Evening school in 2011

Thanks to benefactors, our 42 children have had a very happy and eventful year 2011. Through the big love and care of our staff - Hema and Nadhiya, they are daring to dream big, giving wings to latent creativity and blooming as dynamic persona.

1. Picnic
During the annual holidays (May 2011), 26 children of ages 10 and above were taken on a one day long sight seeing trip to World famous tourist spots in Kanyakumari. The photos of the children, enjoying themselves at the waterfalls and other places, speak more than words. Their wildest dream had come true!

At Thirparappu Water Falls
Thirparappu falls, located at a distance of 5 kms from Kulasekaram is a natural beauty spot that attracts many tourists. It has a small pool for children to swim and enjoy. All our children cooled off the summer heat in the pool and the chilling water falls with cheerful enthusiasm.

Mathur Bridge
Asia’s biggest water bridge at Mathur across the river Parazhiyar and the trough canal(Pattanamkal canal-240 feet ht,1 km long). Constructed in 1969 as a drought relief measure and for the development of agriculture, it has also become a place of tourist importance. The local significance and beauty of the surroundings from the top of the bridge enthralled our children. Knowledge and fun seemed to be the mantra of the day!

Vivekananda Rock & Mahathma Ghandi Mandabam
Swami Vikekananda meditated on this rock, taking in the whole of India as it were, from that vantage point. At the end of three days and nights, the monk found enlightenment on his life’s mission: to arouse the nation from its dismal slumber of a thousand years of slavery and rediscover its past glory. Thus was born on that rock, Swami Vivekananda- the spiritual teacher, prophet and patriot-monk of modern India. The rock became doubly blessed. Our children too meditated and had fun in the cool blue waters at the confluence of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. They also visited Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (Gandhi's ashes had been immersed in the sea waters of Kanyakumari); Padmanabhapuram Palace (ancient capital of Travancore); children's park; Valluvar statue (Valluvar- immortal poet of Tamilnadu and author of the Thirukkural). They were amazed to visit the Wax Museum in the city of Baywatch. The museum houses all the important figures of the Indian History as well as the world history in wax form (Swami Vivekananda, politician Benazir Bhutto, singer M.S.Subbulakshmi, Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, actor Amitabh Bachchan, actor Jackie Chan etc). The wax figures are realistic and the Wax Museum is reminiscent of its famous counterpart in London.

2. Provision of materials
In December 2011 we had supplied stationary items to our children like color pens, crayon pencils, Markers, Drawing Sheets, Drawing outline sheet sets, Notebooks, etc. and Teaching AID Kits to our staff for the next quarter. Donations have been used to provide evening Milk and snacks to our children (rava uppma with vegetables). Our children have shown their creativity through crafts and drawings. It is heartening to see our kids who pick flowers to earn Rs.10 per day for their family, are choosing and picking tools to express their creative energy.

3. ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Our staff teach the students from evening 5 p.m. till 9 p.m. Children sit in groups according to their classes and the teacher teaches the different groups from class 1 to 10. Last academic year 8 of our students secured 1st rank, 6 secured 2nd rank, 7 secured 3rd rank in their respective classes. The children who used to fail all subjects have improved considerably passing in 4 out of 5 subjects. Saravanan, a boy from our evening school family secured 1st rank in our taluka (administrative sub division under a district), ahead of children from 600 other schools. He has been awarded by member of legislative assembly, district officials and offered free residential education in the junior college at CARMEL (a prestigious private educational institute).

4. HAPPY NEW YEAR
Apart from the above highlights, our children are also taught academic classes, keyboard practice and 'basics of computer' classes on a daily basis. They enjoy creating posters and greeting cards on weekends. Our latest update ends with New Year Wishes from our children to all our well-wishers! May 2012 be the best year yet of your life!