Hi Manikanth, Harish and other friends, Greetings.
I completely agree with Manikanth's views and Harish's inputs. Somehow I am not able to express my feelings today after visiting Alampur. This is for many reasons. One for at last finding an answer for my intriguing question of what should I do, how can we find an ideal place where we all can work together and all. Second for being able to visit such a place which is completely devastated. And honestly I cannot express right now on what I am experiencing all the day today. As part of our (DST Worldwide Services, the company where I work) Social Services initiative, some of my colleagues and I visited some remote streets in Alampur (as suggested by the Tahsildar Prem Kumar) and guided by Sri Anjaneya Sarma Dt. Incharge for Relief, Mehboob Nagar. The devastation that we saw there was so pathetic that I cannot explain and pictures can speak for themselves. http://picasaweb.google.co.in/prasanthi.uppalapati/DSTWorldwideServices_VisitToAlampur(Iwill post in this URL) Because of time constraint, I cannot say much and you can look at the pictures. I am almost (90%) convinced to take three to four remote streets in Alampur (Chinna Dargah lane, Pakkal street, Kattela Street, Santa street -- I may not spell these names properly but I can take you there.) All together there would be 200 families in these four streets. If we can adopt these four streets where in there are the following: Zilla Parishad School, Temple and other govt. offices. What is the plan!! Let us not take anything initially. They are so accustomed to coupon procedure too that it is too difficult to handle them and we cannot blame for the situation they are in. To stick to our ideal of giving hope and courage to them and also to motivate them to work for themselves, let us go there as a team who are studying the extent of devastation created by the floods and we will TRY to help them in getting their requirements provided they start working for which we can guide them. This way we can visit all the families of the four streets and understand their problems in detail. Immediate Action: 1. Let us plan to visit these streets this Sunday, 25th October. 2. Just talk to them and as everyone gets an idea, let us finalize if we can take these streets. 3. Let us decide on what all we can do to start with (a small term action plan and a long term one). 4. Form a core committee and continue to work in this place for another six months. Observations: 1. Almost all those families got Rs. 8000 given by govt. 2. They are getting 5 litres of Kerosene 3. They have some provisions to sustain for few days but are not sure of a long term relief 4 No proper water supply other than occasional tankers 5. Intermittant power supply 6. Doctors visited them and did give some medicines Requirements: 1. House to stay (it is very hard to even believe or digest the fact that people stay in such houses. Not just dilapidaed but stinking with foul smell and full of silt/slush). Most of them are interested to move to any distant place and some of them want to stay there only as they feel their mother (Goddess Jogulamba) will look after them no matter what. For them life and death is their native. 2. Provisions (our only concern is to get proper food for our children) 3. Stove (This is our immediate and most helpful requirement) 4. Clothes/Blankets/Mats etc., Friends, literally they lost everything. Why these four streets? According to the officials and the people, these are remote, badly devastated and are very near to the river and so no one are visiting them. Reasons to select this place: 1. Utmost loss of property 2. Comparatively near among the worstly affected places 3. An ideal place for all of us to work as a group and bring some positive change 4. Montessary school near by (at a distance of one to two kilometers from these streets) is a good place for us (volunteers) to stay and continue our work. If we plan to be there on weekends, we can start early morning on Saturdays, stay in the school on Saturday night and return on Sunday evening. (We can talk to the Mgmt. and get the required permission) 5. Officials also seem to be cooperative (Placed the Arogya Water Filter of Wardha in the Mehboob Nagar Collectorate. Also told them about the low cost housing and sanitation provided by CSV. They are very intereted and hopefully things will move.) Please let me know on how many of you are ready to visit Alampur the coming Sunday, 25th October. Some of us, TMAD members, will visit. -- Thank you. with regards, PRASANTHI. http://groups.google.com/group/birdsofsamefeathers ---- When you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. In a gentle way you can shake the world. The world may be big, but there are no small things. Everything matters. Believe that you can and will make a difference. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. To be the change you want to see in the world, you don't have to be loud. You don't have to be eloquent. You don't have to be elected. You don't even have to be particularly smart or well educated. You do, however, have to be committed. If you're clear on what you want to change and why you want to change it, the how will come. Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger and we will make not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large.
