What the planet needs right now - A MOTHER

They say that God can't be everywhere so he created mothers. But for all those who do not have a mother, there are people like Sindhutai Sapkal who shower them with the love and affection of a mother.

Sindhutai Sapkal is helping begger, orphan children. So far she has adopted 1043 orphan children.
She has orphanages near Pune and Vardha.

Her homes survive on donations and grants as well as the award money she receives and she unabashedly continues to beg in cities and villages asking people to put whatever they can into a cloth she spreads out on a table after her speech. She is also invited to colleges and schools to address students and she unhesitatingly asks for donations. This year has been particularly tough because though the Savitribai Phule home runs on government aid, Sindhutai's orphanage in Saswad has not received its grant for the last two years from the cash-strapped Maharahstra government. And to make matters worse, there is also an acute water shortage in the area.

She says;
"Do write the address of my organization so that people can send any contribution - financial or material." Donations can be made to: Sanmati Bal Niketan, Meenakshi Building, Second Floor, Vihar Chowk, Hadapsar, Pune.

for more search for SINDHUTAI SAPKAL on the net.

Huckleberry Finn in Summer camp!

Welcome to the magical musical freedom seeking world of "Huckleberry Finn"...a truly beautiful performance by the kids at a summer camp in New Jersey...
The kids made me wonder what freedom was all about..
Is it something you can smell?
Is it something you can touch?
Is it something you can taste?
well,I have started thinking about it...do you have an answer to that?

RAINBOW KIDS YOGA!!

Life is a collection of awesome strings of experiences. I had this beautiful experience in the week of March 19-22, 2009 with a fun loving group of people at NYC. I came across Rainbow Kids Yoga when I was browsing for something interesting to do for the Siragu kids in India. You all know that the Siragu Montessori School is a free school with an alternative system of education for homeless street children in Chennai, SouthEast India.

When I came across their website, it took me only a few minutes to decide to take the teacher training course. The peace I felt when I met Gopala the first time was contagious. The other wonderful people who joined the training were all so energetic and loving. I could see their eagerness to learn and share their knowledge with the kids they'd go back to.
The playfulness of the group was inspiring and Gopala had brought out the child in all of us. We all left our adulthood outside and interacted with each other as kids. The atmosphere was filled with fun and learning alternating in a smooth flowing way.

We learned a lot of fun poses for kids and family and Gopala taught us to integrate yoga poses in the kids' stories and also gave us each 5 minutes to conduct a class of our own on the last day of training. Creativity flowed as each one of us got a hands on the teaching and the rest acted like kids trying to create a real atmosphere of teaching kids. It was fun trying to distract the teacher and trying to cope up with distracting kids and engaging them while the assignment was going on. It was so much fun! We laughed so much and enjoyed every single moment of the training. By the fourth day, even though we were exhausted, we went with the flow and did not feel it a lot.
I could go more and more about the whole experience but I think after all this learning, it is up to us to practice it and share it with the world outside. I intend to prepare a curriculum and teach the kids at Siragu School next time i go to India.
you can also see pictures here.

The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes!!

This is what gives me hope about the forth coming generations...

Event-Youth Career Fair - New York City

We recently went to a youth career fair conducted by Idealist.org aka Action Without Borders which is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, connect with other people, organizations and resources and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

In the youth fair, children from various schools could come and register in various non-profit and not-for-profit organizations for volunteering positions. It was such an inspiration to see children at such young ages interested in the welfare of the society around them. Some children had come with their teachers to the event and signed up for events in groups.

There were many large canvases where the attendees of the event could write positive and inspiring messages which was later being displayed in a Summit which the Mayor of NYC attended. Children were very eager to write and color their messages and happily painted some positive images.

The list of the organizations that participated in the event is as follows.

1. www.relightny.com

RelightNY’s mission is to inform and inspire people that the seemingly unachievable task of helping to protect the earth’s environment for current and future generations can be achieved collectively by the small but tangible action of changing a light bulb!

2. www.prospectpark.org

Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. The masterpiece of famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park, Prospect Park features the 90-acre Long Meadow, the 60-acre Lake and Brooklyn’s only forest.

3. www.globalcitizencorps.org

Members of Global Citizen Corps:

• learn more about global poverty and how it links to other global issues
• exchange ideas and resources with other youth around the country
• talk with anti-poverty experts
• find new ways to take action
• build a powerful movement for change

4. www.actioncenter.org

The Action Center to End World Hunger uses hunger as an organizing symbol of poverty, helping to explain and illustrate the challenges that lay behind it, such as poor agricultural practices, inefficient markets, weak health and education services, environmental degradation, conflict, and lack of access to clean water. By identifying and highlighting these underlying issues, the Action Center seeks to generate the public will necessary to end hunger in our lifetimes.

5. www.mercycorps.org

Mercy corps believe in the intrinsic value and dignity of human life.

They are awed by human resilience, and believe in the ability of all people to thrive, not just exist.

They believe that all our spiritual and humanitarian values compel us to act.

They believe that all people have the right to live in peaceful communities and participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives.

They believe that human imagination and energy can inspire innovative solutions to any problem, no matter how intractable.

They believe that it is our duty to be effective stewards of the financial resources entrusted to us.

6. www.helpusa.org

HELP USA is a national not-for-profit organization with a mission to empower the homeless and others in need to become and remain self-reliant. Through the development of quality housing with on-site support services HELP USA provides resources for its residents to become independent and productive. We break the cycle of dependency by addressing underlying causes in a way that respects the dignity of those we serve. We help our clients help themselves. Living in a pleasant, safe environment elevates clients’ expectations for themselves, and motivates them to realize their full potential.

7. www.readnyc.org

READ employs one-on-one research-based reading instruction to prepare at-risk children to become proficient readers. READ recruits, trains and employs teens to teach reading skills to young children who are struggling with learning to read.

8. www.nysec.org

As an ethical culture community, this organization believes that:

• We are all part of something that transcends the individual experience
• We have responsibilities to each other, to the Society, and to the community at large
• We are enriched through our interconnectedness with others
• We find confirmation and validation of our own selves and beliefs through our interactions with others
• We derive strength through our relationships with others

9. www.humanesociety.org

The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals—a world that will also benefit people. They are America's mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond.

10. www.cityyear.org

City Year seeks to:

• Help children succeed
• Build stronger communities
• Break down social barriers
• Develop young leaders
• Foster active citizenship

11. www.makeadifference.org

Make a Difference is now HandsOn Greater Phoenix which is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization that empowers people to become engaged, take action and create positive change in their communities.

12. www.youth4peace.org

AFSC's work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

13. www.volunteerNYC.org

The Mayor's Volunteer Center and United Way New York City are proud to present VolunteerNYC.org to serve the dual purpose of providing meaningful volunteer opportunities for New Yorkers and providing nonprofit organizations in New York City the opportunity to post their volunteer needs and publicize the services provided by their organizations.

14. www.milliontreesnyc.org

MillionTreesNYC, one of the 127 PlaNYC initiatives, is a citywide, public-private program with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest—our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land—by an astounding 20%, while achieving the many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees. The City of New York will plant 60% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 40% will come from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations.

15. www.justell.org

Just Tell visualizes a world in which children who are molested immediately turn to a trusted adult figure in their lives and tell them of the abuse. That trusted adult has information to help the child though the next steps so that the abuse is stopped and the abuser is prevented from harming other children.

In their vision, children do not have to bear the scars of unrevealed and repeated abuse, the consequences of which have been repeatedly shown to include higher-than-average rates of: drug and alcohol abuse, self-destructive behaviors, guilt and shame.

16. www.ncac.org

NCAC's Purpose is:

• To promote and defend First Amendment values of freedom of thought, inquiry and expression.

• To oppose restraints on open communication and to support access to information.

• To encourage, support and coordinate activities of national organizations in opposition to censorship.

• To encourage understanding that restrictions on the free interchange of ideas threaten religious, moral, political, artistic and intellectual freedom.

17. www.girights.org

The GI Rights is a coalition of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations who provide information to members of the military about discharges, grievance and complaint procedures, and other civil rights.

18. www.centeronconscience.org

CCW is a faith based organization that advocates for the rights of conscience, opposes military conscription, and serves all conscientious objectors to war.

19. www.yayanetwork.org

The Ya-Ya Network is a citywide anti-racist, anti-sexist organization and allies with the LGBTQ community. Ya-Ya is staffed by young activists ages 15-19. We work with other youth, adult allies, youth programs & activist organizations. We help groups & individuals connect. We share information & resources & we support the work that other groups are doing. All to build a stronger voice for young people in the movement for social & economic justice.

20. www.objector.org

CCCO supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war.

21. www.vote.nyc.ny.us

The Board is responsible under New York State Election Law for the following:

• Voter registration, outreach and processing
• Maintain and update voter records
• Processing and verification of candidate petitions/documents
• Campaign finance disclosures of candidates and campaign committees
• Recruiting, training and assigning the various Election Day officers to conduct elections
• Operate poll site locations
• Ensure each voter their right to vote at the polls or by absentee ballot
• Canvassing and certification of the vote
• Voter education, notification and dissemination of election information
• Preparation of maps of various political subdivisions

22. www.childrenforchildren.org

Children for Children mobilizes the energy, ingenuity and compassion of young people, beginning at an early age, to discover their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteer opportunities and service learning programs that instill a lifelong commitment to service.

23. www.18in08.com

Children for Children mobilizes the energy, ingenuity and compassion of young people, beginning at an early age, to discover their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteer opportunities and service learning programs that instill a lifelong commitment to service.

24. Service We Trust.

Please take some time to go through the activities in the websites and try to make a difference TODAY! The world needs action from you...Today!!!

About NYC Screening Event - Sept 20th,2008

As you all know we had this fund raiser screening at the TWO BOOTS PIONEER THEATER on September 20th, 2008. It was a very beautiful experience though we had a turn up of only 9 people and it was 14 including us!!
Each person who had come for the movie liked Wings of Evolution so much and said that it touched their hearts. They said they were inspired by the love that Uma & Muthuram had for the kids and how the kids were so mature and wonderful. We got some more leads with regards to screening the film in other venues like schools, universities etc.
We got a chance to have one-on-one connections with every single person who attended the screening which was very unique. To know about people who love the world so much and who are trying to make differences in their own way was such a positive experience!
I know I did not write about the Urbana, Champaign screening which took place at the Independent Media Center through the School for Designing a Society. It went very well and the film inspired a lot of students who came for the screening. There was a teacher from Korea Ena who was interested in visiting the Siragu School for sometime because she said she wanted to learn about their pattern of teaching. Many of them wanted to visit the School personally and learn a lot. They were also impressed by the kids' strength of mind and their knowledge about the world around them.
More screenings will come and we will create a world-wide awareness till kids all over the world are educated for free.
One of my friends gave me a book called Three Cups of Tea about which I will write another article!

CURRIKI.org

The Global Education & Learning CommunityWe believe that access to knowledge and learning tools is a basic right for every child. Our goal is to make curricula and learning resources available to everyone.The above is a website which has abundant resources for children's education and it is absolutely free and you can also contribute to the curricula if you think it might be useful for our future generations...Some of the features that are available in CURRIKI.org
THE ART OF INVENTION
These resources teach students about artists who invented new tools to explore topics they find interesting.
Decimal Basketball
Getting students actively participating in learning is one teacher's strategy for teaching decimals.
Teaching Satire in High School
A teacher in Minnesota has created a unit on reading and understanding satirical literature.
Teaching Holes in Middle School
One teacher shares her roadmaps and reading logs from the popular novel Holes by Louis Sachar. Fee's collections also include Holes vocabulary activities and materials for other great middle school books.
Unit on Things Fall Apart
This teacher shares her week by week materials to scaffold reading and get students writing about Chinua Achebe's popular novel.

If you think we can add more resources for kids to access...let us do it now!!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR BLOG FAMOUS??

The blogging community has to grow and each and every one of us have to connect...to bring peace to the planet..and it must be a joint effort...sorry guys, i just typed "how to make your blog famous" and this is one of the links i got...thank you internet...!!
http://bloggletype.blogspot.com/2007/05/100-ways-to-make-your-blog-famous.html

This is your world!

A video that might drive you to do something for the World!

http://www.youthlink.org/thisisyourworld.swf

Wings Of Evolution Screening at Scarsdale Public library, New York

We had a screening of Wings of Evolution yesterday at the Scarsdale Public Library,New York, at 1pm. The screening was arranged by Susan Grosz, a friend we made from the South Asian International Film Festival in October 2007. We did not have to do anything except show up for the screening at the library because Susan had taken care of everything that was needed; right from the publicity to the arrangement of the venue including all the formalities involved. Jeff took care of the technical part of things and arranged for a projector for the screenings. We have wonderful people to help us in this journey and they volunteer their time and effort for this cause.
Susan introduced us to the audience and said that amidst all the chaos in the world and news every single day, Wings Of Evolution was there to give hope. What an introduction!
We were inspired by just those words!
A group of around 40 people showed up for the screening even with the weather being so cold outside. The after-session of the screening was very interesting with people asking us questions about a lot of things.
Firstly, the overall response was amazing and the audience said that indeed they agreed to Susan's introductory comment that there was hope in the film. There were around 6-7 school teachers who were very interested to know about the details of the syllabus at the School. They were interested in the fact that the children at the Siragu School were allowed to take any classes they preferred whether it was the reading corner or writing or math or science or anything they chose to attend. Some of them voiced out their concern about the public schools in India and how the attendance worked there. They were impressed at the kids' openness to the learning process in spite of being first generation learners and also appreciated the kids for teaching their parents English when they went home.
Some of them voiced out their concern for the exam patterns in schools in the world and how competitive children have forced to become.
Well, they were also keen on the World Wide Postcard Sharing project and said they would ask their kids to participate in it.
So, the overall response was very positive yesterday.
We also introduced our non-profit organization POSITIVE PEOPLE TODAY to the audience and requested them to take a look at the cause. We are trying to raise funds for the Siragu School through Positive People Today. Please go to the following link to take a look at the fund raising page of Siragu School.
We reminded the people that remaining positive about things changing for the better in the world was very important and PPT was one such attempt to spread Positivity!

Calling all fellow HUMANS positively!!!

POSITIVE PEOPLE TODAY IS HERE FOR ALL!!
TO SPREAD THE POSITIVITY IN THE WORLD..AROUND YOU!!!
Well, here are the details of the much awaited website for the non-profit we have started..
this is a very good venue for us in our journey..PPT(positive people today) as we call it..is an official non-profit organization from october 2007..and we have started this to spread positivity in the minds of people..!!
But, we are initially trying to spread the word around..
we are also going to use PPT as a platform for the world children's forum..
so, please register at the site and start adding articles..also any friends of yours could join this, add articles and positive energy to this..we will soon form a positive people's network where all of us will get together and spread love in the world..also upload your pictures/ art work /photographic skills to the gallery....
so go to PPT here from the link below..
www.positivepeopletoday.org
please do the registration and go through the whole website..pls also give us a review and tell me if the site is user friendly...
..pls spread the word..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can you draw with such co-ordination??

the video is self-explanatory..wow!
Can your elephant paint? Watch this elephant, rescued from abusive treatment in Burma, now paint an amazing self portrait. You'll be amazed at how his talent unfolds.

So touched by their horrific backgrounds and loving personalities, ExoticWorldGifts.com now supports, "Starving Elephant Artisans" by selling their paintings so they can continue to have a new life in Thailand.

Uncultured.com by Shawn

I met yet another human aspiring to do something for his fellow humans on the YouTube...Shawn. This is a self-introduction of Shawn in his blog..I am a 26 year old former graduate student from the University of Notre Dame. After attending the 2006 Notre Dame Forum on Global Health and meeting Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") - I was inspired to come to Bangladesh for a small, short-term, and self-funded project to see what difference I can make in helping some of the world's worst off. My goal is to inspire those who read this to ask themselves the question "are we doing enough to make a the world a better place?".
for more information on Shawn pls visit http://uncultured.com/
thankyou Shawn for spreading love..


The Young Hardworking Poor of Rural Bangladesh



Poor But Not Working Poorly

Creative Stimulation Workshop, Chennai,India

The Creativity Stimulation Workshop was organized as a part of 'Science Empowerment Program' by Suyam Charitable Trust and PRM Trust, for a healthy interaction with our younger generation. This workshop was conducted under Seva Talent organized by CIOSA, on the
occasion of Seva Mela 2008 at Valluvarkottam, Nungambakkam, Chennai on 15/03/2008 and 16/03/2008. More than 900 students from various schools and colleges in and around Chennai, participated at the event. There was a main introductory event through PowerPoint presentations and short documentary films to provide the children a brief world view. There were seven main events in which thirteen types of competitions were held. The motivation behind the theme has been to impart with seriousness, sensitivity and also to give a direction for their thought process. This was also intended to give an understanding about scientific thought and also social responsibility.
please check out the complete detailed report with photographs from http://suyamprojects.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
Posted by Muthuram.

A Part of the Whole -3 - carefree spirits..

the carefree spirits know not or think not about the mysteries that surround them...
but the bliss is worth..and an infinite lives can be sacrificed for its sake!

HOLE-IN-THE-WALL Project - A new way to learn!

A typical Learning station

"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be rather a sort of amusement." - Plato.

The driving force behind Hole-in-the-Wall is the the concept of Minimally Invasive Education which is truly path breaking. That children could learn on their own, was something not many people would have imagined and that too in such a cost effective manner with benefits like improved group dynamics, better in-class behavior etc.
Minimally Invasive Education is defined as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

Hole-in-the-Wall is one such idea, which offers the world a surprisingly fresh perspective on the learning process. Breaking the traditional confines of a school, Hole-in-The-Wall Education Limited (HiWEL) takes the Learning Station to the playground, employs a unique collaborative learning approach and encourages children to explore, learn and just enjoy!

As a concept, Hole-in-the-Wall has multiple dimensions and a potential which is virtually limitless. What it offers someone depends on the perspective one is looking from.

For experts, like Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, Hole-in-the-Wall is a ‘Shared Blackboard’ which children in underprivileged communities can collectively own and access, to express themselves, to learn, to explore together, and at some stage to even brainstorm and come up with exciting ideas.

For villagers, it is more like a village Well, where children assemble to draw knowledge and, in the process, engage in meaningful conversation and immersive learning activities that broaden their horizons.

And finally for children, it is an extension of their playground where they can play together, teach each other new things, and more importantly, just be themselves.

for more information please click here.
http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/education-challenge.html
Courtesy:HOLE-IN-THE-WALL
Picture Courtesy: Holeinthewall.com

What do you think the children learn from a place like this?? Have any of you actually seen one? please do let us know your experience, if you have come across one hole-in-the-wall computer.
Here is one article by Dan Simmons from the BBC news who writes about the project.
Something new has arrived at this slum on the outskirts of Delhi and it is exciting the locals.Most people at Vivekananda Camp had never touched or used a computer. Then three came along at once. for more click here

Lead by example!!

This is a very simple video of how you can be the change and do something about a situation instead of complaining and doing nothing about it. Anyone can be our teacher...so what are we waiting for??

Diwali Revisited - 12 year Hiatus

Whoa, the above is a picture of one of the first few firecrackers that I lit after a twelve-year hiatus from the festival of lights, Diwali, in Pondicherry. Even since I went to college, I was never at home to celebrate it. And every year, the memory of the festival was kinda ebbing away, until this year on Nov.9th.
One big difference that I notice over the years is that, the Pre and Post-Diwali days are pretty quiet now, compared to those days when firecrackers were heard even a month before/after the fest. Dunno what created this change. At least, it's somewhat a relief that now child labor is banned...because manufacturing fireworks in the 90s were largely done by children working in the factories. Anyway, this Diwali day, we did burst quite a number and kids from my street were all jubilant about it. After I inhaled the smoke from the firecrackers, I was transported back to those days where we used to wait without sleep to light the first Lakshmi Vedi (big fat firecracker). Man, how I wish! Sigh...
Pondicherry has changed a lot. Well, more on that later.

GARBAGE Dreams - Short film!

Egypt’s resident garbage recyclers, the Zaballeen, struggle as Cairo modernizes its waste disposal system.

CHILD LABOR -The fight to end slavery today!

Courtesy: DroppingKnowledge.org

Hazardous working conditions and long hours is an everyday reality for 14 percent of the world’s children. Using children for cheap labor is a common practice in many countries. Some of these children have never attended school or dropped out after a few years, and many are forced to work in the sex industry.
Believing that every child has the right to education and playtime, thousands of people from every corner of the world marched together to say no to child labor in 1998 under the banner of “Global March Against Child Labour”. The international community responded by Click here for more...