Two Events Jul9 and 16, 2018 -- Heart fullness of Joy

Two events in a space of one week gave tons of happiness and joy ---

The first was the annual Ford Rotary Digital Literacy Initiative event at which Ford announced the donation of 1500 Laptops ( yes only Laptops ) to more than 100 schools that were identified by various Rotary Clubs . Every year , this being a key event for the Rotary club of Madras South ( I am Rotarian from this club ) , there is a whole lot of effort made to make the event a great success .  This year , the event was made different to previous years because of the following :

1.      We gave away laptops at the event itself  to select clubs – this was possible because till last year there were desktops and being bulky could not be donated at the event . The recipients joy was no bound

2.      We had a video that covered the journey of this program for the past ten years – it was amazing to see the spread of the program starting locally in Chennai and reaching out to all parts of India covering the length and breadth of the country. This reach would not have been possible without the Rotary Club’s help and certain other NGO’s that had Pan India presence. It was also very impactful to see the children dabbling with the laptops.

3.      Stunning amongst the felicitation speakers was the quick talk by the President of the Tamilnadu Disability Foundation – he talked about how the laptops were giving great amount of mobility to people with Physical challenges – Using the laptops , they work from home to learn software or prepare for competitive exams . he talked about one girl who could not move out of her home but thanks to the laptop prepared herself from home and now is a Tahsildhar ( Revenue officer in Govt )

That was just outstanding .

Each year this event and subsequent distribution of the Computers that takes place goes to improve the digital literacy by leaps and bounds.

The second event was the celebration event to commemorate the completion of 200 surgeries to Children suffering from Congenital heart disease ( CHD ). The project was started a year back with Funding support from Ford , Rotary Club of Pasadena and Rotary International and the TN CM Insurance scheme

The day started with a visit to Soorya Hospital ( where the surgeries are performed ) We were greeted by children who have recovered post surgery and had come to thank Dr Prashan Shah( this whole project cannot happen without him ) and the Rotary Club members ( we had our Partner Club from Pasadena California who visited just for this all the way – they contributed to the Global Grant funding that funded these surgeries ). As each of the parent came up and thanked and talked about how life was given back to their children , it was a poignant moment – we listened to over five to six parents talk about their ordeal of saving the child , running from pillar to post till they were guided to Dr Shah who made sure that the child was made healthy and could lead a normal life. We then had a Celebration event  in the evening where Dr Prashant Shah was conferred the “ Distinguished Service Award “ by the Rotary Club of Madras South for his services . You must know that Dr Shah has done over 4500 surgeries and each one of them a lifesaving one . Dr Shah has totally dedicated himself to this cause being qualified medically to do the surgeries .  The event has the member from Pasadena Club as well as representation from Ford

Just a nice warm feeling about being able to serve and seeing the results of the service !  Lot of contentment and happiness --