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August 11, 2015
People

A life full of spreading smiles – NGOs of Surat VOL – 1

August 11, 2015
People

A life full of spreading smiles – NGOs of Surat VOL – 1

SMILES

We all can help each other. In fact, we should. That’s one of the primary pillars upon which humanity stands upon. But today, it all is just a lot of rhetoric.

Human beings are strong, confident and probably the only intelligent species of life on this planet. We have a capacity to think aloud, find principles to stick to, get things done and cause the advancement and betterment of each and every being around us.  Yet, very little of this emotion is seen to be resonating in our societies, where people talk of the nuclear wars, and the who’s who of different places and sectors, but find it easy to consider it to be true that they have nothing to do in order to spread the privilege that they have, amongst the lesser luckier ones.

This post is about few of these few NGOs in our city, who are going out there and doing things, not because it’s their duty, but because it’s their right.

Kudos to you folks, for spreading them wonderful vibes.

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Team Prayas

A name synonymous with animal and bird rescue, Prayas stands as a pillar and proof of strong dedication and the much needed kindness in today’s world. Driven by their love for nature, and its inhabitants beyond the boundaries of species, Prayas has been one of the most active NGOs in the city of Surat., working consistently towards the betterment of the environment around us, and also for its inhabitants.
Prayas was founded in 2005, with 11 members spread over different educational, cultural and professional backgrounds, with the common love for protecting the nature; animal, birds and reptile rescues bringing them together.

What’s the greatest difficulty that you come across while working?

The only difficulty we face is the scarcity of funds. Our operation expansion rate is high but donations do not meet the need generally. But yet, we still try hard to do everything that we can, because as we said earlier, its more of passion than anything else.

What do you folks do to keep things interesting, when it starts seeming mundane.

Continuous improvement in our service and system is our forte.
The system that we have in place has won awards on national platforms. Moreover, to put strong and proper emphasis on what we are trying to do, we also launched the system nationally, free for any NGO to adopt from, to help them in operations and also to bring much important data to a common platform on national level, so as to make quick and meaningful progress in a better direction

Are you doing whatever it is that you folks wanted to? If no, how do you wish to expand the operations?

Yes we believe we  are very much on the path of our vision. The only issue is that as we do more we always left with more yet can be done. All in all, it’s a great exercise.
Its all about human values, helping these helpless animals, who otherwise under neglect, might even die. We love what we do.

paathshala

Pathshala NGO

‘Education is every child’s right’ is what these folks believe in, and rightly so.
Over the past few years, Pathshala has been working tirelessly towards creating a better environment for underprivileged kids, as far as education is concerned.

Often its debated on how one could help the ones whose lives aren’t as pretty as ours. Some consider giving out freebies as an option. There are others who think giving out charity once a year solves the problem. Well, if one really wants to make a difference, one has to start at the bottom, with the basics.

That’s what Pathshala does, endowing kids with the tools of knowledge, information and education, with which they themselves can carve out their destiny.

Though the NGO was formally registered only in the year 2013, four young men Kaushal Rathi, Ankit Jain, Sunny Malik and Vishnu Soni had established the idea way back in the year 2007.

What’s the greatest difficulty that you come across while working?

Our biggest difficult is the drop out ratios in school. Over the years, its only due to constant awareness programs and cent percent efforts that all our members have put in, that we have been drastically able to reduce the drop out ratio in the Vesu Muncipal School.

It’s important to go to school every single day, and the awareness for that is what we are trying to spread amongst the parents.

What do you folks do to keep things interesting, when it starts seeming mundane.

We have adopted Vesu municipal school where one hour daily we teach students Maths, English through innovative activities and also develop their communication skills through debate quiz and other activities. We also sponsor education of kids from all over the city. Every year around 20 students are sponsored by us.
It’s not about how much you do, it’s about how able you are making them, to face the world, and to pull themselves out of the muck.

Are you doing whatever it is that you folks wanted to? If no, how do you wish to expand the operations?

We are doing good, and making progress consistently. We have reduced the drop out ratio in the Vesu municipal school to a great extent. Apart from that every year we do social events like blood donation camps for society. For the next year the mission is to make students competitive in various front including sports, computer knowledge and science. We shall be focusing on improving their academic results.

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Disha – The footpath School

This title of the blog post encapsulates what Disha’s trying to do; spreading smiles.
There’s nothing like a good laugh; a smile that comes right from the heart; a laughter so vivid and beautiful, that in those moments of happiness, nothing else really matters.

Disha’s objectives and ideas is based on humanitarian values of spreading goodness and kindness. It’s not rocket science that these folks talk about or preach; it’s rather what every one of us should do, can do, but we don’t.

And these two girls have taken it upon themselves, to show it to others, how easy things can actually be.
Friends since more than a decade and motivated by a common thread of doing something for the society, Shruti Jain and Farhat Sanchawala decided to take things to a different level, than just donating food in the slums, a year ago.
What started with 20 kids and one single spot, and now taken forms and has spread over to 3 locations with 80+ kids under their wings.

What’s the greatest difficulty that you come across while working?

The basic difficulty faced was the resistance from the parents of the kids owing to the lack of education among them. They preferred their kids to indulge in all sort of unnecessary work like household chores or selling things or just stray but not studies. But owing to a couple of people who were supportive enough to help us gather the kids against all the odds and help us move in the direction of our motive. The other major problem faced was the conditions they belong to, the cleanliness issues, kachha houses and not moves by the government to improve the conditions even after constant follow ups.

What do you folks do to keep things interesting, when it starts seeming mundane.

Our basic structure of teaching the kids is different from the routine wherein we make sure to teach the kids using examples and props and stories, in short making the entire class a fun place to learn for the kids. We keep on adding different activities as a part of the weekly schedule like a day for art and craft, for dancing, martial arts and etc . We also arrange various field trips from time to time in order to add a fun element to their routine life, like visiting zoo, science centre, aquarium, movies and sometimes just taking them to the nearby parks and playing games.

Are you doing whatever it is that you folks wanted to? If no, how do you wish to expand the operations?

To an extent yes and to add on to it a no. Basically the issue that we have taken up is so wide that every move of us takes just a point in the direction. There is a lot more to work for this cause. Identifying the potential of the individual kids and giving them the required exposure for the same, getting them into good schools and ensuring a better future for them, future which is completely opposite to their present.