Deepam > 2009

Year: 2009

Blog, Uncategorized

Roger Vaaram


1.Archana present

2.Arun present
3.Baasu present
4.chandana present
4.kay kay present
5.Meera Present
6.Priya Present
7.shiva present
8..Villu Vijay present
13th june saturday 2009 saw the KC centre overflowing with children bubbling with energy.As soon as we entered the K.C centre,”Tailor akka” said “from now on,every one should be here right on time,and no late commers shall be entertained,and an answer retaliated immidiately saying the volunteers were late!!!” .Archana tried hard to keep the children under her control.The very first activity had the children talking about their favourite sports,and their favourite sports ikons,while most of them voted for sachin,there were a few fans for dhoni,yuvraj and dravid.However the love for tennis was lacking.
Meera provided with us an enlightening session on the life of frederer with a video,his career path and his acheivements.she also went on to explain about what tennis is,what are grand slams all about,and what it means to be a winner of a grand slam on a clay court tournament.
Having learned a little about tennis,kids had their morale boosted with concepts of “Never say die principle of life” and “Failiure is the stepping stone of life”.With some playing over,children were tuned (SUN T.V Dinesh got pinched) to some serious thinking of what is a human body,its input devices,its output devices,its processing devices and its memory and the corresponding parts of a computer.
Meera was not satisfied and started asking kids what makes computers different from a laptopand what makes a T.V different from computers,and children picked up signals really fast and answered really fast.After a lot of Whys,kids started filling up the hard copy of the registration forms,during which KK,chandana,shiva and Arun sat down with the kids helping them out.Meanwhile our king KK as usual started making his connection and bonding with the kids and mentoring them.
After registration,children were released,and the observations made were shared among volunteers,and it was found that quite a few of them had problems relating figures and the sounds of alphabets and KK suggested it might be some indication of Dislexia and it was adviced that volunteers in other centres too try and find such children and take extra care of them.
Also volunteers were to function more as mentors,someone who instills great thoughts in them,creates good habbits in them etc.From now on,lets make it a practise to ask children to read newspaper on a daily basis,lets start from tamil papers and move onto english papers.lets also ask them to come back with their favourite news of the week every week.
ok,its time to make a move….head count 1……..2……………3………….4………5…………6………7…… aaaaaaaah where is the eighth person? who is missing? well its baasu!!!,Ada paavingala,proxy puttin here also vaa?
Blog, Uncategorized

KC initiation.


The Saturday 6th june saw half a dozen volunteers of Deepam head to kakkan colony in Besant Nagar for the induction of the 4th centre of deepam. We had planned to have an ice breaker session,but the children were quite themselves and did not need it,so we had them sit in groups of four and know about each other.And to our surprise we had children who had great aims in life like DOCTOR saranya,IPS dinesh,CAPTAIN praveen and a lot more,about 19 of them.According to kk’s sugesstion,we have decided to call them with those occupational names for the rest of the sessions to keep them motivated to keep coming back and realise their dreams.we plan to have 1year session similar to that of olcott for the KC centre,and do it every saturday from 4.30 to 6.30


We were introduced to KC centre by Basu,A senior from ANNA UNIVERSITY. Archana ran the show at this boxing centre elaborating the kids about what we were planning to do for the next one year,while she committed herself to teach the kids to work with computers,the children offered to teach her speak tamil.Archana played the ring master’s role of disciplining the kids,while kk and the others were breaking those “rules”.
As one of the missions of Deepam,the children did come out of their shell and came forward to ask us volunteers what we did and what were aims,and named archana as tailor akka,shiva as hotel master shiva,
and the rest of us left unnamed.chandana and ravindra a young budding entreprenuer completed the bunch of 6.

It was decided over the end of the session that we would not have children go home with a home work,rather we would have them come back with a thought every week.shiva suggested that we could arrange for some refreshments after the class,to keep the children coming back.

As always the enthusiasm level with the kids never soared,and they did some brilliant guess work trying to figure out the multipersonality disorder with computers having different names such as desktop,laptop and palmtops.
For the next 1 year, Saturdays 4.30-6.30pm will see kakkan colony colony centre bustling with activity and is open to everyone to volunteer in teaching these children the basics of computers, general awareness,english knowledge and personality development.
Blog, Deepam

Know About Deepam #2

Is Deepam aiming at replacing teachers in Schools ?
No, not at all. Deepam, infact, complements students’ learning through the teachers. Deepam believes that good teachers at school can never be replaced. They get students inspired and capture their attention. They have the best opportunity to shape the students. Most of the teachers do a fantastic job with meagre rewards. Deepam aims to provide a little bit extra that a school teacher is unable to provide, as a result of workloads / other demands. Deepam enables students to be ‘well rounded’ on top of the foundation that a school teacher has laid.
I am a part of the Deepam google group and i want to contribute. But i don’t know how.
  1. Mail your questions to the googlegroup and one of the group members will answer
  2. Visit class’ – You will understand the way Deepam operates and you will know how you can contribute
  3. Just hit reply and respond to mails requesting for ‘volunteers’
  4. Just hit reply to this mail 🙂
What is required from me, to teach at a centre ?
  1. Enthusiasm and interest to work with kids
  2. Two hours to spare on 1 day, during the weekend + commute time
  3. 15 mins of preparation before the class
I would like to help in other activities as well. What do i do ?
  1. You can help in fund raising / partnerships etc – Please talk to Rahul / Meera
  2. You can help in designing curriculum – Please talk to Vijay / Archana
  3. Anything at all – Just mail the group
For Know About Deepam #1 – Please go here https://www.deepam.in/2009/05/all-about-deepam.html
Blog, Scholarship

Deepam Scholarship

Team,
Nanmai.org has come forward to support deserving students for their 
education. Criteria and other stuffs as below
Criteria 
——–
1) Should be part of ‘Deepam’ and should have attended minimum 10 classes 
2) Should be studying above 9th std
3) Should have decent academic record (above 70%)
4) Should prove their economic need
5) Would be nice if the student has some refernce like shool prinicpal
About Nanmai 
————–
1) nanmai.org is one who are looking to sponser this scholarship 
2) Nanmai would provide 50% of fees/year (75% fees/year if the 
background is really poor) 
3) Nanmai would also provide them with necessary books and notebooks. 
4) Nanmai will not provide any cash as such. We need to list of 
things required and they would provide 
What we need to do
——————-
1) We need to select 10 students matching above criteria
2) Students can be from any centres
3) Would be nice if there is atleast one from each centre
4) Identify such candidates and let me know
5) We have quite a bit of opertional stuff to follow, we can do that once we identify candidates.
Note: It is already early June, we need to hurry up.
-Bhargav
Blog, Deepam Society

Know About Deepam #1

Deepam was formed to bridge the divide between the privileged and the under-privileged and help the under-privileged kids with access to more opportunities through education. Since computers and internet are/will-be all pervasive and hence, a basic skill requirement in the future, Deepam aims to impart the computer / internet knowledge to the kids. To take advantage of this knowledge, kids also require the ability to communicate well through a global language. English communication skills form another important focus at Deepam. In addition, to ensure the kids grow up to be a confident and a well-rounded person, Deepam also works on kids’ general awareness and personality development. These 4 areas are Deepam’s key focus areas – 
 
  1. Computer / Internet Knowledge
  2. English Communication Skills
  3. Personality Development
  4. General Awareness
Deepam – A Society of people with similar interests
Deepam is modelled as a society of people who are interested in bridging the divide through education. Deepam is a not-for-profit society. It is owned by Deepam community and not ‘individuals’.
 
Deepam Programs
To implement the objectives, Deepam has 4 groups
 
  1. Deepam Educate – Operates all the teaching centres, where kids are taught. Co-ordinates with the teaching volunteers and ensures that class’ go on smoothly as planned. This group also develops curriculum material.
  2. Friends of Deepam – This group builds partnerships with external organisations, to enable Deepam’s reach its goals. Fund raising , Computer / Laptop donations etc are handled by this group
  3. Deepam Stars – Stars are Deepam kids who have displayed exceptional attitude towards education. These kids are hand-picked for financial scholarships through this group.
  4. Deepam Lead – This group identifies / trains volunteers for various activities of Deepam. In addition, they also identify new ‘Deepam Educate’ teaching centres where kids can be taught.
 
How can you help ?
Deepam aims to fulfill its objectives through volunteer involvement. The group is modelled to enable anyone to take initiatives that further the education of the kids. Deepam welcomes intiatives and execution by all volunteers. Further, there is a core team that helps coordinate the activities of Deepam. This team comprises of individuals who have contributed to Deepam by taking initiatives and executing them. As more individuals contribute, this core team would expand and enable our operations in more teaching centres.
 
Anyone can volunteer – we need people to
 
  • Teach kids
  • Organise class’
  • Develop curriculum
  • Raise funds / build partnerships
  • Communicate the Deepam idea
  • And many more
Please write to [email protected] / [email protected], if you wish to volunteer. The appropriate group leader will get in touch.
 
If you have questions, please respond to this mail.
 
Thanks
kk
Blog, Uncategorized

Deepam Fellows 2008

We are happy to announce the Deepam Fellows Program – Every year, the volunteers who had made a big impact on the endeavours of Deepam will be made the ‘Deepam Fellow’, in recognition of their contribution. This year we have 3 volunteers who have made significant contributions to Deepam in 2008. They were awarded a certificate and a memento, at the anniversary celebrations

Anbu :

The guy’s commitment levels are phenomenal – he commutes 4 hours every saturday, to teach the kids for 2 hours. He also ‘connects’ with the kids easily – he understands the kids and speaks their ‘language’. His ability to draw the kids out and engage them are truly worth emulating. 


Mohan :

The one guy who truly doesn’t understand IST – he is always ahead of time, for every single class / meeting – truly, a students’ nightmare !!! Being a fast runner, helps! There has been very few times he missed teaching on Saturdays. The most regular feature at the Nalamdana centre.


Bhargav :

He has a gift of explaining concepts to the students – His methods of giving examples makes students visualize the concepts and understand them easily. This regular at Nalamdana centre ( along with Archana and Mohan ) is responsible for the regular high turnout ( over 95% attendance ) for all the sessions .

Blog, Deepam

Deepam 1st Anniversary Celebration

“I have not seen a bunch of kids as happy and contented as these kids are ” mentioned Rahul Nayar, as he observed the kids at the Deepam 1st anniversary celebrations. The life of Deepam, these kids made the anniversay a very special day for all of us, who were present at the celebrations. The Nalamdana centre at the olcott kuppam , venue for the event, was charged with enthusiasm and energy – thanks to the kids, the chief guests and the volunteers. 

The MC’s for the event, Basu and Meera, keeping the kids engaged..

 We had a special person talking to these kids on Saturday – Sarath Babu – He was truly ‘one of them’ . As he stood in front , sharing his rags to riches story, one could see the kids getting inspired. The room went silent , as the kids and the volunteers were in rapt attention.

 Sarath interacting with the kids


Kiruba, the other chief guest, in his usual way , engaged the kids with an interesting story and conveyed a nice ‘life-lesson’ across.


It was a  year ago, when Ram , our mentor, suggested we go to govt schools and teach kids there. His point was simple – ‘Lets start small , 2 or 3 of us can go teach at a local school but the focus should be on making an impact ‘ . Since then, he not only taught the kids, but the volunteers as well.

Kids presenting a memento to Ram

Ram announced a scholarship program for kids – 5 deserving kids ( Deepam Stars ) will get all their education expense covered for 2009-2010.

The anniversary cake , cut by the kids

We also had performances from kids – Nalamdana Centre girls mellifluously sang a popular tamil song


These kids can sure shake a leg..

All the winners of the  cultural events were awarded medals. Kids got participation certificates as well.





Its the volunteers , who work tirelessly, who have helped Deepam make an impact. They were awarded certificates as well. Anupama’s commitment to pudhiyador center is outstanding.
Meera who comes to Chennai every weekend, from Bangalore – She and her husband Vijay, teach on saturdays and sundays, every weekend

Archana, who puts in a lot of energy and helped build Deepam, gets the certificate from Ram


The start has been good – The 1st year flew by. It can only get better !

A big thanks to all the kids and the volunteers ! 

P.S More photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.co.in/chauhanarchu/DeepamFirstAnniversary#