Saturday, August 25, 2007

Vocational training for school drop outs

This evening the RC of Chennai Kilpauk crossed a significant mark in its path towards its objective of reaching out to needy people. The first batch of 60 students who have undergone the vocational training courses offered by us at thiru Vi ka school were handed over their completion certificates. most of these drop outs have not only succesfully completed training in their chosen vocation but have also been placed in jobs.

There were teething problems, drop outs not sure of what they could do and suspiciouos of the offering, getting the team together, putting the process in place and many other smaller issues. What I saw today was a successfully completed project which was represented by the beaming faces of those school drop outs who at one point were under the impression that they were no good and there was very little in store for them in their lives.

This project was started with the generous funding by The Rotary Club of Medford Rogue, Oregon. Rtn Tim Johnson who helped shape this project should have been here this evening to nwitness this wonderful event. 60 lives touched and changed for the better. This would not have been possisble if not for Tim's efforts and viists to meet up with us in India.

The only worry expressed was that with the success of the first batch the next batch amnounting to 150 would be completed in six months and then what? We need to come up with the funds to keep this wonderful project going. We can show these kids that not everything is lost and that we can help them help themselves.

This project is worth taking on for the long term.
This project makes a different to so many kids who drop out of school
This project changes lives with so little
This project must go on
This project must go on........

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