Dear Supporters,
We have placed the order for the academic books , which will probably be distributed to the children before the start of the next academic year.

Thank you for coming forward and helping us. 

Dear Supporters,

We already visited the centers multiple times and distributed all the purchased items to them. We have now set aside a small amount to purchase textbooks , which will be available only in April.

A big thanks to all our supporters for your generous contributions !!

VISIT 2: 12/11/2017

The 10 of us visited the Aashiyana Centre of Sankalp situated around 15 kilometres from XLRI. We were expecting a place with proper infrastructure, but were astonished to find just a single room with a blackboard and a couple of windows. No chairs, fans or any such infrastructure. This is when we decided that we would contribute towards bettering the condition of the centre.
The main agenda of our visit was to educate the children about the hardships faced in life and help them learn a lesson that with hard work and motivation, they could face any challenge in life and emerge victorious. The session began with us showing an inspirational video of a army personal turned sportsperson (shooter) who had always aspired to win an Olympic gold
medal for India. But, due to an accident in the battlefield, he lost his shooting arm. He missed his shot at the Olympics that year, due to this incident. However, this did not let his spirits down. He was determined to face this unforeseen and adverse challenge with full vigour. He trained day and night and learned to shoot with his other arm. A lot of difficulties came his way, but he never gave up. His perseverance and never give up attitude helped him become as good a shooter as before with his other arm. He never let his losing one arm come in the way of realising his dreams. He tried once again at the Olympics trials after 4 years and got selected to represent India at the event. He was mocked by his competitors, who tried to break his spirit, but he remained unperturbed. Finally, his hard work bore fruits and he was able to emerge victorious, winning the gold medal and realising his dream.
Through this video, we tried to make the children understand that all of us face a lot of challenges in life. It may be as small as struggling with academics or as grave as losing an arm. But, if we are able to stay focussed on the ultimate goal and have that fire within us to succeed, then no one can stop us from realising our dreams. For these children, the biggest challenge was the lack of opportunities. If the feeling of not having enough gets instilled in them from childhood, then they would never be able to succeed in life. So, we tried to make a small attempt to help them understand that no one can ever tell them that they cannot succeed in life. With hard work, perseverance and a little bit of guidance, they could realise every single dream they ever had. We explained to these children that the biggest battles are the ones we fight with ourselves, not with others. We tried to inspire and motivate them towards the final goal, i.e. realising their dreams. Not having adequate opportunities was no more than an excuse which people gave for not becoming successful. Through our efforts, we tried to ensure that these children did not fall prey to this excuse and keep putting in maximum efforts and emerge victorious in their personal battles in life.
Through another video and interaction session, we tried to make these children understand that ‘Whatever happens, happens for good’. Today, they may not have adequate facilities, they may not have fancy toys or accessibility to best in class education. But, maybe this could motivate them to further work hard in life to achieve what people do not expect of them. They should see this as an opportunity to put in extra efforts to rise above and break the shackles which constantly try to bring them down.
We were very happy to see that these children realised the message we were trying to convey. Their responses and feedback reciprocated the agenda of our efforts. Children as small as 10 years said that they realised that it was hard work which would help them achieve success in life. We do not expect such small children to understand the meaning of success at this tender age. But, of through our effort they become more focussed towards their studies, cherish what they have rather than repenting over what they do not have and are motivated towards giving their best at whatever they do, we would consider it as our success in the effort of shaping the future for these gems of tomorrow.

VISIT 3 : 18/11/2017
We visited a village on the outskirts of Jamshedpur along with the volunteers of Sankalp. Upon doing background research, we found that majority of children in villages in Jharkhand suffered from pathogen borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera etc. A root cause of spread of these diseases is the lack of basic hygiene and sanitary conditions in these backward areas. Thus, in this visit our agenda was to educate the children about cleanliness and personal hygiene.
Distributing the hand sanitisers
For this, we decided to distribute about 100 sanitisers, soap bars and dental hygiene kits among the children and teach them the very first and most important thing about hygiene i.e. washing hands. We arranged the children in a circle and distributed the sanitisers among them. 5 of us showed them how to use the sanitisers and we literally showed them how to wash their hands. We explained to them how the germs, invisible to the naked eyes, cling on to their hands and enter their bodies. We advised them to wash their hands before and after every meal and also after playing or any such activity. Then, we shifted to oral hygiene. We demonstrated the correct way of brushing teeth. We also made them aware of the importance of keeping their teeth clean and brushing them twice a day. We checked the nails of each child and educated them about other facets of personal hygiene.
Many of us do not realise the importance of hygiene. Not taking regular baths, not washing hands etc. are practices many of us indulge with on a regular basis, not realising the grave consequences these seemingly trivial practices lead to. Thus, our effort was to make these children understand that these small efforts towards cleanliness could lead to a major impact in preventing diseases.
Children were all smiles after the session
All these activities were carried out in a fun mood, so that we could be able to connect with the children and imbibe these habits among them. It was also a personal learning experience for us as we too were made aware of the importance of hygiene. We also asked the children to teach atleast 10 more people about these habits so that they could spread awareness about hygiene and cleanliness among their near and dear ones. In this way, we were able to address a larger audience through our efforts. Showing live demonstration of these activities helped us to make them better understand the proper method and means of attaining cleanliness. Our main motive was that these children not only learn these habits, but also retain them and inculcate them in their daily routine. All of us have heard ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness’, but only a few are able to preach what we learn. Thus, our intent of spreading awareness regarding hygiene was successful.

VISIT 4 : 30/11/2017
Our Team Misfits visited the NIT Jamshedpur centre of Sankalp. There were students of various classes together in the same class room. We decided to do something unique and fun in this trip so we came up with a lot of goodies and fun yet engaging activities for the children. We played a lot of fun games like passing the parcel, paper tower building exercise etc. The aim was to develop creative thinking, team building and analytical skills in a purely fun way! It was definitely a different way of learning for the kids than what they were normally exposed to. The children were totally enraptured by the fun challenges and they impressed us with their show of creative thinking in paper tower building exercise. The main motive behind this exercise was to bring out the creative and innovative side of these children. Practical experience is as important as classroom education for the overall development of an individual and we tried to stress on this aspect.

For the children, it was the first experience in which they were encouraged to think outside the box and come up with innovative techniques. We also wanted to promote the importance
of working in a team and the children were able to learn and display leadership skills, coordination besides being exposed to teamwork.

We then decided on celebrating a child’s birthday and in the end, the cake was cut and distributed amongst everyone. The most joyful part about this trip was seeing the kids eyes light up due to our presence and of course the cake. The kind of happiness and laughter which was displayed during the games was heart-warming. We felt truly blessed that even in the shape of an OB project, we had this opportunity given to us by life of bringing smiles to these young kids!

One concern that Sankalp had raised with us was that they incurred a heavy cost for printing of question papers, readings etc. for all the centres across Jharkhand. So, we decided to provide them with a printer to help them reduce this cost burden. The head for Sankalp, Mr.Shivendra received the printer on behalf of the NGO. The printer has been set up at the Sankalp office and is being used for the betterment of the children. We also showed them some inspirational videos to motivate them to dream big and to do well in their life. We really hope that these videos ignite a spark of success in them and make them motivated towards achieving bigger dreams and goals for themselves and their families later on.

VISIT 5 : 7/12/17
We were able to raise a fund of Rs. 66,000/- for our campaign through Milaap, a fund-raising website. All the expenses of providing the printer and organising the previous 4 visits were taken care of through these funds.

The basic necessity for the education of these children were availability of books, notebooks and other stationery items. We were able to identify another important need for these children, which was provision of school bags. We decided to work towards this. A school bag might seem as a trivial commodity to many, but, if we go back to our childhood days, the attachment with our books, schoolbag etc. was special. A schoolbag is a must for a student. It is his/her prized possession which makes him/her feel more of a student. These children used to carry books in their hand to school, due to which the books or other materials were often misplaced or spoilt. That is why, we decided to provide 100 schoolbags to Sankalp, to be distributed among the children.
We got hold of a bag vendor in Sakchi, Jamshedpur and got 100 school bags made bearing the logo of XLRI and Sankalp. This was our gesture towards immortalising the name of XLRI in the lives of these children forever. Whenever they would look at these bags, they would remember us, and feel the love we have for them. They would always be reminded that they are not alone in this world. There are a lot of well-wishers who are willing to support and guide them towards the right path and help them become future leaders of tomorrow.
We have also taken up the task to provide the NGO with 10 sets of NCERT textbooks in January, as the new edition would be released then. A fund of Rs. 10,000/- has been kept aside for this cause and the books will be provided as soon as they are released in the market. We also provided around 250 notebooks, pencils, sharpeners and erasers to these children.
Our main motive was to provide these basic necessities for the education of these children, so that they are not deprived of these primary opportunities. They should never feel that they did not have access to good education and thus, will never succeed in life. This was another small effort from our side in strengthening the cause of education for these children and ensure that they are enabled enough to face the challenges in life and through hard work, emerge victorious in the battle of life.