Welcome to Udayan Care's Discussion Blog
Hello Everyone, Welcome to Udayan Care's discussion blog !!! Please feel free to use this blog to discuss your views, share your experiences, provide feedback and suggestions. Regards Kiran Modi Managing Trustee Udayan Care
posted by Udayan Care @ 12:20 AM
35 Comments:
Hi,
I am very keen to volunteer for Udayan. Could you please let me know who to contact regarding this. Also, where can I get more information on Udyan's activities?
Thanks.
Hello Sonia,
You can visit the following link and get the contact details:
http://www.udayancare.org/contactus.htm
However, every second saturday of the month we hold a volunteers induction meet at the Lajpat Nagar office, where you will be beriefed in detail about Udaya Care's activities and get to interact with the management yourself.
Would look forward to meeting you there.
Best,
Rajat
(International Volunteer Coordinator)
I want to share my experience with Udayan Care Kids when i accompanied them for a music coaching class:-
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nee Sa
Well, these 7 seemingly inoccuous words sounded very powerful and interesting last evening when the Udayan Care Kids try to utter them in different pitches! It was an amazing experience, seeing these kids trying so hard to speak in sargam. Frankly, they were pathetic but got great compliments from everybody.
Something about the Guru who taught them with extreme patience:- Gyanendra Verma a software engineer by profession has got not only a musical voice but a musical home as well. He has all sorts of instruments lying at every nook and corner of his home. And he plays all the instrument with equal ease. He sat in the middle surrounded by 7 amused kids and of course I was not less amazed. He made every kid sing the sargam right at least once. I also tried and passed the test :)
We spent hour and a half there. Towards the last, one of Gyanendra's friend sang two mast songs for all of us. His whole family is very welcoming and greeted us with warmth. To me, these are the most interesting people I have met since long and I must say that my stay there has instilled in me an extra dose of enthu!!!
I am more inspired. Just wanted to let you know that our first task, real task, has begun and we have made a good beginning to say the least!!
My first day at Udayan
It was a saturday evening and i was on my way to Udayan Care and all i had with me was a little curiosity, some enthusiasm and a poor road sense. Just then, it occured to me that i can have something more than this, so i decided to get some sports equipment for the home. After having the most ferocious and i suppose the most successful bargain of my life, i finally had four badminton raquets, a shuttle pack, and one carom-board. I was driving hard and then after asking to n number of people (someone from Mumbai said very rightly that people from north enjoy misleading you when you ask them for directions), i eventually landed where i set out for. It was dark by then. I was just wondering if there will be anyone interested in me visiting there.
Mr. Ghosh, he is the care-giver at udayan and called papa by all the kids. He wasn't keeping well that day but greeted me with a fresh smile. Then, i entered the common room where a TV is placed and there were kids all around doing something or the other. they noticed me and said a very cosmetic namaste ( as i used to say whenever some neighbours visited our home). I didn't know where to start and how to introduce myself.. something like ,"hey , you know i am ravinder and i have come with some games and i can change your life by talking to you, playing some games with you or may be something i will do to make you feel great!" I really couldn't speak to the kids because i really didn't know at that point if i have given enough thoughts about how i can make difference to their life. i really had no clue!
I decided to talk to Mr. Ghosh instead and asked him to explain me what challenges he faces and what motivated him to leave a comfortable life and come here with his wife and two children. He explained me but frankly i didn't understand about his motivation but what i understood was that he is doing a tremendous service to these kids and this home. I wish i could do the same in my lifetime!
One kid was constantly gazing at me and his smile was so genuine and true that i couldn't help asking him his name. His name "bittoo". So i asked him to come with me and help me in getting the "great" life-changing stuff i brought for them. he picked all the raquets and carom-board by himself. i asked him if he liked the carom or badminton so much. he said he doesn't like any of these. Great start Ravinder!!! you did make a difference???!!!
I chatted some more with Ghosh ji and then decided to go back. I was on-call support for that day.
Anyways, the day wasn't that bad since i made a start and theres something which has set me thinking now. i really need to explore this Udayan- The Eternal Rise. So, all the best Ravinder!
Second day at Udayan-
I did some home work this time. i visited the site and collected information about the kids at udayan home. i decided to talk to 5 kids of the age group of around 14-16 years. I wanted to speak to them about how they feel about Udayan( life), what are the things they like about Udayan(life) and what they want to see more of in udayan(life). Do they dream? what they want to become ? what is the last movie they saw? their best TV show etc.
Asif, was another guy who wanted to come along with me . He seems to have some more enthusiasm than the other persons in Fidelity Cares. I dont know for sure if he is going to continue having the same enthu or will it die? never mind, abhi jo bhi aa raha hai use saath le chalo, aisa socha maine aur maine theek socha.
So I and Asif went to Udayan Care Home. somehow, we didn't get to speak to the kids i planned for. they were having some test. So i told Mr. Ghosh to give us a room where we can talk to 4-5 kids. He asked the kids to come and there we were in a room. I went on with my usual way of asking questions and it finally created the atmosphere where the kids got little interested( I tell you, its easier to interest a girl than these kids!). Asif was a show stealer( he has a very magical casio watch cum remote controller which can control any TV! amazing), he showed the kids this watch. Somehow, what i planned was no way getting any near. I still asked them whatever i could. Asif also tried his best but we weren't so charming and therfore it wasn't great session. I had some chocolates and i distributed them by asking some silly questions about computer which they promptly answered.Then my desperate effort, i asked each one of them to put in words they like the most about udayan and the things which they dont like. Also, what they want to become in life. I told them that they all will have to write this and give it to me next time i come there.
So we met "Deepak","Saddam","Jai Kumar","Rohit",and "Nazir".
This visit has again left me with something and i need to go there once more and many times more.
Overall i would say, wasn't bad but still we need to go a long way. Back at fidelity cares, things are moving at snail's pace and we really need to speed up.
One good thing happened this week though. I talked to IBM guy who used to visit Udayan Ghar but has discontinued now. he used to teach the kids music. I talked to him and he is interested in reviving the link with udayan. he has one constraint and that is, he can't go there regularly. I have talked to Mr. Ghosh and asked him he can arrange the transport for kids to come to Gyanendra's home in the evening. Mr. Ghosh will let me know next week
Third day at Home-
A lot happened in the past days. We had meeting with Senior members Team. They liked the concept and are positive about it.May be we have some things coming in our way before we launch this initiative.
Anyways, today was i supoose the best day at home so far. I went o the home and took Tarsem( bunty) out for a lunch at Mc Donalds. It was pretty hot weather but we still enjoyed a lot. i talked to him and he also talked to me a lot. There were many things with which bunty related with me . He has been to Punjab(Patiala) for one year and i also hail from Patiala. He takes interest in maths but wants to become a doctor like i wanted and liked maths. He is also a dreamer like me and knows that whatever he dreams he is happy just dreaming it and will not work towards realising it. He likes to laugh heartily over the silliest jokes and gets serious on some amazing jokes , very much like me. Bunty has a younger sister( about 2 years younger) and i also have a younger sister ( abut 2 years younger). so the list goes on...
Bunty is in class VI and 14 years old. I talked a lot about his career and how he should think something realistic for making a living for himself. that he should set his goal for becoming self-dependent sooner than most of his class mates.
Had a good talk but i felt helpless in not able to help him really in acheiving self-dependency.
need to think a lot on that..
Great going Ravinder. There are amazing experiences in store as you spend more time with children. I personally am involved with the Mayur Vihar home and absolutely share the feeling you had when you spent time with the children.
Incase there are any volunteers whom you know are interested in Udayan, feel free to mail me at rjtsharma@gmail.com
Best,
Rajat
(International Volunteer Coordinator)
Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to share that meeting the whole management team in Lajpat Nagar was great. The kind of enthusiasm that flows in this team and organization is simply phenomenal. I am defiitely joining Udayan.
Best,
Amit
Hi, I am a professor at Delhi university. Can someone help me on how can I introduce alternate teaching methodologies to children like projector based tutorials etc?
- Rahul
Hello Rahul,
You can surely introduce innovative teaching techniques to help generate further interest in students. However, you can come down to our Lajpat Nagar office and share what your approach will be with the management team and we can take it forward from there.
If the management feels that it is indeed something revolutionary we can look at getting children from all five homes at one place and teaching them over the weekend. That way the audience that will benefit will be much larger.
Best,
Rajat
(International Volunteers Coordinator)
I ran for Udayan at the Hutch Delhi Half Marathon !!! Did You ??
Yes I did and I ran with Udayan Children .... it was too good !!!
Dear All,
I am looking for some innovative ideas to spread awareness about anti-drugs ( smoking, tobacco, liquor consumption) in the children. it could be anything from staging a street drama, some skits, some painting competiton which stresses on the adverse effects. If somebody can get hold of some videos ( available on any website or some library), please refer. email me at ravinder.fbsi.singh@fmr.com in case anyone of you need/have details. By the way, any new posts. Rajat, can you help me taking this further.
Another challenge which volunteers like me face are how to teach the kids having various backgrounds very effectively. How to be sensitive to everybody's need and still not lose the overall focus of imparting education. And how to mix up fun with seriousness. I know all these things may not be taught to volunteers but if anyone of us have any implementation which is sharable in this forum, can we please do that right away. Rahul, can you share some of these over here in this forum about some effective teaching techniques?
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Ravinder,
According to me, there are two constituents of your problems. Firstly, how to teach effectively and secondly, how to mentor effectively? Let me share with you how I address these issues.
Whenever I tutor children, irrespective of their backgrounds, my main focus is to put the concept across. I try and achieve this is by articulating the concept in the easiest of forms with the help of examples. More often than not, this part does not involve being sensitive to everyone’s need, primarily because you deal with topics that do not touch their sensitive sides.
It is at the time of mentoring that you have to be sensitive to their backgrounds, needs and aspiration. What I personally try is to bring in a flavor of mentoring during teaching hours. This typically helps motivate the children to get a better understanding of the concept. For example, after say an hour of tutoring, student’s concentration tends to decrease. Thus, I bring in some sort of an example that weaves a child’s desire and ambition with the importance of education and an example of a person who is where the child wants to be all thanks to education.
In the end, it’s as simple as helping children realize the power of education.
- Rajat
With due regards, the National Coalition for Education take opportunity to invite you for an upcoming Global Campaign Week called Global Action Week which is going to be observed in more 180 countries worldwide. The objective of the Week is to step up towards making Education a Fundamental Right so as to ensure every child's right to education and a dignified growth. This education Campaign Week is to be inaugurated on 23rd and culminate on 29th April 2007 with the participation of children and people from various walks of life. This year's theme is "Education as a Human Right". The Week-long programme will have Human Chain formations, Public Hearing, Signature Campaigns and Officials visiting School campaigns. The Week is to be observed in 13 states of India.
The Theme is endorsed world wide by civil society Organisations to appraise the Governments on the targets that have been set out by the member countries of UN towards Education for All by 2015. It against this backdrop, the Global Campaign for Education was formulated in 1999 as a body constituting of Oxfam, Action Aid, Education International and Global March against Child Labour in influencing the framework for action that emerged from the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000 and United Nation's Millennium Development Goals to achieve Education for All by 2015. The Week is dedicated to take up issues ranging from enrolled, retention, sufficient budget allocation and access to equity education. The plight of children in country is hard fact as out of the 40000 children who go missing across India every year, 12,000 are never traced.
It is against this background, we seek your intervention and participation in Human Chain at Jantar Mantar on April 23, 2007 at 12:00 Noon and in Public Hearing Programme on 25th April 2007 at 11:30 am at Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road , New Delhi. The detailed programmes for the entire Week are attached with this mail. The Human Chain and Public Hearing will mainly have participation of children representatives who were once bonded labourers, out of school, orphans and migrants etc from all over India.
Sincerely your
Avinash K singh
GAW Coordinator
NCE
I have been associated with this wonderful organisation doing selfless, devoted service to the needy girls of to day and tomorrow,s pride and priveleged family members of the society. They are being provided enviornment of freedom and struggle for vertical growth with dedicated mentors and social upliftment volunteers dedicted to service without recognition. Hats off and Best wishes and regards to the pioneers and social workers.
P.C.Jain
Director,
Talent Developement Program
C3/99 Ashok Vihar II Delhi 110052
M09312214282
Hello everyone
Regards to Ms. Kiran Modi
I was associated with this org wn i was doing a reserach for them a year back...in doing so i visited all udayan ghars and interacted with all children and the caring mentor mothers.one thing i assure u udayan care is the home which is desired for every child who is on the road.......i hope kaash sare bache jo aaj saadk par hai itne fortunate hote ke wo bhi is ghar mein reh pate.....so that they can make their future much better and get the love of sweet mentor mothers who despite of their busy schedule take time for their kids........i have seen how these director of the org and mentor mothers work day in and day out to get the needs of these children fulfilled
in future if they need my help then im there for them every moment
Sheetal tyagi
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This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
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Hi Rajat,
As mentioned in one of your replies, are we having the volunteer's induction meet on Saturday - 12th Jan-2008 ? If yes, pls let me know the office address and contact #
Many thanks!!!
Hi, This is deepak.I am very keen to help children with my best possible efforts...May be education ..spending time with them.
Can anyone please let me know what should I do for it?
I am working for HCL as HR.
My email is deepak.sharmah@hcl.in.One can also reach me at 9910009581.
i was working as an international volunteer (from France) at jag shanti udayan ghar in Gearter Noida. it was just wonderful.. I miss Uncle, the caregivers, i miss the girls
Take care,
All the best,
Raphaelle (from France)
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