We are excited to announce the beginning of three new initiatives this new year! We have been dreaming of and making plans toward all three of these for a long while, but now they have taken wing in earnest! We hope they will continue in the same spirit throughout this year and for many years to come!
Library
Work on our new library building finished towards the end of the year, and a simple internal inauguration was held in October. Children and teachers gathered flowers and made decorations. We lit lamps, sang songs and distributed sweets! The library was then opened up to all the other organisation during the Thulir Pongal celebrations in January.
All the library shelves have been made from recycled materials, and the books are arranged in as child-friendly and accessible a manner as possible. We don’t want he library to just be a dead and stagnant space, so every month a group of children and teachers are chosen on a rotation basis to form the library committee that initiates regular activities related to books, with the help of Souradeep. They also choose ‘Book Doctors’, who take responsibility for looking after the books, taking care of damaged books and teaching the other kids good ‘book health’ practices.
Throughout this process, we have had many doubts about whether there was still a role for a library or physical books in this fast-paced digital age. However, seeing the way the children have spontaneously and enthusiastically used this space since it was inaugurated is enough to set all those doubts to rest. It is very clear that such spaces are still extremely important for the children to have in their lives, and they take to it with such gusto that it warms the heart.
”we have also built Audio-visual room”.
Working with the Land
Gardening has always been an important part of Thulir- children and teachers have always had their own vegetable beds to look after – and we have planted more than 400 native trees across the school campus with the help of The Forest Way, Tiruvannamalai. However, these activities have been sporadic, and haven’t been followed up on consistently. We would like the whole campus to be learning experience for the children on ecology,nurturing plant life and on how to grow their own food.
From November, we have hired a dedicated team to take care of the land and the plant life on it, and they perform any and all maintenance that is required to keep them thriving. We are so happy to be regularly receiving fresh vegetables from our own land for the school kitchen!
Village Sports Clubs
We have been discussing the need for someone to start sports clubs for village children and youth for many years now. Sports barely exists in the lives of children in the villages these days. They have no exposure to sports or any comparable physical activities that engages their bodies. Sports has so much more to offer beyond the physical exercise – it teaches teamwork, discipline and sportsmanship, and through it children learn how to take the successes and failures that life throws at them. We also hope that sports will help the children grow up with a healthier alternative to addiction and disruptive social behaviour.
Sai Swetha and Souradeep have started working toward this over the last few months with a small group of village children, who regularly play volleyball, frisbee, football, kabbadi and other sports in the evenings. Afterwards, they hold interactive sessions where they discuss life skills. Now with the support of Sai Viswanath Memorial Trust and with Thulir alumnus Maasi in Sittilingi and suresh in Palakottai joining as coordinators,more children and youth have joined them. We hope this will take off even further in the coming months.
Other events in Thulir
Christmas and Pongal celebrations.
Visit to Aarvam at Payiur Trust and Science Museum Banglore.
Food project.
Children at inter-school sports meet organised by SVM Trust.
Your contributions have been vital in propelling our work forward and we are deeply grateful for your unwavering commitment.
Thank you!