NGO Planet

Kumari's dilemma and your assistance

Operation Shanti Volunteers — 05:40, Sunday, 05 February 2012

Kumari sells flowers near Bombay

Tiffany’s in the city during the

season (May to October); offseason

gets difficult, as she has to

sell vegetables on the street, which

is not as good a business.

We're doing an emergency fundraising drive for one of our long-time street moms, Kumari. Kumari has chronic lung damage (fibrosis) from past bouts of tuberculosis. Because of her lung damage, even at her young age of 33, she does not have adequate oxygen intake (blood oxygen level of around 90 when sitting, even lower when walking). Her pulmonologist highly recommended that we get her an oxygen concentrator machine for her house, so that she can use it as frequently as possible, giving her increased oxygen and basically enabling her to live longer.

Without the machine, she has only a handful of years remaining. With daily supplemental oxygen, because Kumari is otherwise healthy, she could live to see her youngest kid, Mohan (age 6 and who lives with us at our children's home), grow into a handsome young man.

Kumari is a single mother whom we’ve known since 2005, when we met her on the street, where she lived with her kids. Her oldest daughter Prema (13), youngest daughter Sumitra (11), and youngest son Mohan (6) live with us at our children’s home and attend good schools. Her oldest son Venkatesh (15), lives with Kumari and helps her with household chores.

If you would like to make a donation to help defray the costs of the oxygen concentrator for Kumari, we'd really appreciate it! The machine costs Rs.45,000 (discounted price from Mysore Medical Systems), is an American-made model, and is quite reliable. It would be the first such machine installed in Kyathmanahalli (a slum area in Mysore) where Kumari now rents a house.

If you are an Indian taxpayer in India, you can contact Tracy at 99451-00945 / info@operationshanti.org for more information or to make a donation. We’ll provide you with a receipt for your donation that you can use for tax purposes (80G deduction).

(photo courtesy Janea Wiedmann)

When first diagnosed with her lung

condition, Kumari needed oxygen daily for

about one month. She recovered and was

fine for about a year, but now needs oxygen

again.

We just started soliciting donations today, and so far, Mr. Madhusudan Pattanaik, a friend of our kids who has helped us over the past two years, has managed to secure for us over 15% of the funds we need, in just two hours! Thank you, Mr. Pattanaik.

Cheques/DDs should be written to: Akhanda Seva for International Shanti

For NEFT transfer, use the following:

Name: Akhanda Seva for International Shanti

Bank: Canara Bank, NRI Branch, Nazarbad, Mysore

Account Number: 230910-100-1439

IFSC: CNRB0002309

What to do with an old lightbulb?

Operation Shanti Volunteers — 05:11, Saturday, 28 January 2012

At our children's home, we try to reuse items that would normally be thrown away. Sometimes, the kids and house mothers get pretty creative in this area. Check out what they did with an old lightbulb!

January 18th

Operation Shanti Volunteers — 22:36, Friday, 27 January 2012

A tradition in India on certain dates, such as the death anniversary or birthday of a loved one, is to provide a meal or food to others.

We thank everyone who has provided our kids with a meal or snacks on such an anniversary or birthday.

In particular, we thank the seven grandchildren of Sri H. S. Krishna Iyengar, who recently made a significant donation to us to help us feed our kids at Karunya Mane for many, many days, starting on January 18th. Mr. Iyengar would have been 100 years old this year, and he must have been quite an amazing person, as evidenced by his kind and generous grandchildren.

Thank you so much.

Connectivism - A theory for digital learning

DElight — 03:06, Friday, 27 January 2012

When I first started working inthe field of Information and communications Technology (ICT) in education, Iwas fascinated by collaborative learning that took place through socialnetworking. The learning was dynamic in anon-formal environment and derived from other learners. In an attempt to understand the role oftechnology in all this process, I came across George Siemen’s (2003) Connectivismor distributed learning theory, which is also termed as “a learning theory for the Digital age”. It is based on the tenet thatlearning takes place through various information sources or nodes (both humanas well as non-human) in the digital network and nobody actually owns theknowledge. Connectivist teaching-learningmodel is based not only on technology as the external construct but alsoencompasses neural and conceptive processes that take place within theindividual.

Considering the current scenario wherelearning is no longer limited to an individual but also outside of us, in ashared environment through shared resources. The emphasis is communication and interactionand it is about learning different things. The knowledge is formed, created by diverselearners who also share this knowledge through personal or public learning networks.The gradual disappearance of barriers to user-generated content has providedimpetus to “create, collaborate and share with relative ease”. Thisdemocratic vision of learning & sharing is one of the foundation pillars ofOpen and Free learning resources (watch the video – The networked Student http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA).

The application of the theory ofconnectivist teaching and learning strategies has been in existence even beforethe emergence of the formal theory. Connectivismwas developed to incorporate the emergence of digital learning environment asall the established theories did not pay adequate attention to the technologycomponent.

For more details, please refer tofollowing links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism

http://p2pfoundation.net/Connectivist_Learning_Theory_-_Siemens

Role of teachers and students in Republic India

DElight — 23:54, Thursday, 26 January 2012

We, Indians have achieved our political freedom andestablished a Sovereign democratic republic. But even now there are problemslike poverty, backwardness,illiteracy, caste and communal differences. Tocreate an awareness of these problems among the common man - teachers andstudents play an important role in eradicating these issues and to change theattitude of the people and to lead the path of our country towards a completelydeveloped nation.

After Independence, in 1947, the constitution of India came intoexistence and formulated an establishment for ruling on January 26,1950. Thisday is only celebrated as the Republic Day.

It is also celebrated to honour the 'Declaration of Independence of 1930' fromthe British rule. Republic day is an occasion for renewing of the pledge andthe golden words in the constitution.

A teacher has to generate a kind of energy which would not only instruct butalso inspire the students which would equip them with ideas and values to enterinto the stream of national life as worthy citizens. To strengthen ourdemocracy, teachers must instil our ancient cultural spirit of tolerance,andacquaint them with the modern wisdom.

In the words of Swami Vivekananda:

"I am not a mere employee; I am not a mercenary; I am a citizen. Thesechildren in front of me are my budding fellow-citizens; I am here to help themto acquire knowledge and character."

The role of students in developing a country is huge. They are the pillars.Only a disciplined, smart, creative student community could help in achievingthe best for the country. They should work for the social and nationalprogress. They should understand clearly that unless they are educated, theycannot join the family of advanced or developed nations.

Therefore let us all be proud to be an Indian and stretch our hands towardsmaking our country stand in one of the best positions in the world.

A Happy Republic Day and Jai Hind!

Padma
D.T.E.A. Senior Secondary School
Pusa road
New Delhi-5.