Monsoon Issue - 2016
smilescapes
First- aid training for auto-rickshaw & cab drivers at CNG stations
The Smile on Wheels mobile hospital project in Delhi-NCR, being supported by IGL, has been successfully conducting first-aid training, health awareness and counseling sessions for auto-rickshaw & cab drivers, besides providing them with doorstep preventive and curative healthcare services.
These drivers are usually the sole bread winners in the family and stay away from regular healthcare or even awareness owing to the nature of their work. The mobile hospital visits designated CNG gas stations in Delhi NCR that are frequented by such drivers.
Equipping them to handle emergency situations, the first aid training covers all general road accident scenarios. Anger management, drug and alcohol addiction, hypertension and STDs are some of the main subjects on which the drivers are counseled.
First- aid training for auto-rickshaw & cab drivers at CNG stations
Children from Mission Education centres at Kannoh, Pata, Vaisundhara and Khanpur villages were invited to participate in Science Exhibition at the Auraiya Mahotsav 2016.
Organised by the District Science Club, the exhibition is an opportunity for students to learn new science concepts through easy demonstrations, interact with like-minded students from other schools, cities and villages, and display their own knowledge and interpretation of the principles of science.
Excited and enthusiastic preparations began months earlier as the children got ready with their innovative models and informative posters. A street play called “Mitti Pani Mein Sona Hai” on the properties of soil and water was also presented by girl children from the centres.
The children put up a great show which was highly appreciated by all visitors.
Home visits in Telangana to identify and train deserving youth
Volunteers and trainers from STeP programme went from door to door in the slum clusters of Nizamabad, Telengana, to raise awareness about the importance of skill training for youth. Young men and women, along with their parents were counseled on how they could build a better future.
Many of these youth have been engaged as daily wagers in small shops and factories, earning a bare minimum. Some have not been able to pursue higher studies, while others have not even finished school – owing to difficult circumstances at home. Unable to get any jobs in the organized job market, they had picked up whatever work they could find to help their families survive.
The door-to-door visits have been highly successful in mobilising the community and enrolling more and more deserving youth under STeP.
National consultation on sustainable growth of grassroots NGOs
Smile Foundation, in association with Wilde Ganzen, conducted a two-day national consultation on “Action for Sustainable Growth” aimed at capacity building of grassroots NGOs, by giving them firsthand training by the industry experts in areas such as CSR Act – how to raise and manage CSR funds, proposal writing, project management and good governance.
24 grassroots NGOs from nine states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh participated in the consultation.
Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General and CEO of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India), inaugurated the seminar and mentored the training programme, along with experts and trainers from organisations like KPMG and Ericsson.
The initiative was part of Smile Foundation’s Empowering Grassroots programme under which genuine community-based organizations are identified and handheld to enhance their accountability, sustainability, scalability and leadership, and efforts are made to bring excellence in their work on ground.
Swabhiman communities across India celebrate Women's Day
Workshop on Relationships, Intimacy and Sexuality Education
A life skill session was held for adolescent girls on Relationships, Intimacy and Sexuality Education. The workshop addressed several issues that adolescents face and included hands-on experiential exercises on identity formation and confusion, sexual developments in the body during puberty, women and child safety, personal choice and consent, etc.
The session started with an introduction, followed by an energising activity during which generic queries on the subject were raised by the resource person, inviting enthusiastic answers by the participants. Easy to understand animation movies were screened later on menstrual hygiene and sexual abuse.
After the workshop, the girls were happy to have cleared their doubts regarding their personal health and wellness, and volunteered to share the learning with their peers from the community.
ME centre in Bilaspur records 100% attendance during PTM
For the first time, the Parents Teacher Meeting (PTM) held at Mission Education centre Mitwa in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh recorded 100 percent attendance from the parents. As the fathers could not afford to lose a day’s wage if they missed work, mostly mothers had come, finishing their household chores in time and carrying their younger children.
“When we had started, these same people had resisted us with all force when we went to bring their children to the centre. And today, they are working hand in hand with us to improve their children’s performance”, shares a teacher.
For the children, it has been quite a journey from being extra earning hands in their families to becoming a beacon of hope for their parents.
2500 benefit from mega health camp in Addagutta slum, Hyderabad
A multi-specialty mega health camp was conducted at the Addagutta slum in Hyderabad. Known to be the second largest slum in Asia, Addagutta is home to a huge migrant population, working as casual, daily wage labourers and rag pickers for a livelihood.
With most people working in hazardous conditions and living in congested shanties with extremely poor sanitation, being largely vulnerable to communicable diseases, an intense healthcare intervention was deemed necessary, in addition to the regular OPD being carried out by the Smile on Wheels mobile hospital in the area.
Along with three general physicians, a team of paediatrics, gynaecologists, dental surgeon, orthopaedic and ophthalmologist provided services at the two-day camp. A total of 2533 people benefitted from the camp, majority of whom were women and children.
Value Education workshops in schools across India
The Value Education workshops being conducted under the Child for Child (CFC) programme are being highly appreciated by principals and parents from schools across India. Stories, songs, real-life instances and interesting activities combine to create these fun-learning sessions for the school children.
Children and teachers now take the lead and actively participate in the workshops, coming forward to share their views about and experiences with the underprivileged sections of society and volunteering to contribute their time, knowledge and resources for their welfare.
Smile Foundation visits various privileged schools across India and conducts engaging sessions for the young minds, under CFC programme. Children are sensitized to various causes and value systems and ushered to realize the importance of growing up as responsible citizens of the country.
STeP trainees gain hands-on experience at Reliance retail outlets
A fresh badge of youth trainees from STeP centre Sankalp Manav were invited to visit the retail outlets of Reliance to get hands-on experience of dealing with customers in a professional atmosphere. Later, they were also briefed on the current job openings and desired profiles for each position.
From working as rickshaw puller to getting married off at 17, these underprivileged youth from the slums of Mumbai have lived through many challenges. However, now they finally have the opportunity to fulfil their dreams. They are all getting training in computers, English communication, retail management, soft skills and personality development at the STeP centre.
After the completion of their six month training, these youth will be further placed in various reputed retail and service sector brands.
Villagers in Rae Bareli watch animation films on health & hygiene
With an aim to spread awareness on health and hygiene through the engaging medium of audio-visual technology, animation videos were shown for three days in Majhigao, Karan and Seonthi villages of Rae Bareli district, Uttar Pradesh.
The videos informed villagers about diseases that spread due to unhygienic condition and poor sanitation and provided information on how to take measures to prevent contraction of these diseases. They were also counseled about hygiene practices and habits in their daily lives.
Before the intervention of the Smile on Wheels mobile hospital in 15 villages of Rae Bareli, these people had had only marginal access to even the most basic medical facilities. Now they have quality preventive, curative and promotive healthcare services coming to their doorsteps.
STeP students across India successfully complete training
Taking a big step forward in their journey towards building a bright future for themselves, batches of STeP students across India successfully completed their employability training. Along with professional, technical and communication skills, these underprivileged youth have also gained the confidence to overcome life’s challenges.
Majority of them have already been placed at reputed service and retail brands, and have become a much needed financial support to their families, becoming the first generation of white collar workers. Others have chosen to receive further training and wait for better opportunities.
The young trainees were felicitated with course completion certificates during individual ceremonies at each centre, which turned out to be a riot of emotions, experience-sharing and celebrations.
STeP has so far trained more than 18,000 youth and placed over 12,000 youth.
Ericsson Global supports 5 new Smile on Wheels to benefit 237,000 people
