aProject Smilesa aimed at making the smiles more inclusive, was an initiative taken up by the aThe Ordinariesa, a group of XIMB students of first year. Working with girls from aAsha Kirana, who have been deprived of a family of their own, the Ordinaries focussed on establishing a sustainable value addition model for them. The initiative encompassed daily teaching lessons in basic English, Maths and G.K. The students developed a framework for the attainment of books on an annual basis with the local school. The bond that these students shared with the inmates of Asha Kiran was not limited to academic interaction alone, but also saw both the sides enjoying a special day – Children Day with musical chairs, painting competition and other field games.
Project Aayush
Project Aayush was an initiative taken by a group of students of XIMB calling themselves ’11s v/s Robbins’. It was a health project undertaken to ameliorate the poor health conditions prevailing in Betenda village, 22 km off Bhubaneswar. Project Aayush concluded on December 01, 2008 on the occasion of World AIDS Day. The day was marked by a sanitation drive undertaken by the student volunteers and involved various activities like cleaning of wells in the village. This was followed by a formal function announcing the conclusion of Project Aayush. The speakers for the event were Dr DV Ramana and Mrs Gunjan Sharma.
Anand Mission Initiative
It was with a mission of repairing a broken down computer of Anand Mission Ashram, home to close to 65 children and their caretakers, that was undertook by the group aDus Bandar Class Ke Andara. This computer, donated long since been ruined by disuse and had to be replaced. But the group decided that putting a smile on the childrenas faces was just as important as repairing their computer. The fun activities directed at the children started with movie screenings, where the latest animated Hindi movies were shown. Childrenas Day on November 14 saw aProject Smilesa, where all the children were brought down to XIMB campus. There were competitions ranging from drawing and singing competitions to lemon and spoon and musical chair competitions and lots of prizes.
Nischintkoili Initiative
aNau Do Gyaraha and aKkoshisha, two groups of students from XIMB, in association with Rotary Club, lent a helping hand to the people of Nischintkoili block. Their aid came in three phases. First, on the September 28, 2008, the students visited Moolbasant village where food, clothing and other relief materials were distributed. Funds were provided by the Rotaract and money was collected from XIMB students through the Social Responsibility Cell. In the second phase, the students visited Demando, Baliapada and Mandan schools in Nischintkoili Block on October 19, 2008. The two groups distributed photocopied text books, school bags and stationary along with the food items here. The team returned a third time to Baliapada school on November 14, 2008. Apart from distributing monkey caps and stationary items for the remaining students, the team also organized a cultural program to commemorate Childrenas Day.
‘Parivartan’ a group of ten students decided to take forward an initiative by conducting a series of events in a school for the deaf and dumb students of Orissa named aSriharsha Mission Schoola. They started the initiative under the guidance of Fr Tony Uvary, Dean Administration a XIMB, by contacting hospitals like LV Prasad and IMS SUM and organizing a free eye check up of 200 children in batches. They also volunteered to bear the expenses like surgery, spectacles cost and any further check up that would be suggested by the doctors for these students in order to ensure that the sense of sight of the children was safeguarded. They followed up this campaign with some activities for the youngsters by organizing a lunch in XIMB and conducted events like painting competitions and prize distributions along with Rotaract club of XIMB, headed by Prof Latha Ravindran and the Rotary club of Bhubaneswar, in the presence of Mr Abasa Beuria, former Ambassador of India, and Shri Rabindranath Sahu, National award winner of ‘Pattachitra’.
The first year students of ‘In10sity ad Infinitum’, a student group, worked with the Orissa Association of the Blind to bring awareness and education to the society of the rights and problems faced by the visually disabled. A childrenas day function was held for visually disabled children in the OAB on November 14, 2008, where special games were organised for them. The children were also educated about the importance of childrenas Day and the life and contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru towards the nation. Prizes were distributed to the winners of the games. The students also assisted a visually impaired student in her PhD research on ‘Employment Opportunities for the Blind in Orissaa by converting her study material into audio format. The students have converted the entire Government notifications, rules published in the Gazette and schemes related to the visually disabled into audio format so that the visually disabled can obtain information about the various facilities made available to them by the Government. These files, in cassette and CD format, will be distributed throughout Orissa by the OAB .The CDs were presented by Fr. Tony Uvary to the OAB and released to the people of the state by Mr. Mohan Jena, Member of Parliament a Jajpur, at a state-level conference held on December 3, 2008, on the occasion of the World Disability Day. The copies of these CDs will be prepared by the OAB and distributed throughout India.