#GramaSeva
Initiate. Serve. Love. Repeat.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day
Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime
This is what the students, doctoral research scholars and teachers of SSSIHL Prasanthi Nilayam campus put into practice for several months when they made multiple visits to the villages of Narsimpalli, Bukkapatnam Mandal (Population: 2500), Bonthalapalli, Puttaparthi Mandal (Population: 2500) and Marlapalli, Puttaparthi Mandal (Population: 1000).
Just as the years gone by, when they would deliver food, clothing and love to villages around Puttaparthi and its surrounding mandals, this new initiative by the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus – with the kind support of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust – has renewed #GramaSeva and made it a more sustainable model.
The several teams of students and teachers (which included all students of the Campus), after multiple visits, made visible progress in various areas of the programme during the year. Some of these included:
Sports and Fitness: Prepared grounds by removing weeds. Played volleyball matches with the village youth. Conducted different races (such as sack race, lemon-spoon race, etc.) For children aged 5-10, conducted games based on jumping and balancing. They were also schooled in basic health areas and taught a few yogic postures such as the Surya Namaskar.
Education: Math, Science and fun games, as well as Bal Vikas for Primary school, II to X Std. kids. This included training in basic Mathematics activities using a geoboard. Students also made some educational kits and gifted them to the school.
Music: Bhajan singing, vedam chanting, flute renditions, teaching the basics of Music (by a teacher at the Dept. of Music), and teaching musical instruments, such as Kanjira and Talam.
Cleanliness / Hygiene Drive: Played ‘Waste Plastic Picking Game’ with all children of the villages. Students exhaustively cleaned walls of various temples and mosques in the villages, Anganwadis (rural child care centers), play areas and even wells that had been used as a rubbish dump for years! A handful of flowering plants were then planted across the villages. Villagers were also given basic education on the importance of hygiene and cleanliness.
Greenery: Plantation of trees and beautification of the village and surroundings
Plumbing work: Students took on a host of civil and plumbing duties. From changing of a 3-inch outlet pipe from the 2000-liter main storage tank to laying a CPVC pipeline for the school underground water storage tank, this is where the maintenance training they got as part of the Self Reliance activities at the hostel really kicked in. They fixed overhead tanks, constructed urinals and toilets (including tiling work), fixed leaking taps across the villages and also assisted in fixing mesh windows and doors to prevents unwanted guests such as insects and reptiles into washroom areas.
Surveys: Students split into different teams to conduct comprehensive individual and household surveys for issues such as the number of elderly folks and how to serve them better on future visits, what their immediate needs are, etc. They also conducted a data survey of all households of the villages to map the socio-economic and demographic challenges. The Chemistry students performed certain experiments as a preparatory phase to check for the efficacy of usage of ground shells at the villages.
As a result of this sustained care and effort, the villagers were really happy and joyful and full of appreciation. The long-term goal is help the villages achieve self-sustainability. Once the village is a model village, they will be able to help other villages achieve the same.
Love All, Serve All, as our Revered Founder Chancellor always taught us.
#SSSIHLService #SSSIHLIntegralEducation
