Impactful Contributions

Early in March  of this year , two events that I attended on behalf of Ford brought great happiness and smiles , Cheer , Joy and so much optimism.

Just to give background , Ford distributes” End of Life Computers” to needy organisations – these could be schools , colleges , NGO ‘s across India  . Rotary is their partner in identifying the need and ensuring that the deployment takes place and the Computers are used only what it is meant for  . Over the last several years , this program has been a great success, benefitted many and given access to those who may have never been  able to access or touch a Computer. Several impactful stories can be narrated on the benefits of this project.

With that background , my first stop was at a school in North Chennai – an areas that has its own challenges –  rusty background , low or nil income levels , people living on daily wages , closeness to Port and its impact on the society and lack of good , quality schools that can make a big change in the lives of many in this area. And Ford and Rotary found a school in this midst,  that was doing wonderful service. Earlier with help from Ford  , the school had set up an Computer Lab,  that  allows access to close to 950 children from Class 1 to work with Computers. If one thought that this  was first big step , the  event this time , the Inauguration of the English lab took it to the next level . One of our Senior Most Rotarian and past District Governor was the Chief guest. We were amazed at the way the set up was done. With support from an Education firm ( which has the E learning Content ) , the kids were learning the Curriculum ,through Demos , simulation and tests on the PC --  each of the kids had a headset and can do his lessons independent of his class mates. The kids were so excited at the E learning opportunity. They showed us their mastery over the system and took us through various learning modules. Interaction with the school kids  was just lovely. The school is run by a selfless retiree and his only mission in life is to give education to these kids who cannot afford it and do not have access to it. Those who know North Chennai  and the area will know how important is to get quality education and how it can change lives in a meaningful way

The second event was at an NGO that conducts a two year training program  for Women to become a Nursing Professional. I was wondering , as to how they would leverage Computers. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had done something very similar to the school that set up the English lab. Working with various Associations in India and abroad , the managing team had downloaded several texts and videos ( with license fees paid ) that can be viewed by the Nursing students. Again , the excitement amongst the students who were using the Computers was a joy to watch.

The events happened over a Friday and Saturday and the happiness that I carried through that week end was remarkable.

There are lot of things that we do but the joy is in seeing things getting rolled out  and  the  ultimate impact that it has to the larger world . I saw this in both the events . The benefit was so evident. Joy of seeing this was abundant and you feel happy  that the right thing is being done .