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 -

16^th 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

Written by Deepa, Spoorthi member...

WARDS, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Bangalore 1st August 2009.
It was a cool, bright and beautiful August morning. Ten members of the Spoorthi team walked into WARDS, the school for the differently-abled children.

The smartly uniformed children greeted the team with a warm smile and a very friendly "Good morning". It was easy to get comfortable with these innocent children. While few members of the team spent time talking to the children, the others walked in to meet the co-ordinator of WARDS, Mr.Kathavarayan fondly known as Mr.Ryan, by the WARDS staff and children.

Mr.Ryan is a friendly person whose words reflect the passion he has towards his purpose - Equipping the differently-abled children to independently manage their daily activities and bringing out their inherent ablities that make them truly 'different' from the rest of the world. Mr.Ryan can see the world through the eyes of his mind.

He has the strong support of eleven dedicated staff who understand Mr.Ryan and his initiative very well. The treasurer was immersed in the day's finance book and looked up to say a brief 'Hello'. He has been serving the institution for the last eighteen years, since its inception. The thoughtful looks said that he has been working hard to ensure perfection in whatever he does. There is a clerical staff to maintain records for other activities in the school.

While we were immersed in gathering this information and still amazed at the thought of what kind of a challenge these people must be facing in life at WARDS, a time consicous Spoorthi team mate walked in to remind us that its time to begin the WARDS day.

We had no clue that the day was going to be as rewarding an experience as it turned out to be. Spoorthi gang marched out of Mr.Ryan's room to the field outside the class room. The children looked very cheerful and eager to see us all again and the teacher in-charge told us briefly about them, so we know our audience.

The school hours are from 10:00A.M to 3:30P.M with an hour's lunch break. WARDS has about 25 children ranging from 5 to 52 years of age. The children are taught skills based on the difference in functioning of their brain. Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Mental Retardation are some of the brain dysfunctions that make these children not friendly with today's complicated society which is full of practical challenges.

We had planned to spend the first hour on some games just as ice-breaker sessions, so the children get comfortable with us, the seemingly intrusive outsiders.The first game was with balloons.We took help from some of the children who were able to understand Kannada to ensure that every one had a balloon. Some of the children could manage to blow their balloons; there were others who enjoyed giving their best shot at blowing the balloon with no success; and few others who could not comprehend the whole idea.

The Spoorthi team working in IT industry did not miss a chance to become children all over again; they blew balloons for all the children who could not help themselves. The children enjoyed their run from one pole to another on the break of a whistle sound by the Spoorthi members. Spoorthi group ensured that every child felt good and was a part of the game. The next game was Tug-o-war in which everyone - teachers, students, and the Spoorthi team took part. We played twice to ensure that both parties had a chance to win. The teacher helped identify a few students who can do bungee jumping - jump with the jute sack on. The joy that shone on each child's face during the game is difficult to express. All the children were happy at the end of the games session. To compliment their joy, Spoorthi distributed chocolates. This is undoubtedly the best games session we have ever seen, with every child's face showing cheer, confidence and the interest to participate.

We all then moved indoors to watch a movie together. The techies in the team connected a laptop and speakers while the others joined the WARDS staff to arrange the class room for the movie. All the children watched Tom and Jerry and other cartoons that did not involve a lot of dialogues. While few members of Spoorthi were watching movies with the children, the others got busy drawing pictures for the children. The teacher says that the children can use around three different colors to paint any simple drawing. About twenty five sheets of simple figures and a pack of crayons were handed over to the teacher in twenty minutes time for a later school activity, the following Monday.

It was 1:00 P.M and time for lunch. Spoorthi funded the simple but delicious lunch arranged from a good caterer in Indira Nagar. The members of the team and the WARDS attendants set the table and served lunch for the children. Some of the children's parents also had come over to be with their children and enjoy the day with us. The teachers knew the tastes and interests of the children, so it was easy to serve what agreed with their health and preference. After lunch, most children cleared their plates themselves. For those children who could not handle this, the WARDS attendants helped clear up the tables. The children were left to themselves for the next half hour while the Spoorthi team and the WARDS staff had lunch.

The children made the post-lunch session a very memorable one for all of Spoorthi. The school had a neat programme agenda made for the afternoon's activities. The programme started with an invocation from the Hindu scripture The Vishnu Sahasranama. Every one in the room paid rapt attention and some children actually prayed; probably for the programme to go well or generally asking for nothing; God surely knows.

There was a Hindi dance number which caught the Spoorthi by complete surprise. The coordination with the dance partners and the synchronization with the music was amazing. All credit to the teachers who instilled the courage and confidence in these children to make it possible. The next interesting dance was a Kannada folk song and the dance was called Kollattam. The children danced with wooden sticks in their hands and tapped the sticks in uniform and co-ordinated movements to tune into the music. It was a fantastic performance. Then there was a play called The king and the wise farmer, enacted by the children and teachers. The three teachers shared the script to voice the different characters in the play and the children acted out as per their role. It must have been tough for the teachers to make them understand the play, but then the children did their role very well. The play was very professionally enacted and very carefully thought out.

The Spoorthi team distributed bags and towels to every child in the school. Mr.Ryan spoke on behalf of the school and three Spoorthi team members spoke out Spoorthi's thoughts and experiences of the day. At the end of the speech the children were quite honest to say that they didnt understand the speech but enjoyed the day. Such honest expression was very touchy and unheard of in most of us. It was quite a sight to see every child waving a Good bye at the end of the school hour at 3:30 to the Spoorthi team, after a nice tea and a team photograph to etch the fond memories of the lovely time we had together at WARDS.

WARDS day - a perfect saturday with the differently-abled who surely made all difference to every Spoorthi Friend.

Xmas Celeb: December, 2007..

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcr4pR0KdOs&feature=related

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCxNR_9haQ&feature=related

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmPqhdQV4w&feature=related

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLrfrFoJQ64

Part 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2xo_A3ki9I&feature=related

Part 7:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL6ZcpgDFeA&feature=related

Part 8:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVW_ZccB2-o&feature=related

Part 9:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnhjonza4Gw&feature=related

Monday, March 31, 2008 Jnanashrama..

Monday, March 31, 2008Jnanashrama, Home for the Aged... Spoorthi relives good old days with gud old frenz!

Jnanashrama, Home for the Aged at Banerghatta Road is where we all were heading to on Mar 30th, 2008 as our activity after the last one for Xmas. As per the pilaan, we all reached Diary Circle. There Abhay with the new hippie look, Cool Kish, Dileepa and the McAffee boy had decided to lead the way to this place as we were not sure of the route.

Car wuz filled with the gifts that we had decided to give. Previous day, Suri, Rathi and Rathi's fren shopped for cotton sarees and dhotis. Must say it wuz gud wrk done with the selection of sarees! Take a bow ppl..hehheee..We also got sm snacks for them, all this wuz loaded into the car.By now Harshi, Ambika, Me n Pri decided to travel in bus. So there we all got started, rest of them along with Jo and her cute lil cuzin went ahead in the car.Reema "Khan" joined us at IIMB and we all reached Jnanshrama easily.

As we just landed there, we were greeted by the cook of tht place. He inturn called the head of this place and then when we got talkin to him realised this wuznt an NGO but the ppl here had to pay for their stay here. Initial deposit of 10000/- and 750/- per month. Hmmm...for a min we thot mebbe it wuz a wrong place bcuz spoorthi always went to places where service to the unfortunate wuznt cmin at a price.

We were taken to Padma amma's house first, here we were told tht each of the 32ppl living there is given individual houses to stay. Padma amma welcomed us cheerfully and this lady was a storehouse of happiness and talent. Mebbe they know the predictable questions being asked first, she started off sayin..shez here bcuz after her husband's death she dint wanna depend on nethin but wanted a silent "vaathavarana". She wuz from Mysore and narrated few incidents of the Mysore history.When we asked her to sing, she said she doesnt know any of the "halli" songs but shez frm Mysore city and Blore city.

She went onto sing beautifully and blessed all of us thru tht song.There we got to see the sign of independence tht existed in her and the others which we realised in hours to come. We thot instead of meeting each of 'em at their houses, it wud be better to meet all of 'em together so the coffee time at 4pm wuz just right.

There as we started serving snacks, pop came the question from an old dignified man asking us the purpose of the visit and we did manange to convey our intentions to the crowd there. During the tea time, we distributed the gifts to the 17 ladies and 15men there also the snacks. By now it wuz raining heavily, but tht wuznt a spot of bother at all for us.

We met lotta ppl, a professor, a retd HAL employee, this old man who said who has travelled 3/4 th of the world and since hez a bachelor hez in this place.And this enthu pataks ajji from Mangalore. Such a sweetheart she wuz, said "Athe Maava avarannu Kathe kathe antha nodbaardhu, avaranna amma appa tarah nodbeku" hope me spoke Kannada :D

She wuz a bundle of fun and excitement. Asked her age, she said 18 then asked us to reverse it ;) And yes there was one ajji who poured her heart out to Jo and Jo did a gr8 job of listening to her and comforted her.
All of us got talkin to most of 'em there and realised the conversation just went on and it wuz more on their personal achievements and not necessarily abt hw their sons, daughters or daughter in laws had ill treated them.
Be prepared for the unexpected, this place is filled with Independant ppl with choice and not without choice.Quite an experience for all of us and with God's blessings everything worked out best!

Kudos to Spoorthians :)