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Ayyavaarigudem Activity Report
It is said, "Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a
lifetime." This is precisely what our brothers from Saroor
Nagar did, in accordance with our beloved Bhagwan’s teachings;
they have inculcated, in tens of youth & children, the good
habits Swami wants to see in each and every one of us. Below
account is not limited to incidents that happened in a day or a
week or a month; thousands of man-hours spread over several
months have given shape to the results that are visible today.
Not many would have heard about
Ayyavaarigudem about 60 km from Hyd on the Hyd-Sagar
highway, save the long-term sustainable activity taken up by Sai
Yuvak in this remote village. When our brothers first visited
the village almost a year ago as part of the Gurukula Seva
Yagnam, there was a lot to be done in bringing up the village
and school infrastructure to acceptable levels.
At first it started with laying the
pipelines for the water tanker which the government had
constructed. This straight away gave respite to many thirsty
families by bringing precious water to their doorsteps. As soon
as the task was completed the villagers wanted a gate
constructed for the only Govt. Primary School in that area.
Our brothers also observed that there was no kitchen to prepare
food for the 120 odd children under the mid-day meals program.
Immediately, a kitchen was constructed. Not only that,
the entire premises was white-washed. Inauguration of the same
was done on Feb 27, 2005. Villagers refer to this day in their
conversations as the day when Swami came to their village.
The most important part of the activity-
leaving the Sai Mark on the children did call for some strong
willed Sevadal, not that the children were difficult but the
task required our brothers to travel to the village every
weekend for close to 6 months (60 km away…in case it skipped
the eye the first time). They used to conduct Math, Sciences and
English classes for 10th grade students and Commerce
and English classes for Inter (11th and 12th)
Students. Personality development courses were also conducted;
not to forget Vedam, Suprabhatam and Yoga were also taught. And
the efforts did not go in vain, the result of this is:
-
 100%
of 10th grade students cleared the board exams, first time
ever!
-
They are now a motivated bunch that play
a lead role in shaping up the future of the village and the
villagers, young and old alike
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Bhajans are conducted in the village
every Thursday - Children in the village not only sing
Bhajans, but lead them
This May (2005) a 15 day camp was
conducted in Saroor Nagar Mandir for the 10th and
Inter students, 32 in number. It used to start at 4 am with
Suprabhatam and end at 9pm. Activities in the camp included, but
not limited to, lessons on Spoken English; Life after 10th;
visit to the Railway station, General Post Office, high-tech
city, software MNC; Salarjung Museum, etc…all this to make them
worldly-wise. They also did in-depth study of Ramayana! Yes, all
this in 15 days flat!! If one questions the benefit of the
camp, it can be summarized by what Kiran Kumar, a class 10
student said, "When we came here we were like a herd of sheep
and now we are going back like Tigers, full of confidence and
dynamism"
  These
32 students after going back to the village voluntarily took
ownership of about 3 children each. They communicate with each
other in English and try to learn from each other…hats-off to
them! One of the most commendable achievements of the little
soldiers is, looking at the children some of the elders in the
village stopped smoking. The transformation is to the extent
that they now refuse to take any help from Sai brothers, in turn
they volunteer to come for service activities in other
villages…Mission Accomplished!!
 Apart
from the above activities Medical and Veterinary camps were
conducted in the village with follow-up activity completed. 8
year old B.N Reddy had a dramatic turn of events in his life
when an artificial hand was fitted; he is a very bright student
and now can pursue his studies and other daily activities with
ease. One of the 10th class students, Lava Kumar, is
being admitted in a private college in Hyd; Bugga Rao, who was
initially educating the children in the village is pursuing Law
and our brothers are counseling him for furthering his studies
and career.
 All
the children and elders alike are very eager to physically see
Swami and get his blessings. Swami, pray you bless them all
with your Darshan-Sparshan-Sambhashan. Dearest Mother, bless us
all with more such opportunities in the future too.
Jai Sai Ram
Source:
Hyderabadcityyouth Yahoo! Group
Sent on 24 June 2005
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