It was a delightful moment for Lumbini kids as they performed for Season of Love. Around 2500 children from care centre and Homes were brought to St. Bede`s Anglo Indian School ground to share and celebrate the festive season. Children of Lumbini presented to the crowd a dance performance. They depicted the manger scene and another group of kids danced along with Uncle Santa for the Tamil version of Jingle Bells. Their performance was greatly appreciated by the crowd. This was the first time for the kids to perform in such big stage and in front of such vast crowd. The kids also enjoyed the evening viewing other performance.

It was a colourful day at Lumbini. The guests for the day were Mr.Ravichandran, Chairman – True Value Homes, Ms. Akhila Srinivasan, MD Shriram Life and Fr. Jegath Gaspar, MD, Goodwill Communications Ltd.
The children presented a short cultural program followed by prize distribution.
The Annual Report is as follows:
LUMBINI SQUARE
TRANSIT SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
ANNUAL DAY REPORT
The vision owes to Mr.Ravichandran, Chairman – True Value Homes who earnestly believed that children of his workforce receive education and dignity.

Give Life – Lumbini Square Transit School began its mark in November 2007. The seed of the project was sown in August when the site was visited and interactions with parents began. A teacher Ms. Varalakshimi who can interact in Hindi and Telugu and Ms. Manimegalai care taker and cook were appointed. After continuous meetings with parents and children the classes began at the school building on November 5, 2007. The inauguration was marked by lighting the kuthuvillaku by Mr. Ravi Chandran, Chairman TVH and Fr. Jegath Gaspar, MD, Goodwill Communications Ltd. Following it children were distributed with uniform and school kit, sweets were also distributed.

Regular classes began from then on. The routine schedules of the school were morning assembly at 9 am. Followed by inspection where their uniforms were checked and House points were provided for well turned student’s house. The students are divided in to 5 houses namely Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Pink for which there is a house captain. The captains ensured the cleanliness and discipline of their house members. After this they move on for classes. At 11 am there is a break when they are provided with Health drink / Idly’s made from health mix powder. Classes continue after the break and they go home for lunch at 1pm and come back for classes at 2 pm. For the break at 4 pm they are provided with green gram / peas / chick peas / black eyed beans which are cooked in healthy and delicious way. In the evenings they play group games and go back home at 6 pm when their parents return from work.

Initially 35 students enrolled themselves. As the students were from different cultural and ethnic background the first month was spent in their formation. English was selected as the common medium for teaching. By end of November oral learning of simple rhymes, English alphabets, and numbers from 1 to 10 began. Listening skills were motivated by reading and explaining short stories. Diwali a very special occasion for North Indians was celebrated by distributing sweets.

Medical camp was conducted in December where children were screened and special attention with medicine was provided to needy children. Dr. Rajendran along with his team of doctors which included Dr. Jothi, Dr. Hema Anand, Dr. Latha and Dr. Leema conducted the assessments. On December 24, 2007 Christmas was celebrated by sharing of cakes and sweets. Notebooks and stationery were distributed to them.

From January teaching level was increased by applying activity based techniques using charts, spell board, building blocks, counting beads, etc. Focus was provided to writing alphabets in upper and lower cases. Pongal was celebrated on January 14, 2008 when Pongal was distributed and importance of the day was explained to them. Republic day was celebrated on January 26, 2008 where Ms. Varlakshmi hoisted the flag and delivered the republic day speech. Sweets were distributed to celebrate the day.

In February teaching was extended to general knowledge like names of fruits, animals, national leaders, mode of transports etc. Writing was shifted from alphabets to words. Second and third level rhymes were simultaneously taught. The focus was to improve their drawing skills.

By then the students strength raise to 50 so the class was divided into two sections and a new teacher Ms. Esther was appointed. In March the first oral and written test was conducted in categories of rhymes, numbers, G.K, drawing and story telling in which students performed well.

Parents – teachers meeting were conducted periodically to discuss the child’s growth and to emphasise the role of parents. Medical camp was conducted in March where follow up for children was provided. Dr. Rajendran along with his team of doctors which included Dr.Latha and Dr. Leema conducted the camp.

By April the students’ strength raised up to 70. During April and May concentration was more on academics where they learned names of common objects, basic facts about India. By end of May annual exam was planned. The exam dates were announced and question paper was prepared. The exam was conducted in 5 categories such as English, Mathematics, General Knowledge, Drawing and Story telling.

Sports day was held on May 30, 2008. Children actively participated in events such as running race, frog race, sack race, potato gathering etc. and enjoyed the day. Refreshments were provided for them after the event.

Teachers at Lumbini not only provide their service to children but to their parent’s as well. Pregnant mothers are referred to nearby hospitals by them. Sometimes they take them to the hospitals. Government Health Workers visit the school where they provide vaccination to children and mothers. Teachers act as translators between them.

These are the activities that took place at Lumbini suqare from November 2007 – June 2008.

We are grateful to the following individuals for making these happen. Firstly we thank Mr. Ravi Chandran for providing us such a comfortable environment. We extend our thanks to Mr. Karthik, site in charge and all staffs of Lumbini squre who support each and every activity conducted here. We extend our gratitude to Dr. Rajendram and his medical team for their constant support. We warmly thank our student’s parent who has greatly supported us. Last but not the least we thank our accomplished Staff Ms. Varalakshmi, Ms. Esther, Ms. Manimegalai and Ms. Meera for their tireless work.

Thank you.

Tamil Maiyam announced the "GiveLife Chennai Marathon," a half marathon which will be held on August 31 in support of GiveLife project.
Member of Parliment, Ms. Kanimozhi, declared the registration and the preprations open at a press conference here on Wednesday.
The total prize money for the run is Rs. 50 lakh with the men`s and women`s winners receiving Rs. 10 lakh each.
The Athletics Federation of India and the Tamil Nadu Athletics Association approved event will have National Champions like Kashinath Aswale, Santhosh Kumar and Preeti L. Rao participating.
The run will also be used to identify talent from Tamil Nadu for the 2010 Common Wealth Games in New Delhi.
The half marathon will take place in the Men (21.09Km), Women (21.09Km), The Great Chennai Run (7Km), Jill Jil Chennai Run (5Km), Veterans` Run (4Km) and the Wheel Chair Run (3Km) Categories.
There will be four special caregories - Theme Run for corporates, colleges and Schools, Best Costume Run, Run for a cause for NGO`s, Trusts and Voluntary Groups, and corporate / Institutional Special Group Running for team building.

Give Life – Tamil Maiyam – Don Bosco Vazhikatti
JEYPATHU NIJAM
A Motivational and Guidance program for exam going 10th Standard students at Dharmapuri district, February 22, 2008.

The program was held at Dharmapuri the district which records the lowest literacy rate of the state with 59% (2001 census). High Female infanticide is also prevalent in the district. Hence the motivational program for 10th students was a needful one. The program was held at Don Bosco College ground at Sogathur, Dharmapuri district.

The Program:

On February 22, 2008, the whole of Dharmapuri was getting active as students gathered in the venue. The buses with volunteers picked up the children from their schools to the venue. They were registered and the program kit was distributed to them.

The program began by 10.30 am by prayer song followed by a short cultural presentation by Don Bosco college students. The guests of the day were Mr. Samuel, Joint Director Rural Development, Dharmapuri and Mr. P.Raju CEO, Dharmapuri. The guests inaugurated the program by their inspiring speech.

The sessions for the day began by 11.30 am. The first speaker was Mr. Maria Louis, Staff Don Bosco teachers training institute on motivation enhancement. It was continued by Mr. Stalin an experienced Mathematics teacher. He briefly went through the syllabus focusing on easy scoring topics; this helped the students to learn mathematics in a simple way. Following it Mr. Allonsou Edward, experienced Science teacher discussed the subject helping the students to focus the important parts. Mr. John Maichel spoke on the importance of English subject to score more; he also focused on the easy way to learn grammar.

Finally the students were provided with a short examination tips and they viewed the exhibition charts on Carrier Guidance. Food was distributed to them after which they returned to their schools by bus.

The program was a vital one for such rural students. A total of 4950 students in which 2654 were boys and 2296 were girls attended the program. They were totally from 22 Schools at Dharmapuri district. The sharing by students and teachers who attended the program brought out that such a program was organized for the first time and was very useful for them as they are facing their exams with in a month’s time.

The medical camp was conducted on 05.01.08 where ateam of 21 doctors including Pediatrician, Physician, Obstetrician, Dentist, Dermatologist and genral Surgeon attended. Investigations like Hemoglobin, ECG, USG abdomen, Urine sugar, Albumin and Blood sugar were done. About 845 villagers benifited from the camp. Required medicines and refarrals were done.

There are jugalbandhis and jugalbandhis. Many of them feature some of the best artistes in different traditions. What marked the way the two performed, was the absolute lack of ego on both their parts. They gave prominence to melody, short alaaps, and raga choice. Here in this jugalbandhi, two equals didn`t just sing , but they brought out the pulsating divinity that a voice can bring to a composition.
Give Life bows to all those filled the auditorium to bursting capacity and supported the cause.