Page 1 Annapurna ● Volume 2, Issue 7 ● Aug-Sept-Oct 2008

Our kids’ favorite

Christmas joke:

AnnapurnaHelp people to help themselves

"Life is a festival only to the wise."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recent events

• RCC

Mother India Orphanage

Lal Bazaar

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Calendar of EventsNov 1st, 2008 – Lal Bazaar – Mock Exam

Nov 7th, 2008 – Lal Bazaar – Mock Exam

Nov 15, 2008 – Lal Bazaar & RCC – Essay writing contest

Annapurna wishes one and all a Happy Id-Ul-Fitr and a colorful Diwali!!

Page 2 Annapurna ● Volume 2, Issue 7 ● Aug-Sept-Oct 2008

RCC Update

Mother India Orphanage

There are new faces at the Remedial Coaching center (RCC) as the new academic year has kicked off. Most of the children at RCC come from families where parents earn minimum wages performing duties like housekeeping, apartment security, laundry, construction work, driving, etc. As a result, the children don’t get the quality of education they deserve. The teachers at RCC constantly strive to improve the fundamental concepts amongst these children in addition to teaching the regular syllabus.

Most of the last year’s 10th

grade students have joined intermediate colleges / polytechnic diploma courses. Annapurna has sponsored a couple of engineering calculators for the intermediate students.

On occasion of Diwali festival, Annapurna volunteers have

Place: Remedial Coaching Center (RCC)Location: Ashok Nagar, SecunderabadDate: October 25, 2008Event: Diwali festival celebrations

distributed sweets and crackers among the children.

The senior students who are no longer learning at RCC but still keeping in touch were there and they shared their experiences on how college is different from school.

The girl on the top left picture, Kalyani, is a new student at RCC learning in 10th grade. She wants be a journalist when she grows up and was explaining how each of the newspapers are biased and how she would not be a biased journalist. This also led to discussions with kids on how important it is to read a newspaper every day and keep abreast of the developments.

Annapurna has sponsored tutor fees of Rs. 1000/- per month for the RCC teachers.

Place: Mother India OrphanageLocation: Malkajgiri, SecunderabadDate: Oct 26, 2008Event: Diwali festival celebrations

About 45 orphan and semi-orphan children at Mother India Orphanage had awonderful Diwali thanks to Annapurna sponsors. Annapurna has sponsored sweets and crackers for the little angels at this home. In addition, Annapurna has donated about 25 new blankets for the children.

Back in August, Annapurna has sponsored about Rs. 2500/-

worth of rice and oil for the home.

The care-taker, Raju, is now trying to construct a new building behind the home to construct a school there. The children currently go to the Ravindranath Tagore School which is 3 KMs away from the hostel. The idea is to have a school adjacent so that all the children can be closer to school.

Page 3 Annapurna ● Volume 2, Issue 7 ● Aug-Sept-Oct 2008

Lal Bazaar

Place: Lal Bazaar Government Social Welfare HostelLocation: Lal Bazaar, SecunderabadDate: Oct 25, 2008Event: Diwali festival celebration

Annapurna members will be pleased to hear that this academic year Annapurna is focusing solely on the education of the children at Lal BazaarGovernment Social Welfare hostel. With the tutors from Loyola Academy, Nirmala and Saranya, hired and sponsored by Annapurna, the 8th and 9th graders are getting good quality coaching that they truly need. And, Annapurna is also sponsoring half of the tutor fees for the tutor Tirupathi teaching the 10th grade students; the other half of the tutor fees is sponsored by the government funds. All this focus is primarily to ensure that we achieve this year’s target that 75% of the 10th grade students should pass their board exams at first attempt.

Annapurna volunteers did routinely visit the hostel during August and September months with the main purpose to monitor the tutoring program and stay in touch with the students there. Not much happened during October due to Dasshera holidays. Later, on October 25th, Diwali festival celebrations were held where Annapurna volunteers distributed sweets and crackers to the children. The children also received a bit of a dose from the volunteers on how it is important for them to study.

Mock exams have been declared for the students and from November, Mock exams will be conducted regularly for the 10th grade students to help prepare them for the board exams. Question bank books will be procured and distributed to the 10th grade students in November.

Page 4 Annapurna ● Volume 2, Issue 7 ● Aug-Sept-Oct 2008

“What would

spirituality give me?"

said an alcoholic to

the Master.

"Nonalcoholic

intoxication" was the

answer.

Caption describing picture or graphic.

A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet. He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep wall of the cliff.

So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. "HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? "HELP!" He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice.

"Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?" "Yes, yes! I can hear you. I'm down here!" "I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?" "Yes, but who are you, and where are you? "I am the Lord, Jack. I'm everywhere." "The Lord? You mean, GOD?" "That's Me." "God, please help me! I promise if, you'll get me down from here, I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life." "Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you off from there, then we can talk." "Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully." "I'll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do." "Okay. Let go of the branch." "What?" "I said, let go of the branch." Just trust Me. Let go." There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"

Have you ever felt like Jack? We say that we want to know the will of God, but when we find out what it is, we can't handle it. Sounds too scary, too difficult. We decide to look elsewhere. When He says, "Let go of the things that stand between you and Me, and trust Me with your life," it sounds pretty scary. But when we let go, we find freedom and safety in His hands."

God Help

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Annapurna CommitteeHyderabad, AP, INDIAhttp://www.annapurnahyd.org/index.html