For a meaningful cause...

Embarking on a 7-day social journey was indeed a very different experience for a person who did not know much about the National Service Scheme until a couple of years ago.The camping site was Rayamangalam - a village 25 kms from ssn college,kanchipuram district.Exact destination- Rayamangalam Primary school(kids thro classes 2-7).Typical South Indian village scene was what we* noticed on reaching there-the paddy fields, not many pucca houses,single Govt. school and a kuladeivam temple. After the ritualistic inauguration, a brief introduction (of ourselves) to the enthusiastic, vivacious school kids and the process of dividing us into batches of 5,we were assigned the job of surveying on the first day. The survey details included the name of the head of the family, their residential address, gender-wise family member count, their educational qualification,reasons for dropping out of schools,occupation, monthly income,involvement of the women in local SHGs and last but not the least-about the electricity facility of the house. It was quite a task! and my batch managed to complete about 20-25 spots in 2 hours (considering the fact that many backyards were also 'spots' for us). Frankly, our findings didn't startle me much, as i saw what i expected to see. Average monthly income-between 1000 and 3000 (an understated amount in a countable few cases), women better qualified than men (interesting..), overpopulated families, typical occupation-farming,laying tiles,daily wage earners, truck drivers (i was really surprised to find a college professor and a karate master).Issues to be considered seriously - few houses without electricity (its a good thing that majority of them had it), inactive women SHGs / using the loan for personal stuff, unemployment, need for higher secondary schools within reachable distance.
Conducted a medical camp on the second day. Four doctors from Chettinad health city arrived an hour later than the original time. Eye specialist hadn't arrived that day, pushing us into an embarrassing situation of convincing a considerable number of people who'd wanted only eye check up. Packets of normal supplements and prescribed tablets were given to all patients. Many kids were found to be underweight. Had a variety of activities for the following 2/3 days.The prominent ones were 'scrubbing' the school walls, 'painting' and plumbing work for the water tank that was constructed in the school premises.Cleaning the rooms after painting was a challenging job.A few of us were involved in teaching the kids (computer fundas, math, science and social science).Playing with them and organizing competitions for the highly competitive, stage-fearless school children were among the most memorable events of the camp. And yeah, the rally on polio awareness and general environmental issues proved to be very effective,taking into account the positive response of the people.The skit staged by us, titled 'uyirin muyarchiye vaazhvin malarchi', was lauded by all and it exhibited our potential to work as a dedicated team :p .The camp fire on the sixth night was a sleepy affair for many of us as it began at around 11pm.The last day was hectic with gift-wrapping for prize distribution/preparing for valediction/cleaning stuff.We had a typical valedictory function with dignitaries like the university head for NSS, college principal, dean, school headmaster and other village officials appreciating our work.The evening was marked by a colourful, variety performance by the school kids..man-they really are impressive!Two traits of theirs that struck us- discipline,English accent :)Presenting the kids with footwear was one of the highlights of the function.

The 'to do' list for people who need to take action should look like -
1. Educating the people on hygiene,family planning,conserving their beautiful surroundings
2. Health centre / Hospital (the place is in dire need of one)
3. Creating more employment opportunities
4. Constructing higher secondary schools
5. Sending people to train the women on activities they can undertake in SHGs - tailoring, basket weaving, candle making to mention a few.

As for me, it was a very wholesome camp. Learnt a lot from the environment and the kids there. Socialized with many batchmates whom I'd never met before and reinforced my bonding with existing friends. Many of us realised our fullest potential to adjust in various situations.
and oh..i've defied the micro-post phenomenon with this piece (although I haven't included the exact details!)

*we/us - NSS volunteers