Akanksha Foundation, Mumbai : Newsletter for April 2007
Akanksha Update April 2007
The Akanksha Foundation is a non-profit organization that educates less privileged children from slum areas. Over the past 16 years, Akanksha has managed to create opportunities for over 2600 children who study in 55 Akanksha centres (32 in Mumbai and 23 in Pune) and another 1000 children through the School Project (3 schools in Mumbai and 5 in Pune).
Akanksha Mumbai
Education
During the month of April we completed all the end of year reviews and appraisals for our centres & teachers. Each of the centres had an end of year project which highlighted the learnings which happened over the course of the year. The projects ranged from oral presentations, displays, skits, interactive stations, puppet shows, travel guides, planner launches and songs. The following centers were recognized for their outstanding year end projects: Bandra Petit, Campion, LTL, Worli 1, Xaviers, St. Josephs 2, and Yuvathi Sharan. Congratulations to all our teachers, volunteers, helpers, social workers, and AEMs for helping to make this a successful year for our students.
Beyond School
22 kids graduated from Akanksha at the Annual General Meeting 2007. 11 mentors from different mentor groups got awards for showing commitment and sincerity through the year.
All the Beyond School Centres put a lot of effort in making their end of year projects creative and innovative and they were all superb in their own unique ways. The themes were distinct and brilliant like a travel tour around the world depicting the culture and information about various countries around the world, various stalls and games set up to showcase learning, an exhibition of the kids’ photographs and their thoughts, dances and many more interesting activities and displays.
8 kids from the 4 Beyond School Centre have joined the Govt recognized AC Mechanic course at TACRI. They are partly sponsored by the institute.
The School Project
We conducted a 2 week remedial class for around 50 children for 2 hours a day at
We are in discussions with the BMC to enhance the scope of working in the school in their new ‘school partnership’ scheme.
Social Work
A general medical camp was conduct across Cuffe Parade centres on 15april with the help of Dr. Pankaj who is a member of plan that is helping us put together a medical plan.
Eye camp follow ups were done at the
An empowerment inter center competition was conducted for 6 centres. The idea behind this was to simply recap all that students had learnt through the year and to emphasis on key take-aways from all the sessions.
Finance
Amanda Pullin and Helen McMahon from the organization KINOE in the
KINOE is holding a fundraiser on the 6th May with the
Akanksha Fund New York is holding a fund raiser – a Jazz Qawwali evening on 8th May and tickets are available for sale on www.nycharities.org. They have a great event lined up which will appeal to music lovers, do spread the word to any friends or family who are in
Pernilla and Caroline of Carnegie Social Intiatives in
The Leadership Program
Learning to Lead
The month of April was eventful for LTL. The older kids returned after their Xth Board exams, completed their Akanksha assessments and started work on the year end project i.e. writing for the planner.
From April 14 April 16 LTL went for summer retreat to Nashik. The new batch of LTL also joined them. The students got an opportunity with Mr. Anil Gadgil, an engineer by profession but who conducts sessions on Live the Life you Love. He spent most of the day with the students discussing the need for achievement and how one is responsible for ones life. Life gives you what you ask of it was his quote.
On 26th April LTL launched its planner at Crossword. Mr. Govindraj Ethiraj Editor (New Media) Business standard was the chief guest. The students narrated their experience and learnings through the year and also read some of the excerpts from the planner. The planner portrayed the two ends of the spectrum, the dark reality and the bright future. The response to the launch and planner sale has been overwhelming and we would like to thank everyone who made it possible and those who attended.
Social Leadership Program
SLP recruitments are on. We have chosen 26 after their personal interview and through projects that they were assigned, they were judged on attitude, performance and learning.
SLP2 graduated this year and were part of a very special graduation for which parents were invited.
SLP 2 & 3 are starting their summer internships. 6 students are interning at Karjat. 6 girls are helping with summer camp. 2 are with
The Traineeship Program
Traineeship interviews were conducted in April. There are 4 trainees who will be part of Akanksha and one will be placed in an external firm. The Akanksha trainees are an SLP trainee, two teacher trainees and one school sports trainee. They will begin their traineeship program from the month of June.
Akanksha Teacher Fellowship
The fellows finished the first year of the program and to congratulate them on surviving a year that saw them adapt, change and grow so tremendously, we brought together the entire team to celebrate. The next year will see fellows spend half their day in centres teaching.
The Akanksha Art Workshops
At Akanksha, we believe that art has the power to unleash a childs potential irrespective of whether he is privileged or less privileged.
For 2 hours everyday for a week, the Akanksha Art students will be teaching 5 to 10 year old children to discover more about themselves while learning about Indian Folk art. The module has been designed to incorporate complicated art concepts that have been modified to fit into a childs world view.
Registrations are open for batches in
Akanksha Pune
Education
The teachers meeting was held on the 14th of April. We started with Appreciation Chits being read out. All of us as a team then discussed organizational culture. Everyone contributed their thoughts and we created a list of Rules and Code of Conduct which we would observe as a team. We then spent some time writing one professional and personal learning and one service anecdote, which we shared with the entire team. The teachers were then split into groups and were given materials. They prepared a model of an Akanksha classroom in their groups and presented it to the other groups. The meeting ended with an Akanksha Volunteer coming in to teach our teachers how to make coolers. We all got to sip the coolers after jotting down the recipes.
Year End Teachers lunch was held on the 28th of April. We began with appreciations which went on for quite a while as it was the year end meeting. The teachers and staff were then made to hear a song and sing along. Karishma didi then taught all of us dance steps and we all danced together. Mahalaxmi didi then went through the Education Convention sessions with the teachers informing them of all the changes that were made. We played Pictionary for a short while in groups and tested each others drawing skills. The day ended with all the teachers taking on the role of chefs. Four groups of teachers were given stalls with ingredients. They had to prepare different items like, Sev Batata Puri , Cold coffee, Corn bhel and Cream Crackers with yummy toppings.
Each group then presented their dish to the rest of us and tried convincing us why their food item should be eaten by us! J J We then got to eat all that was prepared and it was a treat! J
Year end projects – Many centres had put in lot of thought and effort in their year end projects . The teachers showed learning at their centres through games, plays, songs, dances, stalls, and other presentations. Adults learning was also showcased. In some centres, the kids were the anchors of the programme and spoke confidently in English.
The parents were also involved in different games with their children and so they got to see how much their children have learnt. The Social Workers also conducted quizzes to check on parents learning from the Parent Meetings conducted through the year. Attendance certificates were given to children qualifying as per Akanksha norms and deserving children received awards. We got to see some very interesting takeaways for all the guests. J
AGM
To celebrate yet another year of learning of all our kids and the small steps and big leaps that we as individuals and as an organization have taken, all Akanksha didis, bhaiyyas, friends, sponsors and well wishers congregated at SIMS on 25th April for the Annual General Meeting. The theme for this years AGM in continuance with the focus for the year was, Be the change.
The small kids from the AVIVA Aundh Centre danced to A R Rahmans Gurus of Peace to represent the central theme of their Be the change project Peace. The kids put together a life size lotus on stage, which again is a symbol of change. The kids from the Karvenagar morning Centre put together a tableau to Celine Dions- A new day has come. Their service angels depicted moments of strife and change at home, in school, in children and in the environment and the power of one. The children from the AVIVA Wakadewadi centre auctioned Be the change products; bags, dustbins, pen stands, diaries and cards, made completely of re cycled paper.
The AVIVA Aundh centre for the second year was a Model Centre, a very challenging task to accomplish as it means meeting norms in childrens attendance, dropouts, language, math, self esteem, good time scores, parent meeting attendance, volunteer attendance, teacher attendance and performance. Congratulation to the Aundh Centre!!!
Richa, Hemal, Namrata and Dhanlaxmi didis took away the awards as outstanding performance- teachers and Ritika, Kanchan and Reeves took away the awards for outstanding performance- staff.
We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to every single person who attended the AGM.
Summer Camp
The Summer Camp this year is centred on the Environment and kids from Zensar Morning, Zensar Afternoon, Kirloskars 1, Forbes Marshall 2, Kothrud Morning, Kothrud Afternoon and
Mumbai: The Akanksha Foundation,
Mumbai 400 033. Telefax: 23700253 Tel: 23729880
Pune: The Akanksha Foundation, 102, HEMOPAL, Next to Joshi Wadawala, Wakadewadi, Bombay Pune Road, Pune 411 005. Tel: 020- 25821000 and 25821001
Visit us at http://www.akanksha.org/