hurry. The mobile start to ring continuously, this was not the usual
day for Stella and Siju, disconnects the mobile and rush towards the
car.

The drive began as usual with a small prayer by Stella and heads
towards Good Shepard Convent – “Respect for Life” near Residency Road.
On the way calls Sister Annunciata, in a very apologetically low voice
assuring Sister that the delay is regretted and the team of Spoorthi
would be there in few minutes and all the required arrangements have
been done.

It was a bright sunny morning, the weather as though the day was
perfect for the kids to be in ground for the games and fun. Kids!
yes….lots of them

On reaching the Centre of Respect for Life, the sight was so
marvelous. There were few volunteers Lilly Miss, Padma aunty and
Jennifer, along with a group of immaculate looking kids having fun
with the games arranged for them by the Centre of Respect for Life. It
was so joyful and relaxing to see these little ones enjoying their
national holiday without any nostradamical thought of their tomorrow’s
worry of going back to the usual day to day work and hectic schedule
back in the school.

Lost was not the word to describe the sight, our age chilled down to
the December temperature of Bangalore. … Soon Jyothi, Siju and Stella
got talking to the children and the jubiliant mood soon caught on to
them. Sister shared with us that the children were shown a kannada
movie before we could arrive, which dealt with women empowerment.

Sister briefed us about the organisation and their objective of
providing the basic nessecities for the less privileged. They deal
with various issues including abortion, child rights, women
empowerment and generally a bridge between the affluent and the
deprived lot. She mentioned of her visit to Tumkur on one such
actibity and how the BJP called bandh had forced her to stay longer at
that place.
Everyday becomes so important for people who are making difference in
others lives!

Back to back came Dileep, Sushma, Sherry and Rathi along with the
gastronomical stuff and loads of gifts to add on the surprise and joy
in the Kids. These kids were bubbling with tremendous energy and had
no thoughts of the day has come to half way mark.

The whole happening was relished silently by Sister. The team greeted
Sister and poured out their ‘wow’ moment with her. She in her holistic
voice said, the Centre of Respect for Life has few kids been taken
care by them and all required needs are been fulfilled, so she got
these bubbly kids from a slum near Koramangala. The team was
wonderstruck to hear the reality. As the conversation was on, the
needle in the clock struck to the hungry time zone, the kids were all
assembled for a feast which was arranged by Sherry and Rathi.

The feasting was done and the kids were back into their funtush mood
to continue the day and there was no sign of taking a break, giving
the competition to this attitude of the children was the team of
Respect for Life along with Sister. All the Spoortians were
electrified seeing the energy in the air and kicked off the singing
and dancing competition…competition??? Yeah had to give the activity a
name…there was no competition, as the music was played the kids were
kids, a little bit a starting trouble and then the silence was broken
and the noise had overtaken the decibels of the music played in the
background for the so called competition which took a transition to
party time.

The fun was on and slowly came the end to this rocking day and the
Spoortians distributed the surprise gifts for all the bubbling kids.
The kids were assembled together for the end of day, as it was a
national holiday the kids with all their heart sung out the National
Anthem with full enthusiasm. It was a very pleasant sight to see these
lovely ones singing out the Anthem with immaculate heart, no
differences was sighted, all the kids were different but that was not
what the Spoorthians sighted. It was a picture perfect finish. The
Spoorthians were ending their day along with the miraculous team of
Respect for Life.

The Spoorthians were heading back, but had loads of experience which
was enriching. It was clear in every Spoorthians mind that this, ones
upon a time “Garden City” which has got transformed to a Scam and
Concrete City still had rays of hope which has been nurtured by teams
like “Respect for Life”

-------- Siju K V

Spoorthi activity @ Anand Ashram on 11th July 2010

Hi All,

Firstly my apologies for delay in sending this mail.

It was the first spoorthi activity planned for this year.

As Rathi celebrated his birthday, we {Sherry, Jo, Rathi, Jijo, Suri
and Kishore} assembled at the Anand Ashram (AA) on bannerghatta road
adjacent to HDFC bank close the dairy circle.

True to its name, Anand Ashram had happy people around.

Few school going kids and many elderly are housed at the AA.

Keen on knowing the purpose of our visit, the elderly gathered and
took the seats neatly arranged for them.

I briefed on the group and the activities that we have been doing over
the years.

As Rathi, cut the cake and all wished him heartily, he received a
beautiful bouquet made from the garden flowers at AA.

We looked around the place.

There were independent houses for few, and there were rooms shared by two.

The children had a mini library cum entertainment area.

The elderly spoke their heart out, blessed us all and wished that we
would visit them again.

With yet another successful spoorthi event to add to the accolades ,
we bid bye to AA, the happy place.

Signing off… Hoping to visit them all again in full number.

Total Expenses:

Rs.1500 - for a 2 burner gas stove that we donated

Rs. 2000 - for the Food (Chow chow bath), cake, Tea and biscuits.

Currently 10k is left in the fund. So guys lets plan out more of these
and make a difference in huge numbers.

Cheers to spoorthi.
Suresh Hatti.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Snehanilaya: March 10th, 2007

Address: #11, Langford Gardens,
Bangalore- 560025.
Landmark: 2 min from St.Joseph's college, Langford Road
Also very next to Republic Hospital.

hello ppl,

Guess i got too busy playin the see-saw n the balloons with those kids....turns out i hav clicked only 2 snaps!! :))

We were 10 of us who went ther that day, we bought some bags and notebooks for the kids , we then played a game or two with them.....distributed cakes n chocolates.....


regards,
haasine





spoorthi's second activity

Hi spoorthians,

There is one more good new for us cheer about............ as we had
decided about sponsoring 2 guys from MARALAVADI Government school in
kanakpura........ satish as done a great job in taking interest and has
purchased books and has given the boys the books and uniform necessary
for one year.............. The total expenditure for this activity was
1800 and satish gave a speech and as given a good message to the
youngsters that Spoorthi will sponsor guys and gals with good academic
record and financially backward. The boys were getting late as it was
already one month... We all are been
invited for Independence Day celebration so interested people can
contact me or satish for further details..........

Regards
Sanjay S

Re-live.....Our First Spoorthi Activity

Address: Missionaries of Charity, Next to Rosary Church, Venkatala
Village, Yellanka Post, Bangalore 560 064 Phone: (91 080) 8460074

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sisters_of_Charity.jpg

Hello everyone...

First of three cheers to all our spoorthians for making our first activity a
success..We indeed missed all those who could not make it to the
meet..However people there are still lots of such activities happening in
the coming days.So not to worry..

The budget that was pitched in for the cause was Rs 4000 which was utilized
in purchasing..25 kg rice, 4 big boxes of cakes, towels, bedspreads and 120
gift packets each containing a tooth brush, tooth paste, comb, Vaseline,
face powder, chocolates and ear buds. A big thanks to sherine, Ratheesh,
suresh, harish and satish for going to the market on Saturday and purchasing
these items and also spending their time in packing up the 120 gift packs.
Great work people..kuddos to you !!!!!!

Now let me give you people a brief picture about yesterdays meet...Finally
after a long delay... we 8 people that is. Sherine, Reema, Shubha, Stella,
Ratheesh, Suresh, jijo, and myself(hema)..met up at Koramangala bus stop to
go to Missionaries of charity..Suri had got his car so we 6 six people
Sherine, Suri, Stella, Shubha, Reema and myself travelled by it..and rathi
along with jijo accompanied us in a bike...we met up at 11 am on sunday
morning.and after some delay here and there reached the missionary at 1'o
clock.By which all the people there had finished their lunch and were having
a nice afternoon nap..

We then met the head sister, who guided us through the whole journey. The
place consisted of people of all age groups. The ladies out numbered the
gentlemen. First we went around distributing cakes and gift packs to all the
people in there and meanwhile just went about getting to know them. After
that we all went around and individually sat with all the people talking to
them about their life and experiences. There was this grandma who was so
excited..the people there said she was the dance teacher..for them.so then
all of us demanded her to dance.as we all tried singing..grandma danced and
danced with real enthusiasm...it was truly wonderful to see...then some more
people joined in all of us clapped and sang...and had real fun..we were then
told that there was this person called Rosaline who was suppose to be a very
good singer..so we went to her and listened to her voice and also
recorded..may b we can watch it once the video is uploaded..how much of
talent?????....Oh then there was another grandma..who said she wanted a
ring..bangle.anklet for herself the next time we go there.. We really did
not know what to say at that instant..u know what???.she could not speak so
she was actioning all this..and she was trying to tell us something more
too.however none of us could figure that out.then another grandma told us
that she was asking us to get her mutton and chicken during our next
visit...gosh we all were totally blank..

Then it was 2'o clock and it was time for tea..so we took the tea pot and
glasses and went around serving tea and biscuits to all of them..
Then stella met another stella..gosh u shud hav seen her happiness..it knew
no bounds...oh the amazing thing was.stella met this grandpa..who was
suppose to be knowing her great grandfather..world is truly a small place
isn't it...stella was almost in tears...it was really a touching
experience..Then there was this another grandpa who had an amazing
knowledge..about many different things..he had done most of the painting
work ..electric..and other work at the missionary...we were amazed at the
amount of knowledge that he had..gr8 person indeed..

Then we met this grandma called eva..nice name naaa..who was so touched by
our love and care.that she said u surely have to come again and yaa..she
also said do pray for me when we asked her to pray for us...each small thing
like this touched our heart...in a big way.we really had a nice time with
them..

There were people who were had lived there from more than 36 years and
people who had just joined...They shared with us their life at
missionary..we all gave them a patient ear and supported them to take care
of themselves and also people around them..
When it was time for us to leave..we all told them a big tata..bye bye...and
they all said only one thing to all of us.please do come again....
Finally I wud like to say one thing...we hav touched their life in a small
way and they hav touched ours too.. ..and I'm sure we will be carrying on
events like this in the future too.hope to do good things like this in the
future too.with the support from all the spoorthians..
It was an amazing experience which we all want to re live again......
we will do what we can and leave the rest to god..so people be blessed and
have a nice day ahead !!!!!!

If I have missed out on anything or said something wrong.then ppl do pitch
in ur views ..cya ppl.have a gr8 day..

Regards,
Hema

Spoorthi in a whole new dimension :)

The Spoorthi team is a group of loving, caring, joyful, thankful and vibrant youngsters in Bangalore. Some of them are friends from the same college or same class in their school days. Over the last few years of their association these friends inspired their own circles and Spoorthi team gained people strength.

I met this Stellar girl from the Spoorthi gang sometime last year. During one of our casual conversations, I got to know more about Spoorthi.

This group of friends had started Spoorthi as a social service initiative funded from their own pockets few years ago. This is their website : http://groups.google.co.in/group/spoorthi_wecare
The web page speaks about their work and service. So obviously I am not writing about their activities. Thanks to the Good God, I chanced to be a part of the team in the thirteenth activity at WARDS, Jeevan Bhima Nagar ( Safal Daily Fresh at Jeevan Bhima Nagar is the landmark). To read about it, click http://spoorthi-wecare.blogspot.com/2009/08/written-by-deepa-new-spoorthi-member.html


Yesterday, I was waiting with another friend (who is also new to the whole idea of spending a day in a school for the differently-abled) on the 80 Ft. Road, Indra Nagar, Bangalore. The early morning( ofcourse 10:30 A.M is very early by Bangalore weekend standards, if you didn't know) cool weather, the nice pavement, the Gulmohar tree and its flowers, the hustle and bustle in the BSNL office, the ever-busy traffic gave a very special feel-good factor. From somewhere, a very cheerful voice greeted us with a Good morning...:-) If you know, there are some people's wishes that really make your day. This was one such wish. She was a smart and friendly girl, who knew both our names and before we knew we had started talking non-stop. It was easy to make friends with this Spoorthi girl. So it was with the rest of the gang we met in a few minutes time.

Success mantra 1 : To be in a team, learn to meet, greet and smile. - SAY HELLO

At the WARDS, we were talking to the teachers and the coordinator of the whole programme for the differently-abled children. I noticed the interest with which the Spoorthi team listened to what was being said. Every minute of the listening half-hour was spent trying to figure out where can Spoorthi help further.

Success mantra 2 : Listen and ask the right questions without worrying about what is right and what can go wrong. - ASK QUESTIONS

While we were talking, we lost sense of time and one of the team members came over to tell us that we ought to get started with the day's activities. Everyone else, had nothing else to say and with the grace that only Spoorthi could have managed, the team excused themselves out of the coordinator's room. One of the team members continued to talk to the coordinator and assured him that the team will talk to him soon. That was important. The conversation did not get interrupted but the call to action was heeded to almost immediately.

Success mantra 3 : To keep a watch of time is important and to ensure that you don't sound like you walked away in the middle of a session in progress is even more important. - BE AWARE

When the activities started, everyone in the team was equally interested to contribute. No one waited to be told what is to be done. People picked up any task they could find and continued working. When in doubt, they asked the team mates. There was no annoyance in the whole day for anything. Now, in any group activity that involves more than 2 people ( remember, they say, three is a crowd generally!!!!) there is bound to be disagreements and annoyance. In a group of ten, there was never an instance when there was any argument. No one was a boss there. Everyone was focused only on the end result and that made life easy.

Success mantra 4 : To be a successful team, participate without waiting for orders. When in doubt, ask the first team member you meet, stepping down from that ego dias of yours. - PARTICIPATE and SEEK HELP

Success mantra 5 : If you are annoyed, ensure that no one else other than your team knows. That can bring down the team strength in the eyes of the outsider and generally reduce the overall dedication levels in the team. - HANDLE WITH CARE

These are the first thoughts that came to my mind when I think of the WARDS day and the Spoorthi group. I can spend time on more observations, but then let's just say, if we can follow these five points in any group activity, event management, project team or just about anywhere where people are working for a common cause, life would be a lot easier and in the end, everybody gets to Smile..!!! :-)

--
Posted By Dew Drop to Dew at 8/02/2009 08:07:00 PM

Precious Children's Home - 16th of June

Precious Children's Home -

16th of June
It was a day of joy, fun & satisfaction not just for the children but all of us who were present there.

After some waiting, at last I made it to the Sumo to find a new face.

“Welcome to the team Mary”
She was in no time one among us…

Our long drive to the “Precious Children’s Home” started with 9 of us + Stella joining us with her very pretty new look.

Finding our way by making many enquiries, as we were reaching the gates of “PCH”, happened to see a man on his bicycle calling us out & trying to stop us.
But neither the driver uncle nor us paid him any attention & tried to move on, only to know that it was the postman who was calling to us to deliver 1 of his post J

As we entered, we were welcomed by Tina Aunty the caretaker of “PCH” & the lovely kittens. It was now time for us to meet the children.

With all the kids gathered in the playground.
Our activities were kick started by the kids Singing Praises to the Lord. (Lovely voices accompanied with chappale).

After which our volunteers lined up the kids & got them to play some games.
Bursting the balloon (Half of which were burst by our very own volunteers)
Ball in the bucket (It was lovely to catch one of the kids kissing the ball & saying a little prayer before bucketing the ball)
Bomb in the city (Chennai got bombed max times & Bangalore the peaceful city got bombed once)

Really appreciated the spirit with which the kids had approached this little deed of ours.

Never minding the scorching sun, we all played to our hearts content,
While Mr. Photographer clicked pictures of all the happy faces.

Tired: oh Yeah,
We all headed to the dining area, while Suri & Mary chose to meet the guardians of “PCH” (the not so fierce dogs).

Got to meet Uncle Rene who along with Aunt Tina takes care of the Amulya makkala mane.
Uncle then explained to us of his fund raising activities & how he has to work round the clock to get smiles on all those cute faces.
With the children wanting us to come back again and be a part of their happiness, we waved back to the eager filled eyes.

For us it was a day to cherish, to love & to thank god for all the blessings that he has bestowed on us.

Those who missed can catch all the action as soon as the photos get uploaded.
And three cheers to SPOORTHI...

On our way back, we also discussed on Spoorthi T-shirts & enjoyed our drive back home with the soul stirring songs from mungaaru male. Thanks to the driver Uncle

Regards,
Jo