RCCT did an eye camp on Saturday (4/12) in association with Concern Chennai Foundation and MN Eye Hospital at Kanchipuram. The camp was organised by Sri kanchi Arya Vysya Samajam at their own Kalyana Mandapam.

Three of us (Rajie, Sreekumar and self) represented RCCT. Sreekumar drove us down on a lovely morning with brief drizzles around and cool breeze. We had sumptuous breakfast at Motel Highway, Poonamalle and reached Kanchi at 10 am. The function was inaugrated by Rtn Chandrasekhar, District Chairman, Arya Vysya Samaj and founders of Kannika Parameswari Group of educational institutions.

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An eight member team from M N Eye Hospital came in at 9.30 am and went about in a professional manner registering the visitors and moving them from desk to desk for different tests. A total of 111 patients were screened and 15 were prescribed to change glasses. 5 of the patients were shortlisted for free surgery and brought back in the evening by the MN team to Chennai. 4 of them were successfully operated and dropped back on Sunday evening back in Kanchipuram while the 5th patient had many complications and was asked to come back after more tests and with family members consent as treatement would be expensive.

We moved out in the middle to visit Bommakara Street (about 2 kms away) where 2 streets are full of artisans who make dolls as a profession from their homes. All the dolls we buy during Navarathri near our homes are made by these kind of artisans right through the year. The artist explained to us the whole process very patiently without expecting us to buy or pay anything. He buys clay and kneads that with his legs. He plans which toys to make based on previous demand and orders for moulds accordingly. Each mould can be used to make about 300 toys. The moulded clay is then kept in kiln and dried and subsequently painted and finished. The craftsman has no monetary inflow right throught he year and borrows money for 10 months and his flow starts only 2 months before Navarathri. There are agents who buy in bulk locally from these artists and sell at different centers. We bought a Rama set for Rs.200 (4 pieces) which normally costs 500 to 600 locally. That is the spead which the middlemen get. It was a very interesting experience and opened our eyes to work done at villages. The same person also had a zari spinning unit at his house where he was spinning a silk sari.

We came back to the camp venue at 1.30 pm to have a great lunch arranged by the hosts and drove back to the city. It was a lovely trip which would have been better with more participation.

The MF Serve Committee (Microfinance) of RCCT is glad to announce that we are disbursing microloan to 9 applicants from Poondy village for purchase of tailoring machines. We had received 12 applications from the village and after duediligence and personal screening by Surabhi trust (which is helping us out on the tailoring project at Poondy village), we have sanctioned loans of Rs.5000 each to 9 applicants. We are paying a single cheque of rs.45000 to Surabhi trust who will be purchasing the 9 tailoring machines and delivering it to the recipients.

We had taken quotes for the sewing machines from different vendors who quoted anywhere between rs.5500 to rs.7000 per machine. We were able to negotiate a good rate of 5000 per machine which will help reduce the burden of the borrowers also. The recipients have been trained at our RCCT tailoring centre at Poondi and using our centre to make a living and will now continue functioning from their own places.

The MF Committe meeting held at our CAMS Blood camp venue on 20th November was attended by Pres Rajie, Rtn Satish Jupiter and Rtn Krishnachander with Rtn Prithvi as a special invitee.

On Saturday the 20th RCCT in association with CAMS conducted a blood camp in the premises of CAMS at Anna Salai. President Rtn. Rajie, Rtn. Satish Jupiter Rtn. Krishnachander & Rtn. Prithvi were present on behalf of RCCT.

86 Donors totaling 30100 ml of blood was donated voluntarily by the staff of CAMS. The blood goes to Govt Children’s hospital blood bank where children with critical needs will be the recipients. “God bless” your Club since the blood collected through these camps reach the most marginalized of children” remarked Dr. Subalaksmi of the Dept of Transfusion Medicine Institute of child health Chennai.

123 units of blood have been collected this year including the earlier camp conducted at QMC college where 37 units were collected. Along with the 86 units collected at CAMS the total blood collected is over 43 litres. That’s sizeable!

Tributes:

• To all the volunteers of CAMS who voluntarily came forward and made the camp a success.
• To the blood bank team led by Dr. Subash who did the job with their trade mark efficiency and dedication.
• Thanks to Satish Jupiter for making it happen.

Did You Know?

1. Only 5 percent of eligible donors across the nation donate blood, but the number of transfusions nationwide increases by almost 10 percent every year.
2. Whole blood donors can donate as frequently as every 56 days. A benefit from donating this often is that you
   receive a mini-physical once every two months.
3. Each whole blood donation can help as many as three people. One unit is divided into three parts: red blood
   cells, platelets, and plasma.
4. Statistics show that 25 percent or more of us will require blood at least once in our lifetime.
5. Each time your blood is taken you will be checked for some key diseases. Namely hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Syphilis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.
6. Another positive benefit of donating blood is the fact that you get to renew your blood supply.
7. By donating blood you lower the blood count and stimulate the bone marrow to produce more cells.
8. Most important of all, Blood cannot be manufactured. It can only come as a gift from people.

Yesterday the 18th a couple of projects were completed at Porur Girls School. The long pending Dental camp was conducted and a voucher to purchase shoes for the athletes of theschool was handed over to the HM Ms. Mala by President Rtn. Rajie. Also present was PP Rtn. Murugan.

18th November – Projects Brief.

Crossing the hurdle

A voucher to purchase 21 pairs of shoes for the athletes of school was handed
over to Mrs. Mala Headmistress of the school. Having crossed the first hurdle we
are now hoping that these girls will train and win competitions.

Dental Camp

A dental camp was conducted by RCCT along with doctors from Lifeline cliniq.
Dr. Sateesh explained the process of screening where all the girls were
examined and graded as “Good Fair & Poor”. The girls whose dental condition is
reported as “Poor” would be referred for further treatment. The district ought to
note that RCCT has taken “Schools into smiles” literally. : )

On 14th Nov, celebrated as Children’s Day, was the “Schools into Smiles” Cultural Fest-Finals- the culmination of the cultural competitions held for the students of Panchayat schools and corporation schools at Vellore, Thiruvannamalai & Chennai over the past 3-4 weeks…The finals of the all competitions where around 300 children took part in Singing, Dancing, Fancy dress, Drawing, Painting & Speech contests.

Many Rotary clubs along with Cherian Foundation played hosts to the inaugural and the prize distribution function held at Anna Adarsh School Auditorium, Shanthi colony, Anna Nagar. All the Club Presidents present were happy that they had a part to play in bringing cheer and happiness to these children and an opportunity to bring out their latent talent. It was great to see the children from far off places take part enthusiastically.

Rotaractors and Interactors helped in a huge way to ensure the success of the show…which included the Rotaractors of KRMM ably led by President Rotaractor Ram.

The Cultural Fest ended with a Prize distribution function with Mr. Y.Gee. Mahendra as the Chief Guest. Rtn. DGN V. Raja Sreenivasan and Rtn. PDG. Subbu as the Guests of Honour, where I had the honour and pleasure of giving the welcome address in Tamil…During the prize distribution it was indeed heartening to see the First Prize in singing went to Miss.Sharmila of Porur girls school.

It was a great platform for these children who have limited opportunities to showcase their talents..All the children were given a take away goody bag that had a cake, jam bottle, dictionary, compliments from chitram tv, gift vouchers and much more…and taken on a short sight-seeing trip after which they left for their destinations.

Rtns. Murali, Aarti and Ann Priya took time off on a Sunday to judge the singing event and be a part of the proceedings. Rtn. Benjamin the brain behind this project conveyed his special thanks to them and to Ann Priya who stayed till the end of the show. Rtns. Deepika, Rajesh Trikha (thanks for the lunch), Saivani and Spouse Sridhar were present to support and motivate the children.

On 10th November we completed a project for Blind Students at the Govt School for the Blind at Poonamalee.

We gave away Braille kits consisting of Braille Slates, Braille Geometry Boxes, Braille Abacus and other items. CD players replaced tape recorders as an aid for the students to learn lessons, White cane mobility sticks and Tylor frames and metal pegs meant for Algebra.

Chief Guest Dist. Governor designate Rtn. Raja Seenivsan who despite another business engagement made it to the event. A large number of blind students will benefit from this project. Rotarians Rajesh Trika, Vijaykumar Srikumar, R.M. Suresh attended and helped coordinate the event.

Rotarian Sagar was the architect coordinated the event from procuring the material ( some as far from Dehra Doon) arranging the venue inviting the chief guest down to last detail. Rtn Sagar introduced the Chief Guest to the gathering speaking fluently in chaste Tamil. President Rajie welcomed the gathering bravely speaking in Tamil recollecting RCCT special connect helping the visually impaired.

Chief Guest Governor designate Rtn. Raja Seenivasan in his speech called on the students to strive to achieve the extraordinary. He went to mention that RCCT was amongst the best clubs in district in terms of service done for the community over the years. He went to say if there is a club he like to join again it is RCCT.

The loudest roar of the evening from students came when Chief Guest Rtn. Raja Seenivasan informed the students of President Rajie’s role in the recent blockbuster Enthiran.

Request your presence for Project in aid of visually challenged students – distribution of Braille study kit and CD player on the 10th November 4pm at Govt. School for the Blind, Poonamalee.

Many of you may recollect that we did a similar project along with Rotary Club of Madras East RA Puram during Rtn. Sagar’s tenure as President. ( who has also coordinated the event this time )

Celebration of Diwali at Seva Sadan

Happy hours are when you buy 1 and get 1 free. Happy hours are also when you get the opportunity to celebrate Diwali with two entirely different groups of children the same day. Rotarians ended the run up to Diwali with much of the warmth they have managed to infuse, feeling good enough to indulge and celebrate the festival with greater satisfaction.

Celebrating Diwali with the orphan girls of Seva Sadan by RCCT is becoming a tradition and one which everyone – Rotarians Anns & Annettes enjoy. The participation for Diwali Celebrations at Seva sadan was extremely encouraging.

The evening started with the assembly of a number of Rotarians, Anns Annets from RCCT who turned up in large numbers. Ann. Mala coordinated the project with her trade mark enthusiasm right from procuring the firecrackers from Sivakasi to rallying around the children of the school & our annets keeping the evening going with continuous excitement.

Ann Shoba relived the last years experience with the kids of the school who recollected all the things done with remarkable clarity. Rtn. Aarthi & Ann Priya rendered a few melodious numbers to the delight of the entre audience. Annet Ananya Murali rendered a beautiful song. ( Rtn. Murali had sung a few songs the last time around)

Annets, Sahil Dhawal, Pooja Shrithi. Sanjana Sarathy, Sanjana Sriram Aarthi , Nilan, Pranam, Nomita & Rtn Sangeetha (in her inimitable style) danced to the singing of the chool children.

An evening of firing crackers, dancing & singing followed by delicious diner makes one fine enjoyable evening. It was nice to see the annets doing a great job of serving food to the children and destitute children in the home. RCCT pulled out another surprise giving each kid a small gift packs. The gifts mean so much to these children because it’s something they can call their own.

It was an enjoyable evening & the sound of children laughing, screaming with joy dancing singing. “Let there be light” said RCCT and there was plenty of it, spreading warmth & happiness. Special Thanks to Ann Mala for making it happen & Ann Biju for having added to the gifts given to the children.

A very significant project that will enable dissemination of knowledge for a whole generation of students at Govt Girls Higher Secondary School, Porur. A school nurtured by your club and that which has turned to be a model school. PDG Rtn. Benjamin is the chief guest.

To make things even better a counseling session for the students is being conducted by Rtn. Sangeetha Madhu after the handing over. (An Encore on popular demand from the students.) The kit is of multi media format consisting of DVDs and 3 Volumes of text and the 29” Television Set will enable an audience of 50 students to learn in each session.

The content is of excellent quality developed by Cambridge University. The entire content with Tamil dubbing and translation of 52 half hour Physics video teaching mega series is produced by Annenberg Foundation of USA. with Cambridge university text and teaching guide for the Tamilnadu schools and colleges.

The Certificate Awards function at the Poondi tailoring center was a very gratifying event. RCCT was represented by Pres Rajie, Secy Shrilekha Indrajit, Rtn Shreekumar and Rtn Krishnachander. We had a sumptuos breakfast at Vasantha Bhavan, Anna nagar along with our Chief Guest Rtn, Praveen Mehra, Dist Chairman,Vocational services and travelled for 2 hours to reach Poondi village.

The room was jampacked with women by the time we reached there. All of them were happy to see our own Enthiren star. Surabhi Trust, who co-ordinate this project, explained the scenario to the Chief Guest who was enthused by the local participation.

There were 12 trainees from the first batch (completed six months back) who explained how this program has been useful to them and increased their income and confidence. The best beneficiary was a lady called Vaila Mary who completed our training and has got a job in an export company in Ambattur at rs.7000 per month. These 12 people have submitted applications for our micro finance scheme and we had called them in person for screening. Other than the microfinance support to buy machines, they have sought the help of our Club & members to provide them earning oppurtunities like contract work and local employment.

Pres. Rajie explained the way we our going about this project and committed our further support for more programs in future and other community projects in the local area. Our Chief Guest Rtn Praveen Mehra interacted with all the trainees and shared his experience at other similar locations. We asked the Surabhi representatives and the tailoring teacher to speak about the program and suggestions for improvement. Certificates were distributed to the 41 women trained in our second and third batch and they were proud to pose for a group photograph.

We visited the place in the next road which has been shortlisted to relocate our training unit. The current place did not have a toilet and is not water proof. The new place has better facilities and there is scope for expansion to start other projects like literacy.

Overall a satifying experience with so many rural women benefitting from RCCT. A project well initiated last year and worth continuing as the benefits to the local community is visible.