Our Charter Nite Celebrations were held on Tuesday, 13th December 2011. We paid a visit to the Old Age Home at Bogmalo, where we met the inmates, spent some time with them, cut a cake and distributed sweets.
This was followed by a family dinner by the beach.
Inviting partners to help set up a library at one of our partner schools (where we have already completed a Matching Grants project earlier).
The project is listed on ProjectLINK (Dabolim — W05997)
The Yuwak Sangh Primary and Secondary School in Sada, Vasco, India, needs a library to serve its 209 students, many who come from low income families. The Rotary Club of Dabolim will outfit the school with shelves, cupboards and books. The school has already dedicated a room for the new library and will help select the story and reference books for all reading levels.
ProjectLINK is a searchable database that lists Rotary club and district community service projects in need of funding, volunteers, donated goods, and/or partners for a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant, and completed projects that can be used as examples of best practices.
Inviting partners for our Drinking Water project at the only college in the local community – Murgao Education Societys College of Arts and Commerce, Zuarinagar.
The project is listed on ProjectLINK (project # W05918)
The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa will provide safe and hygienic drinking water to the college. The project will benefit a total of 2303 individuals, 2137 students and 166 staff. The club has already inspected the college, requested quotes, and will oversee the project implementation, while the college will be involved in the installation and maintenance of the water filtration systems. To complete this project, the club is seeking financial donations.
ProjectLINK is a searchable database that lists Rotary club and district community service projects in need of funding, volunteers, donated goods, and/or partners for a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant, and completed projects that can be used as examples of best practices.
The Rotary Club of Dabolim has taken up the initiative to collect a database of potential blood donors. The purpose behind collecting this data is to save precious time in case of an emergency. If there is an available database of people a per their blood group, it becomes easier to identify a donor when needed. Citizens (above 18 years) who wish to register themselves can register here.
You can also SMS your Name, Age, Blood Group, Contact Number and City to 9225877345.
The collected database will be maintained by select Rotarians and may eventually be shared with affiliated hospitals. Registered donors will be contacted whenever needed but it is not binding on any registered donor to donate blood at the given time.
Rotary Club of Dabolim organized “Blood donation camp” on 11th April 2011 at Corlim industrial estate in the premises of ESI Dispensary Corlim. A team from Blood Bank unit , Goa Medical College was called to collect the blood from donors. Employers, employees and administrative staff from from various companies came forward for donating blood. In total 40 units of blood was successfully collected thus making the camp a great success.
Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa, in association with All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association held the “Science is Fun” Projects Exhibition on Sunday 12 December 2010 at Regina Mundi High School, Chicalim (Goa, India). The exhibition was open to the public from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm.
65 students from 9 schools – Keshav Smruti High School, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, GHS Mangor Hill Vasco, Navy Children School, Regina Mundi, Airway Public Shool, Deepvihar High School, St. Andrews Institute and St. Joseph’s Institute displayed their projects.
The judges were Prof. Terence, Prof. Hirkude of PCC Verna, and Mr. Deepak Khaitan, President, All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association. The best projects were:
Category: Below 6th standard: Gayatri Salkar – Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Pushkar Pandit and Aditya Chaudhari – Airway Public School, Tyrel Nunes – Regina Mundi.
Category: 7th-8th standard: Anuj Jaiswar, Steven Vaz and Joseph Francisco Da Silva – Regina Mundi, Shivam Sharma and Sairaj Kakodkar – Deepvihar high school.
Category: 9th-10th standard: Zave C. Vaz and Jafar S. Govikhan – St. Josephs Institute, Vinay R. Tandel – G.H.S Mangor Hill Vasco, Ankita D’Souza and Shilpa B. Kavlekar – Navy Children School.
Also present on the occassion were DGE Avinash Potdar, Rtn. Anand Kulkarni, District Secretary 2011-12, Rtn. Durgesh Haritay – DGSC 2010-11, Rtn. Ashok Naik, Rtn. Ajay Bhatia – President RC Belgaum South, Rtn. Prakash Saraswat, GSR Rtn. Santosh Lotlikar, AG Rtn. Tejendra Lawande, AG 2011-12 Rtn. Atul Naik, Br. Anish, Principal of the host school Regina Mundi. Mr. Deepak Khaitan, Mr. Cherian, Mr. Shetty from the All Goa Govt. recognised unaided Schools Association were present to lend their support and guidance. We also acknowledge the support of Vidya, Rohit and Nisha for helping make copies of the DVD, Niharika for the calligraphy, and Sparsh and Parag for the photography.
To help kickstart project ideas, 15 schools from around Vasco da gama Goa were given the DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team. The DVD is a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn. The schools are requested to show the DVD to teachers and students. The schools are welcome to make copies of the DVD LEARNER’S LIBRARY and allow teachers, students, parents to make copies of the work. The work is in the public domain. The objective is to have more children use it, adapt it, and improve it. The DVD contents are also available on www.arvindguptatoys.com.
Also see http://www.rcdabolim.org/2010/distribution-of-dvd-learners-library-to-schools/
Gwenn Ramage and Eugene Wons of Westhampton Beach Rotary, USA (District 7260) visited Yuwak Sangh School, Sada, Goa and Anjuman H. I. High School, Baina, Goa where they had a chance to see the schools, interact with the students and teachers, and inspect the toilets built under the Matching Grants Programme.
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Toilets were provided under Matching Grants Programme (MG # 71359) of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International with Rotary Club of Vasco da gama, District 3170, India (our sponsoring club) and Rotary Club of West Hampton as the host and Primary International partners. Thanks also to Rotary Club of Southold and Easthampton Rotary Club, District 7260, USA, and numerous donors who have generously supported us.
Also see http://www.rcdabolim.org/2010/construction-of-new-toilet-blocks-at-schools/
Our Club distributed hand operated sewing machines to two poor and needy women in Sancoale Village, Goa. One of the women was physically challenged. We hope that the sewing machine project will help empower women to become financially independent, self sufficient, earn their livelihood and live with dignity.
The sewing machines came in from the 3 District 3170 MG Projects for 847 Foot operated sewing machines and 156 Hand operated sewing machines. MG # 72544 with Rotary Oceanside, MG # 72915 Rotary Baltic Riga, District 2410 and MG # 73036 with E club of District 7890. Special thanks to Rtn. Bharat Kamat, Rotary eClub of D-7890 who was the prime contact in getting 420 machines. Rtn. Prakash Saraswat was a project contact for all the 3 projects.
Also see Sewing Machines Distribution – Matching Grants Project
Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa, in association with ALL GOA GOVT. RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION, presents Science is Fun DVD + Project Exhibition
We have distributed 15 DVDs to schools around Vasco da gama Goa. The DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team. The DVDs are a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn: the concept of Magnetic Levitation / Maglev trains explained using small magnets, an old slipper and a pencil, or the basics of astronomy explained using an old bucket handle, plastic balls, cycle spoke and thread, etc.
We have requested schools to show the DVDs to teachers and students. The schools are also welcome to make copies of the DVD LEARNER’S LIBRARY and allow teachers, students, parents to make copies of the work. The work is in the public domain. The objective is to have more children use it, adapt it, and improve it. There are PDF books on the DVD that can be printed and distributed.
The DVD contents are also available on www.arvindguptatoys.com
The DVD distribution will be followed by a Science Exhibition to help increase usage of the DVD among children and schools.
Murgao Education Societys College of Arts and Commerce at Zuarinagar Goa (India) is the only local college for the community. Currently, the college does not have adequate access to safe drinking water. The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa proposes to provide safe and hygienic drinking water. The project will benefit a total of 2303 individuals – 2137 students and 166 staff.
The club has already inspected the college, requested quotes, and will oversee the project implementation, while the college will be involved in the installation and maintenance of the water filtration systems to provide clean drinking water. To complete this project, the club is seeking financial donations – US$2439 for six water filters, a storage tank, and the control mechanism for the filtration systems.
The project has been posted on Rotary International’s ProjectLINK and assigned the number W05918.
As a part of our Educational projects, we distributed the DVD Learner’s Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta and his team. This DVD was handed over to Mr Anil Kher on the CII Goa Education Panel for onward handing over to some schools and Science Clubs, and Mr Deepak Khaitan of ALL GOA GOVT. RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION. We will be rolling out the next phase of this project to encourage use of the DVD shortly.
The DVD Learners Library created by Dr. Arvind Gupta is a treasure trove for a child to know how things work, and has hundreds of ways of making Science Fun to Learn. It also has e-learning content in the form of hundreds of short Videos, PDF Books, and photographs giving step by step instructions on how to make simple toys from trash.the concept of Magnetic Levitation / Maglev trains explained using small magnets, an old slipper and a pencil, or the basics of Astronomy explained using an old bucket handle, plastic balls, cycle spoke and thread, etc.
The Rotary Club of Dabolim Goa is focused on improving the employ-ability of students from lesser privileged sections of society. Our Education Projects are thus helping selected schools by improving infrastructure, training of teachers and providing teaching aids. In the last few months, we have donated an LCD projector, Laptop, books, bags to high performing girl child, helped build toilets at 2 schools – Yuwak Sangh and Anjuman, have planned a teachers training programme, and are working on helping the partner education institutions further.
ALL GOA GOVT. RECOGNISED UNAIDED SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
We participated in the “RESPONSIBLE COLLECTION OF NIRMALAYA” at the pandals at Baina Beach, Vaddem lake and Khariwado on the 2nd and 5th day of Ganesh Chaturthi, helped respectfully take nirmalaya and separate it at the SITE, segregated and donated coconuts and other food items to the lesser privileged, the flowers and garlands for composting and collected all non-biodegradable to proper recycling stations.
Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival celebrated with passion in Goa. As the festivities
catch on, so does the wish to participate in it better…better gifts, better décor,
better lighting, better gifting, better crackers, better idols…
Much of the ways in which our celebrations occur, we must appreciate how much
a ‘handover’ effect it has on our surroundings. Nature, the Earth sculpted into the
figure of God and worshipped, is adversely affected in these days. At the time of
immersion, along with the faith and purity of our devotion, we also give to the
earth POP and chemical painted Idols, thermacole and plastic adornments of the
Mandal and Nirmalaya that chokes and slowly spreads harmful chemicals into
the waters, be it of the sea, rivers, lakes or your own backyard wells. When Wet
or dirty, the non-biodegradable waste (such as plastic) cannot be recycled and
lands up into a landfill.
Fortunately, our state, Goa is a pro-environment state with people who are
deeply connected to their roots. In the past years the Government of Goa has
banned sale of POP Idols, encouraged local artisans through special workshops
and last year stationed bins for collection of nirmalaya at immersion sites.
This project is an attempt to review the attempts of the past and to see how
we can further refine these efforts for the health of the people and the planet…
One of the main things that must be taken into account here is also the religious
sentiments of the people that have reservations to put their sacred nirmalaya
into a bin, however well intended.
It is observed at the time of segregation, the contents that are generally found in
the nirmalaya are food items such as coconuts and fruits, flowers and garlands
mixed with plastic and thermacole.
In an effort to continue to make the process of refining the ways in garbage is
collected and recycled thus making the process more and more eco-friendly,
while keeping in mind the sentimentalities of the people, the following proposal
is put forward.
The Nirmalaya Recycling Project is divided into 3 parts.
PART ONE: AWARENESS AND EDUCATION:
1. Creating awareness about the ecological aspect of the festival, laying stress on
the significance of it in relation to the earth.
2. To propagate the adverse results of our past nirmalaya visarjan practices
3. To inform and educate as many people through media and word of mouth
about the RESPONSIBLE NIRMALAYA COLLECTION PROJECT PRIOR to the
visarjan days.
4. To join hands with as many like-minded volunteers, who would spread the
word trough Posters, local TV, Newspapers, Private publications etc, Schools,
Sarvajanik Mandals, Temples etc.
PART TWO: COLLECTION, SEGRAGATION AND RECYCLING OF NIRMALAYA
1. Identify an area for collection. Erect a pandal keeping in mind its accessibility
and visibility on the day of visarjan.
2. To station at least 3 workers and volunteers who would stand there and
respectfully take nirmalaya and separate it at the SITE.
3. To segregate and donate coconuts and other food items to the lesser
privileged, the flowers and garlands for composting and collect all non-
biodegradable to proper recycling stations.
PART THREE:
1. Water testing before and after the visarjan. This would be essential in
building a base of information and education for all future nirmalaya
recycling and creating a base of using NON-TOXIC water colors for Ganesh
Idols.
2. Experience sharing of all volunteers/workers, public reactions and
recommendations for the future.
THE SPIRIT OF THE CAMPAIGN:
The individuals and organizations involved in this campaign
1. Respect the religious sentiments of the people during this festival
2. Understand that change in the mindsets of the public will take its
time and that force or criticism is not the way to create that change.
3. Approach this campaign with an attitude of Respect, Perseverance and
Enthusiasm.
4. Have offered their individual strengths be it voluntary work and funds
because of their personal need to see this change together.
This campaign is an inclusive, optimistic, transparent process that
invites participation from all Organizations, individuals, schools,
colleges, clubs, children, adults, teachers, ganesh mandals etc. to help
spread the word.
The project was done with the help of Roopa Bandekar (Earthworm), Lalita Joshi (MES College), Kevin (MES College), Daji Salkar, Shammi Salkar, Namdeo Chopdekar (Patanjali Yoga), Anju Gulati (Navy), Vasco Watch, MMC, Roshan Gunjal ( Inner Wheel Club), Dinesh (Visnsan Graphics)
