Sahaya

Learning new things travelling with kids

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 17:44:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (eshwar) — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 15:17:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (phani kumar) — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 07:06:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:29:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 06:59:00 +0000

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 !

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 07:25:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 06:17:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 06:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 02:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 08:26:00 +0000

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..

noreply@blogger.com (AA) — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 03:48:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (eshwar) — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 18:29:00 +0000

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.

Enjoying the essence of learning while teaching.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:02:00 +0000

"We make a living by what we get, but we make life by what we give" given by Winston Churchill suits to every volunteer of Sahaya. The satisfaction which we get being a Sahayan is immense.

The ‘growth mindset’

We are very fortunate to get a chance to organize events for Swecha2K15. Swecha is about what more we can do with young people from an early age to inculcate and teach a passion for continuous learning and growth and observe how they are participating, reading, learning and improving their skills. Events should provide an opportunity for the students to think, imagine, analyze and implement which finally leads to learning.

Students who embrace a ‘growth mindset’ – those who believe they can learn more despite failure -- perform better in events than those who don’t. So, choosing right kind of events plays an important role.

Measuring ‘the learning gain’

The ability to learn, understand and retain are not fixed and can change and increase with effort, diligence and hard work.

Role play and Running dictation were the events conducted for Swecha 2K15. Role play was conducted for VIII and XI which was quite tough for them. It went good in all the schools but it might have been much better if they were given more time for practice in presence of volunteers at Kukatpally school. Student have shown interest and enthusiasm to participate but Telugu medium class students found difficulty while speaking English. They were ready to speak in Telugu and they requested to conduct role play in Telugu in few classes but after explaining the importance of English, they were convinced, tried their best and a few performed beyond our expectations. Few role plays were very impressive by creating suitable environment for given situation creatively.

Running dictation was simple which helped in testing their reading, listening and writing skills. We observed that the words which we gave for running dictation were out of their capability. They need to improve a lot in spellings. But there was an active participation in all the schools for this event.

Our team has done meticulous work in organizing events that rigorously measures the performance of individual students, and include awarding. Turn up from VNR VJIT, Maheshwara, MNR, MLRIT(NSS Team) is the sole reason. Heart-full thanks to everyone who have worked hard to bring such huge group of people into Sahaya. Hope they continue with us.

I’d welcome your thoughts and ideas – what should we do to improve on the concepts, research and evidence discussed above to get better outcomes of education.

-Mounika Kolagani

I teach because I learn.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 09:26:00 +0000

On a rather dull Saturday, some time in 2008, I woke up at 10:00 A.M in the morning to find couple of missed calls from an unknown number. Being the curious myself, I called the number back to find who it was, someone from an NGO called me up to visit their school.

I was planning to go to a movie that day, promising my friends that I will be back in 2 hours, went to the school. As Steve Jobs said, you can only connect the dots backward - perhaps missing that movie was the best decision in my life. Six years and counting, Sahaya has become a part of my life. Without humbly bragging about my achievements and other nonsense I will write why I love to teach at Sahaya !!!

LEARNING!!!!

On the first day of Sahaya, I would have never imagined that I will be writing this post.

I learnt how to take photos: I will never call myself a photographer but to create better memories of our efforts, achievements and appreciate fellow volunteers, somebody has to do it. (Un) Fortunately, I got this chance.
Who is doing this better now: Akhilesh Marathi

I learnt to listen: Whenever we ask volunteers to give some ideas, we get a lot of them - A LOT. Patiently listening to all our volunteers and give feedback to them requires good listening skills. Being the bad listener I am, I took almost four years to learn this skill.
Who always does this better: Eshwar Babu

I learnt how to be a team-player: We all love to be individuals, but sometimes it requires a collective effort to make things happen. The greatest example in Sahaya is setting up our first library. Everyone contributed, everyone helped, everyone succeeded.
Who always does this better: Every volunteer in Sahaya

I learnt how to communicate: Yes, I am a poor communicator even now, but I am far better after Sahaya. Talking to people, expressing your ideas, giving feedback require tremendous communication skills. Sahaya is the place where I learnt this.
Who always does this better: Divya Panjala

I(we) learnt to make things happen: Field trip - never done, Science Fair - never done, setting up a library - never done, using khan academy in classes - never done....All these were before Sahaya, we are making all these things happen. And of course, the satisfaction is immense.
Who always does this better: Sahaya

I learnt to make friends: Sreeram, Srikanth, Dharani, Eshwar, Divya, Phani, pilla Sreeraam, Srinath, Anirudh - if I continue, this list will go on for pages together. Both on and off Sahaya, people who I have met in Sahaya have become "friends forever."

I learnt to learn: All those questions that kids asked, all those issues that we have to resolve, all those initiatives that we have to take - everyday that I am part of Sahaya, I learn something new, something that makes me better than yesterday.

"I teach because I learn and there is no better way."

Seven Years - And Counting!

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 15:36:00 +0000

Each year Awesome volunteers, supporters and dreams alike people, come together to share with us their passion towards Sahaya, unveiling the key to Organization success. always creative; always brave.

Most exciting day with some of the influential leadership team and volunteers, who inspire, teach, and guide us as we face the many challenges and opportunities which lie ahead in the future, in an event that gathered volunteers from all our schools.

A feeling of quality of our work is the amount of time we are willing to expend on it but also the fact that we are willing to take chances while doing it

PRIZE-GIVING:
Our mission is to discover, recognize, and promote the sparkling stars and effort of volunteers who create unique experiences that are useful, innovative, intuitive, and inspiring. This year we've gladly given this recognition to:

Sreeram Best Volunteer Male	Aishwarya Best Volunteer Female
Ganesh Best Emerging Volunteer - Male	Kranti Rekha Best Emerging Volunteer - Female
Mounika Best Facebook Group Post	Ravali Dara Best Blog post
Vinod Bala Best Idea	Aishwarya and Team Best Team
Nova Prabhu Best Attire - Male	Sirisha Best Attire - Female

Thank you Eshwar, Divya, Subhramanyam Aditya and Akhil, without your energy, knowledge and enthusiasm none of this would have been possible. Thanks!

A better way to grow up is SHARING

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 10:16:00 +0000

This year we had great team to lead us and new enthusiastic volunteers who showed their determination towards Sahaya. Words cannot even come close to expressing the gratitude working with such an amazing Volunteers and being a part of this wonderful experience. The compassion you show to the children is an inspiration for us all.

We’ve noticed how you treat children with respect and kindness, no matter what the situation is. You went above and beyond to make sure that our sessions or events we organize be it Swecha2K14, Teachers day, Empowering sessions, Reading activities, Computer workshops, organizing a book collection drive, and a career guidance session which are meant for enriching and empowering the next generation were all taken care of either through spending time or through contributions. Your words and actions go a long way toward helping kids be inspired and stay a life long learners. We want you to know that your work hasn’t gone unnoticed, and we are grateful to you.

It’s not for money, it’s not for fame,

It’s not for any personal gain,

It’s just to care and share knowledge.

It’s a feeling that you’ve been a part, of helping children enrich their dreams,

That makes you want to volunteer.

So thank you, being a part of our mission and for helping Sahaya be more committed and strong.

Career Guidance Program

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 03:12:00 +0000

Well it’s been a great year till now many great ideas turned from dreams to reality. And among them the one that stands out unique and exceptional would undoubtedly be the Career Guidance Program for class X Students.

On 21^st February 2015, we conducted the Career guidance program for class X students at ZPHS Kukatpally. Harsha Vardhan Ayyagari, one of the senior volunteers has taken up the session with an interactive presentation, motivated many and to add on I can say that everyone present at session were motivated.

The presentation started with how to choose a career path, how to know one self also included each and every aspect that one could choose or take up after schooling to be precise after 10^th class. Harsha along with Akhil explained briefly about all the opportunities that one has after he steps out of his schooling.

I still remember a girl named Soni came down to me and asked me what it takes to be a CARDIOLOGIST, well a small brain has started to think so much that actually motivated me to work more towards my career. And there was another who was so adamant that she wanted to only Polytechnic later followed by degree and then come back to the same school where she took this decision and help the upcoming students in their career. Her zeal and confidence made her lay the first stone towards her success.

To end up I must say that it’s been a great day and a great session as well came to know about many things and learned many things.

The will to succeed itself is a key ingredient of success.

The Story Begins With You!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 06:20:00 +0000

At the end of two weeks of promotion the book collection looks like this. Pretty good going when the promotion was made in schools and colleges.

The outpouring kindness of the contributors always warms my heart, So many schools, colleges allowed us to set up a drop box and do campaign in their premises. Many of our volunteers did not hesitate to do a campaign in their apartments and gather hand full of books for children. It is amazing how it all balances out for children in need!

Well we are still short of target books this year.

As a part of reading sessions, designed to inspire kids to spend time reading that help develop the critical thinking, vocabulary and language skills a pre-readers needs, we need to accommodate them enough quality books.

And that is why we encourage any size of contribution, new or gently used books even if it is just one book!

Imagine the possibilities - Donate new or gently used books and imagine how far a passion for reading could take a child.

Combining the joy of reading with the power of helping others.

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 18:02:00 +0000

We need your help!

Here's what you have to do: Support our Book Collection Drive

Do you have a stock of books not being used anymore, stowed away in some corner of your home? Donate these books for a noble cause, and support our book collection drive.

As a part of our effort to enable every kid to read, we started ‘MyLibrary’ in each of our schools, making books available for children along with regular fun activities. Kids select the books according to their interests. They feel empowered and renewed, and they begin to see new possibilities.

Since its launch in 2011, we established 3 libraries in 3 schools with 1500 books and this initiative has continued to expand, develop new resources, conducting regular reading activities, encourage children to read a wide variety of books and reinforce them to renew their reading spirits.

Where do we get books from?
We collect books from a variety of sources like colleges, schools, corporate teams and individuals who are the important partners in our work to help children discover the joy of reading.

Donate now
We are now associating with respective colleges of the volunteers with Sahaya in Hyderabad and establishing Book collection boxes in their college premises. It would help collect a good number of books by end of this drive.

You can help by donating gently used books or buy and donate through online (On request) and the categories of the books as follows:

Rhymes
Picture books
Beginner Readers:-Fun stories with short chapters.
Easy Readers:-Superheroes, popular characters
Bilingual books:-Telugu, English
Appealing non-fiction titles:-Animals, Fact books, Geography, History, Science, Sports
Dictionaries:
- English to Telugu and Telugu to English
Monthly or weekly magazines

Donate a Book. Donate a Smile.

For any queries you can reach us:
Eshwar: 9963532307 | Aditya: 9014088995 | Srikanth: 9247766039

We invite you to visit our website to learn more about Sahaya's activities and initiatives @ www.sahayasociety.org and My Library information at mylibrary.sahayasociety.org

Education is a key to unlock one's potential

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 16:08:00 +0000

According to me, education is a key to unlock one's potential. Children who are given right supplement and stimulation arrive at school excited to learn - academically, socially and emotionally. As said, one will reach new heights if they learn to embrace the occasional tumble. A question arises what makes a really capable child give up in the face of failure, while others may be motivated by their failures. Such children require a push, slight guidance, which is also a suggested cure for learned helplessness and that is being done by Sahaya.

During the last session, we organised a computer workshop which stood at a great success having a very good impact on children. students who are really unaware of computers found it difficult when they were orally taught. But I could see them going easy with it after workshops. When it comes to what all the team have provided them, it's really huge. As a part of workshop, they were shown and explained regarding various parts, computer components etc. Apart from this, students were given presentations and had discussions upon it which allowed them to be clear.

It's a well known fact that drama can always improve one's learning skills compared to any other activities and also a best way of approaching students in case of something difficult for them. They are shown visuals which not just lets them figure out things later but the speech also improves their language expression. I can say, this idea of workshops had truly made children more attentive than usual. As a combined effort can break down the wall of impossibility, the success of computer workshop includes each and every one over there.

On the whole what is done here is-
Go to the students :
Live with them,
learn from them.
Start with what they know,
build with what they have.

All views expressed by - Akhila

Setting up the Reading Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Srikanth) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:45:00 +0000

One of our big-picture goals is to build a activity where everyone reads, where everyone shares what they're reading, and where individual purposes and choices for reading are celebrated.

We want to help our students cultivate the habits of lifelong readers. We understand that each student is at a different place on the journey, and through building such activity and offering choice and challenge, we seek to draw each reader further along their path.

Reading Hour

Instead of walking each student in a class through a prescribed series of reading material or language chosen by someone else, we place value on the act of reading. We want to inculcate the values of deliberate practice, with kids immersing themselves in books by providing quality time to read, structure, modeling, and guidance.

It is through this lens that, along with few volunteers we designed the Reading Challenge for different grades. The challenge began last week and will continue through the end of the 2014-15 school year. In last weeks reading challenge for 8th grade, we have few avid readers, as well as many who are still "developing readers." We created the Reading Challenge with the following goals in mind:

To empower children s individual interests and preferences
To build reading habit
To promote wide reading
To challenge students to either read more in general[bilingual books] or expand their reading to new genres

We are excited about the first iteration of this activity, open-ended, year-long challenge that offers something to engage every kid. We are keeping track of who reading what book. It is a work in progress and, with our goals in mind and our students' feedback, we will assess the effectiveness of this strategy and make changes to improve it going forward.

Learning Expeditions coming soon

Preparing Students for the Challenges of Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (ravali) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:09:00 +0000

The inspiration that made us to think on the other side of the coin.

We always think about new ways and ideas to educate children in many aspects, but the inspiration given by Subhramanya Aditya’s Mother made us to think on different aspect to be taught to the children. That is what ‘Awareness on Health and Hygiene’

“If Health is zero, how can we achieve 100% Knowledge??”

This is what we questioned ourselves… which resulted to this session.

A session on Health and Hygiene - experienced a new way of interacting with children by sharing many thoughts.

It always sounds good when we hear something from the students when we try to project something, which we experienced in our session. The team has prepared some presentation with images on creating awareness on Health, Cleanliness and other Hygiene conditions. Students were very interactive during the session and got quick responses to the questions posed to them. Actually, students were aware of many things, we simply tried to increase the awareness among them.

For the first time we have seen that no student got bored up with the continuous seminar session. Students were very interested in adding their points to our explanation. They were very much involved in the topics discussed and without any hesitation they accepted our request to spend a few more minutes even after listening to the lunch bell.

Getting out of personal and professional activities, the team struggled to make the day’s social activity a big success by holding discussions and presentation preparations for weeks. But entirely the pain just flew away on receiving smiley thanks from the pupils.

We wrapped up the session with complete satisfaction. Hope to carry this satisfaction in coming sessions too.

Thanks

Ravali Dara

Teacher's Day at ZPHS KP School

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 16:24:00 +0000

One more memorable day at Sahaya. Teacher's day celebrated on 6th September at ZPHS Kukatpally School.

Yes, it happened in Sahaya session . 9th class students played the role of teacher mentoring, teaching 6th and 7th class students. They divided themselves into 6 groups and taught some topics to their juniors. I was really amazed by the way they explained to students by interacting and engaging them with riddles in between to make it interesting.

Parven explaining adverse effects of Plastic usage

Sreeram once said he had life time opportunity to experience the best mentoring session at ZPHS Narsapur. I felt sad that I couldn't experience such session. But I don’t regret anymore.

We had a wonderful experience in our last session by being a student and listening to 9th class students Parven and Rupali's class. Am not at all exaggerating on their teaching skills, they didn't require any volunteer to control the class. Students listened very keenly and showered with doubts too at the end of the class. Parven and her friends topic was on Pollution and they explained the drastic effects of plastic, paper usagein a controlled way and the effects of deforestation. Rupali and her friends explained on solar panel usage, how power can be generated from solar source and its uses to mankind. Functioning of heart, types of blood groups and layers of earth were explained in detail by other students with diagram on board.

Block diagram of heart and its detailed explanation

Actually the day started with the inspiration to teach students practically about Computers. We had a practical hands on session using laptops.


Enthusiasm to learn more .


Kids undivided attention on laptop

Pooja revising the topics

They were very excited to know about the basic things like how to turn on PC, MS Word, calculator, home screen icons, wallpaper. In the afternoon session, students startled us with their teaching skills, at the end of the day as a token of appreciation, some gifts were given to students who taught in classes.

Parveen and her team

Gift to the students who taught layers of Earth effectively.

Thanks to all the volunteers wholeheartedly, lets move forward with many more events and workshops which brings out the inner talent of children.

-Divya.

SWECHA 2K14 - a success story...

noreply@blogger.com (AA) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 02:47:00 +0000

As there will be a lot of things involved to call an event or a plan to be a success, SWECHA 2K14 event too involved a lot more things to call it a great success.

To let everyone know about this success story, I would start with the planning of this event that started many days prior to the decided date. Firstly, a great work done by the core team to list out the events that can be conducted to the students, which would enlighten their talent of applying their knowledge and sharpen their skills to come out with a solution for a given problem and then finalizing the events to be conducted by taking all the volunteers' views into account.

For any event to be executed in a perfect manner, we need volunteers... considering this point to be the most important, the idea of turning up the volunteers to the event, along their friends has justified the cause at its best. As far as I know, the number of volunteers that turned for this event was really immense and made the task easier to execute.

Then on the most awaited day, Aug. 2nd… in the morning, with all the volunteers... senior volunteers with the experience of being a part of such events earlier, planning to make it even more effective and the new volunteers, with the excitement to do the things in a proper way and to experience the warm welcome of the students with their innocent and pure smiles posing a question.. "What's new to learn today?"… All the Sahayans, determined to transform the day into an another memorable page in Sahaya's diary gathered.... then the senior volunteers not only trying to inculcate their tradition of handling things in such events to the new volunteers but also giving them the freedom of making the day even more special by performing the things in a better way with their own ideas. All the volunteers, having a clear picture of the works to be done in the given time, got dispersed to the respective classes.

Then there starts the day... the interaction with the students who would come to us with a lot of queries in their minds, the moment they know about the events to be conducted on that day...some students anxious to show their skill, some students doubtful about their performance and some with excuses... by convincing all the students that this day is one of the special day that gives them a chance to shine up with their talents, to know the way to pen down the things they already learnt and their ability to answer a question by giving it a thought.With a lot number of doubts from the students and equal number of explanations by the volunteers, we ended up the execution of the tasks and gathered for a meet... there the core team members addressed all the experiences of both senior and new volunteers, giving an appreciable invitation to all the new ideas from the volunteers and a detailed discussion about the performance of the students in the events, we called it a day.

The action is done and to check the reaction or in other words to know result of the creative planning and the perfect execution, we need to go through the performance of the students in the events, after finishing this, there comes a need to appreciate the best performers with some prizes and for this we saved the date as Aug. 15, Independence day. On that day, with all the volunteers present there, saluting our national flag and witnessing the celebrations in the school, followed by the prize distributions by the senior volunteers to the students, who made their mark in the events with the best performance. It was the day which not only let us to celebrate the joy of making the SWECHA event a success, but also a day which reminded our school days, where we found everyone in white uniform representing a special day, the days when we eagerly waited for our turn to deliver that 10 times by-hearted speech in front of the huge crowd...

We were done with the celebration in the school and gathered for a meet where in there was a discussion about the upcoming sessions to be held, the new ideas that can be implemented, a brief explanation about the events conducted in Sahaya in the past and their impact on the students, different views of the volunteers about the events… and a very special moment where probably for the first time, a volunteer surprised the Sahaya team with her special appreciation... an album which described about Sahaya… then we ended up it with a brief idea to handle the next session...

Then in the very next session, as usual I was welcomed with a lots of smiling faces which in turn carried an expression of asking "What's the new thing that you teach us today?"… I was overwhelmed with their response and satisfaction about Swecha event... a boy came to me saying excitedly, that he secured a first prize from his section and I could clearly find a confident and happy feeling on his face for the achievement. When they came to know about the plan for the day to discuss the question paper, I could find most of the students being very active and desperate to reveal that their answers were correct. I felt so happy to know that most of the students were able to remember the things they learnt in previous sessions and were able to recollect them very easily. The appetite of students to learn new things and their ability to grasp the new things which were taught to them, raised the spirit in me that I must come up with even more creative ways to provide them with all necessary knowledge.

I conclude my post by conveying my gratitude to the Sahaya team, especially the person who introduced me to Sahaya and all the people who inspired me to be a part of such a great organisation. Being a part of Sahaya, I would definitely try my level best to do my bit for the sign of improvement in the students.