SUCCESS STORIES
As Vidial has grown over the years, our definition of the term ‘success’ has considerably broadened in scope and we are extremely happy to have achieved measurable societal impact in our own little way. We are proud to present below some snapshots of our success stories over the academic year 2009-2010.
Scholarships:
Rajesh, from Chennai, who completed his Diploma this year, has got a job in Ashok Leyland. We have been supporting Rajesh for the past 2 years. One of our Vidial member’s friend Ms. Joy introduced Rajesh to us. He plans to save some of his earnings and use it for his future Studies.
Suresh, from Rajapalayam, who completed his Bachelors in Veterinary Science last year, had a double whammy this year. He got placed in Arokaya Dairy farms, Thuraiyur, Trichy district and then later in the year cracked the TNPSC Veterinary Sciences exam to obtain a state government posting. He has made us more proud by getting involved in ‘Helping Hands’ a grassroots social initiative in his school.
Nagalaxmi and Karthiga, our Chennai beneficiaries studying in Dr.M.G.R.Janaki Ammal College got selected in campus interview for CTS, in the Life science domain with a Project Executive designation.
Jayalakshmi, from Coimbatore, a very hard working and enthusiastic girl with a never-say-die attitude was bought to our attention by a friend of one of our members. Though she was not able to continue her education after 12th due to financial constraints, she was determined to move on. When we came to know about her, she was working in a factory and was eager to learn tools such as DTP and Tally to take up a reasonable clerical post. Vidial helped her to finish her DTP course. After that she wished to learn Tally, which we encouraged her to finance with her own resources and she successfully did. Now she is working in a clerical position in an automobile firm in Coimbatore.
Suganthapriya, from Coimbatore, had just joined B.Com when we came to know about her. Suganthapriya’s mother, the sole bread winner of the family, was doing odd jobs here and there to run the family afloat. We thought that it was appropriate that we support her. Members from our college chapter used to have constant touch with her and we supported her till she completed her Under Graduation this year. She has now got a job in a computer firm in Coimbatore.
Lakshmi from Nagercoil, was a very unique case of scholarship. Considering her father’s bedridden condition and family’s lack of income, her college had substantially reduced her fees for her B.E Computer Science course. But her family was unable to fund even this amount and given the subsidized arrangement, she could not get a bank loan. Vidial took up her case and now we are proud to know that she has got placed with a software firm for a salary of 10-12K per month.
Vivek, who completed his B.Com at Kumbakonam this year has got a job in Areva, Chennai. He is also trying to complete ICWA to enhance his career choices.
Rahul our beneficiary from Trichy, to whom we had provided partial financial assistance, got career placement in TCS on Feb 5th.
Miss.Nagalakshmi from Chennai got placed in DELL Perot systems. She is confident and determined enough to break the obstacles in her way to success.
Vidial Beneficiaries
Beneficiary Meets – We continued our regular and essential beneficiary meets in most our zones, especially Bangalore and Chennai. We tried our best to conduct lots of interactive games and exercises to provide more exposure to our beneficiaries and extend our relationship much beyond simple financing measures. Some of these included memory games, Pictionary, food chart games etc to provide a more holistic learning experience. We also arranged for sessions with external speakers such as Mr.Elango, a pioneering grassroots reformer from Kuthambakkam near Chennai.
ARAVANAIKUM ANBU ILLAM – As expressed earlier, we have had some practical issues in continuing with our daily activities in the Aravanaikkum Anbu Illam.. However we would definitely try our best to keep alive our ties and bonds with the Ilam and one such initiative is the periodic programs in Illam kids. What was most special about this was the below events were organized and conducted for a great extent by the Illam students themselves,guided by vidial members and headed by Satheish one of our initial beneficiaries
PARTNERSHIPS:
A very positive step in the partnerships space was our arrangement with the holistic grassroots movement Village Youth Social Welfare Organization (VYSWO) based out of Somanahalli, Dharmapuri district. They are involved in a wide range of initiatives in the region and we have pledged our support to their educational initiatives. To start with, we agreed to support 10 of their students for a sum of Rs.21000. These are students spread across various age groups in school with strong motivations to excel. We view our current initiatives with VYSWO only as a starting step and hope to take it to much higher levels over the coming years.
