From The President’s Desk

Enjoying the monsoon magic

JULY started with heavy rains. We took this opportunity to organise a monsoon outing for our Friends on July 26. Friends from the Day School. Day Workshop and the unit for Autistic Friends went to Tamhini Ghat to enjoy a day out during the monsoon. In the Tamhini Ghat region, we have identified safe waterfalls, which our Friends visit. They enjoy playing under the water in the waterfall. Eating hot sweet corn in the rainy, windy weather added oodles of fun. Our staff members, a few parents and our volunteer from Germany, Paul Ruben helped make it a memorable day. They took the necessary precautions and ensured that overall it was very enjoyable.

On July 27, in the morning, our Friends went on a trek from the foothills of Parvati to Taljai temple. Volunteers from Fiserv and Sahyadri Treks and Paul Ruben helped our Friends during the trek.

We organised a drama workshop for teachers from the schools participating in our Annual Drama competition, to be held in September. Twenty-eight teachers from 18 organisations participated in this workshop. They were very happy with the the guidelines that they received from experts in the film and theatre field, including Mr. Prakash Parakhi, Mr Sagar Lodhi and Mr Vikas Ghogre. It was a proud moment for Navkshitij when Sai Balaji Institute (IIMS), Pune, felicitated our Workshop Manager, Santosh Munde, on Guru Poornima day, for his contribution towards the betterment of mentally challenged friends.

Volunteers from Nitor Infotech, IBIS Hotel, and Tech Mahendra and students from IIMS and Maharshi Karve Institute of Architecture visited Navkshitij and spent substantial quality time with our Friends. We thank all the volunteers.

Our Workshop team is very busy making natural colours, agarbatti, rakhis, chocolates, and cloth bags for the festival season, which is just round the corner. Our Friends are already excited about Nagpanchami and Rakshabandhan.

Good insignt into Indian culture

I spent the last six weeks working as a volunteer at Navkshitij. Because the volunteer room was not available, I stayed under one roof with the special friends during my visit. Besides some minor challenges that arose because of that constellation, it wasn’t a problem for me at all. Looking back, I think that I got an even better impression of the special friends' everyday life because of that. I am happy to have been able to help in all the different workshop units as well as in the Day School. I had never worked with specially-abled young children before and found it really interesting to see how they learn basic motor skills with little exercises and games in a small group with individual support as per everyone’s abilities. It was also great to be involved in other activities ranging from playing games with the special friends or staff members to teaching tricks on the trampoline. Through participating in the trips and treks, I was also able to see a great deal of the beautiful green Indian nature during the rainy season. Special events like the stall at BMC and the drama class for the special educators were also really exciting for me, especially because of my previous drama play experience in Germany. I enjoyed my stay at Navkshitij, and am thankful for the great experience. Although I only stayed for a short time, I feel like I’ve got a good insight into the Indian culture and will go home with great memories. By Paul Ruben Grosse-Boes, Volunteer from Germany

Upcoming Happenings

• August 4 : Mehendi evening, in preparation for Nagpanchami
• August 5: Nagpanchami; Friendship Day with volunteers from Rotaract Club Of Pune Sports City
• August 15 : Independence Day celebrations, followed by a picnic to Kasarsai dam and a special programme for Rakshabandhan
• August 24 : Dahi Handi
• August 31: Trek to Shivneri Fort

Month’s events

• July 10 : Traffic Awareness Programme
• July 16: Guru Poornima
• July 24: Workshop on How to Train Special Friends for the Annual Drama competition
• July 27: Trek from the foothills of Parvati to Taljai

Navkshitij now needs

• Electrical Safety Box – Approximate cost Rs 12,000
• 300 kg Wheat flour
• 150 kg Rice
• 4x15-litre tins Groundnut oil
• 50 kg Sugar
• 40 x 100-gm Colgate toothpaste
• 30 litres Harpik
• 15 litres dish washing liquid
• 1 Cupboard – Approximate cost Rs 10,500
• 1 Wall mounting fan – Approximate cost Rs 1,600
• 50 Toilet soaps
• 15-litres Phenyl
• 15 kg Ghee

Thank you from Navkshitij to

• Mr. K.S. Shankar
• Mr. S Vadodkar
• Mr. Nachiketas Bhatkar
• Mr. Prasad Prabhakar Shintre
• Mr. Abhay Khanapure
• Mr. Nilkanth Vishwanath Rachote
• Mr. Samir Wagale
• Mr. Anil Kulkarni
• Neha Agrawal
• Giftabled Foundation
• Nitin Patel
• Ms. Sudha Sharma
• SAP Parts Pvt. Ltd.
• Tech Mahindra TUS-11
• Hotel IBIS, Pune
• Shree Kedarling Charitable Trust

(A monthly newsletter published by Dr. Neelima Desai and edited by Kanaka Cadambi on behalf of Navkshitij)