Vanasthali Rural Development Centre
Summer Camp – 3rd to 7th June 2009

Introduction

This year as usual the summer camp was designed by keeping in mind the overall personality development of every participant. Resource persons from different walks of life were called for the lectures and demonstrations.
The morning session comprised of lectures, the noon session was followed with various handicrafts and the evening was filled with games and activities.

Day 1 – 3rd June

On the first day there was a lot of excitement among 260 women as they came in from all the 8 districts.
This year 50% of the participants were coming for the first time for the camp. To everyone’s delight the summer camp was inaugurated by film actress and newspaper columnist Ms Sonali Kulkarni. The president of the function was Mrs Madhavi Vaidya. Mrs Bharti Bhide gave an introduction of Sonali Kulkarni & Madhavi Vaidya. Both the guests had an informal chat with the participants.

The evening was followed with a session on “self introduction”. The participants gave a good response to this session.

Day one ended with dinner and distributing responsibilities to be shared in the coming four days by each district wise group.

Day 2 – 4th June

The second day started with a review session in which the Mrs Sunanda Navale told the participants, the right way of conducting Balwadi training, the dos and don’t in taking a lesson for children. Kalpana Gunaki also shared the method of reviewing the training program. The new participants shared different songs & stories that they knew. Founder of “panpoyee library” project, Mrs Nirmal Pendharkar took a review of book reading. With the growing popularity of the library movement she gave some useful tips and suggestions to the hobby class teachers, who carry the books to the children either in bags or on two wheelers, in rural areas, and now through two well equipped vehicles.

This was followed with a session by an expert cook Mrs Jayashree Kuber. She gave guidelines and tips on how to run and manage a catering business, keeping in mind things such as quality, packing, price competency and marketing. She answered all the questions and queries in this regard and also provided some handy tips in cooking.
Next session was conducted by Madhuri Purandare who gave an insight into her book named “Marathi – self study” which is in the process of completion. The book helps in learning Marathi language along with its grammar in an easy way. It has lot of illustrations and exercises which will make marathi learning a joyful experience The afternoon session was filled with handicrafts demonstration by Sayli – puppet making, Suchitra – Warli painting, Sandhya – purses , Pushpa – face masks & Kalpana – candle making & sweet making. All participants participated in every session and were engrossed in putting their creative side to the best.

The evening games session was conducted by Ms Vibhavari Deshpande who taught the participants, the technique of role play. Our groups also performed role play on the basis of story books which were well appreciated. Vibhavari told the right way of expressing which can appeal to children. The intention was to encourage the participants to create small theatre plays around simple themes like environment, education and cleanliness etc.

Day 3 – 5th June

The third day started with the session by Bharti, Anjali, Sharmila & Shalaka. They gave a review of whole office administration of Vanasthali, Pune office and keeping correct accounts, bank transactions for smooth working of Vanasthali altogether.
It was followed by a session by Ms Dipti Khare. With the help of slide show she gave information about conducting a jungle trek, precautions to be taken and introduction of wild animals. She also gave tips for conducting a safe trek especially for children ; women asked several questions and many of their myths and doubts especially with regard to snakes were cleared by Ms Dipti.

The third session was conducted by Dr Sanjeevani Kelkar. She told about different problems that women face legal or emotional. She also gave information about her organization and how it has helped several women to solve their problems.

The afternoon sessions were a continuation of the previous day handicrafts making. Mrs Jaya Gofne conducted a session on effective communication and leadership skills. It was planned especially for supervisors and they received it very well.

Prof. Bhide & Prof Madhavi Kulkarni from well known SNDT COLLEGE, Pune, took games on “group coordination”. They had made a questionnaire which was filled by different groups. The main focus was on working in a group with equal coordination and participation.

The participants got a visual treat with a drama staged by children from a Pune group. It was based on a scientific story by eminent scientist Dr Jayant Naralikar. It was written and directed by Mrs Bhairavi Purandare & Mrs Swati Upadhe. The play was very well received and women got new ideas for setting up similar plays for rural school children in annual functions

Day 4 – 6th June

The day started with a session on hobby class evaluation methods by Ms Nandita Wagle and Ms Sayli Joshi. It was followed with a review on hobby class by Mrs Manik Kotwal.

The next session was led by Sumita Tumne who showed a kit with 10 simple science experiments which can be used for primary school hobby class children.

Ms Jyoti & Ms Swati conducted an evening games session in open air wherein women were taught innovative and funfilled games. These games were easy, not requiring costly material and all women thoroughly enjoyed playing them.

Day 5 – 7th June

The closing ceremony was graced by a young dynamic lady, Mrs Mukta Puntambekar who is the president of a de-addiction centre named “Muktangan”. She explained the ill effects of cigarette, alcohol & drugs which can ruin an addict’s family as well as his health. She gave information about various activities those are conducted in her centre which can lead a person to an addiction free life. The centre focuses on giving motivational treatment to the patients.

The personality development camp came to an end with the felicitation of supervisors who have worked in VDRC for more than 20 years. This felicitation came in as a surprise for every participant, as they were happy and proud of being a part of Vanasthali family.

Nirmalatai Purandare gave a heartfelt welcome to all new participants and best wishes for everyone for a fresh new academic year for Vanasthali.

Gauri Bapat Vanasthali office

VRDC has organized a six months training program for Assistant Nurse.

With many helping hands, Vanasthali has completed the construction of a multipurpose centre in Baramati for women and children.
Shri Sharadji Pawar, Agri Minister, Govt of India, will be the chief guest for the inauguration.
Shri Maniklal Shah, Baramati will preside the ceremony.
Day and Time : Friday 28th March, 2008 at 11 A.M

During a private trip from January 17th to February 13th 2007, Anne-Marie Dourlat, a member of Entr’Inde, spent part of her stay sharing the life of Vanasthali. If you want more details, click here : Anne-Marie Dourlat in Maharashtra

To see the last annual report of Vanasthali, click here : report05-06.pdf

During the summer 2006, a French group visited some Vanasthali schools. This group was composed of members of the associations Artisans du Monde and Entr’Inde. Look at some photographs taken during their stay in Maharashtra :

In spring 2006, four Vanasthali teachers (supervisors) spent 7 weeks in France to exchange experiences with French nursery schools teachers. French and Indians, teachers and children learnt and enjoyed .

If you want to know more about it, clik here : Illustrated diary