Friday, February 08, 2013

ADOPT A SOUL

As many of you already know, Aurovalley runs a educational program called Adopt a Soul which provides a safe space for children to learn, grow and play in a supportive environment.

Currently about 30 children, between the ages of 4-8, come to Aurovalley six days a week from the surrounding village of Raiwala. Our three teachers, Rakhi, Ritu and Ujita, try their best to establish a learning and loving environment for these children. Occasionally guests of the ashram will volunteer their time at the school and that's always a nice treat for the kids.

As some of you may know, I Puja, have been volunteering my time to help over-see this program and have developed a few new strategies that I believe will help the children to grow in many ways.

One new tool is, each week the teachers will be given three to four English words which they will teach to all the children. This will then be followed by an art workshop incorporating the words so the kids don't forget them. This past week was our first try. One of the words was pig so with the help of a guest, we made pig snouts (she did most of the hard labour) and the kids then got to paint them any colour they wished. It was a fun afternoon, although a little messy, but the kids seemed to enjoy getting their hands dirty and doing something different. [Pictures below]

We have also established a program to get the kids motivated and excited about learning. Everday the teachers will give a checkmark to those students who were well behaved (shared with others, listened to the teachers, participated in class, etc.) tried hard with their school work and made improvements from the day before. At the end of the week, the top three students will get a prize from the 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place bag, respectively.

To sustain these new programs and keep the children thriving is where our Aurovalley family comes in! 

If you would like to contribute to a bright future for the children of Aurovalley you can do so by participating in our Adopt a Soul program. This program includes all aspects of sustaining and improving the school including providing transport for the children to get to and from Aurovalley safely, educational and art supplies for the school, developing and maintaining educational programs, salary for the teachers, and funds to reconstruct the original school building.

How to Participate?

1. Contribution to Aurovalley (All donations are exempt from income tax under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, and can be made by cash, money order, check, or deposited in favor of Aurovalley Ashram Society)

SWIFT No.: CNRBINBBKFD
Intermediary bank of NY: ABA 021000018
Corresponding Bank: Bank of New York, New
York (BONY)
Account Details: Aurovalley Ashram Society
SB A/C No. 2225101004969
Canara Bank (Hardwar Code 2225)
Railway Road, Hardwar - Uttrakhand - INDIA
Beneficiary Bank: Canara Bank of Kanpur

2. On-line: Those of you who feel comfortable can contribute by clicking on the donate button below which will take you directly to my, Puja Uppal's paypal account. I will then be transfering the funds directly to Aurovalley.

3. With Materials: Suppling school materials, art items, didactic and sport games, etc.

 If you would like to know more about this program please email us at aurovalley@gmail.com

Thank you to all in advance!


"The most precious gift you can give to a child is the love of learning." The Mother


Lily and teacher Rakhi help the kids paint their snouts
Rakhi helps one of the girls put on her snout




Little pigs


Sarah putting in the desks and chairs in the playroom (we're using the playroom as a classroom until the school gets built)
Group picture