Alcoa spreading smiles
The employees of Alcoa and the children from Smile Foundation celebrated the spirit of sportsmanship with an employee engagement activity. The employees spent a day with Smile Foundation children playing and enjoying. And also pledged to support the education of the children of Smile Foundation.
Employees of Alcoa were teamed up with Smile children and they played games and did balloon race, 3-legged race and many other. The sportsmanship and the spirit of togetherness made the employees of Alcoa to take the best foot forward to make their teams win.
Smile on Wheels in Patan
Smile Foundation with support from Cairn India rolls out its Smile on Wheels for Patan district, Gujarat. This mobile hospital is designed to take healthcare services to the doorsteps of 22 identified villages in the district. 70,000 rural poor will benefit directly from this project.
This project is focused on providing primary healthcare services to the people in the identified areas. Cairn India has supported this project with the objective of addressing the critical healthcare needs of the people living in the areas surrounding the project.
Cairn India is also supporting four more Smile on Wheels, which are operational in the rural areas of Jamnagar district in Gujarat and Barmer district in Rajasthan.
Dreams to fly high
Born orphan and saved by a eunuch! This is not a plot from a Bollywood’s blockbuster film but the real story of Adil.
Salma, a eunuch, picked the baby and took him to her small house in Khapri, Mumbai. Salma named the little boy Adil and started raising him as a son. Adil became the world for Salma. Days were passing and Adil was growing. Salma wanted to bring all the happiness in his life. She wanted to send Adil to school.
But her poor financial condition was a problem and kept worring her. It was during a counseling session conducted by Smile Foundation in the locality that Salma came to know about a Mission Education centre of Smile Foundation. She visited the centre and discussed her problems and concerns. Smile advised Salma to get Adil enrolled in Navjyoti School – Misson Education Centre, free of any cost, located within the campus of Navjeevan village.
Adil is 12 now. He has passed the seventh standard with flying colours. He is a multi-talented and jovial kid and is popular among his peers. He takes part in all curricular and academic activities. He aspires to become a fighter pilot in the India Air Force.
Aligarh Muslim University empowering Smile children
Every child has a right to education and good health, and to help them achieving this right Smile Foundation in collaboration with Helping Hands Society run by a group of students of Aligarh Muslim University launched a 10-day campaign ‘IBADAT’ in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh to sensitize the civil society to take part in ensuring, education, healthcare and other support to the underprivileged children, which will change their future forever.
Encouraged by their professors and the esteemed university, several students under different faculties in the university made different teams to raise resources and provided competitive ambience to each other in order to raise maximum amount. The students used various methods of sensitization such as social networking sites and door to door sensitization to sensitize the fellow students to give their best and spread awareness about the need of education.
The fund-raising drive culminated with a felicitation ceremony for the students who gave their best to raise funds for Smile Foundation.
66th Independence Day celebration
Smile Foundation’s Mission Education projects in Jajpur, supported by Jindal Stainless Limited, celebrated the 66th Independence Day with great enthusiasm. After the flag hoisting ceremony various cultural programme were performed by the students.
Distinguished dignitaries from Jindal Stainless Limited, members of Mothers Associations and members of Village Education Committees also attended the programmes.
All of them addressed the students and threw light on the importance of the day and their duties towards the country. It was a rich experience for the students who cherished the value of freedom and patriotism.
Sky is the limit for Yasmeen…
It was all darkness for Yasmeen when she thought of standing on her feets few years back. Today she supports her father in running a family of four.
Yasmeen wanted to become a Fashion Designer but had to quit schooling after 10th due to the poor financial conditions of her family. They live in Shashtri Nagar in Goregaon West, Mumbai. Her father works in a nearby factory and does not earn enough to support the whole family. Yasmeen’s mother is a housewife and her younger brother is studying in school and is very young to earn anything.
Yasmeen once expressed her intention to work to her father.
Her father, being extremely conservative, did not like the idea of Yasmeen working in office with male colleagues and decided to get her married off. Yasmeen knew she could earn more than her father and can support her brother continuing his studies.
It was then when she came to know about STeP programme running in her area. She immediately decided to join the programme and convinced her father also. She joined the course and learnt Basic Computers, Spoken English, and Interaction with clients. Till the time she completed the course she got placed in lifestyle- a leading apparel showroom as a Sales Executive.
Sky is the limit for her. She is earning a decent salary. Yasmeen’s father can’t stop beaming with pride now. He has no plans to get Yasmeen to marry her off in recent future. If somebody comes with any options he clearly says, “This is Yasmeen’s wish. After all this is her life”
Barclays Shared Services sharing happiness
Barclays Shared Services celebrated Independence Day with a difference.
Employees of Barclays Shared Services came down to Nai Disha Mission Education centre in Noida to celebrate the day with Smile Foundation children. It all started with a teaching session wherein the volunteers of Barclays Shared Services taught Smile children with the help of games.
The next day, Barclays employees took the children for a trip to the Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi. The children were shown a 45 minutes programme that educated them about the universe. The children also got a tour of the museum where they visited life stages of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
Bringing smiles to the much needed
Kalu Ram lives in Tallai Kacchi Basti, Jhalana Durgi in Jaipur, with his family of five. He and his wife barely managed two square meals a day by breaking stones
The community he lives in has a population of around 22,000.
Not worring about anything else, Kalu Ram and his wife just work very hard for the family, putting in extra time and effort every day. They were managing well, when Kalu Ram suddenly fell so much ill that he had to stop going to work completely, thus throwing the whole family off balance. He started having sporadic spells of severe fever and suffered breathing problem. Kalu Ram never thought of visiting a doctor for the reason that it will ate up his wife’s income also in the treatment.
Kalu Rama’s elder son then came to know about Smile on Wheels from his friend. He took his father to the mobile hospital. The time when Kalu Ram visited Smile on Wheels, he was suffering from fever spell. The doctors diagnosed that Kalu Ram is suffering from Tuberculosis. Doctors informed his family that due to excessive inhalation of dust Kalu Ram has developed respiratory allergies which because of being neglected aggravated to TB. The doctors referred him in a DOT centre to start treatment immediately and advised him to continuously visit the Smile on Wheels.
With regular treatment there was visible improvement in Kalu Ram’s health. Smile on Wheel’s doctors say that Kalu Ram will be fit soon to go to work very soon.
Open House meetings for children
TThree Open House meetings involving around 100 children have been conducted in Mission Education centre Diksha Foundation, Patna, to involve the children in the decision making process. Open House meetings are a common practice in the space of alternative education and help create an open space – where learners feel a high sense of ownership and are not afraid to voice their opinions. It also promotes group learning, apart from building a non-hierarchical classroom.
In one of the meetings, both the learners and teachers shared the challenges which they are facing, for example time allocation for usage of computer by individual children. Another issue pertained to dance practice – as many of the children are interested in it. Through these meetings, children also get insights into the meaning of democracy and equity. It further helps the officials to get a direct feedback on their work from the children.
Twenty Smile girls join Madura Fashion & Lifestyle
Around 20 girls from Bangalorebased Mission Education centre Sisters of Charity have been provided employment with Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, the retail wing of Aditya Birla Group.
These girls were part of the Gruhini (woman) course, which provides training in tailoring and other related activities. Apart from a monthly salary, these girls have also been provided with hostel facility and canteen services for a nominal sum. So far, about 150 students of the centre have been placed in Madura Fashion & Lifestyle. The association has helped these students get exposure in a corporate set-up. Earlier, the girls would work from home on nominal wages. But now they are get regular salaries and are able to support the education of their younger siblings through their savings. Till now, 250 students of the Gruhini course have been placed in retail units like Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, K Mohan and Aravind Garments in the last three years.
Polio awareness rally held in Barmer
On the eve of the National Polio Pulse campaign on January 20, a polio eradication awareness rally was conducted in Ranakpur village, Barmer to spread awareness among the common masses about the debilitating disease and motivate them to bring their young children for polio immunisation drive.
The rally, conducted in association with the district health department, was flagged off by CMHO, Barmer Dr. Jitendra Singh from the district Swasthya Bhawan. About 300 students of GNMTC Government Hospital took part in the procession which passed through the village. Apart from CMHO, others attending the rally included RCHO Dr. M.L. Maurya, AYUSH Coordinator Dr. Anil Jha, and senior officials of GNMTC.
The awareness rally was part of the preventive healthcare measures adopted under the Smile on Wheels programme in the rural areas of Barmer, Rajasthan in partnership with CAIRN India.
Student's mobilisation camps held in Klinganagar
Monthly students’ mobilisation camps have been conducted in the remedial centres set up in five schools in Danagadi block of Kalinganagar area in Jajpur district since January. The remedial centres, set up in partnership with Jindal Stainless, provide additional coaching support to underprivileged students lagging in studies.
Through these camps efforts are undertaken to develop linkages with the students, assess their progress, mobilise the students to focus on their studies and also develop an understanding of the difficulties faced by the students.
Feedback forms with questions pertaining to current educational status of the students, problems faced within their families or school surroundings, teachers’ attendance, and indifferent attitude of the teachers are circulated among all the students. These feedback forms are meticulously studied by the programme staff to effectively address the concerns of the students.
The mobilisation camps have helped improve the outcome of teaching learning process in the remedial centres, while also establishing rapport with the community in the area.
Odisha State Youth Policy 2013 consultations
Smile Foundation took part in the consultative sessions towards the formulation of the Odisha State Youth Policy 2013 in February. The Youth Policy aims to pave the way for expending opportunities through youth centric programmes and investment in the youth by mainstreaming their concern across sectors to expand the scope of youth participation, engagement and involvement in
economic, political, social and cultural spheres. The state government was holding consultations with NGOs, grassroots organisations and experts to gather their inputs on the needs and concerns of youth in the formulation of the policy, which has been launched in April by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
At the consultative session, Smile Foundation shared its learning from Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) with specific inferences to livelihood programme. So far, 13,448 urban underprivileged youth have been trained under the STeP programme and 9633 of them have been employed in more than 140 brands from retail and service sectors across India.
'Change agents' felicitated
O n the occasion of International Women’s Day, Swabhiman felicitated its 12 ‘change agents’ from Shri Ram JJ Camp in Dhaula Kuan, Delhi, for their valuable contribution to the success of the integrated community development project being carried out in the area, in partnership with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). These change agents – Community Health Educators and Swabhiman Health Volunteers – work all year round for bringing about a behaviour change in the community towards education of girl children, empowerment of women and adolescent girls and seeking healthcare services in the area.
A nukad natak (street play) was performed for the 150-odd women and adolescent girls from the community, highlighting social evils and decadent practices like female foeticide, dowry system, early marriages, etc.
Quality Initiative Mission Award 2013
This year’s Quality Initiative Mission Award has been awarded to Mission Education programme of Smile Foundation for innovation and excellence in school education. The award was presented by noted educationist Prof. B.P. Khandelwal, who is associated with the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE).
The Quality Initiative Mission Award has been instituted by the Knowledge Resource Development & Welfare Group.
Education centre for women
An adult education centre was set up in February at Chainpura village in Vijaipur, Madhya Pradesh, to cater to women of the village, majority of who are illiterate. The demand for the centre was raised during a routine parent-teacher meeting at the village, where currently a bridge course is being conducted for the children, in partnership with GAIL (India) Ltd. Several women who attended the meeting keenly expressed a desire to study and become literate. Most of these women come from families that are into daily wage work.
Currently, the centre caters to about 25 women. There are no fixed timings as these women try to juggle farm work and household responsibilities. A teacher has been appointed to teach them basic language skills in Hindi and English and simple maths through a specially formulated weekly lesson plan.
The centre has brought about an improvement in the functional literacy level among the women as they can now read and write Hindi and English alphabets and do counting of numbers. Some women can even read books with little assistance from the teacher.
Vijaipur issues in MP Jan Abhiyan Parishad
S mile Foundation was invited in January to take part in discussions with the Guna block level officers of Madhya Pradesh Jan Abhiyan Parishad (MPJAP), a nodal body of the state government working on issues like education, environment, malnutrition, healthcare, etc. at the village level.
The meeting was chaired by District Coordinator, MPJAP, Mrs. Manjusha Soloman and discussed issues related to Right to Education (RTE), malnutrition, environment conservation, energy, total sanitation campaign, etc at the village level. The programme team also got an opportunity to further linkages with the government officials and apprised them about the Integrated Education and Health Programme being carried out by Smile Foundation in the five villages of Vijaipur.
Also discussed was the setting up of an Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centre in Chainpura village to improve the nutritional and health status of children in these villages.
