Thesathirku Thol Kodu (தேசத்திற்கு தோள் கொடு), April 25, 26 - 2009

Thesathirku Thol Kodu (தேசத்திற்கு தோள் கொடு), an initiative by Shanti Ashram Coimbatore, is organized every year with an objective to ‘Gather people & organizations who are inclined towards the betterment of our society and thereby contribute to the progress of the country and our human race.’

The event is attended by people working in different fields. This forum served as a platform to about know people working in other areas and helped in strengthening the social welfare network.

Vidial coordinated Thesathirku Thol Kodu – 2009, which was held at Kuthambakkam – Periyar Samaduvapuram, Chennai on April 25 & 26.

Kuthambakkam, near Chennai, has been a model Panchayat not just for to its unrelenting appetite for new ideas, but for innovations and implementation of concepts. Just Google Kuthambakkam or Mr. Elango Rangsamay, you would know why it was chosen as the location for this year's event.

The event was attended by the following teams and a few other interested persons,

• VYSWO (Village Youth Social Welfare Organization), Dharmapuri -http://vyswo.com/
• G-18, Coimbatore
• Social Welfare Organization, Ennur, Chennai
• Anavi -http://www.anavi.co.in/
• 5^th Pillar, Chennai -http://india.5thpillar.org/
• Makkal Sakthi Iyakkam, Chennai.
• Shanthi Ashram, Coimbatore -http://www.shantiashram.org/
• M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai - http://www.mssrf.org/
• Thesam
• Disha Foundation - http://disha-activist.livejournal.com/
• Global Society Makers, Chennai
• Helping Hands, Chennai.

During the Saturday morning session, each team was given 15 minutes to explain about the area of their work, their projects and vision. In the evening there was a visit to the Kuthambakkam village to see the beautiful things that are happening there.

In the evening we had a captivating speech by Elango Na, a speech which made everyone think about what they are doing and also helped all of us get more focus. Our member Santhakumari gives an account of the captivating speech in this blog post.

There was also a session called Request and Response, in which different teams presented their requests to other teams which had come to the event.

Overall it was a good learning experience exposing, everyone present to, a lot of new ideas, thoughts and avenues that need to be explored for improving the living standards of the society. The event also reiterated the fact that what Vidial is doing is a very small activity when compared with the social challenges faced by our society.

We would like to thank Shanti Ashram for providing us with this wonderful opportunity and Elango na for agreeing to have this event at Kuthambakkam.

We also give our heartfelt thanks to Parthi na (G-18) and Nandha na (Makkal Sakthi Iyakkam) both of whom guided and helped us throughout the event. We also thank all other persons / organizations who helped us in making this year’s edition of Thesathirku Thol Kodu a successful one.

As we came out of the event, our resolve to serve the society, which has given so much to us, become more strong and passionate. Hopefully we would do more, time will tell.

Morning Session on Saturday

Elango Na addressing the forum