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TEN DAYS IN SAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The NSS Unit of St. Xavier's College held its special
camp at Sal Village in Bicholim from 30th October, 2003 to
8th November, 2003 at Government High School, Sal. This camp was attended by NSS volunteers - divided into 10 groups.
The inaugural was held on 30th Oct. at the Panchayat
Hall, Sal, at 6.15 p.m. Welcoming the students, the Chief
Guest Mr. Sandeep Raut, Zilla Parishad member requested them
to avail of this camp for self development and assistance to
the villagers. Principal, Prof. Newman Fernandes reminded
the students of the Ruby Jubilee motto "With one another
for another" and promised all the support for their
initiatives for the benefit of Sal village. Programme
Officer Manoj Salgaonkar welcomed those present.
A short cultural programme was also put up by the
volunteers. A warm ice-breaking session conducted by Mr.
Benedict Soares, lecturer, St. Xavier's College, followed the inaugural wherein the volunteers came to know
one another.
Each day would commence with Morning Prayer followed by morning exercises. On two days, a Yoga session was conducted for the volunteers by Mr. Pradeep Morajkar, lecturer, St. Xavier's College.
The camp aimed at developing the overall personality of the volunteers. In keeping with this, various sessions were organised as follows:- Communication (Ms. Magdalene D'Souza), Personality Development (Ms. Janet D'Souza, Responsibility (Mr. Parmanand Mandrekar), Keys to Success (Mr. Oscar Braganza e Melo), First Aid - Talk & Demonstration (Dr. Anil Kumar Chavan & Nurse Ana Maria of Red Cross Society), Human Rights (Rights of Women) (Ms. Madhuri Rao from Bailamcho Saad).
A half day hike was held on the farmhouse of Mr. Sandeep Raut. Here the volunteers experienced eating food on banana leaves amidst natural surroundings.
In the evenings, a public speaking exercise was held, wherein every volunteer delivered a speech on any topic of his/her choice. This exercise proves vital in boosting up the self-confidence of the volunteers and helps them to overcome their stage fright and nervousness and speak to a large audience.
This was followed by a variety entertainment programme,
games, housie, sing-song etc.
Each day was wound up by appreciating the work done by
the volunteers followed by night prayers and singing of the
NSS anthem `We shall overcome'.
During the camp all the cooking was done by the students themselves and this was really a learning experience for many.
The following developmental activities were done by the
volunteers in the Sal village. The volunteers repaired a 1
km. kuccha road in the village. An attempt was made to
block water by putting up a `bandh' in order to harvest rain
water. The compounds and open spaces in front of the
temples of Sal were cleared and cleaned by the volunteers. The volunteers also cleared the campus of the school by
cutting and burning dry grass.
A variety entertainment programme was put up by the
volunteers for the villagers. The programme was attended by the locals. The Chief Guest Mr. Pandurang Raut, Ex-MLA,
Bicholim, thanked the N.S.S. unit for selecting Sal village
for the camp and appreciated the work done by the students
in the area. Mr. Sandeep Raut was the Guest of honour and
the programme was also graced by the Sarpanch Mr. Ganeshyam
Raut and the other panch's of the village.
The programme was followed by a camp fire. On the last
day after packing up, an Evaluation of the camp was
conducted by the Programme Officers and in the valedictory
function that followed, prizes were distributed: Aaron Paul
Fernandes, Marcia Pereira, Lorraine Maciel & Rajesh Shetye -
Best Public Speeches, Manjunath Mandrekar, Milagres Mendes
& Sushant Shinde - Hard working volunteers, and Blasco
Pereira for being the jolliest camper, Blythe Rodrigues and
Ryan D'Silva for most entertaining campers, Richard D'Souza
and Ryan D'Silva for singing competition and Asha
Kalangutkar, Anette Valadares & Smita Teli for Cooking.
Short speeches were given by the Programme Officer's, Camp Girl Ms. Annette Valadares and Camp Boy Mr. Narayan
Phatarpekar.
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