Spreading the warmth of Education this Summer (Camp) Hello Friends, A very learned Roger Waters once said in his lyrical masterpiece: “We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers leave them kids alone. Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone! All in all it's just another brick in the wall. All in all you're just another brick in the wall.” Aham Bhumika believe that Mr. Roger Waters was working on an assumption that grew and evolved being part of a civilized first world country. Education has grown to be one of the basic necessities in life and like food, cloth and shelter, no child should be deprived of it. We were trying to make endeavors to make this necessity available to the ones deprived of it in some way or the other and the thought of a Summer Camp had been lingering on the back of the head for quite some time. But the question to ask was; How? Thoughts moved to ideas, ideas to drafts, and then some work kicked in. Rural primary education has been made mandatory upto 5th grade as a government initiative. But like any other thing that comes free, it isn’t good enough. Aham Bhumika, also had in mind that it wanted to upgrade the education offered to deserving children of Bodakho. Our team created a list of areas they wanted to train the children to call the camp a success. The intent of which was to provide the children of Bodakho an experience that would work as the perfect bait to lure them into schools. Leave a mark on them. To engage children from Bodakho, Dholi Umar and Pili Talai; all neighboring villages and see if we could give them a platform to build upon. At this juncture Aham Bhumika could either start looking around them for people to participate in the camp or go public. The engine was started and Aham Bhumika went abuzz on Facebook, Twitter, Emails, Newsletters and the works. The word spread far and wide and the applications started pouring in. In the mean while, the logistics were looking like a daunting task. Learning from Grain School and other initiatives, we thought if the camp has to run for 10 days, we will need to keep the children at school for more than what they usually are. This would mean, food will need to be cooked up for them. The already active circle of donors had equipped us to believe that we will be able to pull this off. From choosing a vendor to come over to Bodakho and cook, to scrapping it all and employing Bodakho women to cook at the school kitchen; it all happened like it should have. Stationary lists for the camp were up and we started buying things as due date came closer. Permissions, Local Authorities support, activation of the local school teachers and spreading the word about the camp in the village. Getting the children and their families to know that the camp will be a 10 day fun and education session was an uphill, but successfully executed task. With the camp applications coming through already, we had a few full time volunteer confirmations. Jaya Rai from Mumbai, Web Designer, Entrepreneur had decided to chip in with English, Basic Math and Clay Modeling. Aditya Arya from Delhi, was the only volunteer we had for Computers and we were hoping he’d confirm and not cancel. Along side we had a lot of critical support from local Aham Bhumika Members and volunteers, and they bring a lot to the table for a camp with children. Mukul with his History, Devendra with his Art; Deepa , Kavita & Rupa with their unique skill set to manage toddlers are unbelievable support. Things were shaping out. We were feeling like we could pull this off now. Honestly, everything put together, there was still a missing plan of things to do when the camp starts. And we are glad, we learnt the ropes in the act and not from the book. The volunteers came in, the camp kicked off, the camp ran a packed house for 10 days. The children walked the whole nine yards from being shy, reluctant and scared of the English language on day 1, to being confident, comfortable with a language they thought was never meant for them. From day 1 when 99% of the three village class population saw a computer for the first time, till day 10 when 11 of them could start the machine, create word and paint documents by themselves, save it, search for it and edit it; their confidence was no where shy of a centurion. From a state where children though coming to school was just to learn basic Hindi alphabets and simple math, eat and go back home; to the day they actually waited for the arts and crafts sessions to start, get their hands dirty with clay the excitement was soaring. Carts, bullocks, elephants, boys, girls, farms, cities, animals, pencil shaving crafts, glitter, pulses and matchsticks used to create craft and art this was looking like a whole new curriculum for them. And they were loving it. Language took up most part of the day with them and it was the most fun part of the day after the camp was midway. Language was being learnt through associative recognition of objects they see daily. 10 words a day were selected that they would need to use or apply if they were to frame sentences. The idea was to drill 10 words a day and even if they recollect 6 the next day, they have an arsenal of 60 new words by the end of the camp, which is a huge number by any count for a set of children who haven’t really come to terms that English is household language in urban India now. Words then got accompanied with alphabets, the sound of alphabets taught through phonetics. Sounds were so enticing for the children and they really took to it. They now could read the sound of each alphabet and read words themselves. By day 7 the whole class of 40 could stand up and deliver 3 lines about themselves in English. That was a sight to see. Computers started from an alien device, that opened up and some things appeared on the screen. It started engaging children from the standpoint of an entertainment devise running the visual, audio and audiovisual mediums. Their own pictures, music, and movies were getting them glued to the computer. Computers then became their visual aid in things they learned in the day. They were taught to type, draw and revise the things they learned in English class earlier in the day. They first got their hands dirty with the keyboard and then the mouse was introduced to them. They now were navigating their own way around the machines. They were getting comfortable. 4th and 5th grade children would often ask if urban kids knew computers even before school. They were not taken off their ground by the things they could see and do with the computer because they were now confident of things they can do and will do. The camp started on day 1 with a record of 84 children, which we were thinking was attributed to some new faces and new activities that were thrown into the mix. This number was expected to drop because it was vacations and children would usually not want to come back to school, a place they don’t like so much. To our surprise, we had our hands full till the day the camp came to an end. Even you can be a part of our efforts right from your home You can send your donations to Ahambhumika C/O Archaeolocial Survey, 4th Floor, G.T.B.Complex, T.T.Nagar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Pin-462003 Phone: +919826472718 (Subrat Goswami) The details of our banking profile are as follows: Bank Name: CANARA BANK, Branch - MAHARANA PRATAP NAGAR, BHOPAL Account No.: 2073101015874 IFSC Code: CNRB0002073 Please draw your Cheques/Demand Drafts in favour of AHAM BHUMIKA SWAYAM SEVI SANSTHA payable at BHOPAL and send them to us by post on the above mentioned address. Important: If you're doing a online transfer to our account, please send us an email on ahambhumika@yahoo.co.in with your address and donation amount, so that we can send you the receipt. VISIT OUR SITE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT US>>
Mail us at: ahambhumika@yahoo.co.in Phone: +919826472718 (Subrat Goswami) Postal Address: Ahambhumika, C/o Archaeolocial Survey, 4th Floor,G.T.B.Complex,T.T.Nagar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Pin-462003
Why have I received this mail? Either because you are connected to an Ahambhumika activist or a friend forwarded this mail to you. How do I unsubscribe? To stop receiving newsletters from Ahambhumika, mail us a request on ahambhumika@yahoo.co.in. How can I help more? You can help by forwarding this message to everyone on your email list! Where do I send feedback? Please send all feedback to ahambhumika@yahoo.co.in or Ahambhumika, C/O Archaeolocial Survey, 4th Floor, G.T.B.Complex, T.T.Nagar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Pin-462003

An NGO   need  support to purchase a Van

Ahambhumika, a Bhopal based NGO which collects clothes and distribute them to the needy school children of villages need fund for the purchase of a Van. We have planned to purchase a Maruti   EECO Van which is costing Rs.3.50 lacs at present. So far we have raised Rs.1.80 lacs for this purpose from individual contributions .We need remaining   Rs.1.70 lacs for the purchase of a Van. We need  favour of  generous people to support us by contributing any amount they may  wish to donate.A Van thus purchased with the help of you people will help us in collection and distribution of clothes to the rural school children on a regular basis with more ease. I shall be highly obliged to you if you could post our appeal on Twitter,Facebook  and other relevant  sites for spreading words. Anyone who wish to donate or have any query  may mail to us at : ahambhumika@gmail.com  

Ahambhumika is a registered NGO based at Bhopal under Firms and Societies Act of Government of M.P. and also registered under Section 12 (A) of Income Tax Act by Income Tax Commissioner.

Here are the account details for the donation

Online Bank Transfer: You can  do account transfer to our savings  account AHAM BHUMIKA SWAYAM SEVI SANSTHA,BHOPAL, ACCOUNT NO.- 2073101015874, IFSC Code- CNRB0002073, Bank - CANARA BANK, Savings Account,Branch - MAHARANA PRATAP NAGAR, BHOPAL (M.P.)

 Important: If you're doing a online transfer to our account, please send us an email with your address and donation amount, so that we can send you the receipt.

Cheques/ DDs:

You can send your donations through account payable Cheques/ DDs in favor of –

AHAM BHUMIKA SWAYAM SEVI SANSTHA, Payable at BHOPAL (M.P.)

For payment through cheque/DD :-

Please prepare Cheque/ DDs by post prepared in favour of

 “Aham Bhumika Swayam Sevi Sanstha “and send it by post to

 Subrat Goswami, Ahambhumika

C/o Archaeological Survey, 4th Floor,

B- Block,G.T.B. Complex,T.T.Nagar

Bhopal-462003 (M.P.)

With profound regards

Subrat Goswami

Founder & volunteer

Ahambhumika

http://ahambhumika.org   

Seeking legal advise for a women to file a case to  enhance maintenance

This post is all about  a needy women who won’t wish to mention her name and identity. Ahambhumika knows her well due to her constant support to Ahambhumika as a volunteer since its inception.

This  woman was forced to leave her husband after  5 years of her marriage, due to the frequent demand of her in law and husband for gold and cash. She had 1 son and  1 girl, the son was forcibly retained by her husband and after a lot of struggle the women won the case for the custody of his son  from Supreme Court .The court had  granted a sum of Rs. 700=00 each for both the children and Rs.1000=00 for women herself as maintenance ( total amount thus  is Rs.2400=00 per month) which is deducted from the salary of her husband from the  year 2005 .The husband is in a government organisation and at present his gross salary is more than Rs.25,000=00 per month. The women has been struggling since long and educating her both the children in a good school .The school of fee of each children comes to Rs.950=00 per month besides many other expense. She leaves with her brother and mother and earns some amount by tuition to few children and with the existing amount of maintenance it has become very difficult for the women to keep continue the study of her children in a good school.But she can not give it up.

Now the women wants to file a case in the court for the enhancement of her maintenance .In this regard people who are reading this post are requested to please connect to us to the people who are in the field of Law and could help us voluntarily. What we need is the legal advise. We need to know the recent favourable verdicts on court cases  pertaining to  the maintenance. The same could be included in the petition while filing for the case for the enhancement of maintenance .Your guidance may help the women in getting a befitting amount as maintenance for herself as well as for her both of the children who are in their tender age.The age of the son is 8 years while the girl is 5 ½ years old and a long life is still ahead.If you are in the field of Law please or you know any one of this field please  suggest / guide us. Please mail us your advise, latest verdicts, rules    at : ahambhumika@gmail.com

With profound regards

Subrat Goswami

Founder

Ahambhumika,Bhopal  

CLOTH BANK – AN EFFORT TO PROVIDE CLOTHES TO RURAL CHILDREN

Most of us reading this mail right now are affluent people having ward robes filled with full of clothes, of almost every colour that matches our personality, combined with accessories to match them. We use them on various occasions, get used to them and switch over to new ones, leaving the older ones there to remain unused till they are old enough to assort our dustbins or maybe are hindrances for newer upgradations to our wardrobe. The most interesting case happens with clothes of children which, inspite of being in their best condition, become useless because the ones wearing them have outgrown them. While this happens, we often fail to realise that there's a major chunk of population in our country, especially children, living in the remote villages of India surviving on shabby,torn clothes, wearing them and wearing them everyday, just to be barely able to cover their bodies.There are instances underpriviledged children as well who spend most of their childhood partly or completely naked. I know after reading all this, many of you might have got inspired to shell out all those apparently useless clothes from your cupboards and send it to those kids. But then something stops you, that who the hell's gonna take the pains of finding those kids to give them the clothes? Here's where Ahambhumika steps in.

The initiative Ahambhumika has taken up  is titled Cloth Bank.

Cloth Bank's prime objective is to cater to the needs of those needy village children need clothes that are just proper enough to be worn. But nothing is possible without help from you guys. And the help we need isn't a big one. You just need to shell out those usless clothes and send them to us. You can send them to us by post or courier or drop at our center and give them to us personally. The only expese you incur are the sending charges, maybe 50 to 200 INR. The clothes sent to us, however, must be in good condition, with little or almost no physical damage done to it. This is just to ensure that the clothes are wearable by the children. The age group of children targeted for donations ranges from 3 to 15 years and we accept clothing of almost all styles like shirts, pants, trousers, shorts, kurtas, t-shirts (for both boys and girls), salwar-kameez, churidars, or even sarees or about any type of clothing you consider good enough to be sent to us.

The ones who can't help Cloth Bank with clothes for the given age group can help us with monetary donations if they wish. The donation made can be according to your generosity which can be as little as Rs. 365 per year which amounts to Re. 1 a day.

Regards

Subrat Goswami

VISIT OUR SITE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT US>> http://ahambhumika.org