Nandelpada Palavpada School Visit
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Team Suhrid made a visit to three schools on 23-Aug-2014 to review the progress and discuss the future plan. The schools covered were Nandelpada, Palavpada and Palavpada Anantpur.
The visit started with the Nandelpada kids welcoming us with flower bouquets made by kids, who are even less than 8 years old. This was followed by the Worship of Goddess Saraswati, which set the tone for the entire day.
Team Suhrid had conducted Teacher’s training course in Mumbai in April, 2014. We were pleasantly surprised to see the progress made by the kids. Very small tribal kids were not only able to identify English letters but also were able to read three or four letter word with utmost ease. Full credit goes to hard-working teachers.
Tribal kids get two sets of uniform from the Government and a local religious organization provides the school bags. Suhrid Foundation decided to help the kids with the rest of the items viz Ties, Belt, Ribbon, I Card Holder and Handkerchief. The kids appeared extremely organized and had much higher sense of unity and self esteem.
We had started with Health as the primary objective. However, we decided to work on Educational Aid and Environment aspects as well. Tree plantation was one of the initiatives towards the environment. Planting trees with medicinal value combined the health aspect as well. We planted Neem, Aloe-vera, Tulsi, Nirgundi and Adulsa. Teachers would be able to use the same to provide immediate relief to the ailing kids in the most natural way. It was quite heartening to see the plants of Banana, papaya and some vegetables planted by school children under guidance of their teachers.
On the whole, we found tremendous progress in each school. Kids are extremely confident and communicate well. The awareness related to personal hygiene and cleanliness was quite evident. Since we made the arrangement of water tank and arrangement for the purified water, the water consumption has gone up.
While we could see great progress in general, the wide-spread viral infection had its impact on the kids. As per the teachers, number of kids who fell ill this time, were much less than what it used to be earlier. However, we still need to work harder. The challenge is to ensure that the kids get the same environment at home, which we have tried to create in the schools.
Our visit ended with a common meeting with the teachers from all the schools, wherein we distributed the medicines and other items. We discussed the forthcoming medical camps and our expectations. Our next visit is planned on 13- Sep-2014, wherein we would cover last two schools before starting with the medical camp.
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