My visit to ‘Prema Nilayam’

I had an opportunity to celebrate new year in a special way this time. we at TMAD (http://tomakeadifference.net), visited an old age home called ‘Prema Nilayam’ in Langarhouz, Hyderabad. I really did not expect that running an old age home is such a difficult thing, reeling under it’s positive portrayal in ‘Lage raho munna bhai’.There people are of well demeanour, good health, and enthusiastic towards life.But here, people are of physical,mental disorders and depressed people. That’s a film and this is the reality!!

I don’t have any words to explain my astonishment towards the way Mrs.Naga chandrika garu is running the organization. Kudos to her commitment and perseverance. She started this home out of compassion grew in her seeing the problems faced by her aunts in their oldage. Being an ardent devotee of Sri Shirdi Saibaba, she left it to god to take her will forward. From then she did not look back to keep the home running. I would like to quote one line from my friend’s email signature- ‘When you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’ She is a living inspiration for taking greater challenges in life. I find it difficult to look after my grand parents staying in my village but after visiting chandrika garu, it gave me enough courage.

Inspite of her busy schedule as an engineer in electricity dept, he finds time to make sure that everything is going fine in the home. She pays a rent of 12000 from her own funds to the home. In addition to these monetary problems, she has to face somany emotional hurdles dealing with old people. Deaths happen quite frequently before her eyes. She has to see the continuous pains suffered by the people. Different kind of diseases and some are infectious. All these are being done without a dedicated medical personal. She has to request doctors to come and check the condition of inmates. I am marvelled at the kind of initiative she had taken and going ahead overcoming all hurdles. There is problem with location also. That landlord is charging 12K for that home in remote location and neighbours keep complaining that people are dying frequently!! Inspite of encourgaing the service she is doing, they are sending complaints.That’s a kind of society we are living in, what a pity!!

We,at TMAD, decided to support to the best possible extent. Whatever we do will be insignificant compared to what Nagachadrika garu has been doing. We just need to climb the ladder which was already laid by her. I request the reader to visit home once and help in any way. Other than the monetary help, medical help is the most needed one. Her interviews can be found in following links. you can go through them.
http://www.eenadu.net/archives/archive-24-12-2007/vasundhara.asp?qry=vasumain1
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007121858600200.htm&date=2007/12/18/&prd=th& 

The photos of our visit are uploaded here  http://picasaweb.google.com/prasanthi.uppalapati/OldAgeHomeVisit 
http://picasaweb.google.com/prasanthi.uppalapati/OldAgeHomeVisit

My Visit to Sphoorti.

For friends who can’t read telugu i’d written about my visit to sphoorti again in english. 

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This weekend i visited an orphanage called ‘Spoorthi’ in charlapally, Hyderabad. I used the word ‘Orphanage’ only for the understanding purpose of the readers and i have some reservations in using that word especially when i refer to this particular organization. I am sure the kids there are going to be very purposeful to the society because the culture in which they are being brought up.

When i entered their home i was welcome with somany beautiful innocent smiles which overwhelmed me. I got instant energy after meeting those energetic kids. Every kid came to me and introduced himself/herself with name and class etc.. Currently forty five kids are living here. The kids range from kinder garden to sixth standard. They are being given good education in a private school near by and daily they study for two to three hours after home. In addition to that they play daily for about one and half to two hours. They also are being encouraged towards painting,dance etc.. keeping the all round developement of kids in view. They have a television and dvd player so as play education related movies once in a while.  Being in the growth phase of their lives, no compromise has been made in providing nutritious food to them. Occassional nutrition checkup are also being conducted. It’s surprising to hear that happening in a charity organization. Here is the link for the diet plan being followed there.

www.sphoorti.org/dietplan.html

The person behind this organization is Mr.Srivyal who gives all his energies towards this noble cause. He is single handedly running this organization without compromising on any aspect of the child’s developement. This started in august of 2006 with 3 kids and now it’s capacity reached to 45. There is a general impression that only rich and affluent people run this kind of trusts but just with a will to do something for under privileged people, srivyal started this foundation. It inspires me when i meet people like him. I felt very nice when all kids are fondly calling him ‘maamayya(uncle)’. I decided to work the developement of the organization.

Now we are looking forward to expand it’s capacity to 100. For that we need to raise funds. Srivyal has a proposal called ‘Sponsor A Child’ under which a donor or group of donors will be sponsoring the average expenses of one child. The average expenses are Rs.12,500/- per annum. Their academic reports and their well being can be continuously monitored by the donors. This will provide the transparency and accountability for the donors. As per my experience, this doubt hinders one to donate for any good cause. This kind of transparent mechanism encourages interested individuals to contibute more towards society. In addition to the monetary help, the donors can visit kids regularly and look after their well being. Let’s all join our hands to prepare purposeful individuals for the future generation!! I will be glad to share more details about the organization and like to hear any innovative ideas to develope the organization.

u can visit sphoorti on www.sphoorti.org

Ravi.

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స్ఫూర్తి నిచ్చిన ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘

కేవలం సోషల్ వర్క్ వరకు ప్రత్యేక బ్లాగు రాయమని ప్రశాంతి ఇచ్చిన సూచన మేరకు ఈ బ్లాగు మొదలుపెట్టాను. ఎప్పటినుంచో  స్ఫూర్తి ఫౌండేషన్ ను దర్శించాలని అనుకొంటూ ఉన్నాను.నగరానికి కొంచెం దూరాన వుండడం వల్ల తరచూ వాయిదా వేస్తూ వచ్చాను. చివరికి గత శనివారం సాయంత్రం ఆ అవకాశం కలిగింది.

కేవలం నేను ఏమన్నా సాయం చేయగలిగితే చేద్దాం అని అనుకొని వెళ్ళాను కాని అంతకు మించిన ఆనుభూతికి లోనయ్యాను. చాలా మంది పిల్లలు తమ స్వచ్చమైన చిరునవ్వులతో స్వాగతం పలికారు. అంత చిన్నవయస్సులో ఏమాత్రం బిడియం లేకుండా అందరూ తమను తామే పరిచయం చేసుకొన్నారు. నాకు అనిపించింది సిగ్గు, బిడియం లాంటివి మనకు మనమే సృష్టించుకున్నవి అని. వారందరినీ కలిసిన తరువాత నాకు కొత్త ఉత్సాహం వచ్చింది.

 సహజంగా ఒక ట్రస్టును అనిపించాలంటే చాలా డబ్బు అవసరం అని కొంచెం స్ఠిరపడిన తరువాత ఆలోచిద్దాం అని అనుకొంటాం. కాని శ్రీవ్యాల్ తన తోటి వారి కోసం చేతనయింత చేయాలి అనే సదుద్దేశంతో ఆగష్టు 2006 న ముగ్గురు పిల్లలతో దీనిని ప్రారంభించారు. అప్పటినుండి దినదినాభివృద్ది చెంది ఇప్పటికి 45 మంది పిల్లలను చేరదీసింది. కేవలం పిల్లల సంఖ్య మాత్రమే కాకుండా వారి పెంపకంలో ఎక్కడా రాజీ పడకుండా నడిపిస్తున్నారు. చదువుతో పాటు ఇతర కళలలో కూడా వారిని ప్రోత్సహిస్తున్నారు. వారి పొషణకు కావలసిన ఆహరాన్ని అందిచడంలో కూడ ఎక్కడా రాజీ పడకుండా నడిపించడం విశేషం.

ప్రస్తుతం దీనిని విస్తరించి 100 మంది పిల్లలను చేరదీయాలనే ఆలోచనలో ఉన్నారు. దీనికి మనలాంటి ఎంతో మంది వ్యక్తుల సహకారం అవసరం. తీరిక సమయంలో ఒక సారి స్ఫూర్తి ని దర్శించమని పాఠకునికి మనవి. ఇది నగర శివార్లలో చర్లపల్లి వద్ద వుంది. దీని వెబ్ సైటు

www.sphoorti.org/joinus.html

ఈ ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘ ద్వారా సమాజానికి ఉపయోగపడే వ్యక్తులు తయారవుతారని నా గట్టి నమ్మకం. వారు పెరుగుతున్న ఆరోగ్యకర వాతావరణం వల్లనే నాకీ భరోసా. నేను సైతం ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘ అభివృద్ది కి చేతనయినంత కృషి చేయాలని నిర్ణయించుకొన్నాను.