HOLI CELEBRATIONS IN PRAYAAS!!!

Comes the spring, and the atmosphere is filled with the fragrance of flowers, and the bare trees which shed their leaves in winter are bright with greenery once again. Spring symbolizes a new beginning and also the triumph of good over evil. Basant or spring is a season of colours, and this is when we celebrate Holi with colours – to mark the beginning of a new season..


The celebration of Holi has different aspects.... It is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, a carnival of colors, a community festival, and a tradition of ancient spring rites!!!
Holi celebrations starts with the burning of Holika on the eve of Holi which symbolizes the triumph of good over evil..

And How could a festival go insipid in Prayas??? 
Prayas, which is known to bring smiles on so many faces ...

Holi, also known as  Dhulandi, the much awaited festival was celebrated with great zest and verve  in Prayas with the volunteers of IIIT-Allahbad.It is an epitome of the time to remember the brightness and splendor of living, a time to spread joy, colour and love into the lives of our near and dear ones.
It was celebrated on 13 th and 14th March with the kids who enjoyed the festival with the water colors and gulaal and  it is indeed  the best time to dissolve the differences and you can evoke a smile on the irritaed faces saying " bura na mano holi hai !!! "
Holi is being celebrated in Indian since time immemorial but the popularity of Holi celebrations seems to be rising with every passing year and so is the level of hoo-ha. As no other festival gives so much liberty to the people to let their hair loose and enjoy their hidden crazy self...

It was overwhelming to see the enthusiasm of kids  reaching peak. And therefore Holi is, aptly called the festival of colour. Its spirit is uniquely Indian, colourful, exotic, and full of the energy of life!!

May this holi brings lots of  bright hues in our lives...
May God gift you  the colors of life,
colors of joy, colors of happiness,
colors of friendship, colors of love
and all other colors you
want to paint in your life
PRAYAAS Wishes u all a very  HAPPY HOLI !!

Pyar ke rang se bharo pichkari,
sneh ke rang se bhar do duniya sari,
ye rang na jane koi jaat na koi boli,
PRAYAAS KI TARAF SE AP SABKO MUBARAK HO HOLI...!!!

 NAIVAIDHYAM AND REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATIONS!

With the new year comes the new promises the new resolutions the new aspirations...
Taking forward the journey of Prayaas  we celebrated the new year with a new project- Naivaidhyam which involved organising meals for children.Sometimes little things are just enough to bring smile on someone's face and it was blissful to see heavenly smile on the faces of innocent kids.We celebrated new year with this project in Gurgaon,and arranged food for 100+ kids at Sushant Lok slums.
It was an overwhelming experience.

It is rightly said, by George Bernard Shaw:
"The Indian way of life provides the vision of the natural, real way of life. We veil ourselves with unnatural masks. On the face of India are the tender expressions which carry the mark of the Creator’s hand"
Yes it was the day of 62nd Republic day, the day the constitution gave us the faith , gave us the freedon, peace and gave us the pride.
The day was filled with all the more pleasure with Prayas kids dancing on the tunes of the songs which filled in us the zeal, vigor, the youthful energy of being resposible citizens and the future of India and taking it to great heights. Along with the dance performances the ambience was also filled with the heart-touching patriotic songs like "saare jahan se acha", "ae mere watan ke logon ". It was a feat to see the children who did not know much about this tri-color flag held in their hands, but still walking broad shouldered and trying what not to make it wave as high as possible..!!
Besides a huge amount of volunteers, this day also saw the gracious presence of faculties who gave insightful talk just after the completion of function to the prayas kids.
Thenafter not overlooking the Physical fitness of children, many sports activities were organised and sweets were also distributed.
To sum up it was an enriching experience for one and all volunteers to spend this big day with the cute kids of Prayas making every moment the most beautiful they can..
JAI HIND!

The journey of 2010 !

Of all the gifts
You have offered to God,
Your happiness-gift
He treasures most.
 -Sri Chinmoy

And it is this Happiness each one of us strived to make it spread like a flu. 2010 was an year of big change of us as we stepped out of Allahabad and burgeoned to reach places. On this day where we are just a few hours away from the decade switch, we look back on all the smiles we have managed to spread and we find ourselves in paucity of words to express what we feel. Here is a glimpse of our journey in 2010 -

Prayaas Pathshala
Prayaas Pathshala is our evening school operational in Allahabad since 2006. The year saw us graduating around 25 kids in our basic literacy programme and admitting 40 new kids. 5 girls mentored by us managed to clear high school. Along with academics, this was a fun filled year for the kids with drawing competitions, movie screening, campus tours, kho khos, kabaddis, singing and dancing. The celebrations train never halted with republic day, independence day, Holi, Diwali, Foundation day, Sports day, etc. This year the kids also put up a spectacular show on Effervescence stage (the annual fest of IIITA)

Asha
Under Asha, we have been supporting mainstream education of kids from financially weak households. We continued supporting 16 kids partially or completely under this programme which includes 7 kids for academic year 2010-11.

Hunar
Bengaluru - To beat the summer heat, weekend summer camp was organised for HIV+ve kids from Desire Society which included movie screening, painting, music and dance activities.
Allahabad - In association with Victory Arts Foundation, a dance workshop was organised for Prayaas Pathshala kids.
Pune - Remand home kids trained by instructors from Shiamak Davar's Institute for Performing arts enthralled the audience in SDIPA Pune Winter Funk after a15 day long training.

Ayush
Ayush aims at prevention and cure of diseases and spreading awareness for health and hygiene.
Allahabad - Medical camp was organised in association with Cheshtha for around 120 kids.
Bengaluru - Medical camp for Uttarahali Boys and Girls orphanage was organised, where basic ailments were treated. A dental check up and hemoglobin tests were also performed. Dental treatments were organised of cavities and other problems diagnosed with 38 children. 17 kids were treated for other ailments. In order to take care of hygiene and health, things like mosquito repellent creams, mosquito nets, and towels were donated. For last 3 months, we are also providing daily necessities like milk and soap.
Gurgaon - Woolens donation was organised to prevent winter diseases. 10 kids were donated sweaters, socks and caps. 30 more kids were given caps.

School Kit Donation
150 school kits comprising of school bags, notebooks, compass boxes, pencils, pens and crayon sets were donated across Gurgaon, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.

Other Celebrations
Diwali celebrations at Jaipur and Bengaluru
Christmas Celebrations at Gurgaon and Bengaluru

We thank our friends who have been really supportive throughout our journey. It's because of them we have been progressing ahead and ahead. And before we wrap up, we salute our volunteers for the unmatched effort they have been doing consistently.

May God gives us more strength so that we continue spreading smiles.

A very Happy New Year to you all :)

Do take a moment to watch our photo albums on our Facebook page.

For any inquiries, shoot a mail to iiita.prayaas@gmail.com

 

MEDICAL CAMP IN ALLAHABAD ON 25TH OCTOBER

Prayaas celebrated its fourth birthday this year. Besides adding to the victorious years of boosting children and paving way for them to forge ahead it has always ensured all the other aspects which count for over all growing of the children. What else matters more than the health of kids?? So a medical camp was organised on 25th october  in Allahabad. The camp was organised in Kendriya vidayala,Jhalwa  with the cooperation from NGO, CHESHTHA  which helped us in availing all the facilities  and expert doctors. The camp was organised to provide free medical services to all the children of prayaas.  Dr Shashank Kharbanda examined as many as 117 children with the general check ups and the haemoglobin testing . Moreover Prayaas is also funding the medicines and other services to the children.

The camp was basically organised to fulfil the following purposes:
- To provide medical service and consultation.
- To provide quality medicines, vitamins, antibiotics, etc…;
- To increase awareness of basic hygiene and preventative
health care;
- To determine the percentage of most common health problems such as low haemoglobin and malnutrition and assess their most pressing medical needs

Whole hearted participaton was seen by the volunteers from students of IIIT A college. The cooperation of doctors , the enthusiasm of volunteers and children of prayaas eventually made the camp a huge success.

“He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything.” We look forward for medical camps like this because healthy life is a prerequisite to a happy life .

Medical Camp in Bengaluru on 3rd October

A Medical Camp was organised by Prayaas on 3rd of October 2010. The Camp was organised in Shri Krishna Hostel in Uttarahalli, Bengaluru. YFS (Youth For Sewa), an NGO helped us in getting the doctors and facilities. The medical camp consisted of

1. Dental checkup
     -By Dr. Sachin Sinha and Dr. Emol Sinha from Narain Oral and Dental Care
     -By Dr. Ujwala Jayaram
2. General Medical Checkup
     -By Dr. Pritha Chitagi and and Dr. Rachita Ramamurthy 
3. Haemoglobin Testing
     -By Vyjayanthi and Mrs. Sumathi

In a total 47 children (age group of 2 to 17 years) were screened in the medical camp. This effort was made possible by our volunteers Siddharth, Sindhu Prasanna, Sindhu N, Ankita, Vyjayanthi, Harsha, Anand.

The camp was a huge success with the efforts of the volunteers and the medical staff.  Below are the medical findings reported by the doctors:

FINDINGS

Dental check-up:

Number of children screened : 47

Number of children that presented with No dental problems : 9

Number of children requiring treatment : 38

Dental Caries – 28 cases

Mobile /Retained tooth – 7 cases

Root Stump – 3 cases

Orthodontics Problem – 4 cases

It was noted that 32 children displayed poor oral hygiene. In addition to conducting the screening, Dr.Ujwala delivered a talk on Oral Hygiene, and the team from Narain Oral and Dental care distributed free toothpastes, brushes and Dettol to some children, to encourage them to maintain proper hygiene.

General Medical check-up:

Number of children screened : 47

Number of children requiring follow-up : 19

Paediatric referrals -7

Resolving scabies, on medication; regular follow-up – 6

Breathlessness, decreased breath sounds on examination – 1

Dermatology referrals – 4

Scabies with Skin ulcers – 3

Eczema – 1

E.N.T referrals – 1

Discharge from ear – 1

Ophthalmology referrals – 5

Blurred vision and/or frequent headaches – 5

Referrals for other specialties – 3

Cardiac – 1 (CVS- Pan-systolic murmur with Thrill)

Neurology – 1 (Epilepsy)

Orthopaedic – 1 (X-ray of right ankle required- history of fracture; pain/swelling persists)

Medication prescribed/given
De-worming tablets (Albendazole) were provided, to be given to all children (their caretaker was instructed accordingly by the Doctors).
Requisite tablets were given to 6 children:
Cold/cough – 5
External wound – 1 (Paracetamol + Antibiotic)

Hb testing findings :
Number of children screened : 47
Number of children indicated anaemic : 43 (91.5 %)

Hb level	Number of boys	Number of girls	Interpretation	Treatment required
12.5g and above	4	0	Normal	None
10.8g to 12.5g	11	8	Borderline Anaemia	Iron tablets to be given*
9.4g to 10.8g	13	9	Moderate Anaemia	Iron tablets to be given*
Below 9.4g	2	0	Severe Anaemia	Iron tablets to be given*

*Dosage varies, depending upon the degree of Iron deficiency/Anaemia


The medical camp was overall a huge success. We look forward to organising more such camps so more and more children can live a healthy and better life.

Happy Birthday Prayaas

Four years!! Four years of togetherness!! Four years of spreading joy!! Four years of teaching the children dream!! Four years of Prayaas!!

On 5th september 2010, prayaas evening pathshala turned four. The four years have been quiet eventful with lessons, experiences and above all memories for every single person associated with it in one form or other. Be it the volunteers or the children or anyone who has been a part of Prayaas or supported it. The eventful journey which started as the brainchild of few dynamic young people, has today reached a stage where we claim that two batches have passed out and as we put it, the children have helped themselves to learn and achieve functional literacy.

The celebrations for the fourth anniversary of Prayaas became more special with the presence of the founder, Mr. Puneet Vijay. The guest list included esteemed faculty members of IIITA family, volunteers of Prayaas pathshala and the children who are the heart of Prayaas. The celebrations began with giving some chllenging and fun tongue twisters to the faculty members including Dr. Nitesh Purohit, Dr. Rajat Singh Mr. Mithilesh Mishra and Mr. Yogesh Kardam. This made sure that both the children and faculty members were equally having fun. This was followed by the cake cutting ceremony and invited Dr. Sudip Sanyal had the first bite of the three storey cake.

The performances by both volunteers and children were about to start now. The entertainment was kick-started by the group song sung by the students of Prayaas Pathshala. The song left everyone amazed by the talent of these children possessed. This was followed by a fantabulous group dance performance by the children of Prayaas. The group dance had exemplerary co-ordination and won hearts and loud applauses. Now it was the volunteers who had to display some acting skills. The group play had the theme of opposing child marriage. This was followed by dance performance by Pratibha and song by Anju, both volunteers from B.Tech 2009. Then came the event that changed the course of the evening. It was time for the group dance performance by the B.Tech 2009 batch volunteers who were accompanied by the founder too.

After all the entertainment, it was time for some guidance by the faculty members of IIITA family and the ones who had supported Prayaas through it's journey so far. Mrs. Padma was called on stage for the certificate distribution. This marked the passing out of the second outgoing batch of Prayaas. This was a moment of great joy for everyone part of the Prayaas family. She concluded the certificate distribution with a sweet and motivating speech. Now it was chance for Dr. US Tiwary to give his speech which everyone enjoyed to the core. He ended the speech with a song which cheered and uplifted all moods.

Now it was time for the children to get a generous serving of snacks which everyone seemed to be enjoying.

Now Prayaas Pathshala is four years young to enter it's fifth year :)

***** :) *****

School Kit Donation

Education is the treasure for life. Please help these kids from financially weak ground when their families are trying to give them as good education as they can, so that these kids can live a better life than they live. Donate for our School Kit Donation campaign.