Mumbai

• Skill enhancement activities at Mumbai

GIDF from time to time has been carrying out initiatives in different spheres so as to work at the grass root level & make a difference in the lives of the unprivileged. This month we came out with vocational education activities at our Mumbai center where we imparted different skills to students through different training modules so that they can be self dependent & can earn while learning. Under this initiative students learned to stitch dress material & Punjabi suits. It was observed that students have interest in learning such kind of things as it is more useful to them.

Bengaluru

• Celebrations at Bengalooru

In Jainism, Mahavir Jayanti is the most important religious holiday. It celebrates the birth of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara. On Mahavir Jayanthi, Jain temples are decorated with flags & some sections of the community even participate in a grand procession. The devotees make offerings of milk, rice, fruit, incense, lamps and water to the people in procession. Lectures are held to preach the path of virtue. People meditate and offer prayers.

At the Bengalooru center this month Mahavir Jayanti was being celebrated by the students. Our educators briefed them on the importance of the festival & told them how this festival is celebrated. At the end students offered prayers to lord Mahvira & sweets were distributed by the educators among students.

For more information on our activities and initiatives please visit www.gidf.org

Delhi

• Fun with learning

Well, it was fun seeing small children taking a break from their regular class activities & getting involved in various other activities thereby learning & having fun at the same time. At our Delhi center teacher involved students in activities like dance, music, exercise, recitation of poems, puppet show, names and identification of fruits and vegetables, body parts and their hygiene, basic manners, general hygiene, identification of English and Hindi alphabets, craft works-learning of making things out of paper i.e. aeroplane, fans, caps etc. The overall idea was to develop skills in students so that they can become more active with their growing age..

• Health Checkup camp was organized for the students.

The importance of good health cannot be ignored in this pace of life. Without good health we leave ourselves susceptible to dangerous diseases and a shortened life span. To provide better health care facilities, a free Health Checkup camp was organized this month too for the students of Madanpur Khaddar learning centres where doctors from Kunti Charitable Trust, Delhi paid a visit at our centres and performed a through medical check up for 20 students.

Chennai

• World Earth Day was observed on 22nd April’09

World Earth Day 2009 marked the beginning of The Green Generation Campaign with focus of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2010. This day aims at a carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal. At the same time creating a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one.

At our center in Chennai, educators preached the students with the need to preserve World Earth Day, it’s relevance in one’s life & how one can contribute for the same. Educator’s also discussed on students role to keep the environment clean & the need for planting trees. Children’s actively participated in the discussion & put forward their views on the same. They related this discussion with ozone layer depletion, water pollution, etc. thereby getting a clear understanding of the importance of a clean & healthy environment in our life. Children’s also undertook a small activity wherein they drew few images as how the earth can be saved.

Madhya Pradesh

• Attraction of the month

We are proud to say that the efforts by GIDF’s team at MP have resulted in a new development both for the organization & the community. To start new health services under Mobile Health Outreach Programme in the targeted villages located in district Guna we have received a new health ambulance from the MPLEAD Fund of Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Central minister –IT).

• E-Siksha Programme

GIDF has been carrying out a unique initiative with UNICEF in the sate of MP under which we have been imparting computer education to the rural students. This computer education is being provided in different target villages & this month total of 67 classes was conducted with different batches. In addition four new batches in village AWAN were formed which includes 40 boys & 45 girls. To add on, one more initiative which has been taken on a parallel manner along with e-siksha classes is the “Life Skill Education”. We have started conducting LSE sessions for all the batches & have received a very warm response from the targeted group.

• A beginning towards a new life – MITR

Under Project MITR, this month we especially focused on the formation of Self Help Groups (SHG’s) for sex workers in the targeted communities. We conducted several orientation meetings & regular sessions with the groups so as to make them aware of other livelihood options available. Secondly, we also conveyed them with the information on several sexually transmitted diseases which they were not aware of & the risk of getting and transferring infection to others.

Our main objective behind forming these SHG’s is to generate new income generation activities for these sex workers so that they can get rid of this flesh trade business and also to save their coming generation from the same profession.