Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Bhumi's FIRST!!!

Bhumi is a youth volunteer non-profit organisation that has been providing supplementary education to underprivileged children in and around Chennai. Many of you might not know that three years back, Bhumi failed! Yes…Due to the lack of structure in teaching, the founders of Bhumi were asked to quit teaching at an orphanage in Chennai. But that definitely wasn’t de-motivating! They came back, if not with a bang, but with a basic outline of the curriculum and started teaching at two other orphanages. The group then comprising less than ten active volunteers took turns to teach twice during weekends. Bhumi has come a long way since then!

150 vibrant youngsters teach English, Computers, Maths and Science, and provide career counseling at eight orphanages [including the one Bhumi founders were sent out of :-)], seven community centres and one school. Through the community centres, Bhumi has been successful in touching many lives from remote villages.

For the small organisation it is, this three-year journey has brought Bhumi in touch with people from many walks of life – youngsters wanting a platform to help the needy, like-minded social workers, trainers, naturalists, psychologists etc… Bhumi was formed with no intention of gaining personal satisfaction / recognition from supporting underprivileged. Nevertheless, today Bhumi is the recipient of one of Tamil Nadu’s most prestigious awards for non-profits – Rotary Chenna Patna’s ‘Excellence in Literacy’ Award 2009.

More than an award to the organisation, we consider this a reward to every volunteer who has contributed many hours planning, and taking classes, mentoring orphaned / destitute children in dire need of emotional support and working on-field to make Chennai a greener city.

Bhumi aims to continue its work towards bridging the gap in society through education, by expanding to more orphanages in both rural and urban areas. With support from youngsters willing to make a difference, Bhumi sees a bright future for these beautiful, innocent, smart and energetic children!

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