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FAQs on AshaKiran
It is a (soon-to-be-registered) non-profit organization based in Hyderabad, aimed at the welfare of the under-privileged people. AshaKiran, meaning "a ray of hope", was founded in May 2006, with the backing of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H). Our website can be found at: http://students.iiit.ac.in/ashakiran/. 2: Who are the people involved? (Back to top) Over 30 student enthusiasts, spanning various batches and streams, ranging from Under Graduates to PhD students, are currently overseeing the AshaKiran proceedings. The way the member strength has risen over the past couple of months, we expect it to reach 50 soon. Many of the AshaKiran members had been previously teaching slum kids for "Muskaan", an organization rendering free educational aid. The students are ably guided by some faculty members and their wives, including the Director, Prof Rajeev Sangal. 3: Who are the people AshaKiran is targeting? (Back to top) Thus far, we have been working with four slums around IIIT wherein approximately 100 kids and over 250 adults reside. However, we hope to double the numbers by the end of the year, money and manpower permitting. The people, currently with us, are mostly migrant labourers who came to Hyderabad from their villages, seeking jobs. We have observed that about 75 percent of these slum dwellers, many of whom work as construction workers, have been living in these slums for close to two years, despite being migrant labourers. About the kids, around 30 percent go to government schools in the vicinity. Majority of the remaining kids used to go to school in their villages and had to discontinue when they moved to Hyderabad. 4: What are your main activities? (Back to top) Broadly classified, there are two major areas which AshaKiran has started impacting: health and education. On the health front, the major activities are medical camps, improving nutritional quotient and awareness drives concerning sanitation, vaccination and general health. In the field of education, we have started an evening school for the slum kids, focusing on promoting logical reasoning, self-learning, self-confidence, human values and some amount of vocational training. The activities are detailed in a subsequent question. 5: Can you describe your activities in detail? (Back to top) 1. Health 1.1 Medical Camps We have planned to organize health camps every three months for the slum people. Our first health camp was organized on 31st July 2006 wherein 6 doctors attended to about 100 kids and over 200 adults. Most of the medicines were pre-bought by AshaKiran and the remaining ones were arranged on the fly. Following the doctors' advice, we are going to follow up each health camp up with bi-weekly or monthly check-ups for the previous health camp patients. 1.2 Improving Nutritional Quotient In our inaugural medical camp, we had two experts from NIN (National Institute of Nutrition), Hyderabad to conduct nutritional check-ups. For small kids, they had brought instruments to take down accurate measurements of their heights and weights, serving as an important clue in determining the nutritional state of a kid. Their findings indicated an alarming presence of malnutrition, especially in children and women. To rectify that, some of the AshaKiran members are going to attend a half-day workshop at NIN and get trained about the nutritional aspects. Those members will, in turn, take lead in arranging for and supplying nutrition mixes and improving the dietary habits. We have already begun working on providing nourishing food, incorporating the suggested mixes, to the kids of AshaKiran once every week. 1.3 Awareness Drives We would like to effectively communicate, to the slum residents, the Dos and Donts, pertaining to sanitation, vaccination, family planning and general health. This involves distributing leaflets, delivering presentations with audio-visuals and doing an odd play. To acquire the content for the awareness drives, we have also approached the nearest PHC (Primary Health Center) which can help us deal with issues like vaccination, family planning, and seasonal diseases, among others. We are also thinking of working with the PHC people to ensure that every single child, in the slums that AshaKiran deals with, has been vaccinated. 2. Education We are running an evening school for the slum kids, located in the IIIT campus, between 4:30 PM and 7 PM. Already about 15-20 kids have joined us, without really publicizing the school. The teaching task is mainly carried out by the AshaKiran members who speak the local language (Telugu). Instead of adopting a traditional textbook mode of teaching, which is bound to fail for kids coming from this kind of background, we are going with an innovative yet effective mode of teaching under the direction of Prof. Ganesh Bagaria and Dr. Pavan Gupta. This methodology aims at providing a complete and practical understanding of things around us in addition to emphasis on moral values. The objective is to make the kids self-reliant so that they can survive and compete after they have quit the school. This is why we lay emphasis on logical reasoning, self-learning, self-confidence and to some extent, vocational training. 6: What is your monetary requirement? (Back to top) 1. Health Camp and Nutrition Check-ups These are conducted once in every three months and for each health camp and nutrition check-up it costs us about Rs. 10,000 which includes the expenses of medicines, health camp site arrangements, transportation of doctors and experts from NIN and miscellaneous volunteer expenses like phone calls, local transport, etc. 2. Bi-weekly or monthly follow-up health check-ups Our estimate for all such check-ups put together is at least Rs. 3000 for three months. 3. Awareness drives The cost for this will amount to about Rs. 1000 for every three months, mainly consisting of local transport of volunteers who attend the workshops of NIN, buying material to be distributed like leaflets, banners, posters, etc. 4. Evening School The amount estimated for the school is Rs. 1000 for every three months, mainly on maintaining the infrastructure including chairs, black-board, electricity, etc. and buying books, chalks, slates, etc. 5. Nutritious Food for kids The expense is estimated be about Rs. 1,600 per month. Fruits, juices, milk and carefully prepared nutrition mixes are what we have in mind. 6. Seasonal requirements This involves buying sweaters or raincoats once a year, costing about Rs. 1500 per year i.e. Rs. 500 for every three months. Summing up (for there months),
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