Each one , teach one - English classes @ CYDA fro the kids from Patil estate slum on the 29th of April

Bipin, Nikhil, Nishant, Richa, Harshal, and Manish from Ehsaas teaching Vishal, Sunil, Hemant,
Dhananjay, and Sumeet at our weekend Spoken English classes.

Ehsaas @ CYDA , teaching the kids from the Patil Estate slum English

 

"Ehsaas" The vision and the mission

Ehsaas is basically a iniatitive by the youth of Pune to give something back to the society. The average age of the group members can be put to be around 23-24. So why are these people in such a age group, notorious for creating "trouble" in the society behind such a cause. Lets analysis the emotions and the belief behind setting up "Ehsaas" one by one:

What is "Ehsaas"?
Ehsaas is a group which has a mix of students as well as working professionals. We have MBA aspirants, MBA students, software professionals and people working in various other industries among us. The philosophy behind "Ehsaas" is to get together on weekends and put our spare time to some use.

So How was "Ehsaas" born?
Ehsaas was born primarily in THE most popular youth forum in the country Pagalguy.com There is a special section on the website dedicated to community service iniatitives in various cities across India, named as "Touching Lives" Anyone who is interested in community service can check out the the respective thread in their cities in this section. Thus most of us involved in "Ehsaas" are the members of Pagalguy.com We interacted online first on this forum and then had our first meet on 26th February 2006. The thread where the members of "Ehsaas" discuss the various issues involved in the functioning of "Ehsaas" is Ehsaas - Community Services in Pune

Philosophy behind "Ehsaas":
Its a genuine and sincere attempt by a few like-minded individuals coming together. We dont expect any returns from this. All we are doing is just answering the call of our conscious. So the thought is simple. Utilise the time that we can spare at the present for something that we care for. Its getting further from the attitude of "Kuch Karna Chahiye"
So "Ehsaas" was born with a simple vision of actually getting to work, rather than just talking about it

So Is this inspired from "Rang De Basanti"?
NO. This is not inspired from any fictional story. In fact the idea of "Ehsaas" was born much before "Rang De Basanti" We are not a socio-political organisation, but just a group who are interested in doing work at the grass-root level.

So What have we done till now?
The first meet of "Ehsaas" was held on 26th February 2006. Since then we have met on every weekend. It took us some time to zero in on the issues that we want to address. Right now we are working on a couple of projects:
1) English & Computer classes with kids from Patil Estate slum in Pune. we have kids ranging from age 12-18 who we regularly interact with over the weekends.
2)We are also working with the deaf and dumb school in Vagholi, in the outskirts of Pune which also doubles as a residential school for the not so fortunate kids whose parents cannot afford to ensure their basic needs, let alone educate them. We would be involving us in mentoring the kids and provided some conselling to the the kids about to pass out from school .Also we have plans to start computer lessons there.
3) We are also involved in a small way in the rehabilitation process of the homeless in Pune

Future Plans of Ehsaas:
We also plan to work in a auxillary with some more organisations in Pune. Also as our strength grows we will pick up some new project.

How Can You Help:
You can volunteer with us. We generally carrry out all our work on weekends. So you can join us. If you feel like you can also volunteer on the weekdays, then we would be delighted to have you with us

If you want to help financially in the cause you can get in touch with us. We would be involved only in co-ordinating you with the respective organisations and NGO's. We would not be handling any money matters, but just a bridge between you and the people who need your help

If you want to know more mail us at ehsaaspune[AT]gmail.com

"Ehsaas" Pune Cares... Truly

The first Ehsaas Weekly English speaking session - 22nd April 2006

Well...

To start off, I arrived late. But I arrived. And the session had kick-started. The students, about six of them, had been given an exercise to write something in English... anything.

When these boys spoke, they began with the usual essay that a student speaks... 'My name is A. I have two sisters, and one brother. My father's name is B... ' and so forth. Before it wound up as an ordinary English class, I realised that these boys were not here for the usual 'Help us learn English' session that occurs at many places, but for mentorship. There was no power in their voices. There was something that was urgently required, I felt it, perhaps the others as well... but I could not figure it out at that time.

When someone usually asks me my name, I say with pride, 'My name's Harshal'. This pride was missing in these boys' words. The emphasis on the name, the power that rides behind it: That was missing. Perhaps it was time for a pep talk. I began. Talking about the strength that comes from within. The confidence of oneself. The pride that one holds with one's name. The self confidence that needs to come out. It's easy to type these words in retrospect, but you don't exactly understand that this is what you are speaking about, especially when the words are coming out from the heart, rather than the mind, as they are now. The boys understood.

We then helped them with the words they needed to emphasise upon in their essays, and speak them out loud.

I realised that more than a teacher or a trainer, these people need a mentor, someone who knows more than them, and is ready to teach them on their terms… takes them as an empty slate, does not judge them. Me thinks that while the English classes should continue, parallel to that, such an effort should be made to ensure that the kids take us as friends, rather than those who just come, teach in novel methods, and disappear for the rest of the week.



During this time, Nikhil & Subhashini tried to arrange a few English Cartoon VCDs for the boys. They were able to find only Hindi cartoons, but we turned it into another exercise. The cartoon would be in Hindi, so that the boys understood, and then they would summarise it for us in English. So it happened. The kids tried hard, and did succeed in translating their thoughts into English. We take our English for granted, but for them, even speaking in Hindi being an exercise, every word that they speak in English is an achievement. That satisfaction was seen on their faces.



Last, but not the least, we played a Word - Antakshari sort of a game. One person starts off with a word, spells it, and gives its meaning. The second in line says a word starting with the ending letter of the previous word, its spelling & meaning. And so on. All of us volunteers and students participated. I felt that this game was the best ice breaker in the day... everyone was relaxed, enjoying, pulling each other's legs, so on and so forth. The words selected were put up on the board for all to see... most of the guys even noted them down so that they could use them later.

That was the best way to end the day, and my Pune visit... I'd waited all day just for these 3 hours, and man, were the worth it!!!

Ehsaas at the Vagholi centre for the dumb and deaf - 9th April 2006

!~This girl is called Priya. She was found living with an old beggar on the roads, next to a temple in Pune. The trustees at vagholi convinced the beggar to allow them to take the child away to the centre, to have a shot at a better life. The beggar died a few months later. She recited a poignant poem for us. She is too young to go to school.~!

This trip started out as a "bike ride and a visit to a tribal hostel" all rolled into one. It ended up being an extremely educating experience for me, and my friends from "Ehsaas", which is the community service group we have got together to form in Pune.

We started out at the CYDA office, located at the centre of Pune (CYDA is one of the NGOs Ehsaas is working with) with 8 folks from Ehsaas and 4 bikes. Madhura from CYDA volunteered to be our guide on this trip, and helped us find the ashram shala (interchangably referred to as the Vagholi centre for the dumb and deaf or the Mukh Badhir Vidyalaya - Vagholi) , located about 30 kms away from the centre of the city. What struck me about Madhura was the patient manner in which she allowed us to spend time at the ashram shala, without interfering in the long drawn discussions we had after tour of the ashram. She waited patiently for us to finish talking, to provide us with insightful information.

We had a car and a bike join us midway on the trip (and one car after we reached there), so were a happy group of 5 bikes and a car, on a very hot day in Pune. The mid-day sun in Pune burns your skin, and the dry heat has your eyes feeling sauna-esque. On the way to Vagholi, Sonika, my friend who was riding pillion and I swapped stories about our respective social and love lives. This considerably helped to beat the heat. We also passed this beautiful old temple, on the banks of a lake, but had overshot the ashram shala, and had the other bikes waiting for us, so had to turn back ASAP!

We finally got to the ahsram shala an hour later. It consists of 4 ad hoc buildings, with a central courtyard. It was evident that these structures were erected on a need basis, and not with any planned perspective. It houses 300 kids (including 50 dumb and deaf children), who study in standards 1-10. A lot of these kids have spent over 5 years at the ashram shala, and there were no visible signs of being ill-treated (I had to being this up. I don't have the most positive impression of residential schools run by charitable trusts) but the kids here were extremely happy, and showed no fear of the authorities (they seemed to be able to interact with us in an extremely unencumbered fashion)

The visit kicked off with Mr. Motilal (who is the son of the man who set up the NGO many years ago with 8 kids) explaining to us what they did at the ashram shala. He brought up how they pick up kids from various places in Pune, and the yawning gap that exists between funds that are provided to take care of the kids to the funds required to actually provide them with basic amenities.

Mr Arthur Linfield was then introduced to us. He has spent time doing charitable work in many places in the world, and the last 7 years have been spent in Pune (Family Care - Pune initiative). He came there with 2 of his daughters (Amaris and Leilani) and along with his wife and 5 other children, spends time doing similar charitable work at a slum in Pune. He spoke passionately about helping people, and his experiences helping people in India over the past decade.

An extremely articulate speaker, the message I got from his little talk was that "even the smallest act of reaching out to other people is useful (and it could mean giving 1 kilo of rice or a 100). However, while having long term action plans is a good thing, putting those plans into action in the present is equally important.

After Arthur left (and he has one very cute daughter), Motilal took us on a guided tour of the ahsram shala. The first "classroom" we visited was a concrete structure with a tin roof with holes (now serving as a classroom for the 9 & 10th standard kids). We were in that room for about 15 mins, and I could have roasted popcorn till it popped. I don't think I would have got through schooling those conditions, and you had kids here who were just excited about being able to study. We were taken on a tour of the girls hostel, the school for the dumb and deaf, the computer room, and finally to the hall, where we walked to a rousing applause from the children. I was stunned at the discipline inculcated in them. They were neatly sitting in rows, girls on one side and boys on the other (and I think each row consisted of kids from the same year - not sure about that though). We were officially the chief guests, and there were more than 11 chairs lined up at the head of the room for us to take (we were 11 Ehsaas volunteers who made it on the trip). We were introduced to this kid who said the most heart rendering prayer for us. She must've been about 3 years old, and was living with a beggar on of of the roads in Pune City. The organizationconvinced the beggar to allow them to take her away, and brought her to vagholi. The beggar later died. She is too young to go to school, so is in the balwadi (rudimentary playschool).

We also met Sachin, who is the son of a prostitute, and who was dropped at the ashram 5 years ago. I was very impressed with how intelligent some of these kids were.

Ehsaas volunteers at the end of the trip decided to do a realistic rethink about what we could do at this ashram shala. The location might pose a problem for us to come down every week, but we tentatively decided to come back here on the 30th of April and organise a talk for the kids about what career paths they could opt for, after giving their board exams. This is more of a morale building exercise for kids currently studying in the 10th and the other younger kids, that they have hope! It would also help the other kids understand what they could do with their lives and lend some direction to them.

I was personally very humbled by my interaction with the children. They had torn clothes, scrabby faces, and no slippers, but were so un-encumbered and full of life!

Ehsaas - We will let our work speak for us.

It's sufficient to say that there is going to be a lot of information surrounding what we are doing in Pune on this blog!

It will also help bring people who would like to join us at Ehsaas, up to speed with the gamut of activities being undertaken by us in Pune.

In short Ehsaas consists of group of young people, some of whom are working and others who are studying, earnestly working to make a difference in the lives of the underprivilaged in Pune city.

At present we are working primarily with an NGO called CYDA , in the space of education of underprivilaged children. We are also working hard to understand the problems faced by homeless people in Pune.

We are also working with 2 other NGOs (The Hermian Gmeiner centre at Shivajinagar railway station and the Mukh Badhir Ashram shala at Vagholi), to try and help the children at these NGOs live better lives!