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Lakshya Kick-off 2013

June has been an amazing month for Lakshya. With a huge bunch of new volunteers joining us from the Orientation held in May-June, most of us have been super busy preparing for a fresh academic year. This year, we have expanded to newer centres in Chennai itself. πŸ™‚

Not only did we have multiple induction sessions, we also kicked off the inaugural sessions at all our centres in Chennai this month. Not to forget about overwhelming response of the new members, who have officially been baptized into Lakshya πŸ˜‰

Ripples team has made an attempt to capture their fresh experience.

β€œLocated about 2 kms off OMR, the place is a single hall of roughly 10 feet by 25 feet. We were anticipating a rugged set of kids based on the initial contact we had made with the caretaker of the place. But the 24 odd kids who turned up were surprisingly well-behaved, contrary to the warning we had received. We engaged them in initial introductions. Though cricket, football, volleyball were the most popular responses amongst the guys there was one interesting response from the handful of girls who turned up – she mentioned that she likes to study. It was wonderful to hear someone say that out loud.

To break the ice and connect with the kids, we started off with an activity which they would be able to relate to easily. We chose simple questions like studies or sports, math or science and asked them to move around to each of the four walls depending on their choice – A, B, neither A nor B, both A and B. This elicited excitement in the kids especially when we put up questions related to the favourite actors and food preferences. Few of them began to open up and pass jovial comments or two. The other kids followed their lead and began voicing their opinions on what the next questions should be. The kids had a good amount of fun.

Next up was the balloon race where they were split into teams of three and asked to play a relay race. They were asked to blow up the balloon from one end of the wall, release it into the air and moving to the point where it fell down and continue this till they reached the other end of the wall. All 8 members in each team had to do this to complete the race and the more mature kids passed on techniques to the younger ones on how to get it done fast. It was great to see the team spirit they portrayed in the course of this event.

The finale for the day was a good old game of dumb charades. Following that, a few kids came up on stage to exhibit their talent on the dance floor and their native folk (gaana) song. At the end of the two hour session, most kids wanted more to come. We took a quick survey of what they wished to learn in the coming months and figured that some of them were ambitious. They mentioned that they wished to learn to play most sports, to learn more of the current affairs and wanted help with their studies. It was the perfect crowd for our Bhumi’s Lakshya program. The volunteers will get a good opportunity to help and guide them with their dreams.

Being a first timer at Lakshya I was looking forward to this day. And I can strongly say that I will remember the 29th of June, 2013 for the rest of my life. The joy and earnest enthusiasm in the kids, the sparkle in their eyes when they got the answers right during dumb charades – those are the intangibles which cannot be obtained anywhere else. Hopefully we volunteers will get to learn and grow along with the children at this centre.”

– Akhilesh, PBC Kandanchavadi, Chennai

β€œThis is my very first experience in handling kids of 15 to 16 yrs. It was really useful as it taught me how kids of various backgrounds get groomed. I would say that their circle of people and the kind of environment is being the detrimental factor in their childhood grooming. But I could see a lot of innate potential skills in them as good as normal children of their age. All they need is just our tendering and support and the right ambience for them to groove their skills with little focus on changing their lifestyle. Overall, it taught me certain aspects like patience, tolerance, perseverance in changing their attitude and helped me locate my interest too!”

– Akshaya Harini, Bala Mandir, T.Nagar, Chennai

Lakshya team in Chennai has had an exciting month. What happened in the Bangalore and Trichy chapters of Lakshya?? Coming up in the next edition πŸ™‚

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