Spirit Of Volunteerism-Truly Embraced By Divinity

Articulate, Educated, Passionate and Committed are just some of the adjectives to describe our team members who come from highly diverse backgrounds. Our volunteers are involved in changing the face of rural education – one school at a time.

We give you a glimpse into the lives of some of our volunteers, their inspirations, their drive and what they do within the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini (SSSVV) team.

Chandra Janakiram When we see the system rejecting a talented child due to different needs, we can either choose to be bitter or be part of the system and change it from within. Chandra, who is part of our training team, chose the latter. She was inspired to make a difference after seeing how the traditional education system challenged her very talented but differently abled sister.

She cleared her MA in psychology and her NET in 1993. Handicapped by a low memory, she used mind maps and other tools to become an excellent teacher. Effect of altruism on mental healthwas the subject of her Ph.D thesis. Her volunteering began with offering speech therapy to school children in Taiwan and the US. It was in Taiwan that her acquaintance began, with Sai Literature and bhajans.

Back in Bangalore 9 years ago, she did a course in counselling and got involved in the field of education. She conducted teacher training using mind mapping, helping teachers unlearn and relearn. With the help of a supportive family, she has been able to make her dreams come true – of being able to positively impact the educational system, to ensure learning for all, to teach children with learning disabilities. The intrinsic reward of soul satisfying work keeps her motivated,

She says she likes SSSVV due to the dynamism of the Vidya Vahini program and its evolving nature, a complete acceptance of people from diverse backgrounds, the use of technology, and the incorporation of varied ideas with openness to feedback and changes all the time!!

Every child she has worked with including her daughter and sister who possess talent but were limited by the education system or the lack of opportunity, are her inspiration.

Chandra Janakiram is a trainer and part of the SSTT team.

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Meera Anvekar completed her Masters in Biology in the year 2006, after which she began her job as an online tutor. Hailing from a family of devotees, she began her seva by being a Balvikas guru. Three years ago she was introduced to Vidya Vahini and in her words, “This is the best thing that ever happened to me”

Her husband, who was not a believer, is now, not just a believer but a staunch supporter and helps her with content creation for Vidya Vahini. She is currently in Germany where she teaches English to children, and serving in Vidya Vahini ensures she stays connected to her Lord.

Vidya Vahini keeps her engaged and has helped her upgrade her skills –she now makes power point presentations, and ensures that all assignments given to her are completed on time. During the early days of Vidya Vahini, she was among the top volunteers, basis the number of karma points (like credits for hours spent on Vidya Vahini). Efficient time management, late nights and her family’s support especially from her very young son, ensures that she consistently meets deadlines.

Her initial challenges of understanding the evaluation system, judges’ Comments etc. made work complicated but as Vidya Vahini evolved, she believes it is much more streamlined now. She definitely thinks it will help to have a more holistic understanding of all the teams in Vidya Vahini like Multimedia, ITV, and Mentors etc.

Happiness and Swami’s grace keep her passion alive. As a child she had a vision that she would work in a rural school and make a very positive impact teaching rural children and Vidya Vahini has helped her achieve this.

Her motivation – children; and the difference she makes with new ideas and a creative approach.

Meera Anvekar is part of the content creation team at Vidya Vahini.

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Sapna Anvekar is from Siddapura – a small town in the state of Karnataka. She graduated from what is now a SSSVV supported school. She completed her B.Sc. in Siddapura and her M.Sc from the Karnataka Open University. She teaches Chemistry and Biology to high school students.

Translators for English to Kannada have been hard to come by and having studied in Kannada medium till her high school, Sapna has been a great asset to the translation team.

A supportive husband who helps in translating and with the technical aspects, and town members who appreciate the work being done by Vidya Vahini and her recognition as one of the SSSVV team members make her happy. She lives by the dictum that the presence of Swami’s grace in her life is reward enough.

The fact that Swami began SSSVV with the intent to help rural schools and give them the same opportunity and exposure as those in bigger/better schools is her motivation. Infused with a sense of seva, she also volunteers every month at the SSSIHMS at Whitefield.

She believes that the seva activity not only helps the children but in the process transforms the volunteers too. She believes that the next stage of Vidya Vahini should be videos that will help children understand a process even better than the power point presentations. For instance, explaining photosynthesis and germination through a video will create better understanding of the concept.

Her inspiration: Parents who have always been involved in various seva activities, and Swami whose grace permeates her life.

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Venkatesh Badagiri our SRC (School Relationship Coordinator) at Siddapura, completed his Engineering in Mangalore. He is currently pursuing his M.tech in embedded systems, and also works at a polytechnic in Sirsi. On completing his graduation, he met brother Satyajit and Subbu anna (as he is fondly known at Siddapura School) where he had accompanied a friend. Inspired by the amount of work done by Vidya Vahini, he decided to volunteer and be a part of the mission.

Being treated as family by both the teachers and the children, and the involvement of the management team makes it not just rewarding but a heart-warming experience too.

Time management is a critical aspect for he works at the college 5 days a week; attends classes during the weekends and still makes sure that he makes time for Vidya Vahini work at the Siddapura School.

He feels the presence of Swami blessing his active participation in Vidya Vahini. He once missed his exams to ensure his presence for a MKP session and later realised that there would be no retest, but was pleasantly surprised to see the marks list a week later where his names and marks were present on the message board!! Swami’s mysterious hand had taken the test for him!

At Siddapura, everyone is appreciative of the work done by Vidya Vahini; that he is a part of Swami’s mission alongside being the youth coordinator for their samithi and a district level tech coordinator makes his life complete and fulfilling.

He likes being a part of Vidya Vahini and as Swami says –Educated right, a Nation prospers. So this offering is his bit towards Nation building.

Family, colleagues and teachers are extremely supportive, enabling him to excel at all his roles equally.

Swami is his inspiration and the energy behind everything; and meeting the Vidya Vahini team members is the motivation that makes him tick.

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Pavani is from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh but working with the Karnataka Vidya Vahini team. Youngest among 3 siblings, she completed her M.tech in software engineering and works as a lecturer at an Engineering college.

Pavani heard about Vidya Vahini through her elder sister who was working as a Maths teacher for the Andhra Pradesh board. She googled for more information and made an accidental entry into the Vidya Vahini team four years ago.

Hailing from a Sai family where Swami has been their guide and mentor, seva was a natural offshoot. In her words – “Vidya Vahini has not just given me an opportunity to contribute but it has made me patient and inspired a positive attitude. Being an integral part of this very valuable team has made it a very rewarding experience”. Before Vidya Vahini and After Vidya Vahini is a perfect description for her life.

Pavani is part of the content generation team, prepares power point presentations of the content and uploads them to the SSSVV portal. She receives tremendous support not just from her family, but professors at work and even students. Doing Vidya Vahini work “relaxes, refreshes and rejuvenates” her.

Her prayer to Bhagawan when she used to participate in the Prashanti seva activities was to give her an opportunity to use her skills (since she was definitely not good at cleaning!) and her prayers were answered when she began work with Vidya Vahini.

“I experience Swami’s presence when doing Vidya Vahini work”, is her response when asked why she likes SSSVV.

Ensuring more schools and children have access to what Vidya Vahini has to offer is her wish.

  Her professor who worked in Swami’s University is her role model. Vidya Vahini team members are her inspiration, and as Vidya Vahini work gives her happiness and is soul satisfying, it drives her to do more.

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Naveen Patil is a fellowship student at Davangere School. A native of Dharwad, he completed his +12 at Alike school and then graduated with B.Sc honours from the Brindavan campus and M.Sc in the Prashanti Nilayam campus of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.

He joined the Vidya Vahini team immediately after his post-graduation. Applying his learning acquired over the last decade in Swami’s institute helps him meet the goals of Vidya Vahini.

Being a people person with excellent persuasion skills has helped him to achieve the goals of Vidya Vahini by getting teachers and students to understand and implement the lessons of Vidya Vahini.

In his words: “At Vidya Vahini, communication is not a barrier when there is passion and commitment.” e.g.: A training session where the trainer knew only English and the teachers knew only Kannada, yet inspired animated debate, discussion and eagerness for the next session. That, he says, has been his most rewarding experience. Such incidents only reinforce his faith that when the Divine Master chooses to execute his purpose, all barriers are minimised.

He recalls that as a 10th standard student doing lab experiments, he had wished that he could teach rural students, that memory was jogged while attending a MKP workshop. At that moment he knew what his choice was going to be and so joined the SSSVV program as a fellowship student.

The children’s faces that light up when they see him, their eyes that suddenly understand the use of technology, their smiles at what it can do is all the appreciation he needs.

Other seva activities he is involved in are bhajans and health camps.

In his words on why he likes being a part of SSSVV- “It’s a platform where we do what we learnt and realise there is still so much more to learn”.

While the family was initially hesitant about his choices, they came around once they understood the concepts of Vidya Vahini and now, not only support him but his father who is also a teacher would like Naveen to join him at his workplace.

He strongly feels that for Vidya Vahini to be more successful, follow-up and on site presence/ownership will ensure that the learnings will be implemented consistently and become a habit, making the foundations strong and enabling the school’s success.

He is inspired by his seniors from Alike who also work with Vidya Vahini, and working at Davangere School feels like being back at his own school in Alike.

Innocent and eager children, and teachers who want to make a difference are just some of the things that motivate him. Being a Fellowship student is his way of saying Thank you to the Divine Lord who gave him free education and an opportunity to give back to Society.

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Gayathri Iyer Happy, enthusiastic and cheerful is the persona behind our MKP volunteer, Gayathri Iyer. She completed her masters in Physics from Trichy and is currently working as a teacher. She is also working on her research paper on Nano Technology.

She stays with and cares for her grandparents, teaches, works on her research and makes time for Vidya Vahini as she lives by the dictum “where there is a will, there is a way”.

Being part of the MKP team and travelling to schools, conducting experiments and watching the children’s faces light up motivates her to do more for those with so little access to better facilities. In her words – “She learns as much from the children as they learn from the Vidya Vahini team”.

Her family support and the experience of Vidya Vahini has made her more confident and strong in her belief of “giving back”.

She is also involved with the team that works on NMBW (No more boring walls), teaches Balvikas, and goes to old age homes and medical camps

In her words – “She likes Vidya Vahini because it was started by Swami and being part of his mission is in itself a reward!”

She believes that Vidya Vahini should continue to focus on follow ups and sustaining what is being taught. She strongly believes that English speaking classes and support will help teachers and make it easier for the schools to consistently do what Vidya Vahini teaches.

Her inspiration is her very patient mother who is a teacher, who handled work, home and her children, and was deeply loved by all her students.

She paints, always smiles, laughs, and her “never give up” attitude remind her to be positive and bring that same energy to everything she does.

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Guru Prasad Achar our School Relationship Coordinator at Chokkady did his schooling at Alike, and his B.Sc in Physics from Prashanti Nilayam. He also completed his MCA from IGNOU and is currently working with the IT industry.

Extremely patient, teachers and students at the school find in him a good listener. These skills help him to drive the goals of Vidya Vahini in a collaborative manner.

A rewarding moment was when his young daughter was also involved in the NMBW activity at the school. His one disappointment is his desire to do more for the school since his responsibilities at home and work does not give him as much time as he would like to dedicate towards Vidya Vahini.

He feels genuinely lucky that he has the opportunity to work with a school management that is eager to implement Vidya Vahini. He is also involved with other seva activities like reviewing and publishing posts on the web site of Karnataka SSSSO.

In his words –”He likes being a part of Vidya Vahini as he believes that Swami has given him a chance to pass on the values he learnt at the Institute and help children have the same experience as he did as a student in his institute.

His family is very supportive of his seva activities and are also involved in Vidya Vahini activities. He believes that if more volunteers join the Vidya Vahini work they would be able to achieve more at the school.

His inspiration and driving force is Swami. Coming from a middle class family he has always seen his parents involved in samithi activities –medical camps, nagarsankirtan, bhajans and narayana seva. The ability to continue that tradition of seva he believes, is Swami’s blessings.

“We serve Swami for not what he has given us, but instead out of love for Swami”. These words of his classmate who serves at the Whitefield hospital motivate him.

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Sai Dutta Panda hails from Cuttack. He completed his B.Com and then MFM at the Prashanti Nilayam and Brindavan campus respectively. Puttaparthi has been both home and a learning ground for this young corporate banker.

His effective communication and people-to-people connect helps him to liaise well between the internal and external teams as a coordinator for the MKP team

In his role as MKP coordinator the “Aha” moment that the children experience when they understand the concept explained through a practical demonstration and their clamour for the next MKP session is what makes the Vidya Vahini work so rewarding.

Multitasking and effective time management help him to execute assignments within the given timelines. He strongly believes that being a part of the Vidya Vahini team helps him stay connected to Swami.

He hopes that more volunteers join the Vidya Vahini family enabling the team to evolve and expand its reach. More numbers within the team would enrich the current capabilities and give the volunteers more learning opportunities.

In his words –“The biggest inspiration for me is the unfinished work/objective at hand. It drives me to strive to accomplish what we set out to do”.

 Swami and the enthusiasm of fellow volunteers are his greatest sources of motivation

To be a part of this wonderful program don’t miss to register and attend – Samaikyata 2016

https://www.srisathyasaividyavahini.org/samaikyata2016/

Glossary

SSSVV – Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vahini

SSSIHMS –Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences

NET – National Eligibility Test

SSTT – Supported School Teacher Training

SRC –School Relationship Coordinator

MKP – Masti ki Prayogshala

NMBW – No more boring walls

IGNOU – Indira Gandhi National Open University

SSSSO –Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation