Projects  2005 - 06

 President - Rtn. Rajesh Sahi Secretary - Rtn.Mukund Vedapudi

Tsunami Releif - The villagers of Vilambur Kuppam, near Kadapakkam had received very little assistance from the authorities/NGOs after tsunami. Rtn. Srikanth arranged to get 80 kgs. of fishing nets.  President Sahi, with Rtn. Shankar, Rtn. Kannan and Swami Easwaranandha, handed over the fishing nets to the fishermen on Sunday, 17th July.

At Nainar Kuppam .... a year after 'tsunami'

 Rotarians Srikanth and Shankar spent sometime with the fishermen of Nainar Kuppam on 25th December. As you are aware, our Club had provided fishing nets to the villagers to help them start earning. Later, we organised to repair some of the boats, not so badly damaged; we also provided 8 new boats and part-financed the motors - 5 have been received and 3 are expected anytime. Srikanth has been visiting them very often and has been attending to their needs - filling up forms for relief funds, motivating the children to go to school, persuading the men to abstain from liquor, reorganising the auctioning shed.....

The fishermen do not lament on their loss of materials, but are seriously planning for a brighter future. All the children are attending the school (CBSE) regularly. The men do not 'drink' the hard earned money; in fact, a young man was very upset that the media had created a wrong image of the fishermen.

During the time we were with them, no one complained about the government or the authorities; they talked about what they should now do! They have not had a good catch in the last 40 days due to bad weather and the village leaders had borrowed from a moneylender to feed the villagers. Yet, they were busy plying their boats in MGR Nagar and other places where people had been marooned during the recent floods in the city! They were happy that their efforts could move a lot people to safer grounds. They were planning to send some people from their village to Nagapattinam to join the prayers for the tsunami victims!

The leader, while talking to us, had sent a boat into the sea to borrow 'fresh catch'  for the visitors when they had no money for their dinner! Tsunami seems to have toughened them, brought them closer, made them sober and look ahead for the better!

New Engines to start a New Life

On Sunday January 15th, we had a small function to distribute 3 engines to the fishermen of Neyyanar Kuppam. The function was attended by the members of the Rotary Club of Silver Beach and Travel Agents Association of South India. The villagers continue to thank us for all the help that we are extending to them. A couple of our members went in to the sea to fish and came back with a small catch!

The fishermen of Nainar Kuppam, after tsunami, had been returning from the sea without any catch and had to skip lunch/dinner for many days. Yet, they had a large heart to take their boats to flooded areas and rescue the stranded people when heavy rains drowned the city. When Rtns. Srikanth and Shankar visited them on 25th January, they learnt that the fishermen had pledged their jewelry to buy rice etc. to at least feed their children. Rtn. Srikanth pleaded the case of the fishermen before the Ford Committee, seeking some financial help for them. Rs.12,300 was sanctioned to help the fishermen. This amount was handed over to the villagers on 1st May.

Medical Camps

A Medical Camp was conducted at the Corporation Girls High School, Saidapet on 9th September, with the assistance of the Dr.Sridhar and his Team of 4 Doctors and 8 Volunteers of the Kanchi Sankara Trust. About 200 students were checked for general health. Medicines were distributed and they were also guided on the future course of action to good health.

Our Club organised Health camps, along with the Tamilnadu Science Forum, at Periayar and Kallukuttai Villages in Tarami which needed urgent medical attention, after the heavy rains and resultant water logging in the villages.

About 900 men, women and children were checked and free medicines were issued. These people were displaced from their homes in Periyar nagar, Taramani due to very heavy water logging and were put up in a church and in the local school premises without any proper food and were suffering from health disorders.

Education

Rtn. Prakash and Ann Jayashree provided books and notebooks to about 110 students of a school  at Maraimalai Nagar, Chennai.

Rtn. Gupta provided new uniforms to the girls of the Corporation High School, Saidapet when we held the medical camp at the campus

Prize Distribution - the Jantar Mantar Quiz

The Semifinal of Jantar Mantar / Thulir Quiz District level competition, sponsored by RCMS and organized by Tamil Nadu Science Foundation, was held on 8th October at P.S.Higher Secondary School, Mylapore. About 280 school students from 7th standard to 12th standard participated in the competition.

 

Vocational Service Training Programme

The Executive Secretarial Course [ESC] and the Computer Hardware Course [CHC] were inaugurated on 13th September at the Stenographer's Guild by Dr.D.Viswanathan, Vice Chancellor Anna University.

The two Vocational Service Programmes have been sponsored by our Club, jointly with the Rotary Club of Melville, Sydney, Australia and The Stenographer's Guild. 101 young girls and boys, in the age group of 18-25, were s were admitted to the courses.

 

 

MS Office, Spoken English, Accountancy, Soft Skills and Pitman's Shorthand Writing are some of the subjects under the Secretarial Course. The students learn about the basics of computer hardware, configuration and assembly, maintenance etc. under the Computer Hardware Course. Almost all the students of the programmes held last year are well placed.

 

Training Programme at Anna University

The Training Programme on air-conditioning and refrigeration was inaugurated on 9th January at the Hall of Guiness, Anna University. The chief guest was Prof. K Jayaraman, Registrar of the University. Prof. Dr. Sivanesan is the new coordinator for the course. Prof. Dr.T.V.Murthy, and Mr. Arun are the Course Conductors.

As you are aware, our club has been conducting this programme every year since 1992-93. It is a very successful Vocational Service Project of our Club; many district clubs have, over the years, participated in this project.

This year's programme is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Melville, Australia; they have participated and sponsored the programmes conducted by us since 2001.

New Members inducted during the year

Inducted Srinath Jagannathan
Proposed by Rtn. B.B. Vengatesh

 Inducted Suresh Arunachalam
Proposed by Rtn. C. Tamilselvan

Jawaharlal Nichani,
introduced by Rtn. B B Vengatesh

Major General Sukhdev Avasthi,
  proposed by Rtn. Mani P Sam,

Our Club had organised a RYLA Camp for the Eleventh Standard Girls of the Corporation School Saidapet at Wenlock Park on 4th and 5th February.

The Program schedule and the activities were drawn up by Rtns. Nagoji, and Tamilselvan with inputs from other Rotarians.

The communication session by Ms. Nandini Raja truly inspired the participants to come out of their shells.

The session on health and hygiene, conducted by the TNSF volunteers, was reported to be very effective and the accompanying teachers themselves were found to be learning from this session.

The session by Capt. Shipra Mazumdar (who was a member of the team which conquered the Mount Everest just a couple of months back!) was a true eye opener for not only the participants but also for the Rotarians. Rtn. Nagoji conducted the camp fire and Creative work shop; he was able to instill confidence in the participants to bring out their best.

The second day started with a Yoga session. After breakfast there was a very useful sessions on empowerment and water management. 

District Governor, Shyamsundar made an official visit to our Club on 22nd November.

He was accompanied by Ann Sashi and Rtn. Devnani, Assistant Governor.  Secretary, Mukund, power-point-presented his report for the year. In his address to the members, the Governor suggested that the Club could organise medical camps focused on detection of cancer and provide guidance for further treatment. He stressed on the need to take tree-planting as a major project, particularly in view of the increasing pollution in our neighbourhood. He also suggested that apart from the retina eye surgeries conducted by us, we could also plan for IOL surgeries.

Earlier in the day, the Governor visited the Stenographer's Guild. Rtn. Ramaswamy took the Governor on a guided tour, explaining our Vocational Training Programme and infrastructure facilities available at the Center. The President and the Governor had a brief inter-active session with the students.

The Club Assembly was held at the Alumni Club. The directors presented brief reports on the activities of the Club.

We provided kits and shoes to the Tamil Nadu Cricket team of vision impaired persons when they participated in a National Tournament

Rain water Harvesting prog-ramme implemented at the Corporation Girls High School, Saidapet.

26 eye surgeries performed at Sankara Netralaya. Project initiated in 1993-94 by Rtn. Kannan, president for that year. It is a continuing project.