Nareshwadi Learning Centre

A Holi Celebration

2008-03-25T12:14:00.011+05:30

The Holi Bonfire, the night before the color day!

This is a perfect example of why I love holi, adults are allowed to act like kids! Vivek, Nareshwadi Site Manager and Operating Officer is pouring color on student Pooja. Kajal, Sujheet, Kisan, and the 2 poojas rest from a mid holi battle. Jiteen, behing Kisan's hand is beginning to look like a little Krishna, with his blue face!
Youth For People Volunteer and longtime
friend of Nareshwadi, Sujheet playing Holi with Kuldip and Saurav.
Chandani is on the lookout in the background at Kajal with the water hose!
Nareshwadi site Manager - Vivek eating
with the students after playing holi!

A holi meal - special food supported by Youth For People and
ATMA board member Mahesh Rathod and vamily.
Students Pooja, Chandani, Varsha, Kajal, Kavita...enjoy the missal pav!

ATMA Board Member - Mahesh Rathod and son, eating with
Nareshwadi students Dipesh and Saurav

Our Famous Czech Photographer - Inka, at the start
of her Holi Day! Thanks for the photos Madamme!

Health Activities

2008-03-23T18:28:00.007+05:30

A partnership with the Preventive Social Medicine Department at the KJ Somaiya Medical College and Hospital has merged in the past few months. Interns are sent on rotations to Nareshwadi for a few days and help with the School Health Centre, ongoing checkups and screenings and health education/promotion activities in the classroom.

Their presence has had a huge impact. I hear doctor as a common dream or future goal among some of the girl students now...the girls in particular seem to really enjoy having the female interns there. Great role models for the students.

Height and Weight checks done once every six months in conjuction with the De worming. Trees for Life organization gave us the chart, it is to standards of the Indian Sub continent too! These little things make me so excited!

Volunteer Sujheet, from Youth For People helping with the entertainment/crowd control/ logistics of the check ups. Learning that best to have students in the supervision of their teachers, trying to manage various health stations - hygiene checks, de worming and height weight check was not managed as well as it could be! kids were bored, hence Sujheet leading the group in song and dance.
French Volunteer Ginny helping with the de worming.

Interns helping with Hygiene and Anemia check and ginny on the de worming station. Sujheet, logistics.

SAHAS NGO from the Somaiya Hospital in Mumbai came to Nareshwadi and conducted an Adolescent Health Workshop for the 9th and 10th standard girls.

Dream Run (walk) Mumbai Marathon 2008

2008-01-27T15:11:00.000+05:30

Amit, Inka, Stacie the Rat and me! Stacie the Human in our new Nareshwadi Logo Tshirts!

This year Youth For People, Leighton International and other individual supporters ran for Nareshwadi School in fundraising.

It was a fun day, Leighton trainees came to the city for the day and actually RAN the 6km event, Jadu was extremely popular with the crowd as he walked with the 'school kids' from Youth For People!

Thanks for all the Support!

Youth for People and JADU!

anemia screening

2008-01-08T23:44:00.000+05:30

PSM department interns from the KJ Somaiya Hospital and Medical college have been visiting the Nareshwadi campus and screening and educating students about particular health issues. This weeks topic was anemia!
waiting, they did not remain seated long....shante! shante!

Dr. Kunal examines a students tongue, a flat tongue could be one sign of anemia.

girls waiting for their turn.

aroghya kendrha - health centre. students jayesh and kasinath made the warli painting on the lower wall

Photos from Science Exhibit

2007-12-31T18:30:00.000+05:30

New Science Laboratory sponosored by Samir Somaiya for the Nareshwadi School.

Students, Pooja and Neelam singing at the inauguration event.

Student dancers performing at inauguration of Science Event.

Future scientists from India!

Anil Nareshwadi 6th Standard student, Health Monitor and organized his exhibit on the benefits of the Drumstick Tree leaves.

Science Exhibition at Nareshwadi

2007-12-29T14:38:00.000+05:30

Sixty - two schools from the Dahanu Taluka Level participated in the Science Exhibit.

The campus was full of excitement the inaugural day of activities, local politicians, such as the newly elected Dahanu Mayor spoke at the event. There were projects on solar energy (cooking rice in a tire), a medical alert system, population density of India,nutirion and the ecosystem.

Below is a link of a Nareshwadi student's project on the Drumstick Tree leaves and their numberable benefits. youtubeLINK The student mentions the content of iron, vitamin A, Calcium among the many nutrients. More information on the the Drumstick Tree (Moringa Tree) is available at treesforlife.org/

New School Logo

2007-09-29T13:44:00.001+05:30

This logo was created by a 7th standard student during a logo workshop the entire school participated in. Please read Inka's blog, link to the right, for more information on the logo workshop.

Primary school students participating in logo workshop.

Summer Camp Photos

2007-09-29T13:08:00.000+05:30

Fun on the swing with Dutch volunteer Dominic and Nareshwadi students.

Summer camp planning with Principal Pawar, Director/Mentor Patricia and Dutch volunteer and camp co coordinator Klass.
Tenth Standard student Neelam during hockey session at camp.

Summer Camp planning session with Board member Lelaben and Dutch volunteer Co coordinator Nynke.

Cricket game during summer camp!

Principal Nikhila from Vinay Mandir School at Vidyavihar who was instrumental in organizing the students trip to Mumbai.

Mumbai field trip day at chowpatty beach, Klass and Anna enjoying sand and sea.

Nynke teaching hockey to girls during summer camp sport session in morning.

Anna dancing with students, visiting teacher Veronica from Brazil/Mumbai shared some moves with the students!

Klass and Kanwar, volunteer from Vidyavihar's Youth Social Forum group taking a break at camp.

Summer camp session on warli painting by local artist in Dahanu area. This type of painting is one art form the local Warli tribe is famous for, they often paint this on the side of their homes at times of celebrations, weddings for example. The painting would depict the local village activities. This session was to help students who are currently painting improve their skills as well as introduce the painting style to students who are not originally from the area.

2nd Newsletter

2007-09-29T00:39:00.001+05:30

Nareshwadi Newsletter

May – July 2007

Namaste!

Nareshwadi started its new academic year on June 15^th and there is so much exciting news to report! Great improvements to systems and infrastructure at the school, along with revised academic programs that have had a direct beneficial effect to all involved at the school. As a result grades and overall school passing percentages have shot up at Nareshwadi. These numbers have not gone unnoticed, the buzz is that Nareshwadi is now the best school in the area, and parents are eagerly adding their children's name to a growing waiting list for enrollment at the school. In this newsletter, we will elaborate on these improvements, highlight the achievements of students and teachers, describe summer camp activities, introduce new staff and volunteers and discuss plans for the new school year.

Student Achievements

Exam results are in! We are proud of all 10^th standard students, who worked hard to prepare for their exams- and the efforts showed! The school passing percentage was 90% and this clearly demonstrates the focus and determination of the students, teachers and staff's commitment to literally "raising the bar" this year.

There were 4 College Admissions for 10^th standard students from the 06-07 SY – 1 male student was accepted in a competitive admission program at KJ Somaiya Poly Technic for the diploma civil engineering. In addition, 3 female students were accepted for Arts IT and three male students for Science in the Junior College at Vinay Mandir at Vidyavihar for this year. Somaiya Trust has made arrangements for living costs and individual colleges have provided students scholarships to cover fees and books.

Summer Camp Highlights
Volunteers Nynke and Klass from the Netherlands and Kanwar from the KJ Somaiya Science and Commerce College who is coordinator of the Youth Social Forum (YSF), planned an extensive schedule of sport, games, arts, computers, language and dance with teachers and staff for a two month summer camp.

Field trips were another big highlight at the camp: one trip to a nearby waterfall for swimming and trekking and a two day adventure in Mumbai, wth visits to the Nehru Planetarium and Science Museum, Prince of Wales Museum, Aquarium, Chowpatty Beach, boat ride from Gateway of India, and overnight stay at the Vidyavihar campus. A very special thanks to Nikhila from Vinay Mandir School at Vidyavihar for all her effort in organizing, accompanying the group around town and of course her fun smile! Donors and special fundraising made the trip possible covering bus rental from the Nareshwadi campus, food, admission tickets, etc. Patricia Gokhale of course always thinking of building up the students academic capabilities provided students with a notebook and pen and asked them to report on the trip, for example during the museum visit students were copying down information about their favorite exhibits.

Students from a school run by an NGO Pankhudi and their volunteers in the Chembur area in eastern Mumbai made a visit to the Nareshwadi campus during the summer camp. Pankhudi staff developed a well planned agenda including sport sessions, a treasure hunt, yoga classes and a water slide to cool off in the hot pre monsoon Indian weather. There were tears on the final day when Pankhudi students were loading up on the bus to return to Mumbai. The Nareshwadi and Pankhudi students bonded in just a few days together.

Infrastructure

Toilets complete and in use for the new school year. Many students had never used an indoor toilet before in the village area, some hygiene and sanitation tutorials are necessary.
New housing for house parents. There will be one new housing unit for the larger of the female hostels and two for the boys side of the large hostel. This will raise the total to 5 male houseparents and 3 female houseparents.
A new kitchen floor was made possible by funds the volunteer Dutch construction team had left behind.
Science Laboratory is ready for use once supplies arrive, again thanks to Mr. Samir Somaiya for his support in building this first class facility. Planning for a grand opening and dedication is in the works looking forward to a visit to the campus by Samir and/or Dr. Somaiya for this event. Would also extend an invitation to attend this event to other donors, supporters, volunteers and friends of Nareshwadi, stay tuned for details.

Student Health

With the help of Atma volunteer Amit Murugkar, we were able to find a very much needed nurse for Nareshwadi. Thank you, Amit!

Her name is Nurse Phadke, and she is now responsible for overseeing all health center activities; these include: health services at the newly constructed health center, keeping records of student's health, diet, hygiene and sanitation, along with health promotion/education efforts. Together with the school counselor, Sandhya More, they both will oversee psychosocial issues.

Dr. Anna Boersma, a medical volunteer placed by Atma, has left India, but her efforts will live on. Before her departure, a "health day" was held to initiate the school year and teach the students the basics of hygiene and sanitation through a puppet show and songs. With the new toilets and baths ready for use, students could now be told to wash your hands, bathe daily and have the infrastructure available to do it.

>Future Plans for the School Year

Vocational Training: Leighton an Australian construction firm is exploring partnership with Somaiya Vidyaihar to provide training for 45 students at the rural campus at Nareshwadi. Inclusive of this training, the students will be given their first hands-on assignment in working on buildings at the Narashwadi campus.

Strategic Planning: As mentioned below in the introduction to newcomer Inka from ATMA, there will be the initial step of this process with a Vision and Mission workshop held with Nareshwadi teachers and staff in August.

Website: We are in the process of making a formal website to better connect and share information about the wonderful Nareshwadi community with the rest of the world.
New Staff
Nareshwadi welcomes Sister Phadke and Mrs Anita Kale.

Sister Phadke, the new nurse at Nareshwadi, was hired in June. She is a retired nurse from Nair Hospital in Mumbai and has many years experience in the neurologic and orthopedic operating rooms. At Nareshwadi Sister is in charge of the Health Center, overseeing student health services, health education, and health programs such as sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.

New primary teacher Mrs. Anita Kale comes to Nareshwadi with 13 years of teaching experience. Her husband Avinash Kale is a civil engineer for the Nareshwadi project and the family will become houseparents for the large female hostel once the new living quarters are complete. Her husband, Mr Kale provides engineering support and direction to campus infrastructure.

Goodbye and Hello to Volunteers and other Newcomers
Summer camp ended and Nynke and Klass returned to the Netherlands, ending their 2 month stay. The students will have wonderful memories of all the fun sport, art, dance activities and trips off campus during summer camp. Nynke and Klass left behind sport equipment for the students/teachers and financed the construction of basketball goals. Their mark will be at Nareshwadi for years to come.

Dr Anna, a health, construction, culinary, photography, and artistic volunteer was with Atma for 4 months of hard work at Nareshwadi. Her dedication on all levels will have long lasting effects at the school and the students will benefit tremendously from the newly established Health Center and health system that was set up by Anna in her time here. The children will always remember her cooking 'western food' for the volunteers, painting indoor games on the floor of the assembly hall which will provide students fun indoor activities during monsoon rains. Nareshwadi students will always have a beautiful collection of her photography for them to remember her by. Her professional quality photographs will also be in a brochure for the Nareshwadi project. This is all without mentioning Anna's huge fundraising effort, when she raised nearly 60,000 INR from friends and family back home in the Netherlands. This money will be put towards future health projects for students at the school.

Dominic was in India for a year and started off at Nareshwadi helping with the scabies camp, he was a leader for the Dutch construction team, organizing vital logistics such as transportation, food, supplies, lots and lots of water, his own muscle and sweat and supporting and encouraging smile. Students at Nareshwadi were also lucky to have such a high caliber volleyball player and the opportunity to see his soaring moves.

Atma has placed both Inka Pibalov from the Czech Republic and Sandra Keller from the United States on the Nareshwadi project. They are working together on some projects as well as taking on some tasks individually. Inka is working on a strategic plan for the school, in August there is a Vision and Mission workshop scheduled with teachers and staff at the Nareshwadi campus. Sandra is focusing on the Marketing of the school, brochures, website, creating a database of students and staff, including taking photos of all and trying to help the school computerize records where feasible.

Thanks to all the volunteers, newcomers and donors who have or are supporting Nareshwadi. The positive changes and advances made over the past year since the beginning of involvement by ATMA Mumbai, supporters/volunteers from the Somaiya Vidyavihar campus and around Mumbai are clearly evident.

Hand washing area

2007-04-21T02:10:00.000+05:30

Handwashing area built outside hostel and on way to dining hall. The dutch team even made a roof over it as to monsoon proof the area.

Fun in the Sun

2007-04-21T02:03:00.000+05:30

Students playing in the sand.

Dutch volunteer Anna with student Varsha

More Construction work

2007-04-21T01:44:00.000+05:30

Beautiful paint job on front of dining hall.

Rogier from Adielede/Holland resting on the balcony.

New path to bath facilities.

Work on the new walkway to dining hall - now students can wash and keep their feet clean before entering dining hall.

Nareshwadi Students

2007-04-21T00:50:00.000+05:30

Balakashram Girls

Students with their new slippers!

Nareshwadi Students

Photos of Construction work

2007-04-21T00:02:00.000+05:30

Shopping for supplies in Dadar

Work on the kitchen

Education is a Right!

2007-01-19T20:50:00.000+05:30
A group of local Indian and foreign volunteers arranged through SAHAS, www.sahasforlife.org, are working with staff and students at the Nareshwadi campus to improve standards, living, health, education and recreation
Activities include:
Tutoring sessions,
arts and craft activities,
skit and singing functions,
counseling and
caring
Fundraising is currently a major focus for developing a library, science lab, to hire staff, build an on campus health centre and structural improvements (extreme makeover!) to the the campus. Also, donations are used for specific student needs such as blankets, shoes, clothes and to buy toiletries.

An amazing group of students representing the local Warli tribe, Thane District and Mumbai. Diverse group of children, 1st to 10th standard eager to learn and experience life.

Welcome!

2007-01-06T21:46:00.000+05:30
Nareshwadi Campus is home to nearly 500 students from the local Warli tribe and around the Mumbai area. A staff of 15 teachers & principals and professionals and students from Mumbai, KJ Somaiya, Vidya Vihar campus and local NGOs, ATMA Mumbai & SAHAS are working to improve living, academic and health standards for the students. Working toward overall improvement in quality of life.

Current Activities include -

Academic:
Test prep courses for 10th standard students.
Scholarship support for continuing education past 10th standard.
Review courses to catch students up in problem subjects
Teachers training from Somaiya Vidya Vihar to assess school and collaborate for improvement
Arts/Recreation:
Visiting teachers providing cultural activities and promoting local culture thru
Warli paintings, song, dance, skits, arts/crafts & games.
Recent sport field constructed with volunteers introducing new activities to students, footbal, hockey and frisbee.
Planning for visiting artist project mid 2007.
Health:
Creation of School Health Team to be responsible for assessing, monitoring and ensuring student health.
School wide health screening conducted by volunteers doctors from KJ Somaiya Medical Centre.
Campus and communtiy scabies treatment program carried out with school volunteers as well as 30 foreign and KJ Somaiya NSS volunteer students.
School Based Health Centre (SBHC) in development to provide comprehensive health services to students.
Nutrition and supplement program initiated to improve student health.
Overseas nurses and doctors offering voluntary services in developing school health system.
Infrastructure:
New bathing and toilet facilities for residential students being built to meet WHO standards.
'Extreme Makeover' by Dutch construction group raising funds for prioritized projects and implementing in March 2007.
Improvement of teacher/staff living facilities in works.

Always inviting interested individuals to visit the campus and community to observe and welcome their ideas on future projects.