Kathryn Schembri is our International volunteer from Melbourne, Australia. She is doing her graduation in Health Sciences and Master of Occupational Therapy. She is a trained Gymnastic Coach and a very lively individual. She volunteered with our Project Enhance children for a week from 14th Jan 2013 to 18th Jan 2013 at Pune, Maharashtra. She taught the girls Gymnastics; a wonderful learning experience for the girls in the project
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As a part of their 'Global Day Celebrations ' Nielsen (Baroda, Gujarat, India) has partnered with Colorss Foundation to involve 25 disadvantaged children and 5 women from the Sanjaynagar slum area at Nature Park, Sindhrot, Baroda – Gujarat. The event started at 9:30 am with break-fast and then series of activities. We started around 4 pm back for Baroda.
Colorss Foundation strives to build a better future for the disadvantaged children and women. The foundation aspires to build a family of like-minded people whose motive would be to empower socially deprived children and women with qualities like self-confidence, responsibility, and self-esteem, at the same time ensuring that the disadvantaged children complete their school education. Colorss has been working towards its vision, thus contributing in whatsoever manner possible to strengthen the deprived communities and get them in closer proximity to what may seem alien or new to them. It has also been striving hard to inspire and transform individuals and volunteers to take action and serve the society and in turn give back to the communities where we belong.
The Global Day Celebrations included the below mentioned activities: The activities include cartoon strip competition, trekking and the launch of E-zine. E-zine is the output of a Colorss Foundation project - ‘Colors of Life’. ‘Colors of Life’ uses technology for lowering school dropouts. Children write essays on specially chosen topics that trigger brain stimulation and create curiosity. These topics are published to E-zine, this significantly increases their self-esteem. The cartoon strip competition achieves similar objectives and also helps pass positive messages.
Namrata sharing about her experience about the event, she says,’ I really enjoyed my journey to the Nature Park. The surroundings, nature and ‘Neel Guy’ that we saw was a great moment. When the E-zine was launched it thrilled me thoroughly and when I saw my photograph in the E-zine I was very very happy. That particular moment is very precious and I can’t explain it. When the cartoon strip competition started I was little scared, unsure about my performance. However, when we got the topic ‘Environment’ I was able to understand what I will put in the cartoon strip. It’s a thoroughly great experience that we had. I am very happy and thankful to you all’
Aruna Ben – parent she says,’ When I saw my daughter’s photograph in the E-zine, I was very happy. I realized the potential of my daughter. It was a great feeling my daughter made me feel proud. Today in front of everyone when the E-zine was launched I was not aware of what’s happening. It was only when my daughter got the copy and showed me. The nature park trip has been an eye opener it made me realize the talent of my daughter. Thank you.’
Sonu Shah [Associate Director Nielsen] – We are happy to partner with Colorss Foundation on our Global Impact Day. We have got the children to Nature park near Sindhroth village. This was a one day event and the interaction with the children was great. Generally the children don’t interact when they see new faces, however in the case of the children from Colorss’ it was great as they mingled with each other and with the entire staff of Nielsen. The cartoon strip competition was wonderful and they have performed really well. The theme of the cartoon strip competition was ‘Environment’. We all had a wonderful time.
Definitely you can…I saw and learnt this from these small kids who although came from a weak socioeconomic background, often separated families still had a smile on their faces and zeal to learn and change the way their life was.
While they were introducing themselves I noticed that they had family problems, e. g death of a parent or separated families. Most of the mothers worked in other houses doing the household chores to earn a living or fathers worked in factories or buildings as laborers.
It was an urge to teach small children which made me to join Colorss as a volunteer. My task which seemed to be very easy to me initially turned out to be a challenge for me. I was supposed to take a 45 min class, making children of class 6-9 standard write articles on a few topics.
Priyanka teaching the girl students at our Project Enhance - Pune
I started with an article on My Ambition, where I had not only to explain the meaning of ambition to children but also had to assist each of them in framing sentences ,making them spell every word properly and translating their thoughts from Hindi to English. This took 30 min for me and there was hardly any time left for any other activity. It was a kind of surprise for me to see children of 8th grade unable to spell “will” “have” “doctor” “because”. I felt the presence of a loop hole in the education system where students of an English medium school were not well versed in spellings and general English.
I thought of doing it another way. Next day I divided them into teams and told them to ask spellings from the opponent team. This sense of competition made some of them to find difficult words from their text books such as “environment” and learn them. This little effort of the children was encouraging for me. I also introduced some games in the class such as “Bring a thing” where students had to bring specific objects from their teammates such as “A black Reynolds pen or a paper boat”. Although I could not work for a long time as my vacations were going to be over, but it was an experience I would cherish forever.Something definitely needs to be done somewhere and Colorss is an attempt to do it.
After joining Colorss as a volunteer, with Anand sir’s support I was more than comfortable and enjoyed every bit of work. Anand sir’s briefing of everything about children, their background, talents, general behavioral tendencies were helpful to know children better. I would like to thank Anand Sir for giving me the opportunity and believing in me. It was something very different and satisfying I could have done in 4 years of my college life. I enjoyed it and learnt a lot from it.
Priyanka Trivedi
VIT Vellore
Volunteered with Colorss at Pune
Volunteers are the constant support to Colorss. But, what exactly are the volunteers doing? How are they doing it? and why are they doing it! These are all those infinite questions that many people think about or ask. Well, it's better that we hear the volunteers sharing their experiences! It gives more clarity to the subject 'volunteering' and the 'content' of joy felt by them.
This video would also help all those new volunteers/interns who are planning to support Colorss. Watch this video wherein our volunteers are sharing themselves. As Colorss continues to make great strides on the
social front, let’s take a vow to contribute in whatsoever manner possible to
reach out to people in our communities and societies to enhance, empower and
energize them.
"If you want love or if you want to give back
love”, then you are all set to join the social bandwagon!
We are always there to answer your questions – we are here to make things simple. Are you joining us! Why don’t you share us – it’s also a great volunteering service you can do! Well the choice is absolutely yours!
On
the 15th of September this year, Pune was witness to the 4th
Anniversary Celebrations of Colorss. Colorss foundation commemorated this
occasion by organizing a flashmob [on 14th of September 2012] to
perform at Symbiosis Law School around noon time. Later that evening around
7pm, the same mob performed in Pheonix Marketcity, Pune.
The
flashmob was organised by the combined efforts of almost 50 participants who
were all proud of the fact that they had managed to come up with an innovative
idea to spread their cause. As Sweksha Ballabh puts it, “From
practicing all day and night for the flash mob, to performing it in front of
over 100 people, the excitement that this event has brought to our lives is
splendid. The event was very well planned and organized by an amazing team of
volunteers. I am so glad that I got a chance to be a part of such a noble
event”.
Aditi,
who is a first year student in Symbiosis chimes in, “15th September,
2012 was when we realized that working for a good cause can come with loads of
fun, frolic, and dance. It was not just about the dance in the end or the
socializing that was inevitable, it came with immense satisfaction. Having
worked with Colorss Foundation in its various other projects, this one was
definitely awesome”.
Flashmob at Pheonix Marketcity, Pune
Even
the audience were left amazed by the team’s performance. A participant who was
witness to the flashmob stated that, “The flash mob was a unique way to
create awareness about the cause and about Colorss Foundation. It was an
inspiration to all those who took part”. Some of the many faces behind this
event include Nikita Puri, Abraham Verghese, Dhiraj Khatri, Stuti Prasad and
Nikita Lamba.
From left: Stuti Prasad, Dhiraj Khatri, Nikita Lamba and Nikita Puri
The next
day afternoon, Colorss foundation continued the celebrations by organising a
Walkathon from Symbiosis Law School to Pune Central, University Road. The
Walkathon which covered a distance of approximately 5 kilometres saw about 50
participants who covered this distance with the knowledge that their effort was
spent in raising awareness about a worthy cause.
Although
the celebrations are in the past now, Colorss Foundation has found a new lease
of life in all the efforts that its volunteers put in for the event and is now
fuelled with the positive energy it created to go through another year filled
with the aim of reaching out to more underprivileged kids! For Love,
The original plan for the class on 21st July 2012 in Navprerna was to show the children the e-magazine on the internet but due to some technical error we were unable to do so.
We then decided to do some simple speed math using flashcards.We divided the class of 18 (11 boys and 7 girls) into two equal groups. Each of us separately conducted the activity with one group. We started by explaining the rules of the game - each card will not be shown for more than 2 seconds and the students had to write only the answers in their books. For the first round, we decided to keep it simple, thus we started with just 10 questions/cards. We used cards for addition and subtraction only. Then we conducted two more rounds of 10 questions each.We noticed that the performance on the whole was not bad.
Some students did very well, like Kajal Chauhan and Rita Katara who scored 30/30.
Others made mistakes in reading the signs (whether it was + or-) or they would not notice where the blank was, whether it was in the question or answer. For example in the question 9+_ =15, they would write 24 as the answer rather than 6, i.e. they would simply add up all the numbers they could see on the card. A few of them often did not look at the card and missed the question. Their concepts of addition and subtraction are quite clear, but they either lack confidence or do not pay enough attention to the question.We will probably conduct a similar exercise again also including questions on multiplication and division.
Conducted by Ankita Bhagwat and Shreya Hiryur [Baroda Team]
One can never emphasise on the importance of education much. If the present and future of any society is to be bettered it is only through education. Unfortunately in our developing society, many underprivileged children are denied the right to education. In fact, not just denied but do you know that 50% of children discontinue education after 8th grade? These is our target population. We at Colorss have taken up the responsibility of making sure that underprivileged children enrolled in schools do not drop out and continue their education. We are currently carrying the project out in 3 schools: Mahadji Shinde High School, Dr. Ambedkar Memorial School, and Navprerna- day care-club of Navrachna School.
The project offers a mix of creative arts, psychology and technology to help these children. We conduct hourly sessions twice a week in which exercises are carried out asking students to draw and write on a topic that inspires them or fuels their imagination. These are compiled together in the form of an e-zine. The students are also trained in computer usage and hence by such activities we seek to improve their communication, writing, analysis and interpersonal skills. Through these activites a portal for extra-curriculars is provided to the students which ensures that they have more interest in their schooling and that they continue their education.
As always, volunteers and donations are more than welcomed. We need your help in turning our small steps into big steps. If you think you are well-equipped to conduct workshops on creative writing, personality development and communication skills, feel free to contact us. You can also help us by donating drawing, writing and other relevant materials or monetary aid. Any sort of contribution is valued and appreciated. Our volunteers and donors are our biggest asset and the life blood of this organization.
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill
When I first contacted Anand, founder of Colorss Foundation for volunteer teaching at one of the several schools run for the underprivileged in Pune I was not sure what I was getting into -- there was a will to help but not a true grit; there was a path to tread on but no one to lead the way.
But having been associated with the kids and the foundation itself for quite a while I can affirmatively say that it has been a truly rewarding experience. From the very first day when I was introduced to the principal and members of the staff at Dr. Ambedkar Memorial High School school by Anand , everyone including the children have been very warm and welcoming . I have no previous experience as a teacher/tutor and was initially skeptical about how I would handle a bunch of exuberant kids but I was surprised at the level of discipline and knowledge in the students of Project Enhance which made the ice breaking process seamless and easy.
From playing "Fire in the mountain" to singing "Happy and you know it" in perfect harmony to teaching me the basics of Karate and martial arts the kids have been lovely and I have enjoyed every bit of my time with them. Some of the kids are particularly brilliant and surprised me with a "Nice to meet you" and a firm, confident handshake at the end of one of my sessions at Dr. Ambedkar Memorial High School with the enhance girl students.
This Saturday I got an opportunity to visit the Mahadji Shinde High school where I was introduced to the principal and the team of volunteers including Dhiraj , Neha and Nikita. I interacted with the girl students of project enhance who have been learning karate at an average duration of one to two years variably amongst the group and got their feedback regarding how karate/martial arts has impacted both physiological and psychological aspects of their lives.
The girls were very enthusiastic about sharing their karate learning experience and willingly stood up to talk about the same. Most of them agreed to the fact that their posture has improved and slouching/sluggishness while walking and other normal daily activities has reduced to a great extent. Showing off their power with a mighty punch on my palm they also said that their efficiency and stamina in lifting heavy objects and other tasks that involve a firm grip like holding on to a bus pole steadily has also improved. They said that the karate classes has given school a whole new perspective and that not only has it been a great learning experience but also immense fun . Some of them admitted that the karate classes were the highlight of the school for them and that they attended just so they could be a part of it all.
Amongst psychological aspects they said that the physical well being and a sense of self reliance which comes from the fact that they are better equipped to defend themselves in the face of danger has promoted an overall sense of well being and comfort in their minds. Even though the rigorous physical nature of this sport would leave them exhausted by the end of the class, girls said that they felt very mentally active and alert after the karate sessions.
They also admitted that their concentration level has improved and studies have become fun because they listen and understand better. Some felt that their minds were able to reject the antagonism, hardships and anguish in their life amidst their community because they are simply happier on account of having learnt something novel and fun which they can share with their family and members of the community.
I believe I have seen only one facet of this magnificent problem of education that our society faces today and that it will take generations to uproot it completely. But a firm belief in the capabilities of these children, a helping hand and little bit of your time can go a long way in bringing a smile on the faces of these little kids who never have and never will have access to the same opportunities that you and I had growing up as a child .
It is immensely gratifying to be a part of a great cause like this and there is no joy greater than sharing a part of the bread that you have earned for yourself.
