The new President of the RC of Chennai Kilpauk was installed on 24th June.
Sreevatsa the new President mad a few mportant announcements about the plans of the Club. Here they are as a list
1. Tsunami - a vilage which lost about 28 students to the Tsunami and which is now needing a lot of repairs has been identified. The school is situated near Cuddalore one of the worst hit by the Tsunami. The Club will repair the school and provide the school with a decent building to enable it to commence functioning.
2. Tsunami - TVs and toys and playthings for the Tsunami hit villages was a great hit last year. they played a vital role in bringing back smiles ot the faces of children and many adults and hopefully the Club will have some money to be able to bring more smiles.
3. Helping Hands - The club will arrange for an artificial limb camp which will benefit over 150 disabled people. Artificial limbs and calipers for the polio affected will be distributed. We will also conduct corrective surgeries for the physically handicapped. The club will also distribute at least 70 tricycles for the disabled. this project is a matching grant project made possible with the help of RC fo Strathcona Sunrise of Canada.
4. Ignite - The club will meet the financial needs of about 40 students who come from poor families.
The function was attended by over 100 visiting Rotarians from the District and the district was well represented by its officers and PDGs. The Chief Guest of the evening was DG Elect Dr. Shyamsundar.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Giving away the catamarans
The Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk gave away catamarans to an entire village affected by the Tsunami.
The Village of Pudukuppam was devastated by the recent Tsunami and while no lives were lost the village suffered extensive damage. No boats or catamarans were left and the entire village was left with no means of livelihood.
I will not say much here since I have said a lot about the suffering and what these people are going through trying to get back on their feet. However, I would like to stress that they need help, they need people who understand what they are going through and who are willing to contribute in some way or other to these people’s rehabilitation.
Devaraj the village head man when he spoke at the giving away ceremony said “We live many miles away from the place where you live and many thousand miles from where this gentlemen (Tim Johnson) lives, however this distance did not separate you from us when it came to helping us. It is providence that you came here and saw what happened to us and have now come forward to provide all of us in this village with catamarans which will now give us a chance to stand on our own feet.” Devaraj could not stop the tears streaming down his cheeks.
Tim Johnson was given a replica of the catamarans which was made by the same carpenters who made the catamarans for the village.
Tim when he responded said that he wished them well and hoped that they would remain safe.
All villagers than impromptu shouted “thanks to Rotary” in Tamil.
While one phase of the process of rehabilitation is over we now need to concentrate on the rest of their problems, sanitation, education and mental health. And countless other needs which are yet to be addressed.
Education for the disabled
IPD Ortho Centre at the Andhra Mahila Sabha has been working with us the last many years. In fact it is here that we carry out polio corrective surgeries.
The Sabha runs a small computer centre which has been training disabled girls from rural areas in computerese. The Rotary Cub has been able to procure 3 used computers and has handed these over to the Sabha. The Club has now tied up with Elmaq.edu to provide training to the enrolled students. Elmaq will offer this service free of charge for the first course period which is three months and for the next course period charge 50% (to be paid by RCCK) and then onwards the Club will have to pay full charges. The charges themselves are at cost and do not include an element of profit. Elmaq will also provide the courseware and other study material free of charge.
An announcement of this project was made at the regular meeting yesterday at which time Mr. Giridhar the CEO of Elmaq.edu was present.
This trainging programme addresses a dire need of the disabled – to be trained in a skill which would help the disabled land a job. What is coming forth is also that those girls who come here for the training do not want to go back to their homes, most probably because they not only learn here but are with other disabled sharing their experiences and plans for the future. Builds up their confidence and makes them feel good. Andhra Mahila Sabha provides the space and infra structure for the training centre and also food and stay for the girls free of cost.
I hope with this programme we will be able to make a change to the lives of these girls, most of whom do not see any future for themselves.
Many Awards won
Our Club has won many awards at the district level this Rotary year.
The awards are:
- A silver plaque recognizing the Club’s status in the District.
- Award for “Smiles to School” – District project
- Awards for
- International Service
- Tsunami relief
- Community service
- Rotary Foundation
The Club’s President Karthik Sabhanayagam was conferred the Paul Harris Fellow by the District Governor
Members of the Club met for an informal celebration on Friday the 3rd of June after the regular meeting.
A report from Mohan Roy
2nd, June 05
Dear Friends,
I had the opportunity of accompanying Ann Sushila, Ms.Sathya and Tim Robinson to the Genl Cariappa School on Tuesday last.
The Genl Cariappa School which is located at the end of the Ramakrishna(?) Rd in Saligramam is a spacious block of buildings .The speciality of this school is that it has + 2 programmes with VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND SUBJECTS. Being a government school ( corporation schools are different), the vast majority of the students are from the very poor sections of society and yet,it was a pleasure to see the bright, well groomed young faces,They are confident, are not shy of their modest means and have the ambition to get ahead in life.
My confidence in the future of our country is further strengthened when I see these young people .
However, career counselling is an area which is acutely missing here and the kids seem not to know the several options that are available to them.
The principal also pointed out to us that several of these kids gravitate to the vocational schools as a result of poor marks in the tenth class .But when they pass out with good marks, their chances at the ITI's etc are brighter because of their vocational training .
Rotary can , as one their projects, encourage their industrialist members to see if campus interviews of trainees can be arranged from these streams so that kids with aptitude are picked up young and given training.Then, as part of grooming these kids as part of theirwork force, may be after a work experience of say one year give these students sponsorship to a chosen ITI for specific education.
I find that most ITI people who come to us have no clue of what is expected of them .Their work ethics are non existent and in many cases they have just gone to the institute because
there is a stipend for some special caegories of people . Government resources are being wasted .The way to overcome this is to
a) select the kids and sponsor the education(with or without govt help) so that they are serious abt their studies view future employment prospects.
b)help organise campus selection of kids so there is a hunger to excel .because only that will help them get selected.
I think incoming president Srivatsa can do wonders in this area of service.
The visit to Pudukuppam was also memorable. All the 28 boats were ready .All had Rotary Club Of Chennai Kilpauk painted on them.. I wish the name of the major donor's son/daughter
from Tim's club( he mentioned it ,we fogot may be) had been put on some. Three boats were put to sea which was rough.Tim got some very good shots of how well these people manage
on these waters with the very rudimentary tools that they have .
Rajamanickam who supplied the logs was there too.He has now given all the papers and hopes to get paid.Indeed remarkable that he delivered the logs and waited for the money all this while..a tribute to
Vidya's credibility !!!
Devraj made touching remarks about Tim and Vidya and RCCK and I think we have done well in helping these people .Very thoughtfully, they presented Tim with a miniature of the Catamaran.
Next we visited Little Drops which is a destitute home and school off Porur in Ayypanthangal (take the road adjecent to The Bus Depot).John has resigned from The Indian Airlines and like Mother Theresa
helping the aged destitutes live in dignity in their last days.There are 209 in mates.There is also a home for about 50 people who are mentally disturbed .He has managed to build one a time,six blocks of a school building which now caters to about 400 children ..fees of about 60.00 per child.His wife is in charge and another from Padma Seshadri has joined.
Daily expenses on food is about 3000/00 which is met by donations from individuals. Medicine bills are about 40,000/00.
John's daughter was also working with the mentally disabled group .The facilities are primitive but then he has done what others only talk about !!!! Bravo .Karthik has built one of the blocks for the destitutes and Shiva sent money on"Akshiya Thithi" day !!!!
mohan roy
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