Happy tidings

Our kids have proved themselves again :-)

Pragadeesh of Class 6 secured "High Distinction".

Dharini, Ameen, Basha and Dhanapriya of Class 6 have secured "Distinction" in a recently concluded assessment in Mathematics for Indian Schools by the UNSW Global, The University of New South Wales, Australia.

We are proud to be part of their achievement.

An inspiring visit to cherish forever…

Personal experience shared by Mr. Ruben Rajagopalan from Eindhoven, The Netherlands regarding his visit to the Gurukulam School on January 03, 2011.

An inspiring visit to cherish forever…

It’s with a great feeling of happiness, humility and gratitude, I am sharing my inspiring experience during my visit to Gurukulam, a Trust Children School on January 3rd, 2011. I wish to sincerely thank my friends from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, whose support, prayers and wishes are behind this testimonial.

In a world filled with a multitude of contrasts, children belonging to economically under-privileged backgrounds pay the highest price for no fault of theirs. Education and other facilities which to some of us is easily accessible, and sometimes even a luxury, to many others remains only a dream that perhaps never really turns into a reality. The Trust Children team and their Gurukulam School at Panayur, Chennai have been creating miracles and making a difference since 2004, to ensure those dreams turn into reality for a few children (143 children as on date). With their strong determination and dedication, since their inception their vision has always aimed to provide, for FREE, their children with education (in English medium), Text and note-books, Uniforms, Lunch, Extra-curricular activities (Karate, Yoga), and Medical & Dental care.

My association with them began informally mainly thanks to Mr. Harsh Kulkarni and friends at ASHA, Eindhoven. Thanks to the efforts of some of my friends from Eindhoven, we were extremely happy to raise funds as a contribution that will benefit the annual cost of education and travel of Ms. Sureatha for the academic year 2011-2012, who is current in her LKG Grade (LowerKinderGarten).

After all the discussions via email and phone, it was a wonderful feeling to finally get to visit their campus and meet the volunteers and the hildren. The enthusiasm and happiness of the children was great to see. We visited them on the first day of the school after the holiday break, and the children were buzzing with excitement to get back to their lessons and school activities. Mrs. Shubha Subramaniam, the Principal, was very happy to show us around the Campus, and the class rooms, and also interact with the children of the VI standard. We shared lively moments with the kids talking about various interests, discussions ranging from Sciences, Karate, Movies, …, and the current hype about the Cricket World Cup being hosted in India in February. We wished them the very best for their future, and handed over our donations, and left the campus, after what was a great inspiring day, and a wonderful beginning to 2011.



On behalf of my friends in Eindhoven, I’d like to extend my gratitude and support to the team of Trust Children for all their wonderful efforts, and the very best wishes for the future.

I’ve uploaded all the pictures taken during my visit here. For any additional information, feel free to reach me via email at zenben@gmx.de.

Kind regards,
Ruben and his friends from Eindhoven.

When I went back to school…

“Remember…bus will leave at 8:30 sharp – be ready in the morning” Captain reminded me like a school headmaster. Any why not, it was ages since I went to school in a school bus. Come next morning, like a good student, guess what I was among the first one in the bus with the first and second grade Gurukulam students. Little did I knew, I was in for a big surprise that morning…

The moment I enter the bus, I see these little angles welcoming me like an old friend – I hear a chorus - “Good Morning Sir. Please come and have a seat next to me…” I was literally taken off guard by the confidence and the boldness of these tiny little kids. I was telling myself I was the most shy kid around at that age, and here are the bunch of kids who were literally assaulting me with their confidence! I took a seat next to Pavithra and asked her about her favorite poem, and guess what; the next opera was the “Boogie Woogie” rhyme. If this was less, Asmitha shouted “I like Cinderella story – do you want to hear it?” Pleasantly surprised, I nodded and next 20 minute ride witnessed a chorus on “Cinderella”, “Snow white” and the “Golden Axe” stories. I just couldn’t believe that these kids are first generation learners speaking so fluently to even take a native speaker by surprise. With such a roller coaster ride, I never realized we had already reached the school.

With an assembly of 143 students from LKG to 6^th grade, roared with National Anthem during the weekly National Flag hoisting ceremony. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Vice Principal distributing gifts to the birthday kids during the assembly. In no time, students were back in class and school was buzzing with activity. As I enter the first grade, I’m greeted with “Good Morning Sir!” I couldn’t help noticing the artistic “English” on the blackboard with “E” beautifully morphed as a cute little cat. My curiosity zooms and I ask “Who has drawn this beautiful cat?” Quick comes the reply “It’s our English teacher. I can also draw it.” I gesture Aishwarya and with a confident stoke of hand, she mirrors the exact ‘painting’. Not to mention, I was really surprised to see this from a first grader.

I can go on and on with similar surprises throughout the day, but there is one particular incident which I can never forget my life. Its grade 6 and thought for the day on the blackboard is “Dare to do the right, fear to do the wrong”. Interesting I said and asked “Can anyone explain me the meaning of this thought?” I knew this was tricky for anyone to explain, but given the days experience I’d started to expect the unexpected now. Guess what, Pragadeesh summarizes it all – “When you do the right, you should come forward!”

The comment from Pragadeesh really made my day. I’ve been visiting Gurukulam since its humble beginning in 2004 with 20 students and a handful of volunteers who shared Captain’s vision of “breaking the viscous cycle of poverty-manual labor by empowerment through education to the under privileged”. With 143 students and a dedicated staff of 6 teachers and an academic advisor, Gurukulam has come a long way. What really amazes me is the fluency in English of these children and more importantly, the confidence these kids have developed. Hats off to the dedicated teachers, especially in an environment where the children are first generation learners.

I met Captain later in the say with some awe and he is quick to add ”We have come a long way and still have a long way to go. Lets get back to work!” It is with some sense of pride, I sign off my visit signing up for the next mission – raising $12,000 for the construction of upcoming science laboratory. Looks like an upheaval task, but as they say a thousand mile journey starts with a single step…I hope to catch up Gurukulam students working at the lab during my next visit… :-)

Our Talented Children

Our children had a colorful Rangoli Day :-)

They are so talented...what started as a Rangoli competition for the 4th 5th and 6th grades on the 4th Nov, ended up as an eye opener for all of us...Our children are very talented :-)

The school house "Tiger" won the competition with their "India" under Ms Hasan

The school house "Whales" came a close runner up with their "Lord Ganesh" under Mrs Grace Lilly.

Mr Ravikrishnan our Committee Member, Mr Murali our Karate instructor and Mr Vajaravelu our Yoga instructor were the judges.

Way to go children... :-)

Parents Teachers Meet

Mrs Shuba Subramaniam our Academic Advisor, Mr Ravikrishnan our Committee Member along with Ms Shabana and Mr Parvez our Vice Principals' conducted the Parents Teachers meet on the 23rd Oct 2010.

The importance of bringing the children on time to school, not being absent unless due to a medical condition, the importance of helping the child with a conducive atmosphere at home were all reiterated.

The parents then had a look at their children's art work and were ALL SMILES :-)

Another BIG Heart :-)

Mrs Meera along with our Academic Advisor Mrs Shuba Subramaniam took a very different class for our children on 23rd Oct 2010.

Mrs Meera joined in as a volunteer and taught the children to make

1) paper bags

and 2) Vegetable salads

...after which all the children enjoyed some delicious salads :-)

Mrs Meera also spoke about the importance of vegetables in the daily diet.

Thank you Mrs Meera :-)

Children's Day

The program started with a prayer by the girls of class VI

There were a myriad of shows from the teachers and the students…a truly memorable children’s day

Dhanapriya and Pragadeesh of Class VI were the MCs’ for the day

1. It started with a colourful fancy dress competition – Farah of Class II took everyone’s heart away as “Avvaiyar”. There were a galore of policemen, doctors, engineers and more :-)
2. UKG sang their rhymes…as cutely as only they can.
3. Followed by songs from Class IV and V
4. Mr Abul, our Math teacher came forward with mimicry.
5. Class II came out with 2 dances…”Alekra” from “Kanthasami” and “ooh lala”
6. To beat that, class VI came out with “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” :-)
7. Not to be outdone, Rahamath Bhee our caretaker came out with a Tamil song…we are getting to know how talented our staff are!
8. It gets even better with a Puppet Show from our Yoga Teacher.
9. Then came a group song by all the teachers with Ms Shabana and Ms Hasan dressed up as school children :-) They literally stole evryone’s heart in the program…
10. To top the program the teachers put up a dance show! Ms Hasan, Ms Shabana and Ms Sujatha put up a lovely dance together…

Now came the games…truly a happy children’s day :-)

Musical chairs, Blind fold pot breaking, Lucky Dip, Ball in the basket….and on and on. Just loads of fun for the children on Children’s Day.

Kudos to Mr Abul for putting together one of the most memorable evenings...

Sanjay Shetty runs the Philadelphia Marathon for Gurukulam Children

Sanjay V Shetty who regularly sponsors the annual education of Mstr. Khadar Hussain, a VI Std. child at Trust Children's Gurukulam School, has taken a big step forward in supporting the entire School by running the Philadelphia Marathon. Like all marathons sanctioned by USA Track & Field, the Philadelphia Marathon is 26.2 miles (42.16 kilometers), and Sanjay will run this stretch on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 urging all his supporters, friends, and fans to support the education for the underprivileged children at Gurukulam School.

The staff and children of Gurukulam School are extremely thankful to Sanjay for representing us and for taking the effort to spread the message. We request all our sponsors, friends, and well wishers to support Sanjay and help him make a difference to the lives of the children at Gurukulam. Below are a few words from Sanjay himself.


Hi:

I am Sanjay V Shetty and I am running the Philadelphia Marathon on 21st November, 2010 for the underprivileged children at Gurukulam School, a Trust Children Organization.

I strongly believe that each and every child has the right to pursue a life filled with happiness. While education is a critical tool in this life long pursuit, not all children are privileged to get it. Trust Children, with its FREE education, offers this opportunity to underprivileged kids. The Trust has worked hard for many years to bring happiness to over a hundred children and it continues to alter life at an early age in a meaningful way.

Being an investment professional, I believe that Trust Children is an efficient channel for privileged donors to support this cause. Since all administrative costs are borne by Trust Children Trustees and Committee Members, every penny of your contribution reaches the Gurukulam children directly. This makes Trust Children an ideal medium for me to give and help. And I invite you to join me and the hard working team at Trust Children to take this forward.

I am reaching out to invite you all to join me in this worthy cause. Please use the link below to donate to Trust Children via Gurukulam, Inc, a registered non-profit in the United States. Donations to Gurukulam Inc are tax exempt as per section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 100% of the funds received by Gurukulam Inc in the US is transferred to Trust Children.

I greatly appreciate your generosity.

For any additional information, please visit the Trust Children website, or you can also reach me directly at svshetty@gmail.com or 215.760.0313.

Best Regards,

Sanjay V. Shetty
Philadephia, USA