Our biggest week so far. 14860 kgs (nearly 15MT in a week!). 6400 lives touched.
Overall - since we started 4 weeks ago - we have done *30510 kgs (30.5 MT) of dry rations! Touching approx. 13100 lives. And distributed about 4000 face masks.*
The team is taking a break for a couple of days as we take stock and replenish;
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
This is different kind of field story from our usual ones; our stories are usually about what we see on the field. This one is about the incredible team that makes this all possible. This is one of the best teams I have been part of; probably the best – for the sheer selfless commitment and dedication that it brings each hour, each day, each week; often at risk to themselves.
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
“We are being forced to pay rents by our landlords”, he said on the verge of tears; “how do we pay when we don’t have money to get food?”, he continued.
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
“I haven’t seen my construction supervisor in two weeks”, he said, his eyes clouding over with tears. He was responding to my question about whether the supervisor responsible for the construction project was taking care of people who were working for him. “I am already five thousand rupees in debt, and I get food from wherever I can”, he continued tears streaming down now.
We did 5 straight days this week. 626 kits. 8764 kgs. 3130 lives touched.
Overall - since we started 3 weeks ago - we have done 15650 kgs of dry rations. Touching approx. 6700 lives.
As the lockdown extends, we are doing more. Reflective of the situation on the ground.
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
My car’s odometer reads 104.6 kilometres; we have been on the road for 6.5 hours; Well-paved village roads, pot-holed state highways, breached bridges – we have seen it all today; and we have done some serious off-roading as well; it has been a really long, tiring day; but it has been a good, satisfying day. And all thanks to OBLF’s wonderful, dedicated para-teachers.
An on-the-ground report from One Billion Literates Foundation
OBLF’s team has been on the field for nearly a week now. There is a lot that we have learnt so far. One of our most important lessons comes today – in the form of the importance of establishing a reliable supply-chain; and even when you have thought that the supply-chain has been established, it will break and you have to scramble again.
Uncle, I want a mask”, a tiny hand tugged at my trousers. I looked down to see two very young children, both boys, reaching out to ask for a mask. In the crowd of a couple of dozen people who had surrounded our car clamouring for masks, these two young boys could very easily have been injured. It did not matter to one of the children that he was naked except for a rag of a t-shirt – he was adamant he wanted a mask; the mask now placed properly on his face and covering most of it, his eyes gleamed his happiness.
As in the past, we distributed toys to our children,which were largely sponsored by the generous employees of Happiest Minds and Red Bus. The staff of Intuit distributed exotic toys to the children of 6 of our schools.
OBLF once again took part in the Annual Muse Charity bazaar on 6th September.
Our Annual Prize Distribution Day was held on 27th July, 2019, and the children put up a really grand show, which was appreciated by one and all. It concluded with a hearty lunch for all the kids and the guests.
On 28th July, OBLF participated in the Edward Road Residents' Mela, which gave us an opportunity to create awareness about our organisation.
Our Baseline Assessments for the current academic year for about 4000 rural children are well under way, and are held sometimes under very trying circumstances, as seen from the images. But our rural Coordinators rise to the occasion without a murmur.
As in the past 8 years, OBLF was a Philanthropy partner in the TCS World 10K Run in Bangalore, on 19th May, 2019. We had over 55 runners supporting our cause, including the employees of TaeguTec India P. Ltd. We are indeed grateful to each and every one of our runners!
Our 5 week Summer Program which closed on 17th May was full of fun, food and learning.
On 16th April, 2019, Sharon Andrew of Happiest Minds held a workshop on Motivation through Mindfulness for 19 of our rural Coordinators. The workshop was very insightful and practical and greatly benefited our rural ladies. They also enjoyed the new experience of being in a Corporate environment and the lunch so graciously provided by the company.
We are grateful to Happiest Minds for their constant support and to Sharon for always being so kind and helpful
Our Year-end Assessments were held in all our 48 schools for over 2800 children in the 2nd week of February and about 30 of our Coordinators took a lot of effort to conduct these within 4 days. The analysis of the Assessment shows that 98% of the kids improved their English language skills. 1077 kids at the year-end scored > 60%, as against just 95 kids before OBLF intervention. Over 50% of the OBLF children (as against 28% of Non-OBLF children) scored > 60%
Our Summer Program for 2018 started with a record 500+ kids attending on Day 1. As usual, the children were really excited about the games, activities, story-telling sessions and other fun-filled events we have lined up for them.
Once again the staff of NIIT made time from their busy schedule to interact with our kids at the Gudahatti school. We are truly grateful to them
26 of our rural Coordiantors attended a training session at NIIT Technologies. They found it very helpful and insightful. We are truly grateful to NIIT Technologies for their support.
As in the past years, we purchased Diwali toys for each of the 2500 children in our Program. Our Coordinators took on the challenge of sorting them all out, with a smile.
OBLF has taken another small step by renting out a small new work place at Nerlur where a puja was done by our Coordinators on 20th October, 2017
Our Founder, Anamika, was in town from Boston, and visited all our 22 newly adopted schools. She interacted with the children and Coordinators
OBLF had its Annual Prize giving Day on 5th August, where all the merit children were given prizes, and the children and the Coordinators put up a great show of songs and skits for the well attended function.
On 22nd June, Mr. Neil Joshi of H T Parekh Foundation visited 8 of our rural schools and interacted with the children and the Coordinators. He was particularly pleased with the way the kids enunciated each word so well, and the difference our Program has made in the lives of the rural women.
Our Annual 5 week Summer Program started on 17th April, which is attended by 150 - 200 of our rural children. The program is full of learning games, fun-filled activities, story telling, computer sessions etc. A team of NIIT employees visited our program and interacted with the kids, by showing movies teaching craft and some interesting story-telling and games. We are truly grateful to the management and employees of NIIT.
This year the BEO has very kindly arranged for mid-day meals for the children, even during the Summer holidays. We really appreciate his considerate gesture.
OBLF’s school year came to a close at the end of February, and our Year-end Assessments were held from 20th to 25th February, 2017 for each of our over 1000 children.
An analysis of the same shows that 96% of the children (who had at least 60 days’ attendance), improved in their English language skills.
We successfully completed our Year-end Assessments - spoken and written - for all our 1000+ children. Our Senior Coordinators did a wonderful job of it.
To celebrate their Founder's Day, the employees of Aegis Jio put up a Wish Tree for OBLF and made generous donations to support our cause. We are grateful to the staff and Management of Aegis Jio
As per our annual tradition, this year too we distributed toys of their choice to all the over 1000 children of our 25 adopted rural schools. Our sincere thanks to the employees of Red Busline and Intuit for bringing so much joy to these under-served kids.
On 19th Novemebr, NIIT held a workshop for our over 30 Rural Coordinators, on Work Ethics and Story Telling. The workshop was very enlightening as well as entertaining. We are truly grateful to NIIT for this opportunity
One of our senior Coordinators, Ashwini, is getting married on 12th November, and leaving OBLF. We gave her a fond farewell at this week's Coordinators' training. Our best wishes are with her.
World Peace Week is celebrated between 16th to 23rd October. At their weekly training session on 21st October, 2016, our 33 rural ladies too celebrated the World Peace Week. They were divided into 8 groups, and each group was given a day’s prayer. Each group then elaborated upon that prayer and came up with its own unique insight into the problems facing the world.
As in the past, during the Daan Utsav week from 2nd to 8th October, OBLF enthusiastically takes part in many events and a number of Corporates put up Wish Trees for us, to fulfill many of our children's and OBLF's wishes. We are grateful to them all.
Our new academic year has started and we have 11 new schools, totally impacting about 1000 children. We completed our baseline assessments this week.
One of our first students, Priyanka, who passed her SSLC with 81% overall and 85% in English, received a scholarship cheque from Suprajit Foundation. We are truly grateful for this encouragement.
On the last day of our Summer Program, prizes were given to the winning teams and a lunch prepared hygienically and lovingly by our own coordinators was served to all the 100+ children.
In the last week of our 5-week Summer Program, we had the ever popular "Bazaar day", where children bought and sold varied items of their interest.
OBLF had a wonderful outing this year during the TCS 10K event, with over 60 runners supporting us.
Half way through our 5 week Summer Program, today our children enjoyed team competition with many enjoyable games
Our Senior Coordinator, Veena, has gained so much self-confidence, that she contested the recent municipal elections from her ward at Chandapura, and won handsomely. We are really proud of her.
Our 5 week Summer Program saw a great response from almost 200 of our kids. They enjoyed the freshly made buttermilk too!
Our junior Coordinators are undergoing a special training session in spoken English.
OBLF featured in Deccan Chronicle Bangalore 20 April 2016.
http://epaper.deccanchronicle.com/articledetailpage.aspx?id=5239719
http://epaper.deccanchronicle.com/articledetailpage.aspx?id=5239744
Our rural Coordinators underwent a special 3 day training with Mrs.Usha Kumar, ex-Dean of Mt. Carmel College. Our thanks to Mrs. Usha Kumar for making it such a fun-filled experience for them.
Many thanks to our volunteer Kavitha Prasad for her painstaking effort in making beautiful puppets for our story-telling videos.
The OBLF team ( 20+ coordinators, Director, Program Supervisor,Volunteer) went for a picnic to Balmuri Falls,near Mysore.The team had a wonderful time.
We have completed our Written as well as oral year-end Assessments for all our over 500 kids in our 15 schools.
On 5th February, 2 of our trustees visited 6 of our schools and spent time with the children.
On 4th February, Trustees of the NGO Colours of Life visited 5 of our rural schools and were very impressed by the work done by us.
We have started training new Coordinators in preparation for adopting more schools in the next academic year.
Today, a team from Intuit visited 3 of our schools and gave dazzling gifts to all the children, along with dry fruit boxes. We thank the generosity of all the staff of Intuit who opened their hearts for these children.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/294394678/RemedyIndiasLearningDeficit
An article written by our founder, Anamika .
We had a successful Christmas collection drive at Shishya Nursery. We thank the principal, Lakshmi Vijeyndra, and all the parents, for their support year after year.
On 11th December, 2015, Leeboy India held a drawing competition at 2 of our rural schools at Lakshmisagara and Muthanallur. Kids participated with enthusiasm and the 12 best drawings were given prizes. To encourage the kids further, these 12 drawings will feature on Leeboy India's 2016 calendar!
All the over 500 kids of our 15 adopted govt. primary schools got Diwali toys, thanks to the continued generosity of the employees of Red Busline.
Our Founder and Managing Trustee, Anamika Majumder, successfully
ran the Chicago Marathon on 11th October
On 8th October, OBLF took part in an NGO Mela organised
by Yodlee Infotech at the Prestige TechPark at Marthahalli.
We thank Yodlee Infotech for giving us this opportunity.
This year also OBLF participated in a day long Charity bazaar organized by Muse creations.
OBLF thanks Muse Creations for providing this opportunity.
OBLF completed 5 years this July, and we celebrated that at our Annual Prize Distribution Function held on 8th August at the Government primary school at Lakshmisagara village. The children and the Coordinators put up a wonderful show of songs and skits. Merit children got prizes of Fixed Deposits, Cash, Books, ranging from Rs.2,500/- to 500/-
We completed our Baseline Assessment in July, which indicated the current language level of each child, to enable us to tutor them at the appropriate level.
Today 13 Japanese ladies from Muse Creations visited our Chandapura school and had lots of activities with the children. They also gave gifts and books and a donation to OBLF. We are truly grateful to Miho Malhan for arranging this visit.
Rathna, one of our oldest and most conscientious Coordinators is leaving us for personal reasons. We will really miss her.
Our 5 week Summer Tutorials ended today with a lunch of Lemon Rice - lovingly prepared by one of our own Coordinators - and chocolates, for all the over 100 children. Some of them even shed tears because they did not want this enjoyable experience to end
As in the past few years, OBLF took part in the TCS World 10K Run today, with a lot of enthusiasm and joy - 3 Care Champions also raised funds for us
Tutored and enthused by our weekly in-house training, our Rural Coordinator Padma, a mother of 18 and 16 year old boys, gained enough self-confidence to decide to continue her studies which were cut short by her marriage 20 years back. Today she proudly declared that she has passed her SSLC. Padma has decided to go further and start her PUC I too, while continuing her work as a Coordinator for OBLF. We are really proud of her and wish her well
Our Summer Tutorials are half way through and the kids are really enjoying this unique experience of learning with a difference
Summer Tutorials 2015 started well today with over 100 children from 9 schools attending our program - they loved the "school bus" experience
Some of our supporters cycled 40 km for our cause at the Vodafone Cyclothon today. They had a great time. So did the ones who cycled the 5 km race. We thank them all.
Having finished the Oral Assessments, we have now started our year-end written Assessments for all our 10 Rural schools
On 5th February, as part of the Vodafone Cyclothon events, our Program Supervisor Mahesh, and rural Coordinators Kavitha, Baby and Manju cycled at the Forum Mall, to promote our cause.
On National Voter's day, one of our Coordinators, Veena, got an award for best Poll Both officer and great work in voter registration in Anekal taluk from the Governor of Karnataka.
Archana distributing chocolates to the kids for new year.
We have started our year end Assessments to ascertain the impact of our intervention on each child.
On a personal trip to Rajasthan, our Director visited a rural govt primary school in the village
of Beed ki Bhagal and interacted with the kids and the teacher. She later also requested her
Resort Manager to follow the OBLF model of providing Computer technology and skills to the
school, which he readily agreed to.
A Team from a Middle Eastern NGO - Alfanar Lebanon - visited some of our schools on 2nd December, 2014, to gain first hand knowledge of how we serve the under-privileged children.They interacted with the kids and the Coordinators.
The staff of Red Bus very generously donated
for the various gifts our kids had chosen.
On 9th October, OBLF took part in an NGO Mela organised
by Yodlee Infotech at the Prestige TechPark at Marthahalli.
18 of our children from 3 rural schools went for a day's training in Computers at IHS Global.
The kids, who were already taught Word by OBLF, now learnt Excel and Power Point too!!
Their experience and excitement were unbelievable. Our gratitude to Team IHS Global
This year again OBLF participated in a day long Charity bazaar organized by Muse creations.
OBLF thanks Muse Creations for providing this opportunity.
The OBLF team went around some schools, displaying the gifts to students and recording their wishes.
1. We have provided mediclaim cover to the Coordinators
2. On 21st July, we adopted a new school at Balagaranahalli, Anekal Taluk – over 130 kids
3. Employed 5 new Coordinators, 2 of whom are graduates
On 2nd August we distributed Prizes to the Merit students of all our schools at a well-attended function.
Thanks to the sponsorship of a Mumbai based Foundation we were able to give FDs and cash, plus books
worth Rs.2,500/-, Rs.1,500/-, Rs.1,000/- and Rs.500/- to each student.On the occasion, our Coordinators
sang an ABBA song, while the kids sang many songs, told a story and in fact put up a wonderful skit.
A total of 16 People participated in the
TCS run under the 10K and Majja run
category. Three of our Care Champions
raised funds for us.
OBLF thanks Bangalore Cares, the participants,
the Care champions and the donors for supporting us.
To keep the children engaged even during the holidays,
we had Summer Tutorials at 3 centres, where kids from
all our rural schools gather daily for 3 hours.
The program focused on fun-filled learning
– through games, songs, activities, story-telling etc.
Our Director, Ruby Kamdin attended a full day workshop on Teaching English Techniques
at the British Library, along with our Rural Coordinators Veena and Vanishree on 28th February
Our Director, Ruby Kamdin, along with 2 of our Rural Coordinators Veena and Munirathna participated in the
CII CSR Summit and NGO Mela organised by CII at Hotel Lalith Ashoka on 25th February.
My inbox was recently inundated with emails from various organizations seeking support during Giving Tuesday – a global movement that marks the beginning of the ‘giving season’ and happens on the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It was interesting to learn that close to $20 million were raised this year on this day – almost twice that of 2012. This took me back to a topic I have often been intrigued by – “GIVING”.
Ruby and I attended a whole day event.
Theme: Collaboration between NGO/NPO , Corporates and Government
The theme resonated in all the panel discussions and presentations.
Events:
1.Presentations by some NPO/NGO/Corporates: what is working model.
2.Panel discussion : Between NGO/NPO - How/Why/Can they Collaborate.
Everyone feels they have to Collaborate
3.Panel discussion : Between Corporates - How/Why/Can they Collaborate.
Not necessarily corporates can or will collaborate, unless there is some shared and common values.
OBLF participated in a day long NGO Charity event organized by YODLEE Infotech at their Campus, as part of the Joy of Giving Week.
The response of their employees was amazing. OBLF thanks YODLEE for providing this opportunity.
Generocity - October 5th
OBLF participated in a day long NGO Charity event organized by United Way as part og the Joy of Giving Week.
OBLF thanks United Way for providing this opportunity.
Our Coordinators once again attended a 3 day Computer training course conducted by Zynga. Our Coordinators expressed their happiness about this training which provided them with yet more exposure to the world of computers.
OBLF thanks Zynga for providing this training.
OBLF participated in a day long Charity bazaar organized by Muse creations.
We were able to interact with many people and raise funds.
OBLF thanks Muse Creations for providing this opportunity.
Today the OBLF team distributed the annual syllabus
books to the kids in some schools.
The Zynga team organised a 3-day training on computers for our coordinators.
They also arranged the pick up/drop off that was very convenient for the ladies.
The Coordinators enjoyed the training.
OBLF thanks the Zynga Team.
IGate spent a day with kids on 10th April and distributed Kannada and English books.
OBLF thanks the IGate Team.
Our Coordinators underwent a one week training on teaching techniques at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.
Mrs. Usha Kumar, the HoD of Human Development Department at Mt. Carmel, who conducted the training,
gave the Certificates to our Coordinators.
The Coordinators enjoyed the training.
OBLF thanks the Mount Carmel College.
Our Coordinators underwent a one day basic computer training program conducted by IHS.
The session was very useful based on the participant’s feedback from the foundation.
OBLF thanks the IHS Team
Three of our Coordinators and one of our Volunteer underwent a one day training on
"Teaching Reading and Vocabulary Grammar" conducted by Trainer Huma Riaz at British Council,Bangalore.
The Coordinators enjoyed the training.
A total of 16 People participated in the the TCS run under the 10K and Majja run category.
Two of our Care champions raised funds more than a Rs.1,00,000 each.
OBLF thanks the Bangalore Cares, the participants, the Care champions and the donors for supporting us.
One Billion Literates Foundation
I spent the first few weeks after moving back going to several villages and looking for a primary school where I could start work. Sometime in June, I had gone to the Village Panchayat office in Chandapura a few kilometers south of Electronic City on Hosur Road where the Panchayat development officer Joseph introduced me to Srinivas a resident of village Lakhsmisagar in Anekal Taluk. Srinivas took me to his village primary (elementary) school. As soon as we arrived in the village, all the children who have to sit on the floor stood up and said ‘Good Morning Miss’.
Here is the link to an article submitted by Anamika was read at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio June 2012.
http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/articles/rio20-highlighting-the-voice...
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