Away From Home

Twenty Award participants from Manav Vikas High School, Jamshedpur completed their Adventurous Journey from 23rd to 26th January 2017 to Bisindha. Kalyani Chakraborty, the Award Leader from Manav Vikas High School is sharing this report with us.

The Award participants of Manav Vikas High School were buzzing with excitement very early in the morning at the school grounds, eager to get away from the monotonous classroom study and ready to embark on their IAYP Adventurous Journey. There were twenty participants and two mentors. The journey started from Tata Nagar station at 7:30 am and we reached Asansol at 12 noon. The further journey was through a local train up to Ranigunj and then by bus to Bisindha. 

Award participants from Emmanuel Ministries, Kolkata were also attending this camp with us. We were all guided by Soumitra Ganguly up to Bisindha. Bisindha turned out to be a perfect place for camping, far away from the maddening crowd. There were many tiny hills in the surrounding area. We reached the campsite around 2 pm. After lunch Asim Nath, the instructor from the Institute of Climbers and Nature Lovers (ICNL) started the camp activities. He explained and demonstrated the different kinds of knots, rope obstacles, jungle etiquette and how to behave with villagers. The participants were happy to find all this new information and kept sharing this new learning throughout the night with their other team members and new friends. The students of Emmanuel Ministries also joined these lively discussions. Though the night was very cold, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the young students, who sang and played background music (Hukka hua). The night experience was indeed memorable and thrilling.

On 24th January, the day activities started at 6 am. All of us trekked to the surrounding areas, climbed small hills and did some morning exercise. Exhausted after all these activities, we took a deep breath of fresh air and saw the sunrise, before we returned to the campsite. After breakfast, we started our journey to Bandwan Dam, which was 8 kilometers away from the campsite. We reached Bandwan Dam at 10 am and our instructor, Imran divided all the participants into 7 groups. This was an SOS activity where the participants were asked to make food for themselves. The participants gathered firewood and fetched water from the dam and made an oven with mud; then they cooked their own food. After completing all these activities, we returned to the campsite at 3 pm. A theoretical class was scheduled for the evening, where the ICNL instructors detailed the Do's and Don'ts of camping.

On 25th January, we all trekked to the surrounding areas in the early morning. After breakfast, we all went to Susunia Hill for rock climbing under the guidance of Somnath Saha, Soumitra Ganguly and Partha Sengupta (all ICNL instructors). The participants enjoyed their evening around a campfire. Everyone participated, performed and enjoyed themselves. On 26th January we left Bisindha after breakfast.

This Adventurous Journey empowered the participants to develop the ability to focus and be determined to achieve any goal and be ready to face any challenges in the real world.

Award Leader Reflections on the Award

Mayank, Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon 

"I had absolutely no idea what this Award was all about before I joined it. I credit the organisation that I have been associated with that led me to join this Award Programme as an Award Leader. I can firmly say that the things I do in my life are similar with the working of IAYP, but now that I have received my Award Leader Training, I understand and appreciate the programme."

Pramjeet Kaur, TGT Science, Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana 

"Attending this two-day IAYP workshop was an enlightening experience for me. As teachers and educators, it's very easy for us to make complaints about the issues faced by us in classroom settings. But after attending this workshop, I feel that most of the issues could be addressed if we can empower, equip and engage our students through this Programme. I feel, through this Programme, the youth will not only be able to identify their own potential and hone their skills to sustain livelihood but would also be able to channelise their energies collectively to lead the whole nation on the path of progress. This programme would give the right platform to channelise the youth of India and provide them the opportunities for growth."

Award Leader Reflections on the Award

Shefali Chawla, Chemistry Teacher, Chinar Public School, Alwar 

"The IAYP Award Programme provides ample opportunities to the youth. It helps in enhancing their skills and builds their self-confidence. It exposes them to different things in their lives by providing experiential learning, which stays throughout their lifetime."

Amit Jain, Director, Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam 

"India is a country of youth and the youth are a bundle of super energy. This two-day workshop made me realize that IAYP is the right magnifying lens to make the youth focus this energy in achieving not only their personal goals but also to make India a super power."

The Award programme underscores the social component of education

IAYP organised a two-day National Training Workshop (NTW) on 9th - 10th February 2017 at the Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Kolapakkam, Chennai. Eighteen participants from Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Kolapakkam, Chennai; Canadian International School, Bangalore; and Olcott Memorial School, Chennai attended the workshop.

During the workshop, Dr S Bhavanishankar, Senior Principal, Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai spoke about how the Award helps young people discover themselves and unleash their potential. "The best part of the Award Programme is that the participants get exposure to essential skills and they also understand the social component of education. The International Award for Young People focuses strongly on the social element, which I feel is essential for a young person to become a citizen with the empathy needed to show towards his fellows and to the community. This also affords senior students the opportunity to explore who they are as emerging adolescents, and try to understand what their capabilities are, what their specific avocation and their interests are. It also raises levels of awareness, teaches them how to engage productively and with a mode of consciousness in taking risks. Effectively, it’s a programme that offers all-round development of a young person.

This workshop underscored the importance of this Leading Youth Programme for the development of youth, channelising their energy, shaping their personality and building their character by engaging them through different sections of the Award and preparing them for a bright future. Click here for pictures...

Kindness in giving creates love

Satyans (Sat Paul Mittal School) of the IAYP club believe that “Kindness in words creates confidence, Kindness in thinking creates profoundness, and Kindness in giving creates love." And truly, this is just the beginning.

The journey began on 29th July, 2016 when the IAYP Club students at Sat Paul Mittal School volunteered to assist the authorities in their campaign of empowerment through Information Technology Literacy. The students designed placards on the Alphabet, Colours, Sports, Fruits and Vegetables to enhance the learning process of the specially-abled students. Dummy Keyboards were also made by students of the IAYP Club and gifted to help students in recognizing the letters of the alphabet and numbers on the keyboard. The outcome of this effort is visible now. Twenty-two students have achieved the minimum levels of Data Entry and have begun their journey to independence.

As part of the last lap, the Satyans of the IAYP club were at Aashriwad on 24 January, 2017 to donate the proceeds raised through the sale of 700 diyas, 100 envelopes, and 50 paper bags. In an endeavour to support the cause, Satyans purchased the diyas, painted and decorated them and sold them on Sports Day at the school campus. With the funds raised the school purchased two ASUS notebooks.

It was a heart warming sight when the two ASUS notebooks were handed over to Ms. Sanam Mehra, member on the advisory board Aashriwad and Ms. Reshma, Coordinator of the IAYP Programme. Satyans have been working very closely with the AMBA Project initiated at Aashriwad. This project is truly an empowerment project, where 22 students are being trained to pursue data entry as their profession. It aims at moving the students from Dependence to Independence. More pictures can be found here.

The Award helped me to discover myself

Srishti Agarwal, a Silver Level Award participant from Billabong High International School, Bhopal completed her Adventurous Journey at Rishikesh. Here, Srishti is sharing her experience of interacting with nature. 

I was born in the urban jungle. A silent addition to our modernized civilization hurling through chaos and drowning in the hoots and honks of the 21st century. The cement, the concrete, the bricks, the skyscrapers taller than trees, the pollution encasing the stars and a patch of grass that we called ‘nature’. The city ran in my veins deeper than blood.

But, years later when I turned 16, I was obliged to go to for my IAYP Adventurous Journey camp in Rishikesh and spend about a week there. It was actually a ‘back to nature’ initiative, which seems my worst nightmare, as I chose to describe it. Away from the city, completely detached from ‘life’ was not my idea of either a ‘frolic’ or a ‘serene’ outing. Yet, what has to be done, needs to be done. And so I left Bhopal for Hardwar, with a heavy heart and a weary sigh. The train journey was brimming with boredom but it was lesser of the two evils as the stay would surely be far more torturous.

The morning that we, the seventy Award participants along with 5 mentors, reached Haridwar was by far the most uneventful day for the remaining time was spent in commuting to the camp site -- beside the Ganges and surrounded by thick forests. I truly felt ‘caged’, like a person left in isolation, who can shout all they want, but in the end, it’s like speaking to a void. But as nightfall approached, something changed. Sitting by the fire, reading a book, (yes, indeed!) Waiting for the cell phone reception, I noticed for the first time in the sky, a constellation, Aries. The stars, those plain asteroids, shone brighter than any light and the moon was stupendously beautiful, bathing our camp site in the light I can only describe as ethereal. Not a sound was heard, apart from the easy wind and the rustle of leaves. There in that moment, I felt the closest to peaceful. Perhaps, it was the state of my mind, drunk with fatigue as I was or there actually was a connect that I could feel to that evening sky and the never-ending forest. Solitude… the absolute solitude that I had feared all my life, now seemed comforting. As if I was a child, being cradled by a mother. In Urdu, they talk of a deep soul connection that cannot be explained called ‘Roohani’ and for the first time, I could understand what my grandfather had been referring to as I recalled our past conversations. I could understand why Robert Frost found pleasure in the ‘dark and deep woods’ and why Wordsworth was so enamoured by Mother Nature.

All my time at Rishikesh -- everything and every day, passed like a whirlwind between adventure sports and team building activities. Rafting, rock climbing and even the nature treks were anything but generic. The thrill of braving through the roaring and rumbling Ganga in a measly raft and almost falling off on the raging rapids or descending down an almost vertical rock at a 90-degree angle changed my perspective towards life. Fragile and transient as it is, The forest walks were long, running over steep hills and ramshackle grounds; they left us gasping for air and thirsty as the Sahara, yet the picturesque landscapes and the sheer beauty of the morning sun were enough balms for all our wounds and bruises. Admittedly, the Flying Fox and Valley Crossing were my favourites. Hanging by a wire, cutting through the air at top speed and traversing between two hills while dangling in mid-air were as exhilarating and liberating as can be.

However, it was my late night rendezvous with myself that somehow made me feel ‘infinite.’ Even the Ganga seemed to hold more meaning to me and in its swiftly flowing waters, I could see clearly a reflection of my own life, passing me by. Those waters, sprinkled in every Hindu household on an auspicious/ joyous occasion are also the final resting places of a human being’s ashes. Only now could I fully comprehend the majesty and sanctity of that river.

But like all good things that must come to an end so did my sojourn at Rishikesh. Its memories, I shall carry with me forever. The Adventurous Journey experience proved to me how I had been a prisoner of my own device and how I had restricted definitions of the ‘world’, ‘life’, ‘home’. At 16 I discovered for myself that there are such brief instances, these small turnings in the weary road with no windings, such places which prompted the poet to declare “Hamin asto, Hamin asto, Hamin asto….” Click here for more pictures

Award Leader Reflections on the Award

Ritu Bhargava from Chinar Public School, Alwar spoke about how the Award helps young people discover themselves and unleash their potential. 

"Attending this workshop has really been very enlightening for me to understand how harnessing young people's energy could bring transformational changes in them, and is a constructive use of time. I firmly believe that if I can make young people of my area associated with the Award, they would be better, improved people and it will not only help them find their means of learning but also help them discover themselves and realise their potential to achieve a higher sense of satisfaction and allow them to lead a better life. It will definitely inculcate in them a sense of responsibility towards society and its needs."

The Award inculcates a sense of responsibility towards society

IAYP organised a two-day National Training Workshop (NTW) on 2nd and 3rd February 2017 at the Award Training Centre, New Delhi. Thirteen participants from seven institutions, Hopetown Girls' School, Dehradun; Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam; Chinar Public School, Alwar; Confluence World School, Rudrapur; Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana; Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, and Templeton Academy International, Naukuchiatal attended the workshop.

During the workshop, Ritu Bhargava from Chinar Public School, Alwar spoke about how the Award helps young people discover themselves and unleash their potential. "Attending this workshop has really been very enlightening for me to understand how harnessing young people's energy could bring transformational changes in them, and is a constructive use of time. I firmly believe that if I can make young people of my area associated with the Award, they would be better, improved people and it will not only help them find their means of learning but also help them discover themselves and realise their potential to achieve a higher sense of satisfaction and allow them to lead a better life. It will definitely inculcate in them a sense of responsibility towards society and its needs."

This workshop underscored the importance of this Leading Youth Programme for the development of youth, channelising their energy, shaping their personality and building their character by engaging them through different sections of the Award and preparing them for a bright future. Click here for pictures...

Difference between those who care and those who don’t

“What matters today is not the difference between those who believe and those who don't, but the difference between those who care and those who don’t.”

Award participants from Bawa Lalvani Public School, Kapurthala visited and offered their services at the Kusht Ashram (Leprosy Home) in Kapurthala on 20th January 2017. Below is a report from Ms. Ekta Dhawan, Principal, Bawa Lalvani Public School, Kapurthala.

The aim of the IAYP programme is to ‘equip youth for life’. Young people, through this project, work with socially and economically disadvantaged people or people with physical disabilities through activities of the Award Programme. Association through these activities encourages independence, inter-dependence and self-helpamong socially isolated people.

To sensitize the students about the people suffering from leprosy and to boost the morale of the patients and their families, BLPS organised a visit to Kusht Ashram, Kapurthala for Award participants. The staff of the Ashram introduced them to the patients and their families. The participants had healthy conversations with the patients and their families and had a first-hand knowledge of their experiences and lives of people with leprosy.

The Award participants, along with their mentors and parents, have made volunteering for Kusht Ashram a part of their Social Service experience. Parents have helped in preparing the lunch boxes, articles of daily needs (comb, soap, toothbrush) and financial help. The participants, along with teachers, offered help for daily grooming, such as changing their clothes, combing their hair and cutting the nails of physically disabled people and cleaning their surroundings. The participants purchased food items for the patients. This contribution meant a lot to the inmates of the leprosy home.

Medical treatment has brought leprosy under control everywhere in the world but there is still deep-rooted discrimination against those affected by this disease. The Award participants have pledged to serve them in their struggle and to truly overcome such discrimination.

As a weekly affair, the Award participants have decided to enthusiastically participate in the collection for these victims of leprosy. Through this, the participants learn to care of others and understand the importance of contributing to one’s community. It gives them an opportunity to change lives, perhaps even their own, and understand what it means to 'equip for life.'