World Aids Day, December 1, 2013

Recently World AIDS Day celebrated its 25^th anniversary on December 1 and thus helped the whole world reflect back and analyse, that how successful they had been in raising the awareness against the epidemic around the globe.

Like every year SRC (Social Responsibility Cell) of XIMB celebrated this day by organizing an AIDS awareness program among the people of a nearby slum called Salia Sai.SRC members, in joint collaboration with OSACS (ORISSA STATE AIDS CONTROL SOCIETY) arranged the program which started with the volunteers arranging the sound and light system in small stage like arena in the Salia Sai field. Red badges bearing the symbol for AIDS were also distributed among the residents of the nearby houses.

The show started with a short awareness film in Oriya which helped attract the crowd. The SRC members were on their toes to manage the heterogeneous crowd and were soon able to segregate the target group of their awareness program.

After this the volunteers performed a street play regarding the awareness. The skit was in tandem with the theme of the program and thus managed to attract more people. The skit performed was primarily in Hindi with a few dialects in Oriya and thus the gathering was well connected.

This was the opportunity for the OSACS trainer to step forward and clarify some of the wrong notions regarding the factors and conditions leading to the spread of the epidemic. The trainer, Mr.Prabhu ensured that the message of awareness should percolate well among the target crowd. In the mean time SRC volunteers distributed pamphlets to the people of Salia Sai.

Though the issue was sensitive, the volunteers handled it with ease and perfection and were successful in ensuring full co-operation and participation from the crowd.

Kudos to the SRC team and special thanks to Xstage for the street play!!

Leia Mais…

Children's Day... SRC XIMB way ..

On Friday, Nov. 14, 2013, SRC (Social Responsible Cell) of XIMB (Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar) visited Asha Kiran Orphanage to celebrate the Children’s Day. The groundwork for the visit was already done by some few days back when they visited the place and collected wishes of the inhabitants of that place. The members floated the idea of the Wishtree Project under the UMEED vertical of SRC with a huge response from the college students. Not only were all the gifts sponsored by the students of the college but also the fund flow was big enough to sponsor some extra gifts to the 21 girls of the orphanages aged from 5-13.

On 14^th Nov, 2013 a big group of college students of XIMB including the SRC members and non-members visited the place with all the gifts neatly packed along with some more surprises. The girls smiled with curious and sparkling eyes as the students walked passed them. In contrary to the expectations of a sad and dusty place the visitors received a warm and heartwarming welcome from the girls of Asha Kiran Orphanage. The students started distributing the gifts among the girls and they could not resist opening them at the same time. The little angels were thrilled to get their wishes fulfilled. The gifts included their daily items of use as well as some of the food products that obviously included their much coveted snack of “Maggi”. As the distribution was going on the children lost their reservations of meeting the new people and started mingling with the XIMBians like people they know from a long time.

This was not the end. There was an element of surprise for the children. The XIMBians were very particular about the details about the students and this helped them to identify the birthday of the beautiful girl Lakshmi. On the very eventful day the XIMBians celebrated by cutting a big cake which they had ordered. The students of XIMB were very contended with their effort and were happy to see such happy and lively children. The experience was, without shadow of a doubt, one of the most rewarding and fulfilling one. Getting to know these wonderful children was in a sense a feeling of great achievement.

The realization was heart full that sometimes we are so bothered about the external complexities of life that we do not give heed to the small things which make our life even more special.

Last but not least, a special thanks to all the seniors and juniors who made this event a huge success.

Leia Mais…

JOY OF GIVING WEEK

XIMB saw another successful “JOY OF GIVING” week from 2^nd Oct – 8^th Oct, 2013. Joy of Giving stems from the idea of spreading happiness in the hearts of the children belonging to the disadvantaged classes. Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of XIMB showed that by giving to the most effective causes, one can do far more to help those in poverty. The orphanages and the helping societies are supporting these children and in turn XIMB is helping them. Members of SRC, XIMB showed how to do CSR in the midst of a hectic schedule of the business management curriculum.

The students organized the event in a planned way. Each block of the hostels was assigned POC who took the initiative to put up boxes with attractive posters, stickers and fillers. The POCs then started an aggressive campaigning of spreading the message along with door to door visit. It finally resulted in the students pouring in with their disposables including clothes, papers, stationaries and medicines. It took very little time for the boxes to get filled carrying the happiness to the children in the orphanages. The students ensured that this Pujas is also going to be special for them. For some years SRC, XIMB has seen this event turning into a festival.

The 35 boxes from XIMB were given to the less privileged section of the society is merely a drop in the ocean but SRC members set an example that even joy can be spread through small things with as small an idea as Joy Of Giving.

As has been rightly said:

“Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them”……..Mother Teresa

Leia Mais…

World Humanitarian Day @ XIMB (Organized by SRC-Social Responsibility Cell of XIMB)—INCLUSION, 2013

Today is 19^th August, 2013 and the world is celebrating World Humanitarian Day, a day to salute the love for humanity. Today each and every peace loving organization will stop to think, reflect and pay tribute to those great people who have sacrificed their lives for the well being of the others.

It was a minor effort from SRC-Social Responsibility Cell of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar in association with the Institute of Social work & Research, to organize an event to show their way of thanks giving to the community.

The program started with the visit of few children from a nearby school. The students were very special. There were laughing, talking and chatting merrily but little after all came to know that God has not gifted them the power to see the light of the day, yes they are visually impaired.

They participated in Reading and Writing competition. They participated in Quiz competition and enjoyed thoroughly. Their passion was one of the best things to look for.

The inauguration ceremony started with the lighting of the candles followed by the speech of our Dean Academics, Mr.Biswa Swarup Mishra who rightly said that managers not only need to be pragmatic but also need to be compassionate.

The event was graced by the presence of Dean-Student Affairs, Dean Administration-Fr.Augustine and other faculty members followed by a motivating and passionate speech from the Guest of Honor - Sanyas Kumar Behera, General Secretary Institute of social work and Research. Mr.Sanyas Kumar Behera is also visually challenged but spoke like one of the true leaders and his speech was enough to raise the spirit of the fellow XIMB-ians. We also had among us Chief Guest – Mr. R.K.Sharma and other eminent personalities like Mr.Jaffer Iqbal, former international cricket player.

This was followed by a small cultural program where two of our fellow brothers Sanjay Kumar Sahoo and Raj Kishore put up a wonderful performance by singing and playing Tabla respectively. They may be challenged in some other ways but not in their ways of expressing feelings.

This followed by a speech from R.K.Sharma, Assistant Director Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for Handicap was who thanked XIMB and the Institute of Social work & Research for inclusion program. His speech was full of energy and subtleness. His request was straightforward to the future managers of XIMB…..”Please try to include and recruit differently abled persons on your team”.

Mayank, Dhrubo the members of the SRC joined Raj Kishore and Sushant Kumar Padhee to put up a short cultural program on this eventful day.

Yes today XIMB showed that the managers of tomorrow may face many difficulties but they will never forget the human touch and that’s where XIMB scores more than others.

The event ended with the prize distributions and the vote of thanks

Cheers to SRC!!Cheers to XIMB!!Cheers to all the Peace loving happy people out there.

Leia Mais…

Celebrating Independence day the XIMB way

“Yeh jo Desh hai Mera…..Swadesh hai mera…..Yeh jo Bandhan Hai Kabhi Toot nehi sakta……”… a marvelous song by A.R Rahman and the song was enough to bring the patriotic feelings in the hearts of the fellow XIMBians as they all gathered in front of the Boys’ hostel to celebrate the eve of the Indian Independence Day. Yes, XIMB is celebrating the 67^th Independence Day of India.

14th August, 2013 –  On the eve of Independence Day

07:10 PM: The event started with a speech from Praveen followed by the speech of Tulu Bhaina – who is being taught by the members of the SRC. With a staggering voice and tensed nerves he kept on reading the speech as prepared by SRC. His passion was enough to pull the crowd and grasp their attention.

07:20 PM: Stuti and Anand (the anchors for the event) called out to the crowd to join in and suddenly from the crowd came the SRC members who performed a well choreographed and coordinated flash mob. Few of the all time favourites among the various Bollywood and Hindi Patriotic songs were the theme of their flash. The crowd cheered and jeered and some were even found tapping their feet to the tunes. In the meantime some faculty members, Fathers and Deans also joined the celebration.

07:30 PM: The time was ripe for some patriotic songs and so volunteers from the crowd were called to sing some numbers. The SRC members were also ready to contribute and sang some wonderful songs to grace the auspicious occasion. The mess Bhainas also sang their song followed by the Indian National Anthem. What prevailed was the pin drop silence and stand straight position as all joined their voices to pay tribute to mother India.

08:00 PM: X stage the cultural committee of XIMB had prepared a video about the lackadaisical attitude of the student community towards celebrating Indian Independence. The demining nature of the video was enough to raise the adrenaline level high among the crowd. What followed was a candle march. No one has expected such a huge turnout that at one point even 500 candles seemed to fall short. However the future managers of XIMB managed by sharing their candles with their patriotism!!!

08:10PM: Lighted with candle flames all along the X-walk was a fascinating scene to watch. The slogans like “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram” brought a feeling of allegiance for Mother India and respect towards the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the safe future of the Indians.

08:20PM: The crowd took a walk a round of the campus with candles shining bright in their hands and finally came to a halt near the stage in the XIMB ground. There is that one moment in every Indian’s life, while celebrating the Independence Day, when you feel absolutely proud to be an Indian, placing the lighted candles along the border of the Indian Map drawn on the stage was such a moment for all the XIMB-ians who participated in the celebrations and then the candle march.

08:30PM: The event ended with a thanksgiving speech from the SRC co-coordinator Sumit Samal only to start again the very next day.

15th August, 2013 – 67th Independence Day

08:45AM: The crowd has started gathering and this time almost all the faculty members along with their spouses and kids joined SRC to celebrate the flag hoisting event. Director, Fr Paul Fernandes, hoisted the flag with cheers and salute from the student strength. It was followed by some motivating speeches from the deans and the student representatives. Finally sweets were distributed and thus the celebration came to end only to mark the beginning of 67th year of Indian Independence.

Signing off: Swayambhu Dutta, a fellow SRCian sorry….an XIMBian….nahhhhhh……an INDIAN . JAI HIND!!

Photo Courtesy: Kaustav Acharya

Leia Mais…

A day with the Children at Sri Harsha Memorial

It is amazing what little acts of kindness can do in the lives of those who lack even the smallest means of survival.

This time SRC, XIMB along with the Rotaract Club (Bhubaneswar) has tried to do a bit on these lines for the children at Sri Harsha Memorial (School for the Deaf & Dumb). The project was initiated last year (2012) by SRC and was completed in March of this year (2013). The project consisted of providing some basic amenities to the children at Sri Harsha Memorial within a fixed budget sponsored by the Rotaract Club. After the initiation the SRCians went to work in diligence.

In the first phase, SRC Members went on a visit to the Memorial, only this time they did more than engaging the children staying there. They did an overall survey of the place, the living conditions, and the various ways to improve it. After their return the team then had a brainstorming session regarding the options that can be considered and their feasibility based on the survey report.

In the second phase, after several rounds of discussions, we went to the drawing boards and designed a proposal for the implementation of a few ideas that was then submitted before the Rotaract club for approval. After getting the green flag from Rotaract Club, arrangements were done to gather the various materials required. Again a team of members headed out to collect the approved items at the best possible price all the while keeping in mind the required quality.

Finally the day arrived for the implementation of the last phase of the project. It was the third weekend  of March, 2013. The memories of that day are something that will be cherished for times to come. We arrived at Sri Harsha memorial with all the stuff that we planned to provide them with. We also had Mr. C.K.Padhi who was with us during the proceedings as the representative from Rotaract Club. There were indoor board games, story books and water bottles and we distributed those among everyone present there and gave away the remaining to the social workers there to use in the days to come for any new child arriving there. Along with this there were arrangements made for the installation of tube lights in places/ rooms that needed more lighting, especially the dining area. A water filter was also installed in the girl’s accommodation so that they need not drink directly from the tap. After the distribution the children thanked us in their own special way (they raise their hands and shake them to sh. One has to see it to understand it

The happy faces that we saw that day will stay with us for a very long time. These children are special for the fact that they are audibly & orally challenged, but that did not stop them from communicating & interacting with us. We were asked to speak something for them and it only felt natural, till we actually started speaking. While we were speaking to them, they were not looking at us at all. It seemed awkward for just a moment before then it dawned on us. They were looking at one of their teachers/ caretakers who were translating every word we were saying into sign languages for the children to understand. Each and everyone there was looking at this caretaker, understanding what we were saying and then looking at us with that smile on their face. On realizing this we spoke slowly for them to understand us completely.

It doesn't end there. After distribution the board games we realized that a lot of children did not know some of the games and how to play them. We got down to business once again, this time aware of the challenge to teach the games to the children with whom we cannot speak directly. Initially the caretakers and teachers tried to help in facilitating the communications, but even they cannot capture every doubt of every child and answer each of them separately. That’s when we realized how intelligent and smart they were. What seemed so unnatural to us was so normal to them. We saw children understanding the rules of the games themselves, clarifying their doubts, and teaching their friends what they have learned. All this and the only voices we heard in the room was that of ourselves. All the while smiling and laughing with each other and with us, with the satisfaction of having discovered something new.

Time flew as they say and it was time for us to bid adieu to them & to return to our lives. That realization came late and hard & it was uncomfortable, for us as well as for the children. One of the little girls there was so in love with one of our friends that she really needed to be mollified to let her go. The senior girls even performed a small dance number exclusively for our lady friends.

It was special - every moment of the visit. At the end it was really worth having those moments with the children and it was worth the effort put in for the success of the project. We didn't do much though. Some lights, some board games, books and a water bottle. Looking at our lives, these would hardly make a difference in the lives of children of our social strata. The same things mean so much more to the children at Sri Harsha Memorial. 

The magic of an act of kindness. It’s magnified -  both for the one receiving it & the one imparting it.

Leia Mais…