*GEC engineers choose to make a difference to Goan villages* As you are aware Goa IT Professionals (GITP) group has recently launched its Project GEIT (Goans Empowered with IT) in 3 Goan village schools to promote IT education among school children with the vision of eventually bringing modern employment@doorsteps to our villages for all-round upliftment of our society.
At the start of Project GEIT our repeated requests for more than a month to many global Goans to fund at least one of the three schools this year yielded no results. The amount in question was ₹55,000. With time running out our GITP Vice President, Vincent Toscano, made a plea to his Government Engineering College (GEC, Farmagudi, Goa) 1997 batch mates on their whatsapp group on the morning of 09-Sep-2015 and within 12 hours the pending school got more than fully funded with donors contributing ₹5000 each as listed below in alphabetical order: 1. Biju Mathew 2. Blasio Dias 3. Deelip Menezes 4. Dhondiraj Samant 5. Kaustubh Sawkar 6. Michael D'Souza 7. Nikhilesh Samant 8. Pandurang Kamat 9. Ranjit Nair 10. Sanjay Karanjkar 11. Somesh Naik 12. Sunil Rodrigues It was indeed heart-warming to see the concern and eagerness of this batch of engineers – Goan and others alike – to support our people’s initiative to make a positive difference for Goans in our villages. Imagine what wonders could be achieved if every batch from each college and institution in Goa were to come forward likewise to support similar initiatives focused not on doling out charity but to enable Goans to raise themselves up with modern skills. It is magic when well-intentioned people and information technology (whatsapp in the above case) come together for a good cause. And for every cynical Goan there is an increasing number of Goans, as well as outsiders (“bhaile” as we ridicule them), that genuinely care to make a positive difference for Goans in Goa for no vested interests or any returns. The above incident is an eye-opener to the many chronically pessimist and escapist Goans who blame everybody other than themselves for the current state of affairs in Goa. It is high time they wake up and start doing something positive for the society, for our every positive action, howsoever big or small, today piles up into a greater good tomorrow. Doing nothing improves nothing…so start doing something…positive…from today…for as long as each one of us can! -- Regards, Goa IT Professionals www.goaitpro.org
