A new way of Volunteering

April 2010

A
They are learning how to
behave appropriately with
their peers, friends, par-
ents and teachers; and to
few weeks ago, on a
differentiate between dif-
ferent kinds of relation-
rooftop of a school under a blister-
ships.
ing mid morning sun, I attended
the valedictory function of a social
intervention program. They have become more
One Touch at a Time

expressive nowadays. They

Mr. Chikkadeva Gowda, Asst.
have become bold to speak
Headmaster, Government High
what they feel without
School, Uttarahalli, Bangalore had
hesitation or fear.
this to say on the impact of this
program.
Teachers say that people
―The stress of learning
Mr. Chikkadeva Gowda, Asst. Head from MindTree come here
had taken joy out of
master, Uttrarahalli Govt. School on weekends and by Mon-
children. They laugh
day the students are ener-
with you (the trainers) but are seri-
getic and undisciplined.
ous with teachers.
MINDTREE FOUNDATION

Through these "life skills" sessions However, I feel that this is not indiscipline.
they are learning to be happy in life.
It is growth, it is change. That is how we
have to take it.
From the feedback I got from the
children, I understand that they are The children have started mingling with
able to differentiate between what is others actively. Whether there is happi-
good and what is bad in all what ness in their homes or not, on Saturday
they do. they know that there is happiness at
school. These are the changes I have no-
ticed in them"
They have started giving titles to in-
formation they get from television
and newspapers and are expressing
their views.
Sambhav Mindshare….
The ―children‖ referred in his speech are Our Minds were trained by Sambhav Founda-
8th, 9th and 10th Grade students – 560 of tion to facilitate interactive, game oriented
them - from socially disadvantaged back- sessions on areas such as
grounds (better known as ‗slums‘) in and
 Critical Thinking
around Uttarahalli, located close to our
 Creative Thinking
Global Village campus.
 Problem Solving
 Decision Making
 Self-Awareness
The ―Trainers‖ were a group of 54 Mind-
 Effective Communication
Tree Volunteers with little or no prior
 Interpersonal skills
experience in the business of bringing
 Coping with stress
about social change, let alone catalyzing
 Coping with emotions and
life enhancing transformation in children
 Empathy
in such a scale!! Sambhav Life Skills training Session in Progress

Welcome to Sambhav Mindshare – a

next generation social intervention initia-
tive @ MindTree.

MindTree Minds have consistently

stepped up to contribute in numerous so-
cial activities over the years. Some of
them are TSA trips, Dream-2-Reality,
tree planting, teaching in schools as part
of Campus Assimilation, blood donation
camps, visits to Samarthanam Trust for
Disabled and clothes collection for
Goonj.

Many Minds are also involved in pro- Riddhi Shree, Sajina and Phani—showed that Language barri-
grams on their own such as Art Of Liv- ers can be overcome through compassion, commitment and
ing, Rural Development, Underprivileged perseverance
kids and children of convicts.
Though many of these Minds do not know
Kannada, they overcame this barrier through
The Sambhav MindShare program for- their sheer dedication and innovative commu-
mally meshes an NGO‘s intimate knowl- nications, setting up a strong emotional bond
edge of the target audience and their with their respective classes.
competency in designing customized in-
terventions with the tremendous enthusi-
asm, energy and desire of MindTree The Minds involved in this program have
Minds to contribute to the society. This is also experienced their own transformations
the potent combination that has brought and enhanced their personal leadership capa-
about the measureable social transforma- bilities.
tion through sustained involvement over
a period of 16 Saturdays. Dr. Meena Jain—Founder of Sambhav Foundation

Page 2 ONE TOUCH AT A TIME

This is what Prabha has to say - ―This program is like an unforgettable chapter in my life. I learnt a lot
from this program. This program has given an opportunity for me to give back to society. From the first
to the last class lot of changes were there in the class, in terms of answering the question, enthusi-
asm to talk in front of the class, politeness etc. which is very satisfying for me‖.
Prabha—derived immense personal satisfaction.

Akshay led from the front—never missed a session

from day 1, marshaled the program through its ups
and downs, including pushing me to seek additional
volunteers when we almost ran out of steady volun-
teers midway through the program. He was also one
of the most popular facilitators among the children!
Minds like Nagashree Ranganatha, Prathibha Sastry,
Suresh Tamminidi, Vishnuprasad Pathki and Yogeesh Gandige put in
some of the most consistent and committed attendances among the
Team Catalyst Akshay receiving his certificate
team.

You can‘t have a program of MindTree Minds for over 16 weeks without Knowledge Management,
can we?
Patrecia took on the task of compiling the experiences of every single class room for every single
module AND circulating the report. This was an excellent reference material for all of us. These re-
ports served as very visible trackers of the progress the children were making through these interven-
tions. They also helped to highlight changes in our MindTree minds in their personal development and
their skills in dealing with emotions and aspirations of such young children.

When the schools reopen, we will plan for a similar intervention in another inner city school in
Bangalore. We are confident that this will become an ongoing program where we help to trans- Patrecia—KM Champion!!
form the lives of thousands of school kids. Watch out for announcements for volunteers in May
2010!

My personal take away from the valedictory function was from a note read out by a 9 th standard
girl. ―We all need help - rich or poor; children or parents; students or teachers.‖

Yes. We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these kids.

Affectionately,

We All Need Help !

Raja Shanmugam.

Page 3
ADITI—SHIPPED!!!
In his recent Snapshots, Mr. Soota had referred to
ADITI, an assistive technology device we have ADITI—with logo
worked on that is scheduled to ship commercially in
April. I am happy to inform you our manufac-
turing partner has shipped the first lot of 25
Units to Vidya Sagar, an NGO in Chennai which
runs a center for children with disabilities.

The product looks something like the picture on the

right. It acts as Human Input device and allows peo-
ple with muscular disorders to interact with the
computer with minimal strain (just waving a hand
near the metal plate activates a mouse click!!)

The first P.O. is for 100 numbers. Once we are con-

fident that the device can successfully withstand the
shipping stresses and install without issues at the
NGO, the next lot will be made and shipped.
Acknowledgement Label. (pasted on the bottom of the device)
Chetana is the NGO that owns the original design.
This will be one of the few products that will
Vidya Sagar was involved in conceptualization and validation.
carry the MindTree logo as part of the product
labeling! Please see the acknowledgement label MindTree did the productization and manufacturing support.
on the right.

Story of the ADITI Logo ADITI—Some of the logos that were evaluated

Before clearing the product for commercial produc-

tion, we had to design a simple brand identity for the
device.

I am sharing the set of options that the design con-

sultant came up with, based on our brief.

In an informal poll within MindTree, many of us

opted for the interlocking hand design.

Then we took these options to SSK. We gathered

the kids using the AT center there and asked the
same question. They chose the rainbow logo unani-
mously!!! Vidya Sagar also strongly advised
against having any visual of hands on the device.

As you can see the final device is shipping with the

Rainbow logo :-)