Issue 1, July 2010

www.deepam.org.in
 Founder's Letter
Karthikeyan Vijayakumar welcomes you to Deepam
Uroor Kuppam in Chennai, during our
Children's Day Celebrations in 2009 –
Colours were splashed everywhere. Hands were
dirty with paint; the children were encouraged to
play with paint and colors by the Deepam
volunteers. And the canvas ? oh, it was their tee-
shirt . Every child was given a white tee shirt, to
play with their imagination- to paint their tee-
shirt, wear them and show them off, to the world.
Olcott School, Besant Nagar February
20th 2010 – A bunch of happy & excited
children showing off the photos they clicked.
Children enthusiastically come to the front of the
class, show us what they clicked, describe their
photos and explain how they clicked. The activity
– Children were given a digital camera to shoot
photos on a theme.
Both events had so much in common –
Children and the volunteers / mentors
thoroughly enjoyed and had lots of fun at
the event. The children learnt a new skill
and were confident of talking about their
work. This hands-on activity had engaged
children and brought the best out of
them. Children stretched themselves
creatively, since they understood what was
‘taught’. I smiled, looking back at the long
way we have come from and pondering
over the way ahead.
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From a humble beginning 2 years ago
with teaching a few students, Deepam
now reaches out to more than 200
students, through the weekend learning
program. From a simple curriculum at the
start, Deepam is now working on making
learning more fun for these students.
Volunteers at West Mambalam Centre
prepare the weekly class plan around an
activity. They use visual aid / audio to
engage students and make English
learning, a fun activity for the children.
Volunteers at other Deepam centres too
have some interesting stories to share, as
they connect with the children and bring
the best out of the kids. Needless to say, it
is only because of our volunteers'
enthusiasm and commitment in educating
less privileged children that we have
travelled some distance so far.
As we begin our 3rd year, we will look to
build on the base created so far. With
more volunteers contributing time to
teaching, more organisations extending
support and teams at every centre
exploring ways to create a fun learning
environment, we are now more confident
than ever in saying this - we will have
confident young children graduating from
Deepam, year after year.
As part of our anniversary celebrations,
we have launched our first newsletter 'Oli'
to keep our volunteers and well-wishers
updated about the latest events at Deepam
and to help us stay connected. We
welcome any contributions to Oli- do get
in touch with us if you have something to
share. Until the next issue, happy reading!
Regards,
Karthikeyan Vijayakumar
Co-founder, Deepam
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Deepam – Who are we?
By Meera Sundar

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if

you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he
will continue the learning process as long as he
lives. ~Clay P. Bedford
This is the quote that best defines what
Deepam stands for. The idea for Deepam
was born during an early morning run,
over the steady sound of shoes hitting the
road. Ram and KK tossed ideas around
for 'Giving back to society', their minds
keeping pace with their feet.
They realized that the tipping point in a
student's life - which makes him a life long
lover of learning & trying new things - is
the birth of curiosity. Deepam was
conceived to augment school curriculum
and instil in a child the curiosity to learn
and give him the "keys" to the greatest
pool of knowledge out there, the We taught them how to handle laptops,
Internet. Along with it was the Windows operating system, Paint,
born BridgeTheDivide - a group to unite Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
people who are keen on 'Lighting the The summer session of a few weeks was a
Spark and levelling the playing field' great experience for us volunteers and for
among children. the kids too, going by their enthusiasm
and performance in the informal end-of-
Deepam was officially rolled out in the session hands on tests. The experience
summer of 2008 when a bunch of taught us a lot of things too, and once
volunteers - mostly fresh graduates and again more ideas came in a torrent- and
working professionals in Chennai - started the rest is history!
teaching at Nalamdana (a self help group)
in Perungudi- with just a couple of their Over the last one year, we have expanded
own laptops. The kids at Nalamdana were to four centres in Besant Nagar area. We
each as different as different could be- a teach for 2 hours per week at each centre,
mix of bubbly, reserved, bright, boisterous during weekends. Though we started off
and quiet kids; but with clear and big with computers, we realised with time,
dreams for the future. that reading comprehension & basic
communication skills in English were also
vital, to utilise what the internet has to
offer. We streamlined our curriculum and
now focus on four pillars - each
complimenting the other - English,
Computers, General Awareness &
Personality Development. This, we felt,
would not only put the kids on the track

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of the information explosion, but also
would be a great way to sustain and
enhance their curiosity. And finally, what
good is any information or idea if it isn't
communicated effectively? Soft skills and
interpersonal skills are as important as any
of the 'hard' skills. We try to encourage
the kids to be forthcoming, bold and
speak without fear in front of the class.
We also discuss famous achievers in
several fields, and qualities one could
imbibe from their lives.
In March of this year, we successfully
completed our first year. We celebrated
with the kids and conducted competitions,
including poster painting, quiz and
debates. The final week culminated with a
joint celebration across all our centres and
prize distribution to winners. Sharath
VolunteerSpeak
Mrs Maduravalli Rajagopalan, WM centre
I) Tell us about yourself
An ardent lover of Nature; a great admirer
of arts and tradition; highly family-
oriented; happily employed in a Bank for
the past 26 years; interested in teaching
the kids - I’m a person who enjoys being
all of these. But, after joining Deepam, I
discovered that teaching kids isn’t just an
area of interest but a passion that had
been dormant in me all these years.
II) What do you do at Deepam?
On-session: I volunteer at WM
centre of Deepam for the first 30-45
minutes (as I then leave for work) –
narrate a story, conduct a game or just
interact with the kids and try to get them
interested in the class.
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Babu, the entrepreneur and Kiruba, the
famous blogger - both from Chennai -
interacted with the kids, telling them their
story, inspiring them.
Volunteers have been our biggest strength
and are our guiding light behind
curriculum design, media relations and
fund-raising. With a dedicated bunch, we
are now onto our second year at Deepam
and are considering expanding in several
dimensions.
To cut a long story short, let me quote
George Bernard Shaw- "What we want is to
see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not
knowledge in pursuit of the child." To make
this a reality, we're visiting 4 centres every
weekend, laptops and internet cards in
tow; and with the OLPC concept, that
might just manifest tomorrow.
Off-session: I love initiating discussions
and exchange of views by penning down a
few thoughts, ideas, suggestions and at
times, even questions related to Deepam
and mailing them to all the volunteers of
WM centre. The ensuing responses keep
the group highly interactive and vibrant,
thus making all our experiments in the
centre very enjoyable.
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 III) Tell us about an incident with
children at Deepam.
Following the Children’s Day, I was
narrating a story about how young ones of
animals celebrated the Children’s Day.
The pup in my story was supposed to
have helped his little master water the
saplings he planted in his garden on
Children’s Day. Before sketching this out
in words to the kids, I halted and asked
“Do you think a pup will help in
gardening?” There was a resounding
“Yes” in one voice. Wondering at the
response, I continued “How?” The kids
were quick again “the pup will dig pits for
the saplings like how it does in Vodafone
ad.” The story took an interesting twist.
But the amazing sense of application of
the kids left me dumbstruck. In fact, I
could read a silent message from the kids
in that excited chorus: ‘We don’t need
graphics based fantasy or out-of-the-box
thinking to create a lasting impression.
Just simple presentation of goodness
would do.’ We, at Deepam, are probably
striving to prove this message true again,
in our own way.
IV) What motivates you to teach at
Deepam WM centre on Saturdays,
despite having to work in the mornings?
The sounds and smiles of the kids in the
centre, the warmth and spirit of the
volunteers at the centre – these are
enough to pull me. When a 30-min stretch
of a week can be blissful, why wouldn’t I
choose to grab it?
V) How do you manage to
be/contribute/volunteer regularly at
Deepam?
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Volunteering regularly at Deepam is
easy - The centre is closer home and it is
just a 30-min prefix to my usual work-
based routine on Saturday mornings.
Contributing regularly to Deepam is
interesting - I mildly rework my daily
schedule, cut a thin slice off my leisure in
order to think, write and send my
characteristically long mails to WM
volunteers. But enjoying the ripples that
they create in a lovely group of people
from different age groups and different
profiles having the same strong sense of
belonging, the experience becomes
exciting and enriching – worth the leisure
cut.
VI) How would you like Deepam to be
few years down the line?
Deepam centres shall function as
playgrounds for the brains of children,
where laptops, story books and fun
activities are the main playthings. The
purpose of the kids’ coming shall be to
have fun, while knowledge enhancement /
updates happen simultaneously in the
background. Every child walking into
Deepam centre will undergo a positive
change in outlook even within six months
– which can probably be taken as a
target. The centre should help in boosting
their confidence levels
considerably, making them more
communicative, more inspired to learn
and progress. Deepam can and will do to
kids what hi-fi personality development
programs do to adults – in a child-friendly
way, enjoying the transition all through.
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 Volunteering with Deepam
Qualifications: Passion, Patience and- just two hours a week

• Are you in Chennai during weekends?

• Do you have two hours to spare on weekends?
• Do you like talking to kids, spending time with them?

If your answer to the above questions is Yes, we’d love to have you with us!

You don’t need prior experience in teaching, or even “like” teaching. Most interactions with
kids are personal- so if you like talking to kids, you’re the best volunteer we can have!

In short, everyone can volunteer. You are almost guaranteed to have something we can
use. You will make a difference. You don’t have to be a specialist of any kind – just
interested enough to show up, and passionate enough to make a difference.

Want to partner with Deepam?

Click here to read more.

How can you donate to Deepam?

Click here to read more.

You are welcome to visit/join us online @ the following

Deepam - http://deepam.org.in/

Twitter - http://twitter.com/deepam_

LinkedIn - http://is.gd/3lxEC

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/chennaideepam

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 Key Statistics for Deepam in the fiscal year 2009-’10

Deepam - Key Stats ( April 09 to Mar 10 )

Class
Deepam Centre No. Of Children No of Class' Note
Attendance
Uroor Kuppam (UK ) 25 35 70% 2 Hours per session
Pudiyador Centre 19 35 75% 2 Hours per session
Olcott School 55 18 73% 3 Hours per session
Kakkan Colony (KC) 25 35 80% 2 Hours per session
West Mambalam (WM) 40 20 90% Started in Sep 09
VRS Centre, Alwarpet 20 10 90% Started in Jan 10

No. of Active Volunteers in Deepam 45

Total No of Deepam Sessions 153
No of Events Organised ( for each centre) 5

Financials ( as of March 25th 2010 )

Donation Expense
Total Donations 268,147
Centre Expenses ( Class Notes / Handouts
) 4050
Infrastructure - 6 new netbooks 98500
Childrens Day Tee Shirt Painting ( Tee
Shirt & Paints for Children ) 16462
Library Books 4212
Annual Day ( Medals / Certificate,
Transport for Children / Venue / Food etc
) 37515
268,147 160739
Cash in Hand 107,408

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Newsletter Feedback
We would love to hear from you. Let us know what you like about this newsletter and what
we can do to better serve you. Your opinion is valuable to us. Reach us at
newsletters@deepam.in

Newsletter Credits
Editor: Abhinav Sherma, Swapnil Lodha
Composition: Karthikeyan Vijayakumar, Meera Sundar, Mrs Maduravalli Rajagopalan
Logo Composition: Ajay John

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