Association for India’s Development June 2007

Delhi Chapter Newsletter

Table of Contents From the Editor’s Desk

From the editors desk 1 Hello everyone, yet another month in AID and
for a change this month has gone so quickly at least for
Project Updates me. Yes there was so many activities happening around
Aashayen 2 in our family and when doing all those I couldn’t even
AID Gurgaon 2 realize that its time for me to send the newsletter. End
AID Prayas 3 of a month. Well before going in to the show let me
Khoj 3 take the pleasure of welcoming our new volunteers
Parichay 4 who’ve joined us at June. Hope you’ll enjoy your
Youth Task Force 4 volunteering with us.
Volunteer Speak - Deepika Pant 5 The month of June started with a memorable
event of get together of our old AIDers, and out of
Article - Roshan Jha 6 those old volunteers 6 of them are leaving abroad for
their higher studies. It was just an event to wish them all
Meal a Month - Sahil Sethi 6 the success from all our volunteers. The interesting part
was it was supposed to be a farewell that day and after
Testimony - Nishank Sha 7 the event we realized that it wasn’t a farewell. We will
not physically have them with us at Delhi but still
Intern’s Corner somewhere they will be talking about and thinking
Craft Workshop at Dilli Haat -Priyanka about AID Delhi. This is our strength☺.
Pande 8 Debamitro and Satadbi from AID Delhi and
Eureka Kits - Arpana Prajapati 9 AID Kolkata attended a 2 day long convention for
Nutritious Research - Shweta Nandigram people in which people talked about
and Taruna 9 Nandgram during the first week of June along with
Funds - Ways of Contribution to AID 10 Students for Bhopal people and finally the state
oppression ended with a huge rally. We celebrated
Toon of the month 11 World Environment Day on 5th June by circulating
posters which created awareness on Global Warming
First Impression on AID - and how we can try to reduce it.
Surya (Wife of Anuj) 12 As the year 2007 is AID Delhi’s year of
education, people are seriously working on taking our
Volunteer Profile Eureka kits to the schools of Delhi. We are also taking
Darshan Mehra - AID Prayas 13 for collaboration with Sparsh-ek prayatna, two more self
initiatives by some individuals at Vasant Kunj. All the
Contact us 13 meets have been fruitful and by the first week of July we
may have a few more projects with us to support☺.
There is also a plan of visiting the community market at
Defense Colony where lot of children beg and start a
new project there.
This is the very first time AID Delhi has started
to take Internship requests and we currently have five
interns with us. Kalindi is working on arts and crafts
education at Aashayen, while Priyanka Pande is working
on setting up a curriculum for arts and crafts education
which can be implemented in all of our AID projects.
 She already took a workshop for our Parichay
children recently on Paper Mache. Arpana Prajapati is
working with Eureka Network of AID Delhi. As I
wrote in the last newsletter we have got the Eureka kit
from Tamil Nadu and almost the translation is over by
now. So now we have both English and Hindi version
of it and that too online. Now Arpana will be
approaching the schools with the kits and before
approaching schools she’ll take classes at AID Prayas
with our kits. Last but not least, we have two students
Shweta and Taruna from S.N.D.T University, Mumbai
doing their M.Sc, food Science and Nutrition. They
are right now working with Parichay on analyzing the
nutrition value of the food which is given in our
nutrition program and also they will be designing a 5
color meal at an economical prize which will have
appropriate nutrition in it.
AID Delhi T-shirts designs is finalized and it’s
under printing. We will have it with us by the end of
first week of July. We also have started to plan for
AID Delhi Calendars 2008 and Arvinder is actively
working on it. We request some seriously good photos
taken by our volunteers at our various projects for the
same. We’ve also talked to a person Mr. Aditya Ghari
who is a film maker and wanted to make professional
films for each of our AID project as a volunteer. We
will soon start to shoot☺. Swati Maliwal will be
working on the project ‘Ensuring transparency in
PWD and research on SEZ' which has got funds
approved from AID US - Anti Corruption team.
One more big achievement is that the book
sponsored by UNICEF and published by Dorling
Kindersley, London titled “A School like mine” is
released and it features AID Prayas as one of the 100
schools around the globe which they choose. They’ve
also contributed 100 pounds as a donation to AID
Prayas and a copy of book to us.
Thanks to one and all who made all this
happen within a short span of time. Hope we will be
rocking more in the next month.
- Selva Ganapathy.R
AID Delhi
Project Updates: Aashayen
o Full time classes on Sunday have been started.
Three girls from Delhi University are teaching
children the art of painting & craft making.
o Plan to put posters in different colleges of DU
giving a highlight about our chapter & AID is
already underway.
- Nitin Gupta
AID Delhi
Project Updates: AID Gurgaon
The preceding month for AID Gurgaon was
one with lot of activities. There were lots of
apprehensions, anxiety and enthusiasm when we
initiated a regular school for children at Unnati.
Sumanji, who teaches children, is really
working hard since May 2007. Progress of few
children is really commendable. Apart from regular
classes, we also organized some fun activities for the
children during our weekend visits. These fun
activities inculcate playing indoor games with
children, drawing, animation movies on laptop,
arranging collage. These activities infuse interest
among the children and also motivate them to attend
classes regularly. Moreover, such a non-academic
excursion helps the children to grow in skills other
than formal education.
There was cloth drive and the collected cloths were
given to Goonj . Also, we raised sponsorship for
education of two children for a year from Literacy
India under their Vidyapeeth project.
For next month, we intend to admit a few
children of Unnati in a local Govt. school. In future
we plan to put more children in formal schools.
The major task in front of AID Gurgaon is to
rope in more volunteers. The lack of active volunteers
has been hampering the normal activities. With
Nishank and Deepak, two most active volunteers of
the group leaving, the project stands on shaky
grounds. We need to start regular visits to Mobile
Crèches, implement a proper team based structure for
AID Gurgaon to increase the accountability among
volunteers and need to streamline the meal a month
program to ensure efficient functioning of AID
Gurgaon.
- Sachin Tiwale
AID Gurgaon
 Project Updates: AID Prayas
Neha Sinha (new volunteer) and Pavitra (intern
student) joined us at Prayas While Pavitra will be there
for 2 months; Neha Sinha has committed to take at least
1 day class in a week. Both were good at handling
students and now small kids feel comfortable with
them.
Since number of students coming for the classes
was too less in the beginning of the month, so we had
decided to visit the community and interact with the
students and their parents and we did that on
17/06/2007. Our efforts bore fruit as in the next class
we found students in great strength and nowadays they
are highly motivated.
We also talked to Vipin who wants to work as a
regular teacher at Prayas. We explained him everything
about Prayas kids and what all is expected from him. He
has agreed for a salary of Rs.3000/- a month to work
with us.He may be reporting with us from 1st of July.
Arpana will be teaching children of Prayas with our
Eureka Materials from the last week of June along with
Umesh.
- Anuradha
AID Delhi
I would like to share my personal experience
with Prayas. When I started working with Prayas I
thought it was very challenging to teach these children
because they are not as obedient and disciplined and
some time I got frustrated. But slowly with time I found
these children won’t bind with you without love and
affection and they won't like to be taught by you.
And today I am proud that at least few children
have learnt very well. During my initial days “Gudiya”
and “Reena” used to come regularly but they just used
to come and go back with doing "Thoda sa kaam "
given by any Sirji or Didi. But now they are sincerely
trying to learn as much as possible. Both of them were
not able to recognize 1 2 3 4 5 earlier but now they are
capable of doing addition and subtraction very well
.Besides them Suby, Saabreen ,Kavita , Ishrat,Afsana are
doing good job too . This is a great reward for any
volunteer which also motivates them to work harder.
- Darshan Mehra
AID Delhi.
Project Updates: Khoj
• The new curriculum has been introduced at the two
respective centres. The curriculum has been divided
into different levels. These include recognizing
alphabets, writing and joining letters etc. To make
the process more effective worksheets were
prepared for each level. We recently organized a
workshop for our teaching volunteers to acquaint
them to the new teaching strategies and
methodologies and the manner in which the
implementation process would accommodate these
techniques so as to fulfill the objectives of the
curriculum and achieve our outlined targets.
• Following an assessment of the progress made at
the two centres after the
implementation of the curriculum the varying
capacities of the children in terms of grasping the
details was identified. While a few have shown
tremendous progress such as Rekha from Jor Bagh
and Asha, Radhesham and Maya from Bikaji, the
others seem to require more time. It was therefore
decided to divide the kids into two groups
accordingly so as to ensure that each group got
maximum attention and the requirements of the two
groups as far as the learning process was concerned
was adequately and effectively met.
• Blackboards have been used at the Hyatt centre. It
was observed that using blackboards augmented the
teaching process. The kids have responded to this
new teaching positively. They concentrate better
during classes and grasp facts faster.
• The visit to Mrs. Sangeeta’s residence by the kids
from the Jor Bagh centre turned out to be a fun
learning experience. Music, food, a bathing and an
art and craft session was arranged for the kids. They
were also gifted a special health kit which included a
toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, nail cutter etc. She
plans to continue organizing such visits to her
residence for the children every month.
• We have been joined by a new Volunteer from
Philippines. Joan is pursuing her Masters in
Engineering. She volunteers at Jor Bagh and Bikaji.
- Ritesh Kumar,
AID Delhi
 Project Updates: Parichay
Activity highlights:
1. Sale at Microelectronics: 8,100 (approx)
2. Priyanka Pandey conducted a workshop on
Paper Mache for the kids at Parichay. Several
other session of this workshop are yet to be
conducted. We will post a detailed report on the
completion of the workshop.
3. Priyanka has also taken up the responsibility of
illustrations of stories and books.
4. Selva is all geared up to take up the
responsibility of HELP classes.
5. For the very first time, Taruna and Swetha are
helping us compare and analyze the nutritional
value of the food, served under the Nutrition
program. We hope that, in future, this would
help us choose food with better nutritional
value. Moreover, we will soon arrange a series of
cooking competition among the women to
promote the best practices in cooking.
6. Nitin is working on the aesthetic part of the
website.
Current Volunteers: Naval, Pow, Priyanka, Shashank,
Krishna, Navneet Somani, Nitin, Selva and Puneeta
Inactive Volunteers: Yogesh, Neeraj, and Jwala
Puneeta Chugh,
Parichay.
AID Delhi.
Project Updates: Youth Task Force
Introduction
Youth Task Force is a youth group committed to fight
against corruption and to ensure transparency and
accountability in the Government. This group has been
brought together by JOSH in collaboration with AID
Delhi. Youth Task Force mainly comprises of students
from various colleges in and around the capital.
Students from several prestigious institutions including
IIT Delhi are joining this movement. Slowly but surely,
we are inching towards our goal.
Objectives
• To expose the corruption which has plagued the
system.
• Spread awareness about the Right to
Information Act, 2005 (RTI) .
• To mobilize the masses to use the RTI to fight
corruption.
• To establish a transparent and accountable
system, one in which we can trust.
Activity highlights
The month of June has been one of the most
successful months for YTF. We have got the maximum
number of committed volunteers. Also we have been
able to structurize our team AND make a website
specifically for YTF.
The following teams were formed
1. Networking Team
2. Website Team
3. Fund Raising Team
4. Research Team
5. Issues
Issues: These include issues like Roads , Hospitals
,Govt. Schools,,Buidings ,Traffic , street lights,
horticulture,drainage,solid waste management, stray
animals,etc on which we can file RTI's
• The website team consists of Sidharth Goyal ,
Abhimanyu Sanghi, Roshan Kumar Jha ,and
Anand.They have made the website in a record
period of time. Check out : www.ytfindia.org.
• We have filed 10 more RTI's on roads this
month.
• Soon we will be going for printing of 100 T-
shirts for YTF as a fund raiser. The design of
the T-shirt has to be finalized.
• We are having regular weekly meetings at IIT
Delhi every Saturday evening.
• Youth Task Force has decided to collaborate
with AID US anti corruption team in their
common effort to reduce corrruption.The
members of YTF have agreed to do physical
inspections for RTI's of AID US volunteers on
a case by case basis.
- Chirag Kapoor,
Volunteer Coordinator,
AID Delhi.

Volunteer Speak: Deepika Pant
I am Deepika Pant, pursuing masters in Applied
Psychology from Delhi University.
I have been associated with AID Delhi since
past 10 months as a volunteer for the ‘Khoj’ I describe
my experiences with ‘Khoj’ as that of learning, self
realization & growth. While teaching street children I
learned the very fact that children who appear different
in appearances and habits from us are not so different
in their feelings, emotions & aspirations. I realized the
importance of all my trivial and ostensibly non trivial
acts in making a significant difference in the lives of
these kids. Becoming sensitive about the feelings &
needs of children belonging to a totally different section
of society has been an awakening experience for me.
Even after possessing a masters degree in Education I
wasn’t much familiar with the Non Formal aspect of
education. Khoj helped me to gain first hand experience
in the same.
At present I am doing my internship with an
organization which works with school children with the
aim of making them self reliant. This organization is
endeavoring to fill in the gaps in the development of an
integrated personality, by focusing on - Self Sufficiency,
understanding Communication and Bridging the same,
strengthening healthy Family functioning and
Relationships. The efforts include inculcation of Morals,
Values, Ethics & Discipline in the upcoming generation.
As a part of my internship, I am involved in a
theatre workshop organized by this organization for the
students of Salwan Junior Public School in the school
premises. The workshop stipulated for a period of 28
days is based on the following theme: ‘Achieving
Happiness I Can Do It’.Though conducted by NSD
trained professional, this workshop is not all about
teaching acting skills or giving exposure to the concept
of professional theatre activities to students. Rather it
aimed at overall personality development of the children
by providing them with means for creative expression, a
setting to foster their imagination and an environment
full of pleasure and joy.
The major purpose of the workshop is to offer
all children the opportunities & channels of emotional
expression, facilitating acceptance of their own &
other’s emotions and strengthening their emotional,
social & cognitive development.
Thus, the workshop focuses on inculcation of
various important life skills in children, which includes –
enhancing confidence & self esteem, fostering love,
cooperation, empathy, trust, faith among students,
developing a sense of discipline, time management,
responsibility, team spirit and leadership abilities.
To achieve the abovementioned aim, different
kinds of interesting, enjoyable, well planned and
logically sequenced activities and games are used.
Efforts are made towards character building through the
play way method. Wide variety of activities like paper
pencil exercises, ball games, improvisation, ad making
etc. are the medium of instruction and expression. Most
of these activities encourage children to use their
imagination, creativity, communication skills and
various other psychosocial competencies.
Hitherto, the workshop has been quite
successful in providing an established platform for the
outlet of suppressed emotions to all the students, and is
helping them to come over their inhibitions and
incompetencies in a non challenging & non threatening
environment.
My one month of internship has made me
ponder over the significant aspect of education that has
been either lacking completely in our school curriculum
or is in its nascent stages. With major emphasis on
academics, inculcation of skills in students to grapple
with the struggles and challenges of life has been totally
ignored. It’s essential to teach life skills for the
promotion of healthy child and adolescent
development. Life Skills facilitate in the development of
healthy patterns of behavior and also help prevent some
key causes of child and adolescent death, disease and
disability. It’s necessary to start imparting life skills at an
early age so that these young children grow into mature,
healthy, contributing and responsible members of the
society. It also contributes significantly to the
socialization process. It can be said that, life skill
education assists in the development of psychosocial
skills that are required to deal with demands and
challenges of everyday life.
Thus, with life skill education the quality of life
increases- as it aims towards bringing out positive
changes in each individual- by making him aware about
issues like HIV/AIDS, violence, child abuse, suicide,
substance use disorder, racism, conflicts, environmental
issues, world peace etc. at a very broader level.
 Keeping this in mind, I am developing a module
on Life Skills Education for adolescents, which includes
various intervention strategies and other exercises that
can prove effective in inculcating various important
skills such as decision making, creative thinking,
problem solving, self awareness, empathy etc.
I am keenly interested in conducting life skills
and counseling sessions for the different student groups
involved in various projects of AID as in my view
development of better individuals is an essential
prerequisite for the development of a better society.
-Deepika Pant
Khoj,
AID Delhi
Article: Lower is Higher ! (Hot n
Happening)
Roshan Jha
Police Posts , vehicles werel sat on fire, railway
tracks were damaged, roads blocked, “bandhs” and
protests all over the state, many killed and many
injured; all these only to achieve 'degradation'. Yes it's
true and its happening in India.
Currently the Gujjars community fall under
OBC (Other Backward Caste) but to gain the quota
benefits of the ST (Scheduled Tribes) they are
demanding to get included in ST list.In Rajasthan the
Meena ST community (comprising 10% of the total
population) overwhelms the civic services quota.
Opposing the Gujjars’ protest Meenas are also taking
their agitation to the streets afraid to accept the Gujjars
as a Scheduled Tribe. There was severe clash between
the two. 11 lives were lost in the whole affair.
But there are many innocent lives also which
they are taking indirectly.Is this not selfishness ?
Though miscreants do understand the consequence of
blocking Traffic and Bandh they do not stop. A critical
patient or an accident victim might be deprived of
timely medical help which could lead to death. The
victim may be a friend or a close relative of their
community. More to say,setting on fire public transport
!! They must be taught after all loss to public property is
in nobody's interest and it is a national loss.
The Gujjars are notified as ST in Jammu and
Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. They fall in the OBC
category in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra.
These caste tags are solely on the basis of statistics.
According to a survey the average Gujjar's household
income is 1.5 lacs per annum. Many of them are
prosperous, owning properties and doing business
People must learn that Quotas are declared not on the
basis of protests but after a detailed study of the
community’s background and the other data available.
There are guidelines in the constitution which define the
conditions of reservation.
In the early 20th century Gujjars with some
other OBCs attempted upward mobility since at that
time it was higher Hindu status that was the Good,
today some of them are claiming ST status, today it is
education and jobs even if it means downward caste
mobility.
Because today ..... The Lower is Higher !!!
- Roshan Jha
YTF,
AID Delhi.
Meal a Month: Sahil Sethi
When I joined AID as a volunteer in August 2006, I
wasn’t too enthused by the concept of Meal a Month
(MaM) . It was something I had never heard of before.
It seemed like just another way to ask for donations
from volunteers. But after having volunteered with AID
for a year now, I have come to realize the power and the
importance of Meal-a-Month.
What is this MaM ? MaM is a form of monetary
donation to AID activities. The cost of one Meal is
different for all of us. To some, it is a Rs. 15 thali at the
local cafeteria while to some it may be the Rs. 300 Pizza
at the nearby joint. At AID, we ask you to contribute
what YOU believe is the cost of YOUR single meal,
every month.
A volunteer who wants to donate money for a social
cause can do it under any pretext – be it buying books,
bags or clothes or even for administrative expenses. The
essence of Meal-a-Month is that it not a donation
compaign. It is not a ‘Caption’ under which money is
collected. Meal a month is a form of expression of the
sentiments of the donor.
We at AID believe in the philosophy of “Sangharsh,
Seva, Nirmaan”. All three require commitment, hard
work and some amount of care on our behalf. When
we talk about the upliftment of the poor, we must
realize that we are talking about providing them basic
amenities. Food is the basic necessity of man. Lack of
food is the first sign of Poverty. We at AID, in our
struggle to fight poverty and to work for the
underprivileged, believe that food is an amenity that we
can all work for and provide to the needy.
Meal a month, and some other forms of Directed
donations, is the only way AID raises money. We do
not go to charities or funding agencies for money. We
do not go to Corporate and beg them for a slice of their
‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. At AID, we believe in
“Individual Social Responsibility”. More than 60% of
funds raised by AID Delhi come from Meal-a-Month.
Besides, there is no vested money laundering in MaM.
AID Delhi is as transparent as an organization can be.
MaM is not merely about raising money. It is about
showing that you care. Some volunteers try to quantify
their volunteering skills by claiming that they should not
pay MaM when they are already engaged in volunteering
in the form of teaching, writing, designing etc. In my
opinion, there is no limit to volunteering. One should
do as much as one can do. MaM does not ask for much,
merely the cost for one meal a month. None of our
volunteers live in a hand-to-mouth situation that
prevents them from making such a contribution, over
and above the other forms of volunteering which they
do.
I proudly donate Rs. 100 as my Meal-a-Month
contribution to AID. It does not mean that I have
hundred rupee meals all the time. Nor does it mean that
it’s the maximum amount I spend for meals. But it is
certainly a reasonable figure. It is not used to feed
anyone but the contribution I give is used in some
projects / activities which makes a person, or his family
to learn to earn his food.. Or the money can go for
administrative expenses, for the fellowships of our full-
time volunteers, for buying books or clothes when we
need them.
When I contribute my MaM , it is not a directed
donation. Nor am I thinking about AID’s over-
dependence on MaM for its expenses. I would have
given the same amount even if AID had gotten enough
money from a single individual to take care of its
expenses. This donation to me is a way to show to
myself (and to AID) that I care. No matter how much I
volunteer for AID, I will never say that the volunteering
can make up for my MaM contribution.
I know there are many who read this want to actively do
social work. Many of them are registered volunteers of
AID. But personal or professional constraints or mere
lethargy of action hasn’t let you do anything so far. I
implore you all to come forward and contribute to
Meal-a-Month. The gesture itself is enough to remove
your lethargy. It will not only symbolize that you care,
but will make you come forward and show an active
interest in AID Delhi’s activities.
- Sahil Sethi
AID Delhi
Testimony: Nishank Sha
I have been asked to write my experience with
AID Delhi/Gurgaon since I have been associated with
it for more than a year. But sadly I have moved out
from there after my wonderful association for more
than a year.
Prior to coming here, I had some experience in
volunteering during my sojourn in Mysore and Pune
and I wanted to carry it forward in Gurgaon. I have
been mainly associated with Mobile Crèches, an NGO
working for children of construction site workers,
Unnati, an independent project of AID Gurgaon for
the education of children living in slums and Literacy
India, an NGO working for the education of
underprivileged children and women.
I started as a volunteer here, visiting to Mobile
Crèches on weekends but slowly I also got involved
with managing other affairs related to AID Gurgaon
like interacting with new volunteers, raising funds,
helping with publicity part, overseeing the overall
functioning, etc. I never thought I would get so much
chance of active involvement.
The best part of AID is that it provides a totally
free platform where anyone can contribute in the way
one likes to do. From my college days I had thought of
doing something for the underprivileged, but never got
the right direction and opportunity. That time I used to
think that just helping in a good cause at personal level
is enough. But after being a part of AID, I realized that
volunteering is much more than that. It also requires
involving other people in the process. AID helped me
broaden my perspective on various social issues and
how the various problems of society are interconnected,
especially through the fruitful discussions during CSH
and ORs and the informative mails from time to time.
At AID it is really heartening to see so many
young people involved in one way or another, joining
hands together to bring the desired change in the
society. Being involved in volunteer visits, spreading
awareness among people, discussing on relevant issues,
raising funds for supporting causes, helping other
NGOs, involving more and more people, these are just
few of the ways in which one gets to work with AID.
And the learning is tremendous especially in dealing
with real-life problems and working out solutions for
them. It gives me the feeling of being a responsible
citizen of my country and doing something for it, and
not just cribbing about the system around us. AID has
reinforced my belief that every individual has the
capacity to bring the change in society. All one needs is
a vision to foresee that change and the passion to work
upon it.
As the AID's slogan goes, "BE THE CHANGE", so I
am trying to live by it. It is just the beginning of my
association with AID and I am sure that it is a long way
to go. I would also like to say my thanks to all the
people whom I have come to know through AID and
who have provided me support and guidance in carrying
forward the activities.
- Nishank Sha
AID Delhi / AID Gurgaon
Interns Corner
Craft Workshop at Dilli Haat
The craft workshops at Dilli Haat are aimed at
spreading local crafts from different states of the
country and keeping their tradition alive and also giving
them a contemporary edge. There was neither age limit
nor was it required for the participants to have any
previous knowledge of the crafts. As a result the
students that attended these workshops were women
and children all trying to utilize their summer vacations
in a better way.
The various workshops offered in the ten day program
were:
• Pottery
• Paper Mache
• Madhubani Paintings
• Miniature paintings
• Glass Paintings
• Soft toys
• Paper crafts
Keeping in mind my objectives for designing a
curriculum for the “AID” children, I concentrated on
the activities that:
• Are exciting and fun for the students
• The end – product is both aesthetic and useful
• Requires low cost raw materials and low or no
maintainace costs
• Are easy to catch up and build on creatively
So I began my lesson with pottery and Paper Mache.
Pottery:
Within the first class itself I realized that I had wrongly
judged the difficulty level of this particular craft. Great
skill is involved in making the most basic pots. It is an
art that doesn’t come without a lot of practice and
devotion. The materials required for pottery are - An
electric wheel, Clay that has been kneaded well, water,
small piece of sponge and a piece of thread. During the
workshop I realized that potters should have a very
steady hand and lots of patience. This being said the
result, after ten days of toil, is more than gratifying; to
see a lump of clay turn into a creation is most
astonishing.
Once you learn the technique, it is up to the individual’s
imagination to shape their ideas.
Paper Mache
This is a simpler and quicker craft. I learnt to make a
preparation of primarily newspapers that starts to
behave exactly like clay, only it is less liable to breakage,
its lighter and doesn’t require a baking kiln! It is also
very inexpensive.
The raw materials required for Paper Mache are:
Newspapers (3 parts), Edible gum (1part), Chalk plaster
(2 parts), Fevicol and water for sticking, Plywood for
relief work, small mirrors for decoration.
In this workshop I learnt to make toys and relief work
on plywood (called Doriwork and its originated in
Haryana).
Both the workshops that I attended were very
informative and at the same time I had a lot of fun. I am
now looking to forward my learning to students
interested in crafts.
- Priyanka Pande
Intern,
Final Year Architech Student,
SPA, Delhi
Eureka Educational Kit
This is my first testimonial for
AID – an organization, which
is a great platform for those
seeking to satisfy their penchant
for ‘Development of India’.
I use the cliché ‘Development of India’
because no other phrase can convey the vigor
reflected in it. Though I have been indirectly
associated with AID as a donor toward ‘Meal-a-
month’ program, it was only in May-end that I
decided to intern with AID. I wanted to work toward
my objective of seeing a progressive society and my
beliefs suggest that education is the best tool to
achieve this objective.
Keeping in view this aim, I decided to take up
a project in Child Education and was therefore,
assigned ‘Eureka’. The success of this project in
Tamil Nadu and the great response it has received
from the schools in the area is a pre-cursor to its
initiation at AID-Delhi. The project aims to develop
the reading skills of children and is equally effective
for those who missed the opportunity of formal
schooling. It comprises of sets of intelligently
designed charts, crosswords, and games at different
levels, which allows kids to exercise their cerebrum
actively.
As an intern, I designed these charts and
crosswords, i.e. hand-wrote them. Though small, it was
a great activity for me because while penning down each
word, I kept imagining how it would be conveyed to the
children. Our first focal point in the roadmap for
Eureka is to use these sets with the children of Prayas
and inspect the results. The feedback will have to be
thoughtfully incorporated in the current kit, before we
take the same to the MCD schools in Delhi. The
development of guidelines for teachers and feedback
forms is in process. Another significant achievement
was to get another student of my college as a volunteer
for this project. Umesh is currently working with
IndusLogic and will be available part-time for Eureka. I
faced many challenges while working on the project.
The words of appreciation from Selva and Anirban, for
every small task work the same wonders as motivation
pills.
There are several cons to being a volunteer –
investing time and money. But the deliverable is
fabulous. You can stand tall and talk of deficiencies in
a system without a pang of guilt.
Education is one sector that forms the backbone of a
developed society. As a volunteer, it gives me immense
satisfaction to be given an opportunity to make a
difference to the most important segment of society -
children. I am looking forward to July as a month full of
achievements for Eureka. We should be seeing at least
10-15 schools using this kit.
Treat this as a call to cheerleaders of Developed
India!
Let’s share and contribute our knowledge.
- Arpana Prajapati
Intern
Member Technical Staff
Prepaid Team
GENBAND Technologies
Noida.
PARICHAY se PARICHAY
Nutritious Research
A search that began in an attempt to fulfill the
requirements of an academic course resulted in
enlightenment- enlightenment about the fact that true
philanthropists still exist, sincere efforts are still
rewarded and qualities of innocence, genuinity, and
concern have not faded away from the face of the
Earth.
The above lines refer to our interaction with
Parichay, an organization working for the upliftment of
children surviving under difficult conditions. We were
asked to evaluate the ongoing nutrition program of
Parichay as part of our Masters internship. Out of our
experience of visits to other NGOs or organizations
running nutrition programs for children, we expected
that Parichay too must be serving staple dishes like
khichdi or dal-chapati to the children as in a mid-day
meal program type of set-up. We had not expected
anything served to children that was nutritious, included
variety in dishes or was even eaten by the children
happily.
However, we are glad to say that we have been
proved wrong. Our interaction with Parichay has made
us realize that the food served here to the children as
part of Nutrition Program has all the properties which
we had expected to be missing. The food served
includes variety and is relished by the children. Care is
taken to consider the children’s preferences for food
while preparing and preparations are such which are
liked by the majority. It is ensured that each child eats
the food provided completely before leaving the
premises. All this truly reflects the sincere efforts of the
organization to ensure the availability of good quality
food to these children.
 However, it was realized that the food given to Funds: Ways to Contribute for AID Delhi
the children is not based on any principles of nutrition
science but planned according to the suggestions given How to donate in India.
by the medical officer of the organization. As a result of If you have a bank account
this, the dishes prepared are such that they provide with internet banking facility,
energy and protein but are deficient in micronutrients. ELECTRONIC you can make an electronic
Moreover, since food is prepared and served in bulk TRANSFERS transfer via internet banking to
hence the needs of the children are not being met in AID-India's ICICI Bank
accordance with their age as indicated by their Account No 602201200299.
anthropometric measurements. Most of the children Draw a cheque in favor of
were found to be malnourished, especially in the age "AID-India" (ICICI Bank
group of 5-11 years. Account No 602201200299)
The above data indicated that further attention and mail to: Selva, Delhi (see
needs to be paid to the quality and quantity of food CHEQUES full address below). You may
being served to these children to help them meet their also deposit this cheque at any
potential for growth where they are lacking. The idea of ICICI bank branch and send
serving each child the quantity of food as per their age us the accepted (stamped)
requirements is not very feasible as it would increase the counterfoil of the deposit slip.
burden of cooking the food. It thus seems worthwhile
to work on the quality of the food for the children so Cash may be deposited in any
that it becomes more wholesome in terms of its nutrient branch of ICICI Bank to the
content. Certain simple modifications in the recipes credit of "AID-India ICICI
being made presently and addition of some new ones Bank Account No
Cash
which are nutrient dense will be beneficial for the 602201200299". To obtain the
children. These recipes can then be served as the food reciept, please mail us the
supplement to the children at the centre. Also, certain accepted (stamped) counterfoil
sessions are being conducted with the adolescent group of deposit slip.
so that they understand the importance of nutrition and following information may be useful for the
can accept the new ingredients and recipes planned to benefit of different bank (non-icici) account
be implemented in the near future. These sessions are holders who wish to make etransfer,
aimed at introducing nutrition related aspects of health AID-India
and quality of life to the children. ICICI Bank
The women of the spice unit at the centre and Branch: Royapettah High Road (RHR)
some of the adolescent girls are being made to make use Branch location: Chennai
of ingredients like bajra, jowar, ragi for planning and Branch MICR code: 600229007
preparing recipes which are nutritious and can be served Account No.: 602201200299 Account type: Savings
to the children at the centre. The cooking competition is Beneficiary address:
planned to be conducted in the coming week. New No 34, Rathenam Street
Working at Parichay has been an enriching Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600 086
experience so far and is bringing more challenges for us Phone: +91-44-42106493, 28350403
as nutritionists. We hope to be contributing more Email: aidindia.news@gmail.com
towards the effort in the coming future. * IMPORTANT To receive a receipt for your
- Taruna Sanghi donation, you must send the following details to
- Shweta Sharma aid.delhi@gmail.com
Interns,
M.Sc, food Science and Nutrition, S. N.D.T Women’s 1. Your name
University,Mumbai. 2. Address
3. Date of donation
4. Amount of donation
5. Mode of donation (e-transfer, cheque, online)
6. Your details for identification - Name of your
bank and branch together with Cheque number or Bank
account number or e-transaction ID
Toon of the Month

- Picture - Kalindi,
Intern, Aashayen
- Thoughts - Selva / Chirag
AID Delhi
 First Impression on AID - Surya (Wife of Anuj)
It was a blazing Sunday evening. Air
conditioners had lost hands down to the ever rising
mercury. It was then that Anuj asked me if I would like
to attend the AID eeting. Ever since my marriage to
him in February this year, I had been dying to meet
Anuj’s AID family. I was delighted with the invitation
and got ready in a jiffy.
On my way to Dilli Haat, I wondered what lay
before me. Whether I would be meeting a gang of fiery
revolutionaries, a set of boring philosophers or maybe a
mixture of both. On reaching the meeting spot, I was a
greeted by hellos and quick introductions. Before I
knew it, I was part of the group and by the time we
walked up to the Delhi stall, light humor was in the air.
Obviously, the picture I had painted about the AID
volunteers had been completely washed out. What
stood before me was a group of friends in their 20s with
career, family, relationships and lot of cool fun on their
minds. I was still unable to understand the world of
AID.
Once settled around a table, it was time for
some serious business. The senior guys i.e. those with a
relatively long experience with the organization kicked
off the discussion and gradually others joined in.
Initially, relatively new volunteers were reluctant to
speak but eventually, they too got involved. Everyone
had a story to tell, an experience to share, a typical
problem to boggle the minds and practical and not so
workable solutions to their problems. In fact, I was very
surprised when a volunteer said that they needed a
person who would be regularly teaching the kids.
I thought, that was because the new teachers
were unaware of the extent of syllabus that had been
covered by the predecessor. Instead, I was explained
that the real problem was that the children did not learn
unless they could relate to their teacher and for that,
they needed regular interaction with him or her. Of
course, as it happens in all meetings, there were
deviations but that was when Anuj did the tough job of
steering the discussion in the right direction with a hard-
hitting statement. All in all, the session was proving to
be an eye-opener for me.
Apart from the weekly meeting, this was also
meant to be a farewell party for six volunteers;
Riputapan, Gunjan, Ritika, Nishank, Somen and
Priyanka who were soon to move to the USA for
pursuing their higher studies. Somen somehow couldn’t
make it there. Of course, AID Delhi might loose the
physical presence of its precious members. But
according to most, it is just a temporary loss. These
members were given the onerous task of extending
support to AID from their respective universities and
bring many more with the tide. On a lighter note, each
volunteer was asked to find a replacement, so that the
projects he or she was involved with, would not suffer.
Jokes apart, all knew that each individual member of the
AID family, with his energy, strength and involvement
was a unique and irreplacable asset. Finally, over
samosas, chaat and lots of chilled water, future plans of
AID were discussed.
 The meeting was concluded with a
special mention for Selva. He had achieved the feat of
writing an article in “Shuddha Hindi” for the Parichay
periodical. Of course, the query of one and all was, if
the same had been actually written by him. He answered
with a proud smile, “ Arrey yaar, you can call up Vijay
Bhaiyya if you don’t believe me.” I think, none would
disagree that his writing truly symbolizes the magic of
simple words expressing deepest emotions.
It was good-bye time. Of course, two hours with
the AID volunteers were an extremely short time to
interact but the hot weather did not allow us more time.
It struck me that sadly, a metropolis like Delhi did not
offer a single roof for its young activists to sit under.
On my way back, I realized, my perception of AID had
changed.
“AID members are not less ambitious or career-minded
than other youngsters of their age, but they want to
spread knowledge to as many as they can.”
“They do not have extra hours on hand but the shear
will to take out time to give a hand to those who need
it.”
“They are not satisfied laughing and partying amongst
themselves but want to bring a smile on every person’s
face.”
“They know that they might be able to make only a
scratch of a difference but it still makes all the
difference to them.”
“They are not a group of ordinary youngsters but
extraordinary human beings with a vision.”
- Surya Malik,
Wife of Anuj Grover.
Feedback: aid.delhi@gmail.com Web: http://delhi.aidindia.org
Send your Cheques to
Publications Team
Selva. Ganapathy.R
Editors:
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Coordinator: Selva
Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi - 110016
Hauz Khas
Phone: +91-9891358457, +91-9211467341
Volunteer Profile
Darshan Mehra
Volunteer Coordinator - Noida
Coordinator - AID Prayas
Darshan as the name describes, has got a philosophical
touch and a very kind heart...Darshan is one of the
regular volunteer at Prayas..he is very practical and a
little emotional when dealing with kids...he is very
popular among kids for telling them stories and making
paper boat after the class.....He had recently visited
Parichay and shared his experience with us so that we
can learn something from it and can apply in Prayas
too....he is very energetic and we can find maximum
number of post in Prayas group from his side...a good
coordinator always tries to motivate other volunteers
also...Nowadays he is busy in finding a regular teacher
for Prayas kids.....We will all like to thank him for being
with prayas
- Anuradha,
AID Delhi.
“It takes one Rambo to save the world,
It takes one Hitler to bring down the RAF,
It takes one Krishna to change Arjuna's mind,
It takes one Indus valley civilization to change mankind,
It takes one wooden horse to bring down Troy, and
It takes one Darhsan Mehra to keep us going at Prayas.”
-Arun Raj
AID Delhi
Phone: +91-9213797167
Selva, Puneeta, Gauri