The workshop began with a brief introduction of Saksham and its various activites by its special projects cordinator, Mr Shirish Darwehkar accompanied by Mr Vinod, Cordinator-Karnataka chapter.

The participants were trained on the technical nuances of voice recording along with hands-on demo of the tools involved, namely Audacity, Lame encoder,etc. Mr. Darwehkar also showcased ABRAR (Audio Book Reader And Recorder) a indigenous device with capability of voice guided menu in addition to other features.

At the end of the training, participants were allotted chapters from social studies(I and II P.U.C) to be recorded according to their lang preference(Kannada or English). The workshop was a big hit with the participants as it required no infrastructure setup and offered flexibility of time and comfort of home while recording.

This year for the first time Youth For Seva (with the support of Sevabharathi Tamilnadu) received the opportunity to have a stall for itself to showcase the various seva activities carried out across the country.

 

YFS Stall

This entire event must have witnessed crowd in lakhs with a steady stream of visitors coming from various parts of the South to get a glimpse of the stalls put up by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Sri Sathya Sai Organizations, Melmaruvathur Adiparasakthi Peedam, Sri Narayani Peetam, Vellore, Seva Bharathi and Ayya Vaikundar Narpani Sangam, Kanyakumari.

Jyotirlingas darshan organised by Brahmakumaris and the pictorial presentation of TTD’s growth through a topic ‘Then and now’ displaying some rare photographs of the temple and its development over the years, were some of the added attractions of this year.

Please find the pictures in the link below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104562284585921342112/YFSInTheHSSF2012

YFSInTheHSSF2012

The response we received to our stall was positive and encouraging. We met many school and college students who are already into some kind of seva activity through their respective institutions. A group of Ayurvedic doctors & medical students conduct free ayurveda medical camp and are interested to work along with NGO’s like ours to offer their service for a maximum reach. A 76 year old senior volunteer who is already engaged with many service organisations but still had the zest to do more seva activity in his available time! Right from offering pranic healing and yoga free of cost, to  just about anything we met a wide range of interesting people in those 5 days.

New registrations!!

We could not have managed to handle this rush of visitors, from curious on-lookers to some genuinely interested prospective volunteers, without the support of few of our volunteers. A big ‘Thank You’ to Amit, Raghu, Narendran, Abirami, Ramanaa, Sharmistha, Magesh and Suresh for taking time out and agreeing to help man the stall.  Special mention about Suresh – He came as a visitor to the Fair and to our stall on the 4th day, registered with us after we explained about YFS and the next day came back to our stall after work to help us till the end. Thanks!! We really appreciate it!!

As it had been a first time experience, we have had our learning points too.  With the participation from other YFS chapters, we can definitely put up a better show next year

Thanks

YFS Hyderabad conducted a Surya Namaskar Marathon to demonstrate the significance of the simple daily practice in our lives.

The event took place under the expert guidance of Yoga Guru  Sri Ragahava Reddy Ji, Seceretary of M-VYASA – a Naturopathy Treatment Institute based out of Hydershahkota near Golkonda and his associates.

Raghav ReddyJi demonstrated and explained the physical/physiological aspects of each of the 12 asanas involved in Surya Namaskar. He also dealt with the importance of Stress Management in our increasingly fast paced lifestyles and stated that Daily Dose of Surya Namaskaar practice can bring about a world of good to our lives.

Number of Participants: 22

Total Surya Namaskars perfomed: 400

Highest Individual Score: Nenavath Sreenu – 123

Towards a healthier India,

YFSTeam

Namaste,

It was an eye-opening experience for the employees of Persistent, when they got to see the talent of our visually challenged brothers at playing Chess.  About 40 of them played chess with 10 degree students from Blind Hostels in Mehedipatnam and Malakpet, and were amazed at how well the students play. YFS Hyderabad is driving this initiative of ‘Sensitizing Disability’ across companies in Hyderabad.

Harish, a visually-challenged student from HCU, Gachibowli, who participated in the chess tournament, speaks:

This is a video you should not miss:

Employees from Persistent share their experiences:

The event idea was very nice and we enjoyed a lot. Playing chess with blind people, for the first time we got surprised that how they will get an idea about overall situation on chess-board.. We went as like, ok let’s have a fun for some time. But we got shocked !! They were playing so fantastic that we got astonished, ok this can also happen. One by one our colleagues getting defeated by them. Few of us got the check-mate in first 5-10 movements only. We really got surprised how superb those are playing and how fast and brilliant they are.  In my case, I was taking so much time to make a single move and my opponent, who was partially blind, was making quick movement and looking here and there watching what other people are doing. We got tie-up (Thank god !! instead of getting beaten) because of less time… “ Bach gayi mein !! J “ Then he said that they are National level players.  But really, it’s a great experience for us. I will never forget this chess-round and feel proud of these Blind Chess Champions !!! – Aparna Joshi

It was fantastic and heart touching event.

It was the first time I’d ever seen a blind person playing chess.

It was amazing to see most of them have defeated their opponents.

I very much applaud to their attitude for not expecting any sympathy from the people rather helping hands to get employment opportunities.

It is their attitude that has inspired me to donate my eyes after my death.

Finally, if you need any sort of help for them, from my side I am always available at your service. – Seshu Lagidi

Here are the details of the different camps conducted by YFS Health team in December.

Volunteer Testimonials:

We had a great experience in participating the eye check up camp by YFS in Shishu mandir.  We were able to understand  the behavior and thinking capability of the students. Most of the students are very interactive and are having many interesting qualities, such as they can easily interact with unknown person and are very eager to know what was happening around them, and some students have quick understanding capabilities. Hope all students have great future. -          B. Sushma, GGK Tech

Today I have participated as a volunteer for an ENT specialist camp conducted by Youth For Seva at Saraswati Shishu Mandir School Srinagar Colony by Dr. Sai Kumar ENT Specialist. First of all I want to thank Dr.Saikumar  for giving his precious time from his busy schedule. Dr. Sai Kumar has screened nearly 30 students in the time span of  two hours and gave prescription to students who are having problems related to ear, nose. The voluntees who participated in this event are Mr. Ashwin, Mr. Javeed & Mr. S.Santhosh. Nearly 15 students were having pain related to ear and prescription of drops were given to them. Again Dr.Sai Kumar will visit the school on next weekend. By conducting these type of  programmes, we are contributing something to the society. I hope others will also contribute to society in some way. – Santosh Shinde

Join the YFS Health team to be a part of more such activities.

Together we can,

YFSTeam

YFS Hyderabad turned two this January. In celebrations of the same, and in commemoration of the 150th birth year of our ideal Swami Vivekananda, the 2nd Annual Day was celebrated on the 7th of Jan, 2012 in Sathya Sai Nigamagamam, Srinagar Colony.

Param Vir Chakra Bana Singh flew down from Jammu to grace the occasion as the Chief Guest. Mataji Vivekamayi, President of Bhavatarini Ashrama, Bengaluru was the main speaker, and enlightened the audience about the ‘Spirit of Volunteerism in the light of Swami Vivekananda’. Other dignitaries who included the function included Sri Raj Pallod - Senior Entrepreneur and Mentor, Sri Subba Reddy - Chairman and Secretary of G.Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Scienes, Sri Yoganand - MD of Manjeera, Constructions.

The event was entirely planned and executed by YFS volunteers, and a splendid cultural show was put up by chidren of various government schools, destitute homes across the city and from surrounding rural areas, trained by our Volunteers.

We thank everyone who graced the occasion and invite you to join hands with us in all our future endeavours.

In the Media:

Here are the pictures from the event:

Below is a copy of the Annual Report of our activities from 2011.

YFS 2nd Annual Report – 2011

Thanks,

YFSTeam

Amarnath, YFS Volunteer from Wells Fargo spent 15 days interacting with the students from Chenchu tribe in Gokavaram, Dist. Kurnool.

He shares his experiences:

While going for Seva vacation I did not had anything in mind that I will do this particular thing. Spending 16 days with Chenchu kids & visiting the Chenchu Gudams has been a wonderful experience. Chenchus are freedom lovers, we can notice this even in a nursery kid. Some of them still depend on forest for their livelihood. Few Chenchus came out of forest and are cultivating, and going for other daily work while some are still in forest not willing to come out. They treat forest as their mother. I was staying in Bhaktha Kannappa Gurukulam (BKG) which is exclusively for Chenchu kids. Here they provide education, Vocational Training for the kids & then Awareness Camps, Mobile Dispensary for Chenchu villagers.

They don’t getting much support once they come out of forest. They don’t have proper daily work so they depend on forest for livelihood. This people have identity cards given by government to enter into forest to get Honey, Gum and sell it in nearby stores. They go to forest and stay there for 15 days to 1 month & take their kids with them. This is one reason why kids don’t go to schools continuously. Most of this gudams have government schools but very few kids. They also do fishing and sell it to third parties there. We have to travel inside the forest to visit some of the gudams who cultivate in forest. They have Rice along with mirchi curry as their food. It’s very very spicy & as they don’t take good food they get TB etc… Most of them pray to Lord Shiva.

Overall, I had a very wonderful experience.

We invite people to undertake such Seva Vacations. Projects of your choice are available in any part of the country. Write to yfshyd@youthforseva.org for more info.

Thanks,

YFSTeam

YFS Hyderabad is expanding it’s horizons further to other cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh. In view of the same, a 5K Run was conducted in Mancherial on the 8th of January, 2012. A whooping 200o participants ran for good health and showed amazing participation spirit.

Here are a few pics from the event:

In the Media:

Sakshi

EeNadu

Namaste Telangana

Join hands with us in this endeavour to spread our wings. Write to us at yfshyd@youthforseva.org to know more.

Together we can,

YFS Team

On a recent visit do India, I got an opportunity to visit Vidya Ranya Awasam, a residential school in Hyderabad. The students in the school have either lost their parents, or have disabled/sick parents who cannot support their education and basic needs. Most of the students speak Telugu as their mother tongue, but there are some who are from tribal areas and speak tribal languages. Volunteers working in various tribal and rural areas find the children and bring them to one of several orphanages of this kind, where the children are given accomodation, food and an education, usually in the regional language. The schools emphasize inclucating ‘sanskaar’ or values. This was reflected in the behavior of the children, all of whom greeted me with a “Jai Shri Ram” and a namaste. Further, the schools try to impart a sense of social responsibility through activities like volunteering to help kids from slums around the school in various ways.

I took a bus to Mehdipatnam, one of the major bus depots in Hyderabad and was picked up by YFS volunteer Saandeep Gutta. Negotiating to the Hyderabad traffic on a bike, even from the back seat, was quite a learning experience for me . We reached the venue around 5 pm, a little before the children got back from school, and were greeted by one of the teachers,  Mr. Gangadhar. We waited for the children to return from school and were offered wonderful chai by our gracious hosts. The school is housed in a relatively peaceful neighborhood, away from the usual din of Hyderabad traffic.

There is a very large playground for the children and a temple within the school grounds. There is a school (a Saraswati Vidya Mandir) with classroms upto 5th standard within the school property. After the 5th standard, the children go to another school, also a Saraswati Shishu Mandir. Mr. Gangadhar told us about the childrens’ schedule, which included getting up early at 4:30 am, a morning yoga session and performing chores around the orphanage before school. In the evening, after school, the children have play and study hours before dinner, after which they go to bed.

Around 5:30 pm, the children started to come back from school. We moved into the room where the children are given accommodation. It was simple but sufficient and very hygeinic/clean. The children themselves perform most of the chores, including cleaning the room, vessels and maintaining the garden outside. The children introduced themselves, and we proceeded to have an informal Q&A session. I tried to answer what I could in my broken Telugu and Sandeep helped out by translating things I could not say.

The children were quite curious and asked me about issues like the environment, lifestyle and culture in the USA and how it compares to India. They also asked about various career options and what they need to study in high school for various career paths. I felt that the students have a lot of potential but are in need of career counseling, particularly from youth like us, so that they are aware of various career options available to them and how they should go about fulfilling their ambitions. As youth of India, I feel that spending time and effort to help the next generation realize their full potential is one of the best ways we can contribute to the progress of the country, and schools like this offer us the opportunity to do so.

Overall, I liked the model of education in the school and felt that the teachers make a conscious effort to create well rounded individuals who can act as responsible citizens and contribute towards society. However, I feel that fixing the instruction medium to Telugu limits the avenues and opportunities available to them to some extent, especially since higher education in India is dominated by English medium colleges and Universities. More importantly, it limits their access to ideas beyond those published in Telugu (or available in Telugu through translation). On the other hand, the instruction in their mother tongue has given the kids a sense of pride and confidence in their own heritage and culture, which is missing in children educated in English schools. Perhaps a compromise, with cultural subjects (humanities) being taught in Telugu and scientific subjects (mathematics and physical sciences) being taught in English would be a good solution.

Regards,

Dvijotham