SNEHA: Helping mothers for child care

SNEHA is an organisation that offers friendship and help to young mothers and children to eradicate malnutrition and infant mortality,by Aparna Ramchandra

From their experience of saving the lives of newborn babies…

From healing the physical wounds of battered women…

And wondering what happened to them once they went back to the environment from which they came… was born an organisation which offers friendship and support.

Every Wednesday, a group of doctors would meet in Dharavi (one of Asia’s biggest slums) and discuss how to help mothers and reduce infant mortality and malnutrition. They included Dr Armida Fernandez, a neonatologist and former dean of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Medical College, Mumbai and Dr Soans. While Dr Fernandez wanted to set up a structure to offer help, Dr Soans offered to finance it. The sudden demise of Dr Soans may have been a setback, but his wife Patricia decided to fulfil her husband's wish and provided the seed capital to start SNEHA.

SNEHA was born in the Mumbai slum of Dharavi on 27 November 1999—the perfect destination to help address the special needs of nutrition, health and education of women and children, especially newborns, but offering quality and standardised healthcare. The need for Sneha is evident in the statistics.

One out of two children in India is malnourished; 54% of Mumbaikars live in slums and 450 mothers out of every 100,000 die during childbirth. Dr Fernandez was to change these numbers. SNEHA works with poor women to help them understand basics of personal hygiene, importance of breastfeeding, nutrition for expectant mothers and babies. The work begins with adolescent girls, who are told about the ill-effects of early marriage and motherhood. Expectant mothers are also contacted through house visits and group counselling, given lessons in first aid and taught how to help out during childbirth. These activities are conducted under a programme called ‘City Initiative for Newborn Health’.

SNEHA encourages women to work within their ecosystem by using Appreciative Inquiry, a process that explores the power of sharing success stories and positivism. It encourages individuals to look for possible solutions and facilitates behavioural change in a process that has positively changed many lives. Such counselling is offered across its 30 facilities.

In the area of child health and nutrition, SNEHA has initiatives like ‘Aahar’ and ‘Nutrition Day Care Centres’ to deal with child nutrition. Mothers are made aware of nutrition and dietary changes which don’t deviate drastically from the family’s food habits. There is also regular screening to identify children with congenital heart disease and to provide medical assistance.

SNEHA also offers counselling and rehabilitation to victims of domestic violence. Even today, 66% of women face physical & mental harassment in their own homes. These women are encouraged to share their trauma through counselling and group therapy. In most cases, the first step is to get all the parties involved together and interact. If communication doesn’t help, then SNEHA’s volunteers help the woman file a police complaint and take the matter forward.

SNEHA also provides regular health services through OPDs, and also offers holistic healthcare to senior citizens. It encourages senior citizens and young girls to attend activities held at its centres, which also conduct social, recreational and skills-oriented activities and vocational training. These life skills are aimed at helping them earn higher incomes to support themselves and their families.

SNEHA's activities are funded through donations, corporate sponsorship and fund-raising events. Like most NGOs, it requires monetary support as well as volunteers in order to expand its work, especially in the areas of preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child, and sexual harassment at work, for women living in slums.

SNEHA is registered as a voluntary organisation, under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. Contributions are eligible for exemption under the Income Tax Act and the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act for overseas donations.

You can help SNEHA by contacting it at the address below:

SNEHA
Urban Health Centre, 4th floor,
60 Feet Road, Dharavi,
Mumbai 400017
www.snehamumbai.org
Telephone:022- 24042627/24086011


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Stop a nuclear disaster

Our government is churning out one hazardous bill after another. This time it is a bill called the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, and it's coming up for a vote in a couple of days.

The bill lets U.S. corporations off the hook for any nuclear accidents they cause on Indian soil. They'd only have to pay a meagre amount, and Indian taxpayers would be stuck paying crores for the nuclear clean up and to compensate the victims.

Without any public debate, the Prime Minister is appeasing American interests and ignoring our safety.

Greenpeace is launching a petition asking the PM to hold a public consultation before introducing the bill.

I have already signed this petition. Can you join me?

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/stop-the-vote2


Thanks!

People for Social Cause & Silver Inning Foundation


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Online Survey for Review of NPOP (Policy for Older Person)

Dear Friends,

On 8th Dec 2009 the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment (MOSJE), Shri Mukul Wasnik informed about Review of NPOP at National Dementia Strategy, New Delhi.

NPOP was formulated in 1999, but till date it has not been implemented by Central Govt / Pan India, due to various reasons including lack of political will. Various NGO's and activist have been advocating its implementation and review.

During this 10 years the world has changed there has been significant demography change in India's population due globalization and improved medical facility and lifestyle. The fall of joint family system and rise in nuclear family system has brought new dimension to the care and welfare of Elderly. The population of aged people above 60 yrs as on 2009 is estimated at 90 million, i.e. around 8% of total population. According to UN the population of 60+ in 2050 will be around 20%.Life expectancy has increased 60% in last 60 years from 42yrs in 1950 to 69yrs in 2009.There is sharp increase in population of Young Old 60yrs to 69 yrs and Old old 80+. Due to this demand and needs of various age groups have changed. Now it is time for civil society and government to rethink their strategy to address the needs of Senior Citizens.

Silver Inning Foundation in association with Society for Serving Seniors has undertaken a National Online Survey to assess the requirement and need of Senior Citizens.

We request you to click on below link and participate in the National Online Survey for Review of NPOP: http://questionpro.com/t/ADwMaZHLEV

Last Date to participate is 15th April 2010.

The final results with the recommendation will be submitted to MOSJE for welfare of Senior Citizens.

Also share the above URL and promote this survey among your friends and family through Email, groups in which you are a member, via Twitter, Facebook, blog etc

Your support will help the cause of our Elderly.

Thanks.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy

Society for Serving Seniors

Sailesh Mishra

Silver Inning Foundation

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

WWF - Earth Hour , Switch off your lights for one hour on 27th March & SAVE EARTH

At 8:30pm on Saturday, 27 March, lights will go out in homes, office buildings, town halls and public spaces across the globe - from the world's tallest building in Dubai, to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge... and in YOUR living room!

Switch off your lights for one hour. That is all it takes for you to partipate along with millions of people in the single largest mass statement on climate change and be part of WWF's Earth Hour.

Earth Hour is more than just turning off the lights for one hour once a year. When we do this together, when whole cities go dark, we send a strong message to our leaders about the threats of global warming and that we can work together to create a sustainable future for our planet.

Last year, 4,000 cities in 88 countries took part in the international celebration of darkness. This year you can help make it even bigger.

Join the Movement: WWF - Time to switch on to switching off


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Moneylife Foundation Workshop for Women on Finance : 26th March

After the successful Women’s Day celebrations, Moneylife Foundation is happy to announce a second workshop for women on Friday the 26th of March. We are privileged to have Ms Ketaki Jayakar, a well-known advocate who specialises in marital law, as the chief speaker. She has recently released a book titled “A Bunch of Flowers”. Its many interesting stories serve as lessons for what women need to watch out for while securing their financial future within a marriage.

Ms Jayakar’s real-life case studies for women followed by a Moneylife workshop on personal finance are scheduled as follows:

Time: 3 pm to 6 pm Date: Friday, 26th March 2010 Venue: 305, 3rd floor, Hind Service Industries Premises, Off Veer Savarkar Marg, Shivaji Park, Dadar, Mumbai 400028 Landmark: Chaithyabhoomi lane Programme: 3 – 3.10 pm: Welcome and introduction to Moneylife Foundation – Ms Sucheta Dalal 3.10 to 3.45: Talk by Ms Ketki Jayakar. 3.45 to 4.15: Q&A 4.15 to 4.30: High Tea 4.30 to 5.30: Working session on finance for women - Aparna Ramachandra 5.00 to 6.00: Q&A and conclusion.

The workshop is free but please register for the event.

Look forward to meeting you on the 26th.

Regards
Aparna Ramachandra

RSVP: Deepa - 022 - 2444 1058



Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

FREE CAREER GUIDANCE SEMINARS in Mumbai

As a part of our Education Promotion Activity, we are pleased to present CAREER GUIDANCE SEMINARS FOR CONFUSED STUDENTS & THEIR ANXIOUS PARENTS ON:SATURDAY, 20^th March 2010, at 4 PM.

Perhaps the most decisive moments in a students’ life are the times they have to decide upon the future course of action they need to follow in their career. Considering the number of options / courses / streams now available, this task of selection becomes all the more difficult.

Keeping this in mind, our Samaj is pleased to announce a Career Guidance Seminar to enable children take informed decisions and move forward in the right direction. This has been our valued added service to members and their children since last two years & has been highly appreciated by those attending the seminar .Prof. RSS Mani, an eminent Management Educator & Career Planning Specialist will conduct this seminar. He has been a well wisher & active volunteer of our Samaj besides being our SAMAJ SHAKTI awardee for outstanding contribution in the area of Education .

Prof. Mani has been actively involved in Education Management and Career Guidance for over 20 years. Prof. RSS Mani and Associates are professionally associated as consultants to many corporates like L&T, Reliance ,Thomas Cook ,TATA Group to name a few of their clients, offering high quality value added HR solutions. He was also a former full time faculty member of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Prof. Mani and his team are regularly involved in conducting Career Counseling sessions with various institutions, schools, colleges in Mumbai ..He is currently an Advisor-Career Development to SIES institutions & also a visiting professor at TISS.

CAREER GUIDANCE PROGRAM : WHAT NEXT AFTER STD X,XII ?

SUITABLE FOR: STUDENTS OF STANDARD X,XI, XII and FIRST YEAR GRADUATES.

DATE & TIME: SATURDAY, 20^th March 2010, at 4 pm

VENUE: 4^TH FLOOR AUDITORIUM,SHREE HARIHARAPUTRA SAMAJ,‘SHAKARALYAM’, 0FF P.L. LOKHANDE MARG, NEAR CHEMBUR RLY. STATION [WEST]: TEL. NO. 25253764.

ENTRY: FREE BY REGISTRATION.

SEMINAR PLAN : Prof Mani shall outline various career options available for students in the first one hour of the seminar & then answer queries that parents & the students may have over the next ninety minutes

IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED AND IN THE INTEREST OF THE STUDENTS CAREER THAT AT LEAST ONE PARENT BE PRESENT.

FORMS AVAILABLE AT THE OFFICE:For Further details you may reach us on 25253764 or email to profmani@hotmail.com, or hariharaputra@gmail.com

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Every One is a celebrity’

The Free Press Journal has started the drive of ‘Happiness for All’ as Corporate Social Responsibility. The first initiative of ‘Happiness for All’ is the concept of ‘Every One is a celebrity’.

As a part of ‘Every One is a celebrity’ Free Press Journal invites you to share photographs and a brief of every event that is part of your esteemed organization.

Free Press Journal will publish the photographs and the brief absolutely free of cost. The photograph should accompany a brief note on the organization letterhead and duly signed at least by the Head of the Department.

For academic interests, Free Press Journal is 81-year-old newspaper having a circulation of 1,23,330 copies.

Free Press Journal looks forward to your support in making the drive

“Every One is a Celebrity’ successful.

Send in the photographs with necessary details to Ms Qaiser Dalvi at

Publicity Socity Of India.

Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg,

215, Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400021

Tel : +91-22-22874566

Fax :+91-22-22874477

E-mail : hrd@fpj.co.in

Best Regards

Qaiser Dalvi

For Free Press Journal

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

THE 21ST CONVOCATION OF IGNOU

The 21^st Convocation of Indira Gandhi National Open University will be held on March 15, 2010, Monday, at EMPC (Sanchar Kendra), IGNOU Headquarters Campus, New Delhi, at 3 p.m. The main function will be held at the Headquarters and simultaneously at 43 Regional Centres.

Padma Bhushan Prof S K Joshi, former director of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will be the Chief Guest and deliver the Convocation Address. Gold Medals and the Special Awards will be distributed by the Chief Guest at the main function. After the function at the Headquarters, the Guests of Honour at the 43 Regional Centres will address the Convocation in the respective regions.

The Convocation will be telecast live on Gyan Darshan. The function will also be broadcast and webcast live on the Gyan Vani and IGNOU Website, respectively.

Degrees and Diplomas will be distributed between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The student must produce his/her IGNOU Identity Card in person at the time of collection.

In this Convocation, 1,33,624 students are eligible to get their Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates. Gold Medals will be awarded to 66 students for Degrees and Diplomas. There will be Special Awards in four categories :Prof G. Ram Reddy Memorial Gold Medal, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award (Cash), CEMCA Award (Cash), and Professor Grover Award (Cash) for a physically challenged eligible student.

Approximately, 24,000 students will receive their Degrees and Diplomas in person. Of them, about 6,000 students will receive their Degrees and Diplomas at the IGNOU Headquarters and about 18,000 will receive their Degrees and Diplomas at the respective Regional Centres.

The 43 Regional Centres, where the 21^st Convocation will be held, are :

1. Agartala,

2. Ahmedabad,

3. Aizwal,

4. Aligarh,

5. Bangalore

6. Bhopal

7. Bhubaneswar

8. Chandigarh

9. Chennai

10. Cochin

11. Darbhanga

12. Dehradun

13. Gangtok

14. Guwahati

15. Hyderabad

16. Imphal

17. Itanagar

18. Jabalpur

19. Jaipur

20. Jammu

21. Karnal

22. Khanna

23. Kohima

24. Kolkata

25. Koraput

26. Lucknow

27. Madurai

28. Mumbai

29. Nagpur

30. Panaji

31. Patna

32. Port Blair

33. Pune

34. Rajkot

35. Raipur

36. Ranchi

37. Shillong

38. Shimla

39. Siliguri

40. Srinagar

41. Thrivandum

42. Varanasi

43. Vijayawada

416 learner are eligible to receive their degrees and Diplomas from Mumbai region. The convocation of the regional centre will be held at the auditorium of Kelkar Collge, Mulund East where, Dr. M.R.Kurup, Eminent Educationist will be the Guest of Honour.

Posted by : rcmumbai@ignou.ac.in


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.