Swati in cafe Mohalla

Yesterday there was Cafe Mohalla's meeting. I really enjoyed it .Our discussion was on water conservation. We made plans. Oh I am really sorry just forget to tell about myself and my new journey - I am Swati Gupta and just few days back I joined Pravah . Well at last I joined an N.G.O. which I always wanted to join .Pravah is an N.G.O. which.works on social issues like water,education,woman rights,woman & child, and a lot of current issues. It basically works for youth and with youth . Its motto is "self to society". It also organizes CAFE MOHALLA for young people who want to do something different from others.

Well , I think I was sharing my first experience of Cafe Mohalla meeting. In this meeting our topic was "Rain water harvesting". I was feeling little bit uncomfortable because it has not passed much time to join this group but soon i was adjusted and not only adjusted but also enjoyed a lot. Beginning of meeting was from an introduction or rather I should say interesting introduction and then we played a game which was really great. Further we were being introduced with many methods of Rain water harvesting, after knowing that i felt how much water we waste? Its very bad.If we start to save water from today itself , the problem of water will vanish soon .One thing I learnt that we dont use water, we waste it more . That's why we are facing such kind of water problem. Hope soon people will understand the value of water and will start to save it.So our next step was planing for water conservation campaign.But till now, frankly speaking I was little tired and was feeling lack of energy. Meanwhile Jitendra had come and all volunteers requested him to sing a song as he is good singer and he plays songs with Guitar too.He sang some songs and again we felt new energy. And then our discussion had started again and Bhavay wrote down points. Oh I just forget to tell about Bhavya. He writes awesome poetry.He said his feelings about water problem and poverty in simple 4 lines.It was really touching.Then at last coordinators were decided , who are Aprajita and Siddhant.Well it was our meeting which i tried to write in words.I don't know how much i could write. At last I would like to thanks Jitesh, Aashutosh and Meenakshi di who facilitated this meeting.

I hope our next meeting which will be on 24th may 2010 at 11o'clock will be rocking and more interesting....(to be continue)

- Swati Gupta

We are very pleased to inform you about three of our exciting programmes for the youth! Kindly spread the word about these programmes in your personal and professional networks and encourage the youth to apply for these programme:

YOUTH FOR DEVELOPMENT (YfD) is a 6 month long development internship programme for young Indian Nationals (18-27). It offers a transformational experience, by providing opportunities to develop skills and gain valuable experience in the development sector. It also gives you a chance to contribute to development issues by being associated with a grass root level NGO in India. As YfD interns you will receive training, mentoring, monthly stipend and a chance to meet and interact with some top development professionals through the period of your internship. This internship includes training and placement with an NGO in India from October 2010 to April 2011

GLOBAL XCHANGE is a 6 month long international volunteering programme for young people in India between 18-25 years. It aims to build in you, as young people, mutual respect and understanding and to facilitate a process of becoming active citizens in an increasingly global world. The time period for the exchange would be September 2010 to March 2011 where you would be placed for 3 months in a community in UK and 3 months in a community in India. Both YfD and Global XChange programmes pay for travel, accommodation, food, medical costs and a modest allowance

CHANGE LOOMS is a leadership and organisational development programme that supports, encourages and recognises young people (18-30 years) and their teams who have started and are running their own independent projects or organisations working for social change. The programme is intended to support new organisations grow and move forward. The Change Looms programme offers training and capacity building, mentoring opportunities, financial assistance for learning and organisational development needs and felicitation at a public event. More information about the programme is mentioned in the attached one-pager on Change Looms.

For further information on Youth for Development (YfD), Global Xchange and Change Looms and/or emailing application forms please contact Richa Sharma, richa.sharma@pravah.org , Phone no. 0141-4030356

Last date for receiving application forms for YfD and Global XChange programme is May 30^th 2010 and for Change Looms is July 16^th 2010. 


Completed application forms can also be sent to our office address: Pravah Jaipur Initiative, C 96, Jagraj Marg, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur. Please mention the programme applying for on the envelope.

Thanks so much for your support

Fun & Masti with Lots of learning

Ojasi Mehta shared her experience of Open capacity building workshop (4^th-8^th may 2010)

Fun & Masti with Lots of learning -

Workshops , camps , festivals , programs always spread positive energy around the people who attend them. For five days Jawahar Kala Kendra was glittering with positive vibes. I could feel a change from first day to last day . It was as if scattered pieces are slowly coming together . There was so much diversity of creativity in the workshop , everyone was very creative as well as hungry for knowledge and skills.

I was personally interested in all three skills which were being taught there – Comics , Theatre & Film making . Of course , film-making attracts a lot but I knew right now I needed to learn a simple yet an effective skill which I can use through my creativity and teach others too .. so , Comics was for me and I am so happy that ,I chose it (-kabila dance)

Well… well… well… before taking you into the sessions which we had of our skill , I would like to show you some glimpses of outside fun which we had through different games . On first day , due to hesitation lots of people could not come out of their shell to make new friends – I was also one of them , I was stick to my old friend only but we played a game where you will have to choose randomly anyone and Know him/her in two minutes… it was very interesting I made two friends there only. After this “silsila” of games was on and we enjoyed all the games , new & interesting. These games were called “energizers” and they boosted our energy and spiced our Fun. Wait – let me tell you the very first “Value” of Pravah, who organized the workshop – Fun with Learning. And exactly five days we didn’t realize – whether we are having Fun in Learning or Learning in Fun… but whatever it was – it was Awesome. Oh! did I tell you that though we were physically in Jaipur but we roamed around the whole world through our superb energizers. One of the very different experience was “Kabila” . The whole group of 30-35 people were asked to form a “kabila” , give it a name , prepare its song and dance. The name of our kabila was – JIM HAKUBA TAM TAM TORA TORA SA SA … J So we did it successfully – and Guess what --- we actually looked like the “Kabila” and it seemed if today we are thrown in the jungles of Andaman we will make a great original “Kabila”.. ahh… the word “original” reminded me of something—Aasif sir (theatre guru) gave me a name – O.C. – Original copy… see its an example ! we lived like a family – when we were together no one was from theatre , comics or film making – we all were One – one of the motto of Pravah – “Me to We”… and of course it didn't come on the very first day but it was a gradual journey.

Now have a look at our inside sessions –It was really great , we got to know that we are not learning simple comics but its called – Grassroot comics . A story told by pictures is called comics and when this comics is made on some important issues and problems of layman its called Grassroot comics . I loved it because anyone can make it with very few things – a black sketch pen and 2 A4 size papers . Well… we learnt so much in 4 days – to make cartoons , give special effects , give a title to comics and so on… But with learning we had lots of fun… for example – We had to bear Dilip’s songs and queries. Yash and Rajesh irritated me a lot. We chatted on different topics.. shared our experiences…Our trainer Pankaj bhaiya and Abhishek bhaiya were very friendly … I always tried to call them “sir” but I could never because they never treated us like students… they encouraged a lot and taught us to make cartoons in very funny way J

Well … I don’t know much about the inside stories of other sessions but as everyday in the morning we recalled last day’s experiences, I had some idea on the basis of it which I will tell you , the tit-bits of other sessions – Theatre learners learnt small skills of theatre and I could see on Finale how they took out the hidden actor in themselves. Though everyone complained that five days is a very short period to learn such art but they still make something out of it . Same with the film making students – 5 days is a very small period … but as they told us they enjoyed the time , got familiar with camera and… they learnt “How to think…” because their trainer Akshay Bhaiya would ask them to “think..” and disappear for several minutes …J Our all trainers were very friendly and enjoyed with us , they actively took part in all games… so the whole atmosphere was so strongly Positive with Creativity , Fun & Learning…

We not only learnt the skills we chose but also about “Active Citizenship” . We were shown a documentary also – Dark Zone – on water problem , made by Rakesh Gogna. Thus we did so many things in four days , I am not able to mention all of them here. Last day we went into a “Kachhi Basti” and there we interacted with people , especially kids. It was an another different experience.

Now I am just waiting for the next workshop by Pravah… Only by Pravah because I know the way they made learning Fun and taught Active citizenship as well as the chosen skill very friendly … hardly any other group/NGO can do…

So---- We Rock !!!!

Cheers!

सीखा हैं .........हँसाना .........................!!
शुरू करता हूँ तारीफ मेरी कार्टून क्लास की
उलटफेर के धनी जिन्दादिलो की शान की ||

हँसते थे सब तो लगता ऐसा
रावन एक अकेला नहीं था एस दुनिया में अपने जैसा ||

ये उसके ही संगी साथी जो प्रकट हुए आज
अलौकिक मुस्कान के भण्डार जो बजाये रखते थे साज ||

एक अद्भुत यंहा की कीर्ति ,
जो अभिषेक कर जाती दुनिया की मुस्कान का
वो अकेली सुमेधा हैं दुनिया की
सबसे अनोखी क्लास की प्यारी शान का ||

फ़िल्मी यश 'नाना' भी हैं
यंहा मीनू का रिझाना भी हैं
अनामिका का बजाना भी हैं
मीनाक्षी को हँसाना भी हैं ||

यहाँ का हर दिन एक युग परिचायक
एक ओज सी प्रखरता का महानायक
जन्हा हर और लक्ष्मी भगिनी का
वादन सुर अनुपम हैं गायक ||

ये सब सितारे हैं मस्ती के
ये पैगाम हैं दुनिया की नयी हस्ती के ||

एक पागल फसाना भी हैं
सच्चे दिल का बहाना भी हैं
कई दिन हो गए याद करो
अब घर जाकर नहाना भी हैं ||

- दिलीप स्वामी