The project with Nai Disha caters to around 500 under-privileged children with educational and health care support. The other project with Action for Autism works for children with Autism, a rare disorder.
Nai Disha – New Path for Under-privileged Children through Education
It all started with an introductory interaction with the students. Three teams of four student volunteers went to each classroom and familiarized themselves with the students of Nai Disha. Various activities like singing & dancing, making caricatures as well as other games were organized independently in each classroom. The IMI students also distributed gifts especially for this occasion of Children’s Day. There were Five Star chocolates and Sketch pens to encourage them to express themselves on paper in whichever form.
Then the Nai Disha students were taken outside to participate in various outdoor games specially designed keeping in mind their age group. This was followed by everybody assembling at one place to conclude the day with a musical performance and the hall reverberated with thunderous clapping from the little hands of Nai Disha children. A perfect ending to the day. It was now time to leave but the heart felt heavy, little tears filled the cheeks of these underprivileged students and the MBA aspiring students. They shared the same feeling and expressed each others’ desire to stay in touch and exchanged numbers assuring each other to meet once again.
“This experience was first of its kind to all of us and it indeed was a memorable one. Since the time we entered the school building to the time we left it we were all spellbound by the amount of happiness we could bring to those smart, intelligent and extremely naughty children. Some of their toothless smiles were priceless.”
PGPHRM Students. 1st year. Batch 2006-2008
Action for Special Children with Autism
14th November, 2006, Children’s Day, will be etched in the memory of the select group of students of PGPHRM, IMI, who were privileged enough to get the opportunity to visit OPEN DOOR, abode to the unsung angels of society, a school for taking care and grooming Autistic children. Autism is a mental disability in which the person has impairment in the social uses of language, social understanding and imagination. It is often mistaken as mental retardation but an autistic person is like a normal human being with the aforementioned symptoms. In India, one in every 250 people have certain degree of autism, but the awareness about it is abysmally low. Action For Autism, under the aegis of which Open Door is being run, is an initiative taken to spread awareness about autism, apart from carrying out research into deciphering the psychology of the autistic, and running pedagogical programs to train the prospective faculty for the grooming of the autistic.
In the sprawling lawns of the school, the IMI students performed a diverse mix of songs, tempting the audience to tap their foot and sing along. It was a pleasing sight to watch the children charging on to them, in sheer innocence, trying to pluck a string or two of the guitar and snatching the mike to sing in their own unbeatable way. After the performance, the students also interacted with the faculty and the children of AFA, which they definitely felt was quite a learning experience. Each moment was savoured watching the kids running around, playing their silly pranks on each other and brimming with innocence. Their feelings, expressions and smiles were well captured by Ms. Anjali Sinha, IMI’s Corporate Communications’ personnel’s camera. With the serving of snacks, the function came to a close. At the time of departure the International Management Institute’s students were gifted with items crafted by the unsung angels. However, the students felt that they were gifted more with the children’s love and warmth more than anything else. The children taught them something extremely important, “they made us realize that there are some things in life which hold more worth than anything else, and this is the least we could do to try to live up to that worth. We left the boundary of Open Door with a desire to associate ourselves with the kids in whatever way we can, and we look forward to visit them often. Indeed, it’s an honor for us.”