Internet & Stars – Our Way of Celebrating Independence day at Deepam :)

Since the ‘inception’ of Deepam, Internet access has been a dreamy ‘reality’ at Deepam. Internet access was hoped for / dreamt of / wished for in most of the meetings / discussions but we were ‘kick’ed back to reality, everytime. We came close to having the internet available in the centres last year, but we woke up to reality, again.


So, when Balaji of AIDIndia ‘formally’ launched internet access at Deepam West Mambalam centre this morning, it was a sense of ‘dream come true’. Hopes & Dreams were now ‘strengthened’ by DOing 🙂
All of us at Deepam always dreamt of a ‘Deepam World’ where children had access to Information / Knowledge. So, watching the children revel in the excitement of ‘playing’ with the computers / Internet was euphoric for all of us , at the centre today.
Internet was now available at 5 of the 6 Deepam centres 🙂

Clearly, these are children who are ‘hungry’ to learn and one can only wonder about the possibilities that Internet has to offer. But for all of us at Deepam, we have just begun what we set out for, 3 years ago – introduce the children to the world of internet 🙂


Another significant progress is the launch of ‘STARS’ project at Deepam – Stars project shoots for the possibility of a deserving child not losing out on education because of lack of monies. That is the core belief that makes Deepam reach out to such students every year and help them do what they do well… excel in their studies and expand their knowledge. Stars project made a small beginning today, by awarding a ‘full’ scholarship for 2 deserving kids


Deepam would like to thank a few folks for making the 2 projects possible

Jayanthi – She leads the ‘Stars’ program for Deepam. She stands out through the sheer intensity / commitment she brings to any activity she does. My respect for her, just seemed to go higher, as i worked more , with her. She simply does things 🙂 – thats it. Always ahead of time and always to a degree of perfection. A real DOer 🙂

NIA : An awesome organisation that supports education of girl children in India. They have supported education of girl children for over 10 years. Over a 100 girls have benefitted from support for school & college education. Deepam is happy to work with NIA to support girls in Deepam 🙂 . Thanks Priya / Vallabhi / Munish, for coming over.

Another donor who wishes to be anonymous – thanks a lot 🙂

Balaji : The CTO of Deepam !! He was the ‘internet access’ evangelist at Deepam , never missing an opportunity to highlight the possibilities of internet access for children. He got the infrastructure up and running in no time at all, when we had the datacards. Thanks Balaji !!

And always, the energetic volunteers at the Deepam WM centre – thanks for the awesome time 🙂

When people want to make something truly happen, the whole world conspires to make it happen.. I was rushing to the centre this morning and missed picking up an envelope, to keep the cash/cheque in, when handing over the prize to the ‘STARS’ . I hurriedly rang up Saye to get an envelope, but he seemed to be in control of things and asked me to just come over to the centre – When i went over to the center, i was told that one of the children at West Mambalam had made envelopes out of old newspapers and handed them to Saye , just this morning 🙂

And this was our way of celebrating the Independence Day at Deepam 🙂

STARS & Internet – New Possibilities

Hello Friends,

This saturday, we will be launching 2 projects that open up huge possibilities for children. The 2 ideas quite literally opens the ‘whole world’ for the kids.
STARS :
A deserving child should not lose out on education because of lack of funds. That is the core belief that makes Deepam reach out to such students every year and help them do what they do well… excel in their studies and expand their knowledge.
We are making a small beginning by awarding 2 children, a full scholarship for the academic year 2010-11. All their fees ( school fee / books / uniform / transport etc ) will be covered by this scholarship.
Internet :

The big idea at Deepam was always to expose the children to a world of opportunities through Internet. This is becoming a reality now. Beginning this saturday, Internet will be available at 5 of the 6 Deepam centres 🙂
The 2 projects will be launched at our Deepam West Mambalam Centre .
Venue : Deepam West Mambalam Centre. Sri Venkata Nivasam Primary School, Thambiah Road, West Mambalam.
Time : 9:30 am
Date : 21st August , Saturday
Look forward to meeting you all, there.
thanks
karthik

Take Home a PC – First step in a thousand mile journey starts this Saturday

Dear Friends

I am glad to announce the launch of an important an program, “Take home a PC‘ , which we hope will be a precursor to the ambitious “one laptop per child” program. This is an important milestone in our journey and glad we are able to do it this year..

All of know the importance of computers and its power to transform lives. Many of us have directly benefited from our exposure to information technology and for some of us (like me) it is our livelihood. We are not just talking about computer technology, but leveraging computers as enablers to better the lives of less privileged kids amongst us.

India as a country cannot progress if significant population of our society does not have access to tools that enable them compete in the global economic playing field. With the equal access to educational tools like computers, kids from less privileged background can perform and shine at par with the other kids. That’s why we are very excited about the small beginning we are making with Take Home a PC.

our objective is quite simple with Take Home a PC.. Deepam would like to give a PC and possibly access to Internet to every child who successfully complete one year program. This we believe will open the whole new world of possibilities to the kids and their families.

Take Home a PC makes a small beginning this Saturday @ Olcott Memorial High School. We will be giving a PC to an exceptional student who went through our program last year. She is intelligent, bright and more importantly has passion for learning. We are truly delighted to see Muthu being the first recipient of a PC under this program.

We would really appreciate if you can be present @ Olcott for this brief ceremony which will happen along with the Independence day flag hoisting ceremony. Details as under..

Where: Olcott Memorial High School
When: Flag hoisting ceremony starts @ 8:30AM and our program would be around 9:00ish.
Date: Aug 15, 2009