Meeting Minutes:: 15 Oct 2006, Sunday

From the egroups...

Folks,

We finally had that long pending meeting with the current lady volunteers at V and I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I hope, everyone else shares the feeling too.

Attended by: Ami, Geetha, Nisha, Shaheen, Srinka, Sujata. Hurrah for all the girls who made it for the meeting!!!

Here is a brief (subjective, I agree) update about the meeting.

1. The most important and positive development in the recent times is that we have got 3 new regular volunteers in Geetha who some of you may remember used to come to V along with Sowmya during the golden days and has now finished her Masters in Psychology (and is preparing for her GRE this year... yes, we will most probably lose her for the next acad year, but we have her very much for this year), Nisha who works with Infosys and has been actively participating in NBDs for the last 2-3 yrs and has now been coming to V for a good part of a month and a little more and Sujata who works with lucent and is preparing for her CAT this year (She confesses her preparations are not going well, so why not at least give her best to V, way to go, Sujata!!) and has been coming to V for around the same time frame as Nisha. All three come with a lot of enthu; besides, we know what fresh blood often does to a group ;-))

2. We'd received info from Akash about the LifeSkill modules that we might be able to source from Dream-a-dream foundation (which is an NGO) as well as Akanksha (a Mumbai NGO) through DSF. We need to see how we can adapt it to suit our needs at V. Ami duly shared the info with the rest of the group

3. We generally discussed about where we stand with Hema ma'am's sessions. She was supposed to start her next session probably yesterday. We haven't heard from her. So may be, Mohammed should go to the mountain.

4. In the light of the PC donation and the proposed computer classes, the Shaheen, Srinka and Sujata (Nisha, I don't remember whether you said yes for this or not, let us know once again, sorry!) are as of now planning to handle these sessions for the kids, starting with only 10th kids for now. Only 10th kids for two reasons: We want to start on a small scale and 10th kids have it in their curriculum as well, it seems. So, we thought we can start with the ones for whom there is an immediate benefit. Sonia, it would be terrifc if you can join us on this. As we discussed, we will look at their curriculum and bring out a tentative plan on what we want to do with the kids. Then you can see how and where you can pitch in. We need to take our plan to Srilatha ma'am and get her blessings and a suitable time slot for the session (as well as get the PC in). I will talk to her (she was not reachable yesterday) and update you all.

5. All of the volunteers felt that this year kids have not been very prompt or punctual or even available at the sessions most of the times. They would mostly be engaged in some domestic or personal chores during our designated time, often under supervision of the wardens/authorities . We also promptly agreed that we ourselves are mostly to blame for this, as we have not been very regular from our side either. The plan of action to address this is to be more regular at V as a group and keep both the groups of kids engaged during all weekends except when we give them planned 'off's. (For example, we've decided that the diwali weekend will be off for the kids and us. ;-p) To do this, we, volunteers, have to coordinate more effectively among us. So, this is what we have decided to do - coordinate more effectively, plan for a month at a time, inform your 'partners in crime' about your unavailability, so at least the others can back up for you.

6. Geetha and Sujata are interested in joining the junior kids. Srinka will be continuing with the junior kids. These three will initiate their planning for the month of November through mails. (Srinka may be out of action for 2 weeks or so, owing to her as yet unplanned trip eastwards.)

7. Ami, Nisha and Shaheen will be joining the elder kids. Ami and Nisha are taking some time off for various reasons, so the action item on them is to "generally chill madi" to quote Ami. ;-)) These three can still discuss and evolve general plans for the elder kids. I will jot down some of my thoughts on that in a separate email later.

8. Srinka to publish the previous news letter (and start working on the next too??)

9. Akhila's spoken english needs immediate attention. Plan is to look out for a spoken-english class for her near/around Wilson Garden. M, can you take this up?

I think I've covered all the main points we discussed. If I've missed or misrepresented anything, please feel free.

I've added Geetha, Nisha and Sujata to the group. Sujata has already joined, the others are yet to accept the invitation. Gals, we are thrilled to have you folks join us. Welcome aboard and all that, now please make yourself at home and start shooting. ;-))

Hoping to get the 'z'ing back in the group,
Yours truly,
Shaheen