The Story of Geeta and Amrita

Twenty-year-old Geeta and Amrita were born and brought up in Tughlakabad village in Delhi and have been best friends since their school days. Both the girls are full of life and have a thirst for learning more and more. Currently, they are in their second year of graduation in the BA programme from the School of Open Learning, DU.

Amrita has 5 members in her family -- her father, mother and two elder brothers. Her father works in a fiber company and earns Rs.8000-10,000 per month. Her mother is a homemaker and supports Amrita's dream of flying high. One of her bothers works in Vodafone and can make up to 15,000 per month, the other has recently started working and earns up to 8000 per month. Including Amrita's internship stipend, the family income comes up to approximately Rs. 35,000 per month.

Geeta, on the other hand, has 5 siblings: The two eldest sisters are married, one sister works as a teacher, one brother is in school and the other one is working and earns up to Rs. 10,000 per month. Her mother works in an export house and makes Rs.5000/-. Her father passed away due to a heart attack. The total family income, including her internship stipend, is approximately 20,000 per month.

They joined The Naz Foundation (India) Trust in 2015 as participants of the YPI programme. YPI uses sport and life skills education to transform the lives of adolescent girls. They showcased their leadership skills as participants and started interning in Naz India as Community Sports coaches from August 2016.

Naz India gave them a lot of opportunities to make them better and more confident leaders. After 8-10 months of their internship, they were introduced to the programme called the International Award for Young People, which is a Youth Empowerment programme and helps in their holistic development. They both enrolled themselves at the Bronze Level and are keen to do the Silver Level as well.

Under the Skills Section, Geeta and Amrita took up the Beauty and Make-up course for a year from the NGO Sarva Saman in Tughlakabad. They received a Diploma certificate after successfully completing the course.

They got an opportunity to run a beautician centre in the NGO Deepshikha, which is supported by the Church they go to. The church in-charge gave them the space for the centre and also the products initially. The students are charged Rs.150 per month, which is utilised for buying the material required. The course is of six months and teaches basic skills like waxing, threading, etc. They get the certificate which is recognized by other salons. The centre is solely run and managed by Geeta and Amrita, for which they get Rs.1000 each per month. Till now they have trained 25 women, out of which 3 have started working in some salons, 8 have successfully completed the course and the rest are in the process of completing it.

Geeta and Amrita say “Agar hum Naz main nahi hote to kabhi bhi hame Award Programme karne ka mauka nahi milta. Hum bohot khush hain ki hame Award Programme karne ka mauka mila, jisse humne aisi skill seekhi jo hamare paise kamane ka jariya bhi ban sakta hai.” (We are very happy that we are part of Naz India as it gave us an opportunity to be a part of the Award Programme. Through IAYP, we learnt a skill that can be a medium of our earnings too.)

They both said that they have become financially independent as they get Rs. 3500/- as a stipend for interning with Naz India and Rs.1000 from the Beautician Centre. As learnt in Naz India, they know how to manage their money well, they make a budget first and spend and save accordingly.

Both Geeta and Amrita aspire to open a Dance Academy together. They both are very passionate about it and are working hard towards it. They also have a Plan B as they are running a beautician centre of their own. In the near future, they want to expand that too.

Their families are proud of them as they both can take care of their own expenses. Not only this, they also contribute to the daily household expenses if needed. Click here to see some more pictures

My Award Journey

Makesh Srinviasan, Bronze Level participant from Hiranandani Upscale School, Kelambakkam shares his Award Journey experience with us in his words. IAYP has helped me to grow from an ordinary person to someone who is respected, given importance and now seen in the world from a different perspective. The Award Programme brought many things into my schedule that helped me to improve myself in myriad ways. It shaped me not only to take up more responsibilities and challenges but also to handle them and be a citizen that a nation would be proud of. This journal records details of my experience in this course starting from July 2015 until today. As an IAYP participant, responsibilities were assigned to me by the school for the first couple of months. I was part of an adventurous trip to a hill station called Coorg. It was a three day fun-filled trip where adventurous activities were organised like zip lining, trekking, river rafting and swimming in the cold river. My main focus was to learn how to be independent, gain experience and provide valuable support to my companions. To move out of my comfort zone and challenge my own learning, fears and skills was the outcome of this adventure section. Next, in the service section of the Award, during the weekends, my friends and I provided education and basic computer knowledge to kids from the orphanage. We conducted regular and scheduled classes for them. Although during some weekends it wasn't possible for them to attend classes due to transportation trouble, national holidays, floods and rains, nevertheless, we managed to reschedule their classes on the availability of our time periods. Moreover, apart from teaching, I also worked for rescue and relief missions during the floods times in Chennai. Every day was very critical, and I used to spent many hours in preparing food, collecting clothes and gathering necessary items from shops. Eventually, we grew into a big association involving more than 50 members from our society. Together, we were able to help hundreds of poor families and kids. We provided food packages, medicines, water bottles, clothes and other necessary items, to about 1000 people in more than 5 different areas. Besides these, I had also been involved in taking photographs (for which I was given the responsibility) for an event that took place in my community. Compassion, communication and connect with the community were the cherished gifts that I saved from this section of the Award journey. My physical activity involved playing football. Being my favourite sport, I made good progress in it. I practiced regularly for about 2 to 3 hours on the ground and about 1 hour indoors to workout. During exams and flood time I was unable to play regularly. But apart from that, I was a very regular student and had shown progressive improvements in this sport. It is a sport that once broke my nose but still, I love playing football. In skills Section, my interests were mainly focused on playing instruments such as violin and piano, and I chose piano. From July till today, I have been practicing piano lessons regularly and with great interest. Although, due to some reasons my teacher couldn't continue, but I kept on practicing my lessons at home for about an hour or two almost every day. Eventually I found a new teacher but he insisted on starting the lessons from the basics. But even then, I did not feel discouraged. I love piano today as much as I loved it on my first day! Thanks IAYP for making me what I am today!Click here for more pictures

The Award helped me realize my self-worth and importance

Trupti Panigrahi, Gold Award Holder from the Open Award Centre shares here life changing experience during her Award Journey.
"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." - Golda Meir

Being honoured with the Gold Award by the IAYP (International Award for Young People), worldwide known as the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award, was a dream that came true for me. I started my journey five years ago with the aim of serving society and working towards self-growth. This journey has given me much more than what I could ever imagine. It has instilled in me the thirst to learn more, explore more about life and evolve as a good human being. It has taught me to never give up and never look back.

It was through this journey I realized that in spite of being a small creation of the Almighty, I can bring about a remarkable difference in his world. It has made me realize my self-worth and importance. It has made me understand my responsibilities towards my own self and towards society at large. This Award has given me an opportunity to challenge my own beliefs and come out of my self-created boundaries.

I am extremely thankful to the Award India for providing such a platform where young people get engaged in developmental work. This not only benefits them but also the people surrounding them and creates a brand value for their respective countries.

I am sure I will see more and more people joining this endeavour and having such amazing experiences.

My Award Journey

Debalina Mukherjee, Gold Award 2015 shares her Award Journey experience with us on achieving the Gold Award.

Time and tide wait for none.  I can't fathom how quickly the last four years have passed.  It seems as if July 2011 was just yesterday... when I started my journey with the International Award for Young People. And now today, 16th July 2015, we, the recipients of the Gold Award are assembled at the India International Centre, New Delhi to receive our Gold Badge and Certificate.  Today is the day that we have been awaiting. It is impossible to describe how much we have gained in these four years from this organisation, from friendship that spans across our country and into other nations, to uninhibited creativity; from the light of knowledge that was kindled not just in us but others we came in contact with; and from a deep understanding of nature, to a spirit of adventure. I am very sad that our beautiful journey now comes to the finishing point, but I realize today from the inspiring words I heard at the ceremony, that there is no end when doing something for others. In one word, what I learnt from this journey, the soul of our great culture is 'Udar charitaya'- I am connected to the whole universe.

I am very proud of being a participant of the IAYP, very grateful to our respected Mataji and elders of Sarada Math, Rasik Vita for their guidance to me and also my parents for their support.  I pay my respect to all concerned.  I wish we shall meet again one day, maybe on a cliff or a steep mountain, or maybe around a bonfire under the twinkling night sky.  Till then, good bye...

Returning home

Ayushi Atri, Silver Award holder from Jodhamal Public School, Jammu took up painting as her Skill.  Ayushi shared some of her paintings with us.  In her own words, Ayushi describes one of the paintings which she is sharing with the Award family.
This beautiful piece of art describes the scene after sunset..... when all the birds and other creatures are returning to their homes after the sunset....... this painting tells us the importance of home when all the creatures return to their homes after a full day of hard work for their family. Everyone feels a sense of safety in their home...... so this painting tells us the importance of shelter for every creature through a midnight scene after dusk when all the birds are flying back to their shelter, taking food or to meet their loved ones.

Click here to see more paintings

Thank You, IAYP!

Tushar Gupta (Silver Level), Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana sharing his experience of his Award Journey.
IAYP is a fantastic amalgamation of adventure, fun and learning.  I have evolved and matured with the IAYP from a free willed amateur to a mature and responsible citizen. Be it sports, community service  or student empowerment, the IAYP through its plethora of activities has provided me various opportunities to develop the leader in me.  It has nurtured my survival instincts, made me social and affable.  Above all it has given  me the freedom to express and feel and has kindled in me the fire to do something constructive for society and the community at large.
My journey during the session 2014-15 has been magical and enriching as I have been a part of various new initiatives to spread global awareness. Through the Rise and Vote campaign, I fervently  asserted that it is everyone's duty to vote in the elections if they dream of a great India.  How can I forget the Candle March to protest against the Gadhimai Festival where thousands of animals were brutally slaughtered to satiate the the thirst of ignorant villagers? I feel as a part of the community, the onus is on us to bring about an effective change.  I remember vividly participating in the Swach Bharat Campaign wherein I, along with many passionate volunteers undertook the humongous task of bringing about an awareness among Ludhianavis to clean the Sidhwan Canal. Then, the Chail trip was an enlightening one where we saw the life of want and neglect and realised that we are gifted with so many amenities. I volunteered to teach, paint, cook and undertook such exhausting physical pursuits like flying fox, rappelling and trekking. I am thankful to the school and IAYP for showing  us the  panoramic view of life with all the technicolor images of good and bad and building core values like integrity, team spirit, reverence, tolerance and respect.

Our Bronze Level Award Journey

Rakhi Jain and Jyoti Sagwekar (Award Leaders) from Bombay Cambridge School, Andheri West, Mumbai narrated the experience of teachers and participants at the Bronze Level of their Award Journey.

Deeksha Pal, who lead the students for the Service section, said that this was a heartwarming experience. Says Deeksha, "Every time the students accomplished something, I felt proud. While I was teaching them, I learned a lot about myself. My students were really happy and kept praising us, saying that I was a wonderful teacher. Students who used to hate Maths soon started enjoying it; those who didn't enjoy English learned to admire it. This was such a positive experience that I believe that everyone should try teaching at least once in their lifetime."

Mubasshira Shaik says, "The Cleaning drive experience didn't only leave our school and surroundings clean but also left us proud of ourselves. We cleaned the streets armed with brooms and gloves, dug compost pits and spread awareness among local people by rallying across the streets of J.B Nagar and Chakala with posters prepared by us. Apart from this we also molded ourselves for a better and cleaner future. We also hope that our initiative will motivate and leave an impact on society."

Disha Shetty said that the music sessions conducted for the Skills section served as music therapy. It made participants realize the essence of music in their life.

Parth Dand explained how the sessions that they were exposed to during Physical Recreation not only helped them to improve their skills in field events like shot putt and long jump, but also served as a stress buster.

Talking about the Adventurous Journey Shruti Mokashi said, "We, the students of BCSE, thoroughly enjoyed the three-day journey undertaken on foot. We were trained about various aspects of camping: tent pitching, route planning, navigating and map reading a week prior to our expedition. We were split into groups as soon as we reached there. We walked amidst grass, dams, mud and fields in the sun's scorching heat and sometimes rains. We did jungle cooking on the second day which turned out to be as much fun as learning. We mingled with our new group members and helped each other in various ways throughout those three days. We experienced the true sense of team spirit, responsibility and decision making during the journey."  Click  for more pictures