Sunday, April 19, 2015

The SIP Team of SOIL 2014-15

Last year, the SIP presentation at SOIL was scheduled for 10th June. That was the day my kid sister was getting married. Rajesh Dhuddu, a friend of Esha who is also on our Advisory Panel, very graciously agreed to take the presentation. And we had 4 students who chose us - Karen, Pooja, Vrishin and Amit.

The year started with them looking for an office for Esha. The next activity that they trained for was taking the students of TSRS to the blind school visit. They also were sent to the Karol Bagh blind school to meet Nirdosh, and see the people they were going to work for in the year ahead.

After that, the planning for the cycling event started. From October to Feb, the team worked on the cycling trip, meeting every week for project updates, getting encouragement, support, admonishment, and general push to keep going. They were ably mentored by Rajesh Dhuddu , and on the 8th of Feb, 2015, we had our first TourdeVision, all thanks to the SOIL students, Alisha, and all of the Friends of Esha.

But that was not a place to rest on our laurels. Very soon, the team was working on updating all the communication content of Esha. And on the last SIP day - March 18th, I took the day off to treat them to a very special experience. The day started early - very early. After all, we had to travel from Gurgaon to Greater Noida. The team witnessed the 9Tanki workshop conducted by Raju Koli, and the impact it has on the school students.
After that, we went to the India Habitat Center. To do our first "Blind Walk" . Tour De Vision had tried to raise awareness abt the fact that there simply aren't enough disabled people out in public spaces. The Blind Walk tried to understand why that is - by closing our eyes and trying to access public spaces. This event was covered by the Times of India and brought much public awareness about the issue.

To thank them for their participation, we got momentoes made for the team. And the best news came 2 days ago - Esha was adjudged the best NGO, that provides students with the best learning opportunity! Today, Rajesh and I attended the convocation to receive the award.. and what a day!!

Do see a photo journey of the year here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.965620650128731.1073741834.180352898655514&type=1

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