Hello Friends, Greetings.
This is thinking aloud on we, TMAD members, taking up a serious project. The proposal is not for this year. If you all like the idea and are willing to volunteer to do the ground work and preparing a detailed project report, then we will pursue. Most of us wanted to set up a school and we did discuss about it for some time and decided that the time is not ripe. How this idea gained voice again!! 1. My cousin, Venu, who attended our June Month's Meeting expressed that with our current strength (on Yahoo Group) and given number of volunteers, we should have started the Orphanage sort of thing long before and we wasted a lot of time. On Yahoo Group, we have 184 members. Assume it to be 185. If we can expect Rs. 500 from 185 members, it would be Rs. 92, 500. If we get Tax Exemption, most of our friends will chip in. If we can keep a target of Rs. 75000 a month, we can easily run an orphanage. (NagaChandrika Devi garu of PremaNilayam told that the average monthly expenses for the home is Rs. 80000 per month). 2. Srivyal Srivyal and I were chatting for few minutes occasionally and the discussion came. He showed interest to know the ideas and is ready to implement the practical ideas on experimental basis. 3. Suresh Ediga Suresh is now associated with TeluguPeople Foundation also. They took over an Orphan Home for Girls in Cuddapah and he has suggested about identifying opportunities that can help generate income for the organization such as sewing & tailoring ; buy 2 or 3 cows for producing milks; weaving; basket making or any other option based on the local conditions. 4. Dr. Bala Sreenivas On one occasion, Dr. Bala also suggested that we should set up an Orphanage and work on it. Based on all these influences, I wanted to give it a serious thought. At least I want to share them. Now that we have many experienced people in our group, we can get lot of suggestions. This is my Utopia: Goal: Financial Sustenance: We should run an ideal Children-Old Age Home which sustains on its own and does not depend on outside contributions except for the initial two years. Whatever we spent on the initial two years we should be able to get back in the next three years. This is something like we are lending the money and taking it back without any interest. Education: Enough with the current system of education. We should think of progressive system which makes them confident human beings and their courage and hope of life shouldn't depend on the money they earn. Also the livelihoods should be traditional and our own. We should not teach them to be employed in BPOs. They shouldn't get affected by the IT/BPO tides. More Details Place: 1. There should be a plenty of space for them to play. 2. Preferably with trees and also open space. 3. The place should be with good ventilation and scope for free flow of air. 4. Should have good conveyance to the city Education 1. We will not join them in any schools. 2. We employ in-house teachers. What do we teach? 1. We will teach them different languages, a minimum of 5. (Telugu, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu and a foreign language) 2. Coming to Mathematics, Science and Social, we should have a novel approach. (We should take the advice of trained teachers and we also should analyse the syllabus (both State and Central)) Basically what I feel is that we shouldn't rub them with unnecessary and unwanted load. What is useful to them in regular life is what we teach. See now the Govts. are planning for Integrated Intermediate that enables them to join PG without Graduation. We are wasting lot of time. Extracurricular We will teach them 1. Yoga 2. Martial Arts 3. Sports (Traditional Indian Sports - Not Cricket) 4. Gardening, Milking Cows, Buffaloes 5. Handicrafts 4. New age professions: Tourism, Anchoring, Reporting, Banking We do not encourage the BPO Professions (sustenance of which is not known) Maintenance We should generate income from the Orphanage itself. For Milk, Vegetables and Fruits (some varieties), we should depend on our own place. -- We will maintain Cows, grow plants (vegetables, leafy vegetables and fruits) We invest in a Micro Unit (a small scale industry) and tie up with Corporates for sale. We will provide employment to women and few old couple. A simultaneous old age home is also run but not in the sense of regular homes again. Old couple or old people who are alone and who wants to spend their twilight years by doing something concrete, we will house them. We will provide them with clothes, food and shelter. In turn they should take care of the children and other activities. They should treat the children as their own grands. They should teach them stories and all. Friends, Please give it a serious thought. If majority of you agrees to this idea, we will work on it and hopefully start the Home in next year, on our Official Second Anniversary (in reality, fourth anniversary). Please keep in mind, when there is a will, there is a way. When you aspire something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. Thank you. with regards, Prasanthi.
