Posted in: on Monday, July 26, 2010 at at 3:05 PM 0 comments  

On the 14^th of July, Pravah organized a feedback camp for all the urban volunteers. Because of “traffic jams”, everyone landed up at least an hour late, and the session for the ten volunteers who made it finally kicked off.

The session started off with the volunteers getting to know each other, through activities like name-games and sing-alongs. Then, we broke into two groups, and “Pravah Idol” commenced, which was something like a socially relevant version of Antakshari… the two teams were the ‘Yo!Girls!’ and ‘Break Free’, and we had to choose songs to sing that represented our own volunteering experiences.

Both teams sang their hearts out, and then talked about what each song represented.
After the singing, we started working on giant collages, also depicting our experiences, expectations, challenges, and impact stories.

Because of all those “traffic jams”, we had less time on our hands and had to finish in a crazy rush, and by the end of it the collages looked like a messy explosion of colour and random objects thrown together.

Despite the apparent chaos on the chartpapers, there was a method to our madness; as each cut-out represented some aspect of our journey. Inside each of the footprint stencils, we wrote individually about our experiences, and after we were done, we shared our experiences in a presentation for all of the people at Pravah.

I learnt a lot from hearing about other people’s experiences and frustrations; some of them that I had experienced myself, and others that were new to me. It was great me be able to talk to other volunteers as well, at the end of their journeys, and share what we were all taking back.
We also watched a movie about Pravah and active citizenship, and discussed what it means to us and decided to take up an action plan of our own soon!

Interacting with the people at Pravah was great too; we found that in a few hours the office began to feel like home. We were able to talk to people who also started off as Smilers, and they gave us a broader perspective on what we were going through.

The entire day was full of laughs and fun, as well as a lot of learning, and I hope to join the other volunteers for the next Youth Adda, and get together like this again soon

Radhika Chakraborty

Posted in: on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at at 3:42 PM 0 comments  

THE Project "UNNAMED", which came out of the last youth adda on 20th june on International Refugee Day, where we screened a documentary movie"In search of my home" by Rintu thomas and Sushmit Ghosh .

The project aims at creating awareness on the issue of asylum seeking community (refugees) in Delhi and India within us, among us and through us via various mediums like DOCUMENTARY, BOOKS, BLOGS, DEBATES ETC....... but before actually starting an action project on this issue we, SMILERS have decided to deepen our own understanding about the issue and as part of this learning exercise to understand the issue better, we have scheduled an interactive session with a Burmese human right activist,Achan Mungleng!

She has been active with Burmese community in Delhi since 2003 and in 2007 joined Euro-Burma office as co-ordinator of India office.Euro-Burma office aims at promotion democracy in Burma. So, we think there will be a lot to learn from Achan's experiences, which she'll be sharing with us.

So, all of you are openly invited for this learning space by US, The Smilers,

The Venue for the INTERACTION

PRVAH, Conference Hall

15th July' 2010 at 2.30pm

Posted in: on Thursday, July 15, 2010 at at 12:52 PM 0 comments  

Youth adda,the monthly meeting of SMILE,was organised on 20th june'10 on the occasion of international refugee day at hope project charitable charitable trust.
The theme of the youth adda was to explore the various aspects of the term Refugee.Event covered a range of activities ranging from fun games, group activities such as skits and also the screeniong of the documentary "In search of my home"by Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas.Sushmit has been a smiler. Film was a moving experience for some participants and led to 2 hours long discusion between participants and film makers.
Participants have shown their willingness to take the action forward in the form of movie screening and discussion in other spaces.For planning out the action project,participants have decided to meet up at pravah office in kalkaji.at 11am on 24th june.
The next youth adda is due to take place in August. For further information ,keep checking this space out.

Posted in: 2009-10, SMILE Youth Adda, summer on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at at 3:42 PM 0 comments  

Posted in: on Thursday, June 17, 2010 at at 5:32 PM 0 comments  

Are you are keen on: ·

• Developing skills
• Gaining knowledge
• Contributing to issues of social justice
• Making a positive difference
• Growing as an individual
  
  Are you
  · Between 18 – 27 years of age for YfD
  · and 18 – 25 years for GX
  · Indian National
  · Have knowledge of spoken Hindi and/or English

then apply now!!

for further info visit http://www.pravah.org

Just briefly,
YfD (Youth for Development) is a 6 month long development internship program. It offers a transformational experience, by providing opportunities to develop skills and gain valuable experience in the development sector. It also gives you a chance to contribute to development issues by being associated with a grass root level NGO in India. As YfD interns you will receive training, mentoring, monthly stipend and a chance to meet and interact with some top development professionals through the period of your internship. This internship includes training and placement with an NGO in India from October 2010 to March 2011.

GLOBAL XCHANGE is a 6 month long international volunteering program. It aims to build in you, as young people, mutual respect and understanding and to facilitate a process of becoming active citizens in an increasingly global world. The time period for the exchange would be September 2010 to March 2011 where you would be placed for 3 months in a community in UK and 3 months in a community in India. The program pays for travel, accommodation, food, medical costs and a modest allowance.

If you have the desire and the passion for such an enriching journey, then fill in the application form and send it back to us. Last date for receiving completed application form is June 15th, 2010. Please complete and return this form to PRAVAH, C-24 B, 2nd floor, Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019 or email the applications to lokasish.saha@pravah.org or smile@younginfluencers.com

Good luck with your application. If you need any further information, please visit http://www.younginfluencers.com/ or contact Lokasish/Abhijit/Shubhi at 011-26440619, 011-26213918, 011-26291354 or mail us at lokasish.saha@pravah.org or smile@younginfluencers.com

Posted in: on Monday, May 24, 2010 at at 5:36 PM 0 comments  

The four days of the orientation were the one of the most rocking days of my life. The camp gave me the right platform to connect with people of similar interests and people who are really determined to bring about a real change in the country. In the so hot Rajasthan I made real cool friends. The most amazing part was the village stay. We learnt about issues ranging from child marriage to domestic violence, health, education and different government policies. The perspective of learning was very different. The view on such issues was given from villagers and I was utterly surprised to notice that reality was far different from what we had so far known before coming to the orientation camp. The learning was further augmented by interactive sessions by our facilitators. It was a true enlightening experience. Apart from this the camp was high on the fun quotient. It really got me out of my comfort zones. Now I can confidently travel in local buses for long journeys, live partially without the basic facilities and have become more sensitive to various issues. It has turned me to be a more responsible person. -

Bhavnish Walia, Eco. Hons. at Hansraj, placed at Vayali, Kerala

at the village community education center

The orientation camp was really nice.And the thing which I liked most,

was the interaction with many other college students .I also
appreciate the sessions ,which are very helpful to my rural internship
and also for my personal life.Overall ,I really enjoyed the camp. -

Naveen Kumar, IIT Delhi, placed at Manthan, Rajasthan on education

sessions in progress (mixed with fun)

trying to find meaning in confusion

the camp was awesome... i really liked the tribal song, dance and name that we all made... it was a gud experience of team work and coordination plus the time management that we learnt as we were given only 10 minutes to prepare hehe... the last session was also awe- inspiring in which we shared our feelings about each other... overall it was an unforgettable experience with inputs of pravah coordinators and wonderful sessions

-

Ambika Agarwal, Eco. Hons. at Hansraj, internship at Manthan, Rajasthan on micro-finance

forming new relationships, starting with trust

jo seekha char din mein,

maine orientation camp se..

woh sirf rural internship nahi,

par jud gaya meri life se...

camp mein tha, full masti aur fun, naa thi koi bandish, par har baat mein tha dum

agar karein sessions ki baat hum, to page padega likhne ko kaam..

har session ka tha apna andaaz, sab mein chuppa tha koi na koi raaz.. -

Neha Jain, Msc from Lady Irwin, interning with Manthan, Rjasthan on Health..

the entire bunch.....at the tila, GVNML.......

The camp came to an end with all the people leaving for their respective internships in different parts of India.. keep watching this space to learn about the journeys of these young people as and when they return.

Youth Intervention Team

Pravah

Posted in: orientation camp, Rural Internship - 2010, SMILErs, summer on Saturday, May 22, 2010 at at 2:01 PM 1 comments