Volunteer experience on our recent CCC 5

YFS Environment Team

Our environment: so far non-living sand under our foot, motionless trees side by, litres of water

around, blue tinted sky above, doesn't seem to be a big essential deal for our life. This may be the 

blind thought of a person who doesn't care about the nature. But that is not the case... Our life 

totally tangles with these things around. Polluting this environment is like cutting the branch of a 

tree by sitting at its edge. To save us from falling off, we should start protecting it right now. As one 

of the necessary steps, we went for the coastal clean-up in different beaches of Chennai on a 

Sunday 08.06.2014 – I was asked to join Thiruvanmiyur group as it’s my nearby place. In the early 

morning of Sunday, I didn't imagine such a huge number of people involved in the clean-up. The 

whole mass comprises youngsters, old retired gentlemen, children from various places of Chennai. 

They all collected the plastics, glass bottles, thermacols in separate bags sincerely. Earlier I thought 

only a small number of youngsters are interested in saving the environment. But all my belief went 

wrong on seeing couples who participated in the clean-up and three to four old nice gentlemen (my 

eyes caught these three but may be more number of persons) collected the plastics and dumped in 

bags with their shivering walks. In our group, myself, Pavani, Shankar sir (This is the first time I met 

him) and his children joined together to clean up. His children are really amazing having such 

responsibility at this small age. They never asked their dad to permit them to play in the beach, to 

buy anything to eat. Unlike normal kids, they are so matured and they cared much not leaving any 

titbits of plastics. If this wave of saving the environment extends like a chain, I am damn sure we will 

get back our green planet soon. No one out of nearly 200 people get tired in the cleaning process. 

The success of this clean-up is the beach now looks awesome and many of the public people look at 

us and it may be an eye opener for them to keep the beach clean. Though cleaning our own 

environment gives us much pleasure, it is not really a permanent solution to create a Green Planet. 

Each and every individual of this society should involve themselves in this cause. It’s our duty to 

create awareness among the people who really unaware of the consequences of dumping waste just 

like that in beaches. Swami Vivekananda asked for hundred youths to change the country. But now I 

think we can change the whole world if we target children who are like wet clay that we can mould 

in a proper way. The sea is a magnified unimaginable beauty. I always amaze on seeing the Sea 

which has thousands and thousands of organisms inside her but remains flat as if like she holds only 

salt water. The sea is a separate world, a very large hole of wonders, a caring mother to both aquatic 

and terrestrial organisms. She shows her beauty through the beach, her adorability through the tidal 

sounds, her care through giving her own livings to the human race. Dumping waste in the beaches is 

not the good way of reciprocating her care towards us. Let’s hold our hands together to keep the 

environment clean, to make others aware of environmental care, to make society realize the 

importance of avoiding dumping wastes. These measures are not for saving the world but for saving 

our own life. Dreaming a world without plastics!!!!

S.Revathi Devi (YFS Volunteer - Environment)

Happy to serve

Sharing The Light - A volunteer speaks

If you had asked me a year ago, what I was doing on Republic Day, you can easily imagine me in deep slumber hardly caring about the ongoing of the historic day. But today things have changed. This man of waist 36 and with weight a weighing machine would shy from has turned a new leaf.
Life has given me so much, family, friends, everything and anything I have asked for but I was never grateful. I took things for granted, which led to loosing someone very close to my heart. I am not sure whether that person would return but I do realize my mistakes now.

So what does all this have to do with Republic Day and taking things for granted? Well it happened so that my tube light (which lit very late) flashed a thought upon me that I have a lot to give back. Apart from the random acts of kindness I wanted to channelize this enthusiasm into something substantial.
With my Tata Photon working at 2Mbps, I was able to find out about ‘Youth For Seva’ organization. They efficiently and quickly guided me to seva activities at ‘Nethrodaya’.

In the words of its founder, Mr. C. Govindakrishnan who is impaired by vision but deeply rooted in his service, “The existence of Nethrodaya, during the past 11 years, has contributed substantially towards the progress and welfare of many differently abled persons in Tamil Nadu, in one way or another. We have designed and implemented various unique innovative and pioneering welfare schemes for the welfare of visually impaired, which were first of their kind in the history of Tamil Nadu or even India.”
And there I was standing proudly with along with the residents of Nethrodaya for the flag hoisting ceremony. Very soon the ‘Tiranga’ was unfurled and it swayed into freedom with wind fluttering across the Saffron, White and Green.
 
It was a new and special experience for me. I met Ramesh, Gowtham and Dhyaneshwaran. All three are pursuing their B.A. in English. Ramesh and Dhyaneshwaran inspite of their impairment were very eager to ‘read’ along with me. I felt privileged, being part of this activity. My role as an enabler was something very new to portray. It was my voice and their imagination. Their willingness to cover as much as possible was a reminder to me for going beyond my comfort zone. Reading out the passages from the plays of Shakespeare made me nostalgic and notified me that I too was once eager to learn. By the end of that wonderful day I had learnt my lessons.
 
No matter how many obstacles life puts forth, we can always choose to accept them and keep moving towards fulfilling our purpose. The heartfelt experience at Nethrodaya would definitely take me back to it, not only to teach but to learn more.

-Nimesh Jhawar

Youth For Seva - Vana Yaatra to Gokavaram Tribal Hamlets, Andhra Pradesh

Youth For Seva (YFS) an Organization to encourage Volunteering activities among Youths planned for a 2 days trip to Tribal Hamlets around Gokavaram (Andhra Pradesh) to understand the Life Style, challenges faced and Education system of Tribes. We were there on 27th and 28th Dec, 2013. Three volunteers (Myself, Dinesh Babu and Padma Priya) from Chennai Chapter started our journey on 26th December from Chennai Egmore.

Our train Kacheguda Express started at 5pm and reached Kurnool City at 3.30am. We took an auto to reach the SSVVK Boys Hostel and we were received with a warm welcome by Mr Paranthaman and his son Venkat who were the incharges of that hostel. We had a couple of hours time left before the Bangalore and Hyderabad team could reach there. So we planned to take rest till then. Then reached the Bangalore team at 6am. They were 10 volunteers. We had interaction with them and in the meantime hostel boys prepared tea for us. After the tea and the interaction with the hostel boys, we got ready and we visited a Sai Baba temple. Then we went to have our breakfast at Hotel Ajantha which was a famous one at Kurnool. By then Hyderabad team had arrived and they joined us for the breakfast.

   

We came back to the hostel to take our luggage and then got introduced to ourselves. We were totally 25 volunteers (3 from Chennai, 10 from Bangalore and 12 from Hyderabad). We divided ourselves into 2 groups to mix among ourselves and we got into 2 different cabs. Then started our journey towards Gokavaram. It was a 2 hours journey to Gokavaram (Approximately 90kms from Kurnool) and we reached there by 1pm. We kept our luggage in the guest rooms and spent some time with the tribal kids conducting games for them. Then we had our lunch and started for trekking.

We left our cabs at the downhill and started our trekking by 2.30pm. Half the way we realized that we have taken a different route and we have come to the dead end of a wrong route, beyond which we didn't have route to travel. Then we decided to walk back and then we got the right route. The scenery and the landscape were awesome during our trekking. Sun set, greenary, plants ready for harvest, etc were amazing. The path of our trekking was filled with huge rocks, still we were energetic to walk on such rough roads. Our trekking distance was almost 10 kms and it took 3.5 hours.

 

Our actual plan was to reach the tribal village at 4pm and then return from there by 5.30pm by boat. But unfortunately we reached there by 6.10pm and by then the last boat had left. So we decided to stay at the tribal's house for that night. Without any second thought they agreed to host us for that night. Our volunteers Pushpa, Suryakala and Padma Priya helped them in preparing the dinner and I should say the dinner was delicious.

After our dinner we assembled for a discussion on the seva related activities. Mr Suresh who has been helping the tribal people (Chenchus) for more than 12 years out of his own interest was with us throughout this trekking. He explained us the Tribal life and their day to day activities. Our Hyderabad National Coordinator Shobhit translated it in English for us. One thing what he said shocked us; It was the average life expectancy of those tribes. Yes, the average life expectancy of those tribes is just 30 to 35 years. The main reason for the mortality being the deadly disease Tuberclosis (TB). The main reason for TB is undernutrition/malnutrition and no proper healthcare facilities. The food habit of these people is that they take starch in the morning, have rice, gravy and one vegetable in the afternoon and alcohol in the night. They don't eat food in the night. Because of such a bad food habit they don't get adequate nutrition and nourishment and thus fall as a prey for the deadly TB. Mr Sharma, retired Principal has been helping these Chenchus by organizing healthcare camps but he's unable to do it now due to his age and lack of monetary support. It takes approximately Rs1,00,000/month for the healthcare expenses (which includes the doctor and other health care professionals' salary, transportation, medicine, etc). Earlier when proper treatment was given for TB, they could find remarkable improvement when medicine along with good diet was given. TB patients need egg, protein, they need to stop alcohol, stop smoking, etc. Neither they have money to get additional food nor they are able to stop alcohol/smoking. Hence they stopped taking medicine as well; because if the medicine is taken without proper diet, it may have negative effect.

Mr Suresh after working on a few assignments along with RSS (Raashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parikshat), decided to serve these tribal people. He's a Journalist and a black belt holder in Taekwonda. Also he's an expert in Archery and Rifle Shooting. So he decided to teach the students whatever the skills he has. Then he started teaching Archery and Rifle Shooting to these kids, so that they can participate in Sports. With this the students get exposure to other parts of the country and this will motivate them to study more on academics. Also they could get sports reservation for their higher studies. Without the above support, normally these kids don't prefer to go to school, they get married earlier and they just live the life what their ancestors have been living. The life of these tribes (Chenchus) is very simple but hard. They do hunting for their livelihood and they never learnt cultivation. Whatever the land that is given to them by the Government, they sell it or lease it and live with the money they get or they get food/vegetables in return for the land. Their health conditions are worse as they don't get proper diet. So Mr Suresh's aim is to create a lot of National Champions in Archery and Rifle shooting from these tribal groups so that they get good recognition and opportunity to continue their higher studies, which will in turn increase the standard of living of these tribes.

   

   

However Suresh's dream wouldn't be able to come true just with his efforts. It needs some support from others as well. Because an Archery Kit costs around Rs 7000 and a Rifle shooting kit costs Rs 18,000 which can be used only for 1 kid. His plan is to make atleast 4 kids from these groups participate in Archery and Rifle Shooting competition every year. The cost for this would be roughly Rs 1,50,000 per year including all the expenses. So, if the funds of Rs 1,50,000 is generated every year, Suresh would be able to fulfill his dream of increasing the standard of living of these tribes. Also he mentioned that a few students are already excelling in Yoga and they have got State Championship as well. After listening to this we from YFS decided to talk with our other teams and corporate to generate these funds.

After this serious discussion we had some fun like singing, dancing, games to entertain the tribes and later realized that it's high time we need to stop these activities as the tribal families usually sleep earlier. But they were very much enjoying these activities and they wanted us to continue these activities as much as possible. Then we requested them to join us for the activities, but they were never willing to join the activities because of their shyness. Eventually somehow we convinced their family head Mr Pitchaiah to join us for dance and once he started dancing, his family members one by one showed willingness to participate. They sang beautiful songs for us for almost one hour and then they joined us for dance. To our surprise these activities went on and on for 3 hours and they enjoyed these activities. At last we wound up the activities at 12 midnight and decided to sleep as we need to get up early to catch the morning boat at 7am. The host provided us with enough blankets and bed spreads to keep ourselves comfortable in the night. But inspite of the thick blankets and the camp fire, some of us were unable to manage the chillness and we were awake throughout the night discussing seva related activities, Indian democracy, horror stories, etc.  

  

 

 Then in the morning, when we got ready and we were about to leave, the host said that we need to have the breakfast and go. They made a quick breakfast for us and we enjoyed it too. We had a group photo session and then departed  from that place with heaviness in heart. Because I'm not sure if someone in city would treat such a huge crowd in the same way this family treated us.  They were able to manage the accommodation and food for 25 of us. We collected some amount among ourselves and gave it to Mr Suresh to help these tribal families with that amount. Then we distributed the health awareness postures to all the families in that locality. Then we came to the river to get the boat for us. Before the boat started, we enjoyed swimming in the river for 15 minutes. That was an unexpected bonus for us.

       

Then we had an hour travel in the boat towards Gokavaram, took our cab and reached Gokavaram. Then we spent some time with Mr Sharma (the retired Principal who has been taking care of health care related activities for the tribes) and started to SriSailam. After our lunch at SriSailam, we went for a ride in rope car which was wonderful experience. It was a beautiful place with lake surrounded by mountain and greenary. Then we had darshan in the temple in the evening and the Hyderabad team left to their place by their cab.

 We, the Chennai Team and Bangalore Team stayed at Shivaji Spoorthi Kendra and started early in the morning to Kurnool to get our respective buses at Kurnool. We had nice time on the way. We had an opportunity to get into a sun flower garden, clicked beautiful pictures and then we had our lunch together at a hotel in Kurnool. We celebrated the New Year by cutting cake in the hotel. After giving send off to Bangalore team at 12 noon, we Chennai team had 3 more hours for our bus. So we went back to the SSVVK boys hostel and interacted with the kids. We conducted some games for them and then started from there in the evening. We took our 4pm bus at Kurnool and reached Chennai early in the morning at 5am. 

 

To view the complete album, please click here.

On the whole, this trip has been amazing. It was filled with fun, adventure and some heart touching stories of tribes. Gave opportunity to meet new people, meet our own volunteers from other parts of India, discuss with them on few other seva projects, etc. Though the pictures above may reflect mostly the fun part, the real action plan starts now which would not be possible to be shown in the pictures.

Action plan needed:

• Funds to be raised for training the kids on archery and rifle shooting as per Mr Suresh's plan.
• Funds to be raised to improve the health conditions of the tribes.
• A model Tribal Hamlet has to be created, so that on seeing this other tribal hamlet would be willing to accept change.
• Volunteers needed to stay with these tribes and help them improve their standards (One thing I should mention here, this village doesn't have electricity and proper signal for mobile. They have a solar power electric post installed, out of which there is only one street light glowing and signal for mobile comes in a very few places where you need to wait for minutes to capture the signal).

Those who are interested in any of the above activities can contact us: http://youthforseva.org/

- Thamizharasan Karunakaran

First time with YFS : weekend experience

Hi. My name is Raghu Nandhan. My first visit to YFS office in Chetpet happened on a cloudy Saturday evening in the month of November. Unlike the usual ‘hot, hotter, hottest’ climate of Chennai, the climate on that particular day was more than welcoming with a cool and gentle breeze with occasional yet heavy downpour of rain. I had gone over there to meet the YFS members and have a discussion regarding the volunteering opportunities. The YFS members were very warm and welcoming. After having a short discussion, I was advised to join the YFS members in their NGO visit which was located in a slum area at Vyasarpadi, in the Northern part of Chennai.

This particular NGO called “ VIVEKANANDA EDUCATIONAL AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT TRUST “ was started couple of years ago by a group of youngsters. This NGO is primarily dedicated to teach Computer skills to the under-privileged. Here, we were introduced to the NGO members - Naveen, Sathyapriyan and Ravi ji who were very hospitable and humble. The guys who are teaching the Computer skills now were once students of the very same organisation through which they had learnt the invaluable skills.

They have designed the syllabus in a very interactive and understandable manner. The syllabus has a Tamil translation beneath almost each and every word for easy understanding. This syllabus has been wholly designed by them from scratch and without any copy/paste or plagiarism. And they spoke in simple yet fluent English.

They now have 4 such centres in Northern Chennai 

• Swami Vivekananda Training Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Vyasarpadi
• Sister Nivedita Training Centre, Vadivelu Street, Perambur
• Dr Ambedkar Training Centre, Kannigapuram, Pulianthope
• Sri Ramanujar Training Centre, Ayanavaram

Apart from dedicated Centres, they are also training students in 7 Government Corporation schools in and around North Chennai, Moral Training centres in another 3 different locations through Biweekly classes. 

They have started a Data Entry Company which has secured a project from an Australian Firm, which is not a mean feat to achieve. Considering the limited resources and the monetary help they have, they have grown big and have achieved a substantial growth in their own terms. And they have created a meaningful impact in the lives of the underprivileged by imparting Computer Skills, which has made them more employable.

The following day (i.e. Sunday), I attended a meeting where all the Chennai YFS members had gathered along with 2 YFS volunteers from Hyderabad. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss about the undergoing and future project plans of Chennai and Hyderabad YFS. Introduction of the old and new members of YFS and also the difficulties faced in implementing the projects were also a point of discussion in the meeting. New ideas were put forth for the improvement of the functioning of YFS.

On the whole, these 2 days provided me an invaluable experience and am very glad to be a part of YFS Chennai Chapter. I am looking forward to many more such experiences in the future.

Uttarakhand Relief work

Uttarakhand  since June 2013

For the entire nation, what happened to Uttarakhand in June 2013 will go down in history as one of the worst calamities ever faced, some even comparing the devastation to the 2004 Tsunami.

The disturbing images of collapsing bridges and buildings; of people and homes being washed away by the torrential waters and of lakhs of innocent pilgrims & tourists stranded at various locations – all are a constant hard hitting reminder that when nature strikes back, its fury spares none. 

This region being home to several historic Hindu and Sikh pilgrimage sites apart from scenic tourist spots and trekking trails, the damage caused by landslides and incessant rains have been massive – in terms of loss of lives and property.  

Doctors, Individuals and many volunteers from various NGO’s from across the country immediately rushed to the hilly region to support the rescue & relief operation.  

Relief work:

To give a fair idea of the areas where the relief work is currently going on, would urge you to have a look at the Google Map below

http://google.org/crisismap/2013-uttrakhand-floods?gl=in

Youth For Seva is working with Sewa International in providing volunteer support to the relief work carried out by them in partnership with the local organizations & individuals. They were among the first organizations that have been working at the affected areas right from the time the disaster struck. 

Even now there is continuous heavy rainfall resulting in landslides, blocking & damaging of  roads and hampering the relief operation. We received a first-hand account from a volunteer of Sewa International named Anand Singh who is in Dehradun for the last few days. He was sent there to receive 500 Family kits donated by Abhaya Foundation, Hyderabad.

• ·         On 23rd July Started from Risikesh Kendra for reaching Gangori Kendra.Had to stay at Chindwali Sound from 23rd July 7.15 PM to 24^th July 6.30 PM due to landslide and severely damaged road and the inability of the vehicle to travel. Reached the relief camp at Gangori Saraswathi Shishu Mandir at 7.45 PM on 24th July. Unloaded the relief  material safely.

• ·         25th July from 12.15 PM to 4.30 PM took up the work of packing the material for convenient distribution to the victims with the help of local Volunteers.  5.15 PM conducted meeting with local volunteers discussing the Distribution process.

• ·         25th July Evening Due to unexpected heavy rains, delay in distribution program. Among the identified 35 Families of 5 villages, only 21 Families from 3 villages could reach the camp to receive the relief kit.

• ·         Most of the families receiving the material either were daily wage earners or those whose houses have been completely washed off in the floods.

• ·         The villages between Gangori and Maneri namely Hena, Garam Pani, Kwari, Naitala,  Ungi, Didsari, about 12 villages about 70 families out of the said villages, have been identified and distribution is going on in the form of 2-4 families at a time.

• ·         Some of the youth Volunteers who are involved in the relief work belong to families badly affected by the floods or whose villages are disconnected due to heavy rains. They are also being helped in all possible ways.

• ·         Due to heavy rains and cloudburst most of the villages beyond Gangori are still inaccessible and roads are badly damaged.  The D.M. of Uttarkashi also issued orders stopping the distribution work, as it may result in causalities or injuries to both volunteers and victims. Even in these circumstances plans are on to continue the relief work without disobeying the warning from the D.M.

• ·          In view of the said orders taking rescue material to the victims has become difficult. There is a limit of 25 kg maximum weight to be carried by a Pittu (coolie) and 60 Kg for a Khachar (Mule). which would be expensive and impractical. With roads damaged, these are the only means of transportation available.

• ·         Between Gangori and Maneri about 13 Km the cost of One Mule trip is between 1000 to 1200 rupees and that of a Pithu for 1 to 1.5 Km is about 250 to 300 rupees.

• ·          For few families who are dislocated from high altitude villages and have been staying at Garam Pani, Kot Bangla, Laksheshwar, Gangori  villages as refugees have been identified and relief material like clothes, Kitchen kit, given by Abhaya Foundation have been distributed apart from the Food material sent by Uttaranchal Daivi Apada Peedit Sahayata Samiti (UDAPSS).

• ·         Most of the families above are migrants from Orissa, Bihar and Nepal.

 

Immediate requirements:

Some relief related requirements like medical help is most welcome- health assistants have been running dispensaries due to lack of Doctors. Other items which are needed in good numbers for distribution are Blankets, Tents, Tarpaulins, Bed sheets and winter wear for adults and children.

There is also a requirement of Home Kit that consists of a list of materials per Family – grocery items, kitchen utensils and others like umbrella, lamp & mosquito nets (see image attached)

What can I do?

There is a lot of base camp work currently going on and a lot more are expected to happen in the coming months. Volunteers are tirelessly working day & night, braving the heavy rains, walking at least 10 kms everyday to reach out to people in different villages for distribution of Home kits by going without food themselves. It is quite an unimaginable situation but motivating enough for some of us to take a few days off from work and come together at this time of crisis.

You can be a part of it too. All you have to do is make yourself physically available for work. If that is not practical, then support those who are doing this on your behalf (At this juncture we appreciate help in terms of volunteer availability as well as financial assistance)

• Take a pledge to make a donation of Rs 500 for the volunteers of relief work & also spread the word to 5 of your friends to do the same.

http://www.causes.com/actions/1757021-support-the-uttrarakhand-flood-relief-volunteers?recruiter_id=13697768&utm_campaign=broadcast&utm_medium=wall&utm_source=fb

• Make donation for a Home Kit and help a family with the necessary ration to start again. Details attached.

•   Donate Blankets, Bed sheets, Tents, Tarpaulins or winter wear like sweater for adults & children. We DO NOT collect old or used clothes.

•   Donate medicines currently in need there. Details in the excel sheet.

•  We are also in need of medical professionals and trained counselors.

Make your donations to:

Name: Sewa International

Bank: State Bank of India

A/c No.: 31129537154

Type: Savings

Branch: Special Personal Banking Branch (PBB) Raj Bhavan

IFSC code: SBIN0004159

All donations are tax exempted under 80G.

For any clarifications, please write to yfschennai@youthforseva.org  or call on 9543043492.

Thanks,

Team YFS