'It is magical to find people with such passion'

Another busy week ends with some happy thoughts...

Thank you so much for taking me on a visit to the school. I am a teacher and I congratulate you for your work in schools. Information is power and education is the future.
Eva

In the world we live, it is always special to meet people so generous that they devote their lives to making the world a bit fairer. Working with children is synonymous with working on the future of an entire country. As a teacher, I believe in the power of education to go change the world.
Also, thank you very much for this welcome, we felt very comfortable during the visit.
Geny

Because there are generous people like you in this world, countries like India are getting a better future. As a kindergarten teacher, I found the nursery centres very interesting, as the first step for a good education starts with little children. Thank you.
Raquel

Very interesting project, great team and great job! My most sincere congratulations.
Mireia

Congratulations for all the work you are doing! I hope that it all goes better. A kiss.
Belén

I really enjoyed the opportunity to see the projects and the great work you are doing. Many spirits and good luck for the path you have taken.
Muriel

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to see with our own eyes all the work you are doing. Thank you for that talk with Jaume.
Mª José and Katarina

I'm going home with good memories. I could see firsthand a harsh reality in one of the toughest cities in India. Luckily, there are people like you who fight for a better life for the poorest. Good luck!
Griselda

Congratulations on all that Jaume Sanllorente has created with heart and passion. A big hug.
Today was one of the most rewarding days of my trip. It was a pleasure to see your projects in this city. It is magical to find people with such passion. Thank you very much to the team and good luck.
Susanna

Tips on communication for Yashodhan students

Last week, the Future Smiles team met with the Class 10 students of Yashodhan School for another session in their career and education guidance programme. (See post about previous meeting here).

This time, the topic of discussion was 'Communication' with the team talking to the students about how to communicate better.

They discussed various aspects of communication, including:

1) Maintaining eye contact
2) Good body language
3) Language skills
4) Clarity in communication
5) Presentation

It was an interesting session with a lot of practical advice that we hope will help the young students in the future.

Let's sail many more boats

Early this month, our dedicated supporters all over Spain received a little offering from us in the post. As a thank you to our thousands of sponsors and donors — people and orgainsations who have donated (regularly or even once) to our charity — we send out a letter and a token of our gratitude every year.

This year, besides a letter from General Director Jaume Sanllorente, the package included an illustrated story called Babu's boats. The story (Los Barcos de Babu in Spanish) is about a boy named Babu who wanted to go to school but couldn't afford to because his family was too poor. Eventually, Babu is helped by a mysterious stranger and realises his dream.

Along with the story, we also sent out little paper boats, made by the kids in our balwadis, which were symbolic of Babu's dream. After weeks of cutting, inserting and pasting, the packages made their way to homes all over Spain.

Thank you, once again, for your generosity. And join us in helping many more real-life Babus sail boats filled with dreams.

Art and athletics at Yashodhan...

One of the things we love about Yashodhan School is that not only does it push its students to excel in their studies, but that the concept of learning is not restricted only to textbooks and exams. Students are equally encouraged to enjoy and particpate in other activities, from art classes to sports and physical training.

On one of our visits to the school, we spotted these kids testing out their skills, painting still life...

 While these younger students sincerely followed commands in a PT class...

All for a well-rounded education that goes beyond books.

Sad news today...

There will be no blog today as we have some sad news...

A former colleague, Daisy Soares, passed away on Friday after a bout of malaria. Until recently, Daisy worked with Ma Foi Randstad, the company that handles the HR matters of Mumbai Smiles in India.

Daisy was only 27 years old and had got married in January this year. She was buried on Saturday at St Andrews Church in Bandra, and the family was surrounded by hundreds of her friends and colleagues, including our General Director, who represented the Mumbai Smiles team. We will remember her as a positive person, always with a big smile on her face.

This is an extremely difficult time for the family and words cannot express our sympathy and sorrow. Our thoughts are with them.

The reward is always lots of smiles''

A happy end to our week...

Continue as before, we are very impressed! Thank you very much for showing us a bit of how much you do.
Familia Casillas

Good job!
Mónica

It was an unforgettable experience. And it is always worth it to keep fighting. The reward is always lots of smiles.
Lourdes

I’ve know about the NGO and the person who founded it for a few years. The story of its creation fills me with hope and positive energy. It’s the optimism and kindness of someone who wanted to give up everything for a lot of smiles. Your work with Mumbai Smiles and this book opens the door to hope and another reality. Good luck, great strength and positive energy.
Laia, a hug from Sitges

This trip has opened my mind, senses and heart and, to top it off, getting to know more of your work has been a pleasure. I really feel fortunate to be a grain of your sand. People like you deserve believe that another world is possible. Thank you!
Dalina

I loved the book Bombay Smiles: The Trip that Changed my Life, and now that I've seen these things, I am very happy. May God bless you and fill you with courage to continue moving forward. Thank you very much for everything.
With love,
Maite

This trip has given me the opportunity to learn how so many Indian families live, and it made me think how lucky I am to live where I do. It's amazing, the work you have done. Thank you very much for everything.
Laia

Because of the sum of small things, people can move mountains and societies.
Ana, Anna and Sergi

Health and strength!
Cristina, Joan, Mireia, Mireia

My first contact with India and Mumbai has been a good experience. Thanks for showing us another side to this monstrous and mysterious city, thanks for showing us the tenderness in the midst of the aggression. It is clear that to reach the essence of things is to go a little further and be very brave. Thank you for everything you do. You can count on more support.
A kiss,
Ana

As a newcomer, the first impression of Mumbai hits you hard. But it was comforting to see the working you are doing to help these children cope in this society. Thank you for your welcome.
Marc

Thank you very much for sharing this experience with us and helping us understand India a little better. We will be in touch.
Laura

Learning can be fun!

As you know our balwadis or pre-school centres get kids started off on their education through non-formal learning. The kids learn songs, the alphabet, shapes, colours, names of animals and more, all through interactive means.

Here's a look:

Now, doesn't that look like fun?

Balwadis review meeting

Last month, the Mumbai Smiles projects staff and the balwadi teachers met in the office for a review meeting. The point of this meeting was to take stock of the 25 new balwadis and how they're functioning, discuss the teachers' experiences and address any issues.

First, the teachers talked about the training workshop they had undergone (read about it here) and how it has helped them. One of the teachers said that she now understood the games better and also learned how to make daily, weekly and monthly action plans so as to maximise the time the kids spend in the balwadis.

Then the teachers shared their feedback and experiences in the balwadis over the past few months:

Rekha Vakode from the Chandannagar balwadi said that the kids had started coming to the balwadi regularly. There was an improvement in their appearance, they were cleaner. The parents were happy because the kids had all started interacting more.

Chandrakala Suryavanshi (Sangharshnagar balwadi) gave the example of one boy who never talked before he joined the balwadi. He has now learnt the alphabet and various songs and his parents are very happy with his progress.
She also said that even when some of the parents go on vacation, they make sure to leave their chldren with neighbours so that they don't miss out on lessons.

Padma Jaiswal (Marol balwadi) said that the kids and their families are learning good habits like washing their hands, wearing clean clothes, cutting their nails, being punctual, carrying a water bottle to the balwadi, etc.

Another teacher, Sujatha Kale, said that meeting the parents to discuss their kids was proving difficult, and so she suggested that the discussin should take place when the parents come to pick up the kids from the balwadi.

Following the teachers' feedback, the Mumbai Smiles projects team also had some suggestions:

• Kids being impressionable, the teachers should always make sure there is no confusion in their teaching

• The balwadis in each locality should pool in their resources and ideas

• The teachers should treat their students like their own children

• While the teaching is currently in Marathi and Hindi, English could be introduced down the line, in which case the teachers will also be trained

As you can tell, this kind of review meeting is important to make sure the projects are on track and that the kids ultimately have the benefit of quality learning.

News from Mumbai Action

Here's a round-up of all the news and information from Mumbai Action:

FEATURE

Trash turned to treasure
Cristen Andrews has a unique solution to the world’s plastic bag problem, and she’s been travelling around the world – and through Mumbai — sharing her idea with people. Read her story: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1926

APPEALS
Donate a single book so a poor child can learn
Harbourfront Motion Pictures & Entertainment India, in association with NGO We+ (WE positive), has launched a ‘One Book Please’ campaign to make a dent in India’s illiteracy problem.
Spearheaded by 21-year-old social activist and Harbourfront India’s director of operations Shreya Naik, the campaign is being promoted through a blog and various social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook. Read more at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1999

This SPARROW needs your help
SPARROW (Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women), is a trust that has been collecting print, visual and oral material on women’s history and experience since 1988. To raise funds for their efforts, SPARROW has organised an initiative called A Sky to Fly, an effort to find 2000 friends for SPARROW to support its work and activities by contributing just Rs 2500 per year for the next four years. Rs 2500 a year is just Rs 208.50 per month and less than Rs 7 per day.
Details at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1941

FELLOWSHIPS
Echoing Green fellowships up for grabs
Echoing Green fellowship invests in and supports emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organisations through a two-year fellowship providing seed funding and support. Since 1987, Echoing Green has helped nearly 500 social entrepreneurs including Teach For America, SKS Microfinance, and Genocide Intervention Network.
The 2011 finalists will begin their fellowship July 2011 and continue until June 30, 2013. Applications opened October 12, 2010 and will remain available through November 12, 2010.
Details at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1980

Become an Unreasonable Institute Fellow
If you’re an ambitious and innovative entrepreneur, here’s your chance to kick-start your venture: The Second Annual Unreasonable Institute will unite 25 of the world’s most promising entrepreneurs who are relentlessly working to tackle the world’s greatest social and environmental problems. Over 8 weeks in the summer of 2011, these entrepreneurs (deemed Unreasonable Fellows) will work and live with 60 mentors, pitch their ventures to investors and foundations in five entrepreneurial hubs across the United States, learn from top consulting organisations, and get training and seed capital.
Details at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1964

NEWS
Top sportspersons to donate memorabilia
On October 29, at a one-of-its-kind event, Equation 2010—An Auction for Charity, bids will be invited for iconic memorabilia pledged by 25 world champions to raise a corpus of funds for The Foundation, an NGO that supports the education of nine children from the Andaman Islands. The pieces include the racquet with which tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi won the Australian Grand Slam and Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand’s World Chess Championship gold medal after he beat Vladimir Kramnik in 2008, and items from Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer. Read more at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1996

Increase AC temperature, earn carbon credit
While the global summit for climate change in Copenhagen made carbon credit a household name, a Mumbai-based NGO, NO2CO2, is now aiming at bringing about a small change by giving its own version of carbon credits through a campaign called Upby2.
Initiated by Vivek Gilani, the campaign encourages people to do their bit about climate change on a daily basis by asking people to request managements at coffee shops, restaurants, offices and other establishments to increase the temperature of their air conditioning by two degrees centigrade. Read more at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1993

EVENTS
Awards for social innovation
EdelGive Social Innovation Honours 2011 is a national awards programme instituted by EdelGive Foundation, to identify and reward organisations that are innovating to empower women in India. Details at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1935

Workshop on Volunteer Management
Attend a workshop on Volunteer Management, conducted by iVolunteer, an organisation that networks with more than 10,000 volunteers and over 300 non-profits providing a spectrum of professional volunteering services across India. Details at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1958

READING
Marginalised voices get new life on the Net
From Vozmob, which helps Latin American immigrant workers in Los Angeles create and distribute stories about their lives using cell phones to an interactive network for Inuit and other indigenous communities, there is a growing universe of marginalised voices populating the Web. Veena Gokhale reports from a recent Citizen Media conference in Montreal in InfoChange India. Read more at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?p=1948

Sun co-founder uses capitalism to help the poor
Vinod Khosla, the billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was already among the world’s richest men when he invested a few years ago in SKS Microfinance, a lender to poor women in India.
But the roaring success of SKS’s recent initial public stock offering in Mumbai has made him richer by about $117 million — money he says he plans to plough back into other ventures that aim to fight poverty while also trying to turn a profit. In this New York Times article, he says he wants to challenge other rich Indians to do more to help their country’s poor. Read more at: http://mumbaiaction.org/?cat=8

Join our fight...

Yesterday, October 17, was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The observance of this day can be traced back to October 17, 1987. On that day, over a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger.

They proclaimed that poverty is a violation of Human Rights and affirmed the need to come together to ensure that these rights are respected. Since then, people of all backgrounds, beliefs and social origins have gathered every year on October 17 to renew their commitment and show their solidarity with the poor.
Working, as we do, with some of the poorest people in the world, Mumbai Smiles is in a daily, lifelong mission to eradicate poverty from Mumbai. And, on this day, we underscore our commitment to continue this struggle until there is nothing left to fight against anymore.

Mindful of the terrible consequences of poverty, not only in Mumbai, but also in other countries, even ‘developed’ one, we believe that everyone (leaders, institutions and individuals) can contribute in different ways to make a real difference.

In the words of Muhammad Yunus: ‘Poverty does not belong in civilised human society. Its proper place is in a museum. That’s where it will be.’

We dream of the day when we can walk into that museum and point out an exhibit to our kids and say, ‘Do you see that? That’s poverty, it used to be everywhere but it has become extinct now.’

It’s been six years since we made our commitment to fulfill that dream. What about you?

Eye checkup camp, Day 4

Thursday was the fourth and final day of the free eye checkup camp organised by Mumbai Smiles, this time in the Sangharshnagar slum of Chandivali, which is also the location of our balwadis.
The day started early with hundreds of people stopping by for the free checkup.

Things were busy and the team once again worked hard so as to check as many people as possible.

The total number of people checked yesterday was 274 

Ultimately, everyone was happy at a job well done...

And, once more, we owe a great big thanks to the team from Spain...

Dr Gorka Martinez Grau, Ophthalmologist and surgeon from Barraquer Foundation in Barcelona, Spain.

Samer Ataat, Optometrist from Barraquer Foundation

 Dr Patricia Pujol from Barraquer Foundation

 Silvia Garcia, optometrist from Fernandez Vega Institute of Ophthalmology in Oviedo, Spain

Ester Blanch, optometrist from Lleida Ophthalmology Institute in Lleida, Spain.

We hope to see you all again next year!