Learning new things travelling with kids

I started my journey with Sahaya almost a year ago, my first session with 8th EM in ZPHS, Kukatpally.

Impressed by the dedication of the core team, I decided never to leave Sahaya deciding that I have to reach the same level in organizing sessions.

Few sessions in, I have heard about all the activities conducted by sahaya for children like Swecha for Republic Day and Independence Day which motivated me to involve and take part in it. All this time I was wondering "Where would I even take them to create a meaningful learning experience?” Then I heard about Field Trip which will help students to visit Engineering colleges and how it will help students for their future.

As soon as Eshwar anna and phani anna asked me to take permission from my college, I was so happy to take students to my college to show all the labs and projects done by my juniors. The plan was given by master planner Phani anna. As soon as I discussed with my Principal, she provided the necessary permissions for the field trip.

I'll never forget the students' faces as they were demonstrated about the IOT projects done by us and visiting our labs. Needless to say, wherever they went the students had a memorable experience and learned new concepts. Travelling with students made me to learn new things how a child's mind is, the way they think and relate everything to their day to day life.

This would not have been successful without the help of my college management; our faculty took interest in motivating children too, and especially my beloved faculty from BVRITH Mr.Priyakanth who explained them what is “engineering” and how to make their aim and goals successful in life.

I felt that the task of selecting and planning a field trip may not be as daunting as everyone thinks. This is what Sahaya has always done. Apart from their day to day life they give time for children to be clear enough about their future and educate them. I thank Sahaya for making me as one of the members too and giving me this golden opportunity for organizing the trip. I could definitely say that I am proud to be a part of it in building students for their better future. The field trips Sahaya are organizing are the best way to guide students about their future.

Finally, I thank each and every one who was the part of this successful event to make a bigger one and hope to continue this for years!!!!

This Children’s Day, we got exciting new catalog of books

With a wide range of new thing coming up in the world everyday! We gave a thought to upgrade Sahaya MyLibrary with a new catalog which would match the interest and requirement of underprivileged kids.

This Catalog would have the following series:

• Amar Chitra Katha story books
• Bi-lingual story books (English-Hindi) or (English-Telugu)
• Children's Encyclopedia
• Science Experiments

This is the series of blog posts about great books to give as gifts this season. This time we're going to be talking about some spectacular books.

These stories broaden kids' horizons, provide a fresh & a new perspectives, and open windows to new experiences: all the things that great children's books should do. In this spirit, we're pleased to announce the New Catalog of books adding to our MyLibrary initiative this year.

These books are wonderful way to introduce young children to the world of opportunities. We have fun activities to try after we’ve shared the stories with children!

Welcome to our NEWBIES!

Fortunately, I got the opportunity to welcome our new volunteer to Sahaya and I couldn’t thank my friends any less. Sahaya have taken all the possible efforts to handle sessions all the time with interesting sessions, comfortable events and engaging activities at the same time. Our eyes are set in the future and all we can think of is sharing joy of knowledge with kids.

I would like to give you a glimpse of what a #Volunteer is doing at a personal level, just to polish the efforts and make sure he/she is doing it just right!

First and foremost is the fair and transparent communication. Everyone is making sure that all the details and the latest updates are being shared with all the volunteers without any delay. Yesterday itself we got the newbies and we all put our hands together to congratulate them and also boost them for the upcoming Sahaya sessions. I congratulate all of them again!

Secondly, we ensure that all the responsibilities are divided into the different teams fairly and all of us connect every now and then to check on the previous tasks and assign new.

Our core team members ensured that we have exciting events and take-away’s lined up after each event. Hope to share you the insight of our regular offline tasks and we would really appreciate your presence at the sessions regularly. DO share your thoughts and feel free to share it across if you find it worth! My next article would be my take on the upcoming events with all the details and happening pictures(a MUST!).

Thank you for being Sahaya Members!
You can visit our Website (www.sahayasociety.org) or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/sahayasociety/)

Teaching Leads to Learning

My passion towards teaching lead me to Sahaya...A place where we can share our knowledge by teaching. Those were the starting days of my +1, I heard about Sahaya from one of the volunteers of Sahaya. It created a special excitement which made to step  there after two long years. On the first day of session felt excited. There after every session I have headed with a bucket full of energy, which had different  experience from all  other routine days.

Here I learnt to speak with strangers which improved my communication skills.

I learnt to start listening to other people thoughts, ideas which improved my listening skills.

I learnt to start working with strangers which made me to understand the team spirit.

The most loving part is communicating with the kids in their style which creates a special attachment towards them.In the process of preparing for session and  in order to keep them concentrated and  make them to feel  different from their regular classes.

I learnt many unknown reasons for some scientific questions.These lead me to learning while teaching and here SHARING of knowledge had changed to EXCHANGE  of knowledge.

I learnt that every single person has their own talents which are hidden in them and so I learnt to encourage people. 

Time is the most precious one and spending that time with these kids and helping them to gain knowledge in many aspects gives us an immense satisfaction and make us quite different from others.

Proud to be a sahayan….

A Volunteer's Vision for Sahaya

My Vision for Sahaya
My colleague Ravi Teja would tell me about an NGO he worked with on the weekends where he would teach children in the government school. I wondered what made him so enthusiastic about the organization and wanted to know more about it. He invited me along with him for one of the sessions at the school so I could see for myself.

On my first day at Sahaya I learnt that many of these children were from homes which were suffering from poverty. Many of the children have part time jobs on a paper route or delivered milk to make ends meet. However, their enthusiasm toward knowledge was unwavering. This made me realize why Ravi Teja was so passionate about teaching these children and I too wanted to help them on their journey toward education in whatever way I can.

Picture: My favorite quote in the school “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one”.
My favorite songs in Telugu is “Chaduvu Raani Vadivani” from the old movie “Atma Bandhuvu”. The song states “What is the point of education if you don’t have kindness and compassion in your heart?”. When I look at these children who always greet me with warm smiles and genuine gratefulness, I see that they already have what many people lack; a pure heart. This quality coupled with the determination they have to get an education despite the hardships and odds they face, will definitely make these kids the next Doctors, Engineers, Teachers, Thinkers, Scientists and everything in between that could make the world a better place to live in.
Divya

Meet Srihita - Volunteer in action

Transforming class room into knowledge source

Srihita didn’t discover her interest Sahaya until she met co-volunteers and interacted with children session by session. She was intrigued by the organisation. When she started getting questions from children she found teaching as well as learning curve.

Learning to grow

The experience gave her valuable insights into the challenges children are facing across the gap in knowledge. But it hasn’t been an easy ride getting to where she is today as a volunteer.

"Today when I encounter a question by anyone what is my contribution towards society I can proudly say that Yes I am a volunteer of Sahaya which is standing as a source of guidance towards kids" 

Success regeneration !

Here comes yet another wonderful day of this year #SWECHA 2K17

This year Swecha has a theme-TALENT TEST for kids in their respective schools. It contains interesting questions based on completed syllabus in the academic year(2016). Through my experience, kids became enthusiastic to attempt the test. Volunteers were comfortable handling the kids and explain them the theme. Each and every kid gave a fantastic performance. We can proudly assume that talent test was a mile stone for success .

January 26th is an honourable Republic day which is celebrated to the corners of India.
We Sahayans celebrate it in a unique way, increasing the bond between the kids and volunteers.

Our day starts with flag hoisting with NCC march by high school students followed by prize distribution for the winners of talent test and Anveshana Events.

Individual importance of each team in Sahaya was recognised by volunteers with the help of core team.

We had activities which were capitative. Personally, I felt that was necessary for the interaction of volunteers from all four schools. It was a "Convergence of volunteers, kids and the core team".

Looking forward for more knowledge, events and fun.

Proud to be a SAHAYAN!!

November To Remember

Half term is here – and we’ve rounded up some lovely creative competitions to keep the kids entertained this children's day!

Many children in schools do art, illustrations, posters and stick them on the walls of their class rooms. They often choose a different felt pen colour for every stroke, and emboss each page with a border of stickers.

We thought why don't we hold this contest to give an opportunity for children of the future generation to become more aware of their global environment through drawing pictures.

The competition is for 6th to 9th standard kids and they can draw a story about ANYTHING THEY LIKE.

Full of imagination and artistic sensitivity, children will drew pictures about nature and animals, their families and the surrounding area. The pictures also contain the message towards global environment, beyond borders and difference in their background cultures and languages.

As the organizer, we hope that this contest provides the children an opportunity to think about the global environment, by expressing their inspiration from nature's bounty.

Come join us to volunteer and witness the Artists of the future.

Contact: 
Phani Samudrala: 09160049332
Subramanya Aditya: 09014088995

SWECHA - A Friendly spirit of competition and an incentive to progress

I always had a question..!
How to teach kids in the way they learn?

In search of answer to the question, we found "Crosswords" as one of the great ways for a kid  to develop their  vocabulary and spelling.

Kids were given few puzzles on sports, animals, professions and gruits. As expected, children were excited to participate in the event.  As soon as we started the event, their minds started racing, every kid went busy in solving the puzzles, thinking out of the box.

Few puzzles were above their standard but kids did not give up. They believed in a statement- "Never give up", tried to solve those puzzles and went successful.

Thanks to Volunteers!!! 

The support from all the volunteers was tremendous. In spite of few hurdles like time constraint, they all made it a well-organized and well-attended fun event.

Let us continue to witness the spark of kids..

A New Learning Model

Every year is a new learning and it adds to our experience.

Now it’s our 9th year, the good news is that we’re seeing progress on many fronts. We are stepping in with a new energy and with new ideas from our newly joined members and backed by experienced team.

At Sahaya; while learning many things, we evolved ourselves in many ways. We've learned to Remove boundaries among subjects. Since knowledge is naturally connected and kids have different gifts, we let them explore at their own pace and see how things connect when they are ready. Some may want to go deep into a technical subject, while others may pursue open-ended thinking and creativity.

Since various separate classrooms have been combined in this model, volunteers too can combine and help one another in a classroom. This takes advantage of various strengths to address this multifaceted job.

With like minded volunteers investing their time every Saturday at our sessions is enabling us to help kids of 4 schools. More the volunteers, more the kids we can help.

We are proud and excited with the kick start we had this year to bring in new learning models in education. But there is potential everywhere. Please join with us to share your thoughts and stories about innovation in education. We all must take a hard look at our own communities which give enough support which is necessary to create a transformational improvements in students' achievement.

At the Crossroads of a Career

    The Career Guidance program conducted at Aler village in ZPHS, Bachannapet, Warangal district, is by far one of the best events conducted by SAHAYA and is surely another feather in our cap. It all started with Sreeram anna, the founder of Sahaya, posting a Whatsapp message on the group asking for the volunteer availability for a career guidance program. The idea sounded very interesting to me and I knew it was an opportunity I will not want to pass up. Hence I impulsively said, “Yeah. I am in”. 

      The very next day, 5^th of March, Sreeram anna, Eshwar anna,our beloved President accompanied by Akhil anna, Ravi teja and Sainath started our journey towards Bachanapeta. We began to discuss how to go about with the proceedings, brainstorming ideas to engage the students. For me, the journey was fun, inspiring, highly motivating, and unforgettable.

After a three-hour ride, we finally reached Bachannapet, Aler!  

       As soon as I entered the school, I could spot a group of students sitting around a tree and being taught a lesson in English. This was something I never witnessed earlier other than in few Telugu movies. But this made me ashamed of my ingratitude towards all the comforts I enjoyed as a kid. And it was rather amusing to be welcomed by the kids murmuring, “Namaskaram Teacher”.

    Without much delay we kick started the session. The Principal of the ZPHS school introduced our team to his staff and students. Sreeram annaya gave them an incisive introduction to Sahaya and its objectives. The man of the show, Akhil Annaya did a splendid job in interacting with the kids. His analytical approach accompanied by a quick wit helped him establish a strong sense of connect with the students. He hosted the entire event with passion and intensity.

     Meanwhile, two of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure of meeting, Sreeram anna and Eshwar anna, spontaneously came up with the idea of a 5 min skit to entertain the kids, impersonating two tenth class pass outs discussing their plans after tenth. The kids laughed their lungs out at this hilarious yet educative skit .This turned out to be the highlight of the entire event.

        Sainath and Ravi Teja put their best foot forward in sharing invaluable information with the kids and proved themselves to be stand out volunteers of Sahaya.

       This program has been conceptualized with the view to highlight the relevance of career guidance among the tenth grade students. We not only threw light on the plethora of opportunities that exist but also briefed them on the amount of effort required to reach their goals.

      Every child has been asked this question-"What do you want to be when you grow up?". Few kids have a lot of goals set and are filled with enthusiasm to pursue their dreams while few of them just follow the crowd and ape their friends' choice. No matter what the case may be, the real battle begins after their tenth grade. In many cases, we observe that the decision of a student is not based on their interests and aptitude, but is hugely influenced by the choice of their peers. To help children understand this point, we conducted a small fun activity wherein we have asked the kids to sign on a piece of paper and compare it with their friends around.  No two people have the exact same signature, and even two people with the same name do not sign in a similar manner. This reflects that every child is unique and hence, their choice also must be as unique as they are. We also emphasized on the importance of tenth class and their board exams which they have to face shortly.  It is at this juncture that they have to make an informed and calculated decision since this choice of theirs will decide the scope of their future. Hence, ideally a student has to pull up his socks right from his ninth grade. Kids need to be motivated to contemplate their strengths and weaknesses. They need to have a clear view of where they see themselves ten years down the line.

         Career guidance for students in the schools is indeed an important program to guide the students in an appropriate direction. The Students in rural communities who progress to Higher Secondary Education have limited exposure. The students are uncertain about which course to choose following their graduation. There is an absence of people in the community who have undertaken higher education studies that can be role models and steer children in the right direction. As a consequence in many cases, the interested and aspiring students cannot achieve their ambition. Hence, we at Sahaya shed light on all the options they have at hand once they pass out of their tenth grade. They were given excellent examination tips and briefed on Health and Hygiene. We organized a small cultural event to help the kids showcase their hidden talents. The kids turned out to be very interactive and way beyond our estimations of their standards. The Principal and the staff were very supportive and were in awe of the ideals of Sahaya. There was immense satisfaction and appreciation in the students and staff, alike.

         We are glad that this session has not just ignited those young minds but also helped them gain the courage to take a stand for their choice.

         At the end, school management complemented us with a memento for our (Sahaya's) self-less activities.

         This event was indeed a huge success and helped us grab media attention. It is a memorable day not just for us but for the entire Sahaya family. I fervently hope that Sahaya remains successful in organizing many many more events like this to foster a sense of awareness in students. 

Planning a Miracle, by Being Realistic..

It all started with an urge to witness the voice of creativity and expression of the kids.

A trial to judge the kids' talent on a single criterion can often leave the work half done. With this in mind, this time we came up with events, which best suit the kids' ability rather than their standards. All it took was a clear explanation of the idea and a proper guidance to nail it down.

Naming the events as Poster-Presentation, JAM(Just A Minute) and Picture Puzzle can be easy but only a person who had dealt with the process knows that it takes many things like formulation of the content, time-management, a lot of practice and a great desire to bring out the best in someone, to justify the task given.

Kids involved had two kinds of thoughts running in their mind..
One.. to fulfill the responsibility that they had taken up voluntarily.
Two.. to grab the rare opportunity they get to prove themselves.

A Plan aiming something bigger, can never have its path smoother. Yes, there were some hurdles like lack of practice sessions, clashing schedules between School management and Sahaya.
Reluctant behavior of students to take up the task, and the deadly "TIME" constraint.

With all these hurdles written on a paper, we decided to hide them under a large sized sticker with the words written on it, with even more larger font as "NEVER GIVE UP". So, we geared up with tick-tick of the clock, got hold of every moment we could get to tick the box "DONE". Though we couldn't tick the box on time, we are still on and on, to make it another tough yet successful story in the diary of Sahaya.

By looking at the participation of the kids and some of the presentations in Shamshiguda school, it was proved that all the efforts put in; made a difference. Each presentation had something special about it and at the end, all that we can do was clap, appreciate and feel proud. With this, it was clear that the students are capable of making miracles and our part is to sketch out a realistic plan to make that miracle happen. And I am glad, we are on the track :)

Put the power in the learner's hands

LOVING WHAT YOU DO IS THE FIRST STEP.

SECOND IS OUR PROVEN PROCESS.

ACCEPTANCE BEFORE CHANGE

Despite years spent in the classroom, more than half of grade Six children cannot read a simple paragraph at the grade 2 level. Yet, after only few sessions of instruction in reading activity, almost 80% of participants become readers, in that they are able to read simple stories.

Every session at Sahaya we start with a strong determination of strengthening the basic Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing skills which will enable them to pursue their academics in a better way and to gain knowledge by reading and learning things on their own which interests them.

ACCURATE SCHEDULES 

STARTING FROM BASICS

These kids are exceptionally talented to learn multiple languages at their very early ages. Most of these kids struggle with the grammar rules and in turn they start to hate the language itself. The trick is to make them learn spoken language first and then turn them to Grammar but not the other way around.

To equip them with better learning ability we plan different events which try to improve their interpersonal skills and increase their confidence which is much needed for accomplishing their day to day tasks in a better way!

SETTING UP THE READING CHALLENGE

OUR ACTIVITIES TO BRING A DIFFERENCE

Mylibrary: Books are always a great source of learning, if kids are equipped with reading skill then they can select a book of their interest and read. Our target this year is, to make libraries accessible to all the kids of all the schools we are operating in.

PUT THE POWER IN THE LEARNER'S HANDS

Swecha: Giving freedom to the thoughts of kids, through Swecha Events we try to create a platform where they can show their skills and identify their hidden talent. (Read our recent event report here.)

KA Lite: E-Learning and visual learning is one of the more effective ways of making kids understand a given topic. Our plan is to make KA Lite available to kids so that they can go through the basics repeatedly whenever they need and when we are not available.

We want to be a source of guidance to them by answering their queries and as a point of contact where they can reach out for any suggestions.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR OPTIMAL & DESIRED OUTCOMES

At Sahaya we meet like minded graduation pursuing students as volunteers and in the process of teaching they gain and exhibit a great adaptive nature, showcase teamwork, and superb interpersonal skills unknowingly.