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“The best journeys in life are those that answer questions you never thought to ask.” ― Rich Ridgeway
On February 11th, 2019, a group of 28 Shalini Fellows of our Udayan Shalini Fellowship Programme (USF), from Panipat and Kurukshetra, traveled to Delhi, to visit the Parliament of India. The educational trip started with a session on the functioning of the Rajya Sabha.
A sense of patriotism filled their hearts as they visited the Museum of Parliament, where they were acquainted with the story of India spanning around 2500 years through a walk through of audio-visual, animation and virtual reality experience. Additionally, they were exposed to the various relics which included old statues related to the Mauryan Dynasty, old coins, crockeries, etc.
Adding to the gems of this educational trip, a sense of pride evoked in them as they read the names of our martyrs engraved on the walls of India Gate and the ever waving flags of our 3 armed forces, i.e, the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.
“Volunteers are love in motion”- Anonymous
The months of January and February is always a happy one for our children at Udayan Care. Annually, commemorating ‘Give a Week Away,’ volunteers, representing ASOS foundation, fly all the way from the UK to India to visit our Udayan Ghars and spend time with our enthusiastic children. This year two teams - ASOS, UK and ASOS, Global Team, visited various Ghars and conducted fun activities and interactive workshops.
We salute their commitment wherein they regularly take care of the operational expenses for some of our homes, visit our children every year for a week and are now helping us set up more homes, enabling young people to change their lives for the better.
It was also time to inaugurate our newest home for girls, at Gurugram - the 3rd home of love gifted by ASOS Foundation and operational expenditure ensured by Atkins and ASOS, which was inaugurated by Lousie McCabe (Director & Trustee) and Emma Bartholomeou (Senior CR Manager, ASOS foundation) on January 24th, 2019. Mr. Alok Sharma, Head, Strategic Business Projects, Atkins also blessed the inaugural ceremony with his presence.
Our girls regaled the audience on this memorable day with beautiful dance performances.
“To have another language is to possess another soul”- Charlemagne
The Shalinis from Bengaluru Chapter of USF participated on January 20th, 2019, in a workshop which talked about the topic which is oft forgotten in today’s fast-paced world – the importance of taking time for oneself and always embracing who we are.
The speakers in this workshop touched base with our Shalinis advising them to accept themselves and to quit the self-imposed battles. Citing from her own experiences, Ms. Swati HR Manager IBM, talked about dealing with life circumstances, which were contrary to her dreams, yet, her persistent will power helped her overcome those challenges. Ms. Raaji Kurup, Finance Consultant, took the next session and advocated the importance of failures and that one can learn more from failures. Concluding the Workshop, Ms. Mubbena, Ms. Vanishree, core-committee members, familiarized the gathering on the quintessential role a language plays in day to day life.
On February 5th, 2019, a similar session on ‘Motivation’ by Mr. Greg Pell and Mr. Andrew Macey, senior leaders from Westpac, Australia, was organized to evoke the feeling of confidence in our Shalinis from Greater Noida Batch. The session was initiated with a Zumba class to ensure a productive take away for the Shalinis by shaking off any form of physical or mental barrier. Later, both Mr. Greg and Mr. Andrew led an interactive session, promoting the importance of ‘goals in life’ and to never lose hope even after failing. Concluding the session, in order to kindle a feeling of ownership and responsibility, the Shalinis planted saplings.
“The future will be green or not at all”- Bob Brown
On February 12th and 17th, 2019, a highly driven team from Sweccha ran a green drive that covered our Udayan Ghars (hyperlink) in Mehrauli and Vasant Kunj respectively. They acquainted our children with the grievous outcomes the future shall bear if environment preservation is not adhered to. Further, they introduced the concepts of ‘Upcycling’ and ‘Urban Gardening’ as an urban contribution an individual can make.
They further conducted activities including the construction of installations that serve both purposes of purifying air and absorbing harmful toxins; purely made out of waste material.
"If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable." - Louis D. Branders
Seeing the huge importance of legal documents, and difficulties faced by an individual, in obtaining them, especially for someone, who has not been raised in a family, but in an institution, a workshop was organized at the Udayan Care Head Office in CR Park, New Delhi, on 19th January 19th, 2019.
The workshop was organized for Care Leavers, who exit from Care institutions, on attaining adulthood. Some Care Leavers, who have collectivized themselves, as CLAN (Care Leavers Network & Association) members, realized a growing need to educate the youth on the importance of some of the most important documents and how they can use them to exercise their fundamental rights. It was focused on 3 documents namely, Aadhar Card, PAN Card and Voter ID Card.
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