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.