Clothes Distribution Drive

As the nation celebrated its 61st year of Independence and the coming home of the shooting gold in full fervor and gaiety, the MADF team at IMT Ghaziabad took this oppurtunity and set about trying to make a difference to the lives of a few people in and around the city again.

The clothes distribution initiative last year was a huge success in terms of the response that we got at the turnout and also in terms of the number of clothes collected which stood at 120+. The clothes collection drive this year however witnessed an overwhelming generosity by the students again and the collected clothes stood at a record 300+, double the number last year. The clothes donated ranged from T-Shirts to denims to trousers with a good amount of ladies wear and winter wears including, sweaters jackets, blankets and bed sheets. Here, MADF would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people for their magnanimity in donating useful pieces of clothing in such good and useable conditions.

A group of MADF members visited the nearby area including the railway and bus stations in order to inform and generate awareness about the initiative, its venue and time. We at MADF consciously and discreetly chose Rickshawalas and not beggars keeping in mind our motive of empowering people and not charity or donation. As we spoke to some of the rickshaw pullers we realized that for a mere amount of 5-10 rupees, they put in physical effort way beyond our imagination and toil from dawn to dusk to earn a respectful living. Through our meager contribution we sincerely hope to be able chip in and supplement their lives in our own modest ways.

A group of MADF members visited the nearby area including the railway and bus stations in order to inform and generate awareness about the initiative, its venue and time. We at MADF consciously and discreetly chose Rickshawalas and not beggars keeping in mind our motive of empowering people and not charity or donation. As we spoke to some of the rickshaw pullers we realized that for a mere amount of 5-10 rupees, they put in physical effort way beyond our imagination and toil from dawn to dusk to earn a respectful living. Through our meager contribution we sincerely hope to be able chip in and supplement their lives in our own modest ways.

A team of volunteers (Mrinal, Chandan, Sunny, Abhishek, Sankshep, Sankha, Rohan, Anuj, Rakesh, Chetan, Srikanth, Manish, Pinky, Varun and Meghna) organized the event in front of the IMT main gate that began in the morning after the flag hoisting ceremony and the cultural programme arranged in the college in commemoration of Independence Day.

Our Director Mr. B.S Sahay graced the occasion, Mr. S.K Singh was also present for the event and they handed out clothes to the people present, who received the clothes with utmost gratitude. MADF members then took over and the distribution was accomplished. MADF would also like to thank Mr. B.S Sahay and Mr. S.K Singh for their valuable time to this humble initiative.

With these little steps, we at MADF sincerely hope that we can make modest beginnings and eventual transformations. Our clothes distribution initiative was another of our little steps in the direction of empowerment.

EHSAAS – Feeling the inner-self

Make a Difference Foundation (MADF), a forum run by the students of IMT Ghaziabad, is founded on the firm belief that a ray of hope is all it might take to change someone’s life forever. The objective of the foundation, as is reflected in the name, is to make a positive difference to the society in general, through synergized and sustained efforts. The foundation has empowerment of people as its objective, and does not believe in short-term measures like charity.

Project Ehsaaas, the latest initative from Team MADF was for the students of two special sections of Ingraham School at Asha Vidyalaya located at GT Road, Ghaziabad - one a school for the deaf and mute students and another a school for the intellectually challenged.

On Saturday, 9th Aug 2008, 38 IMT students including spirited MADF members and enthusiastic volunteers reached Asha Vidyalaya at around 8 in the morning. In spite of it being a holiday at the school, the student turnout for the event was remarkably high. The day started with the painting/drawing competition for the deaf and mute students.

Little did we know at this stage, about how big a learning experience the day would prove to be. For starters, the way the contest rules were communicated to the students through sign language and how they responded back caught our attention. It was amazing to see how well they could read lips. Once the rules were cleared, the contest start was signalled and students were seen working hard on their sheets – the little ones were to colour the pictures given to them, whereas the senior students were to come up with pictures on one of the three given topics of ‘Independence Day’, ‘Raksha Bandhan’ or ‘Nature & Environment’ and colour them.

The school’s drawing teacher, who was supervising the contest in one of the classes, was herself hearing-impaired and was visibly overwhelmed about the initiative. Casual chit-chat with another teacher led us to the startling discovery that the school’s curriculum was comparable to that of any other normal school. The difference was only in the way of communication. We were also told that the students are equally good compared to other kids in all disciplines barring music for obvious reasons.

Watching the pictures take shape on the papers in front of the children was a breath-taking experience for us. The creativity of the students was outstanding and had us spellbound. In two hours, the contest came to a close and the sheets were collected back. Following this, the team organised various games for the students, like Frog Race, Volleyball, Chess, three-legged race, etc. These games brought smiles on the faces of the students and the team. Boundaries were melting slowly and even communication was becoming less and less of a problem as our worlds started merging and inhibitions disappearing.

Soon the students were gathered together and the results declared. The winners were awarded with prizes and certificates and chocolates were given to one and all. The most touching moment of the day for us was perhaps during the prize-distribution ceremony itself. The participants were waiting eagerly to know the names of the winners. However, when we announced the names, nobody responded. The teachers had to search for the winners from among the students, who were patiently looking at the teacher to interpret what was being announced. There were no shouts of joy. None of the usual celebration rituals. But the happiness on the little faces was heart-warming. Their applauses were just symbolic of clapping. “That’s the way they clap”, we were told. The hands never meet for sounds mean nothing to them. But somewhere deep within, we could hear the sounds of cheering; it was loud. The applauses, resounding.

Next in the day were the events at the school for the intellectually and physically challenged students. The programme there started with dance performances by some of the students, which brought the whole team to their feet. Shaking their leg to everything from Bhangra numbers to soft melodious songs, the children had us totally enraptured. The brilliant performances would surely stay in everybody’s minds for a long time.

Next the team, along with the teachers, conducted the painting competition. The students participated with great enthusiasm and dedication, colouring the pictures given to them with huge smiles adorning their faces. We were touched by the immense love and warmth with which the teachers were interacting with these special children encouraging them to give their best shot. One hour later, the contest came to a close. The results were declared and we distributed chocolates to all the students and teachers, as a token of appreciation for their whole-hearted support and participation.

Project Ehsaaas was covered by the local media, and articles about the event were published in Amar Ujala, Compact and DLA Newspapers. This project has been a very different experience for us in more ways than one. We will all remember this day which taught us that some children are indeed more special than the rest of us. The way they sail through their lives with courage and conviction, adapting to the challenges they were born with is a great lesson for most of us who believe that life has been harsh to us when being denied simple pleasures. As complacent and insensitive people we often feel that there are no sounds in their life, no hues in their world; but little do we realize that they have their own pristine little world which is richer than ours. This day has offered us a glimpse into that world, transforming us in the process.

Team MADF has further projects in the pipeline for these special children; to do whatever we can to make a difference to their lives. But fact remains, that they have already made the biggest difference to ours. We salute their spirit and love for life. Hats off to all the special children everywhere in this world!

The NEEDZ story!

It has been well over a month since the start of Needz at IMT. Today with around 70 people visiting Needz per night, we can easily say that Needz is well ingrained into the life of IMTians.

Below are excerpts from a casual chit chat over a cup of tea, with two MADF members who were instrumental in the setting up of Needz – the duo of Chetan and Anand. Read on to know the Needz story.

Let’s start off with a simple question. Whose brainchild was Needz?

Chetan: The idea of Needz was put forth by our own seniors, to be more specific, Abhishek Joshi if I remember rightly. It was raised at one of the weekly MADF meetings and a committee of MADF members was formed to work on implementing Needz and that was the very start of things.

Considering that MADF is a club for social empowerment, what was the need to venture into something like Needz?

Anand: MADF talks about empowerment of the poor and the needy. But fact remains that you cannot do that unless you yourself are empowered. We might have hundreds of ideas for the poor, but we need funds to work them out and it is not easy to get it. Needz is about empowerment of MADF by acting as a source of fund for our projects as well as for the convenience shopping of the IMTians who can now buy everyday items without leaving the campus. Where else can you get a topup at 12 in the night? We are happy that we can do this for fellow IMTians.

Chetan: Just to add to it, the tagline of Needz says, “For every IMTian who wants to make a difference with every purchase.” It simply means the profits from Needz will be used for making a difference to the society through our projects. So it’s a win-win for all of us in one go – IMT, MADF and the society.

Tell me about the biggest hurdle you faced while setting up Needz.

Anand: The biggest was indeed funding to start off Needz. The responsibility of raising the funds was largely on people in charge of the Needz project, ie, Chetan and me. It wasn’t an easy time for us by any means because most corporates seemed to prefer to contribute to inter B-school events rather than projects like Needz because there is more visibility in the former. So, week after week, at MADF meetings, we never had any good news to break. There was pressure from all corners. We wondered if we should tell the college authorities that this project is beyond us. Many believed Needz would never start off and I am happy that our efforts finally paid off and Sail happened.

So how did Sail happen?

Chetan: Professor B.D. Singh was the person who put us across to Sail and introduced us to the concerned people. We would like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to him again. Though at first Sail seemed to prefer contributing for a mundane act of charity as it happens every year, once they understood the spirit of our entrepreneurship venture, it hardly took any time for the funding to be offered.

There are many who feel that a profit-making venture does not gel well with MADF’s image of being a club which does social service. What is your take on that?

Anand: MADF is not just some club which does short term and meaningless acts of social service or shelters little kittens from the storm. We want to make a difference to the society and that is through empowerment alone since we believe that only that is sustainable. Needz is a venture which will help us achieve it and we can proudly say today that MADF has become a self-sufficient club. So I believe it goes hand in hand with the MADF image of standing up for empowerment.

How has the feedback been about Needz?

Chetan: The response has been over-whelming and we did receive a lot of appreciation as well as suggestions. Some of the suggestions about increasing the product portfolio have been implemented already. We even sell snacks like Bhujia now! Bringing so many things under one roof has been exciting and challenging. We want Needz to become a one-stop shop for most of the regular needs. Negative feedback has been mainly about higher than market prices on some of the items. As Needz had just started operations, we had trouble locating dealers who were offering lower prices and hence the higher than market prices couldn’t be helped initially. It has been looked into and some of the prices have already been cut down through locating better dealers. Anyhow, we are still finding our feet, this being early days.

Ok. Coming to a different perspective, how big a learning experience was Needz?

Anand: Needz is perhaps, the first entrepreneurship venture inside IMT by the students. As you know, everything from getting the inventory to sitting there and doing the actual sales in managed entirely by Team MADF and that calls for enormous efforts and personal sacrifices from the entire team. Material procurement, inventory management and sales have all been enormous learning; in fact one can say that each and every day at Needz is a learning experience.

Last but not the least, what changes can we expect in Needz in the coming days?

Anand: A change of location for starters! As for the rest, I would say wait and watch! As for what will not change, Needz will continue to be polythene free like it is now!

A simple smile from Anand as he said this and a wide grin from Chetan conveyed to me that a lot more is in store for the coming days. The tea was done and we bid adieu after promptly disposing off the used plastic cups in the DLP dustbin.

MADF contact id

In case of any queries or suggestions to MADF please send in your mails to us at madf@imt.edu.

Samvedna Results

A big thanks to everyone who participated and congrats to the winners. The winners are as follows:

Posters:

1st Prize: Sunny Pagdiwala & Aarohi Shah

2nd Prize: Meghna Pandey & Pankaj Gupta

Write-ups:

1st Prize: Meghna Pandey & Pankaj Gupta

2nd Prize: Saurabh Bhasin & Kumar Abhimanyu

1st prize winning Samvedna poster

1st prize winning Samvedna Write-up

"Chotu zara chai lana", how many times have you caught yourself saying this? How many times have you looked out of the window of your car, dropped a rupee into the hands of that half naked kid at the traffic signal and cursed the government and the child rights organizations for making lofty promises? How many times has someone asked you about the best days of your life and you haven't thought of your school or college?

We take too many things for granted in life because we can afford to do so. We cannot think beyond our premises. But certain things prick our conscience and at occasions mentioned above, we probably place ourselves in the not so comfortable shoes and what do we do then? We form trusts and organisations, not to free these children from shackles but to help liberate our own conscience. We redeem ourselves by ‘Donating’, our perception of magnanimous charity and then forget about everything else. Ever wondered what happens to all the money spent? Ever wondered whether it is money that Chotu actually needs?

A warm gesture, a gentle touch and an encouraging smile are all something we relate to normalcy but not for Chotu, for him it is just an aberration, just something a large-hearted customer obliged him with. We need to bridge this gap, this disparity in the perception of normalcy and deviation. The onus is on us to stand up for emancipation and not just rant about it.