Sunday 10:15 A.M., I reached Shoppers' stop after having light breakfast at home. It took me hardly 30 minutes as there was no traffic on the way. As was expected, I was the first person to reach there. Before Mukul would have join me, I enjoyed cool breeze in front of the Mall. Later on, Asif accompanied us followed by Vijay and then Prarthana, Asha and Claire. We dumped all our stuff needed for the event in Claire's car and started for our destination "SOS village".
After riding for around 6-7 Km, Asif, Mukul, Vijay and I reached the village. Vijay met the person in the office who introduces us to Bindiya. Soon Sayeesh joined with one of his friend Shilpa. We were still waiting for the ladies to join us but there was no sign of their presence. Vijay called Prarthana to find out their whereabouts but they themselves didn't have much clue. While Vijay was talking to Prarthana, I left for the Bannerghatta Road to see if they are somewhere near the junction. After waiting for 5 minutes, ladies joined me at the junction and we entered in the village after having an introductory talk with Bindiya.
We entered in the village and we found our self in a beautifully maintained children home which was nowhere less than any decent resort. The concept of SOS village is a small village kind of place where we have many 3 rooms cottages with all basic amenities. In every single cottage, twelve children will be staying like a family and will be taken care by a woman who will be mother for these kids for rest of their lives. After the schooling till metric, these kids will go to college to get higher studies. At this time, the children will be staying in a hostel or PG and will be taken care by a single woman (similar to the kids in the village). Today these women were coming to the village to collect their paychecks for their families running costs. I was really happy to see a girl who has completed her studies and now working. This fact touched my core and boosted my morale and confidence saying that "Nothing is impossible if you have determination and commitment". After having a cup of tea in the village, we went back to the common room where we need to start the event.
As soon as we entered in the room, we found our self standing in front of 40-50 mothers who were waiting for us. Vijay introduces all of us to the group there and told about agenda for the event, Ivolunteer and ASHA foundation.
We moved to agenda decided on Saturday and as usual Ice breaker was "Idli, vada, dosa...". Initially we thought that it won't work here as the target audience's age is around 30+ on average but it worked. It means that this will work everywhere and it is going to be the usual Ice breaker for rest of the events (hope so). Prarthana is very experienced in it and she did well again.
Then Vijay took the charge and called one of the mother in the group for a free talk. Soon all of them were quite open with the group and talking freely. Then a person sand a song there and the voice was amazing. In the end of the song, we came to know that the person can't see but his other senses were so strong that unknown person will be amazed by it and we realized it by the end of our event. After the free talk, Vijay asked one of the mother to talk about the sex but again as expected, there was no response.
We moved to our next item which was the play for HIV/AIDS awarenss. We were missing our two actors Parul (wife) and Sunitha(doctor) but these were replaced by Prarthana and Claire respectively and both of them picked very well. Keeping in mind that there was no practice session, I would say that both of them were awesome. The play went well with some minor hick ups which we need to improve with time and practice. The hoardings brought by Vijay were quite useful for audience to understand the skit. Following are the ways of HIV transmission which we covered through the play:
After riding for around 6-7 Km, Asif, Mukul, Vijay and I reached the village. Vijay met the person in the office who introduces us to Bindiya. Soon Sayeesh joined with one of his friend Shilpa. We were still waiting for the ladies to join us but there was no sign of their presence. Vijay called Prarthana to find out their whereabouts but they themselves didn't have much clue. While Vijay was talking to Prarthana, I left for the Bannerghatta Road to see if they are somewhere near the junction. After waiting for 5 minutes, ladies joined me at the junction and we entered in the village after having an introductory talk with Bindiya.
We entered in the village and we found our self in a beautifully maintained children home which was nowhere less than any decent resort. The concept of SOS village is a small village kind of place where we have many 3 rooms cottages with all basic amenities. In every single cottage, twelve children will be staying like a family and will be taken care by a woman who will be mother for these kids for rest of their lives. After the schooling till metric, these kids will go to college to get higher studies. At this time, the children will be staying in a hostel or PG and will be taken care by a single woman (similar to the kids in the village). Today these women were coming to the village to collect their paychecks for their families running costs. I was really happy to see a girl who has completed her studies and now working. This fact touched my core and boosted my morale and confidence saying that "Nothing is impossible if you have determination and commitment". After having a cup of tea in the village, we went back to the common room where we need to start the event.
As soon as we entered in the room, we found our self standing in front of 40-50 mothers who were waiting for us. Vijay introduces all of us to the group there and told about agenda for the event, Ivolunteer and ASHA foundation.
We moved to agenda decided on Saturday and as usual Ice breaker was "Idli, vada, dosa...". Initially we thought that it won't work here as the target audience's age is around 30+ on average but it worked. It means that this will work everywhere and it is going to be the usual Ice breaker for rest of the events (hope so). Prarthana is very experienced in it and she did well again.
Then Vijay took the charge and called one of the mother in the group for a free talk. Soon all of them were quite open with the group and talking freely. Then a person sand a song there and the voice was amazing. In the end of the song, we came to know that the person can't see but his other senses were so strong that unknown person will be amazed by it and we realized it by the end of our event. After the free talk, Vijay asked one of the mother to talk about the sex but again as expected, there was no response.
We moved to our next item which was the play for HIV/AIDS awarenss. We were missing our two actors Parul (wife) and Sunitha(doctor) but these were replaced by Prarthana and Claire respectively and both of them picked very well. Keeping in mind that there was no practice session, I would say that both of them were awesome. The play went well with some minor hick ups which we need to improve with time and practice. The hoardings brought by Vijay were quite useful for audience to understand the skit. Following are the ways of HIV transmission which we covered through the play:
- HIV transmission during intercourse which can be avoided by:
- not having multiple partners and be faithful to the spouse.
- Using condoms correctly and consistently during the intercourse.
- HIV transmission through the usage of used syringe which can be avoided by:
- saying no to use a used syringe.
- sterilize the used syringe before using if we don't have any other option.
- HIV transmission through blood transfer which can be avoided by checking the blood of the person, who is donating, for HIV/AIDS infection before transmitting.
- HIV transmission through mother to child during pregnancy or through breast feeding which can be avoided:
- taking precautions and proper checkup in the pregnancy period.
- avoid breast feeding by HIV infected mother.
Play got finished and then we used the hoardings, which we brought specially to educate women, to explain the causes and their consequences to the mothers. The session went in quite detailed and Vijay answered all the queries raised by mothers. We were quite happy to see the invlvement of mothers in the group.
As we finished the agenda, every single mother wished all the group members and we departed from there with some new knowledge, concept and awareness.
As we finished the agenda, every single mother wished all the group members and we departed from there with some new knowledge, concept and awareness.
