Independence Day was just around the corner and we started planning for the special day!! Typical ideas like having ethnic day, giving away best dressed award, games, team lunch etc etc came up….I was discussing these ideas with Amit and a great idea of spending time with children in an Orphanage came up. The team was very supportive and contributed generously to organize the activities. The Company decided to contribute the same amount that was collected from the team 
. We identified a Ashram called Anatha Sishu Sevashram located in Wilson Garden and planned to make the visit on Friday (14.08.09) as the children would be engaged in school activities on the 15th ).
We organized for distributing snacks, gifts (thanks to Akshi,Arun and Santosh) and planned to conduct games for the children. Another objective of the visit was to identify long term needs of the children and the Ashram so that we could help them in their development and not just provide them with momentary happiness.
As some of the team members were caught up at work 
(we missed you all) only 10 of us visited the Ashram. We reached the Ashram late in the afternoon and were glad to see that the children were back from school. The Ashram is an old house which needs infrastructural development (like painting, lighting, modern amenities) and accommodates 60 kids at present . There is a play area , garden with fruit bearing trees, washing area for the children and a friendly Dog named Belli (means silver in English). We met Parvathamma (blind lady) who runs the Ashram and spent time talking to kids about their School and how they spend time in the Ashram. We then distributed snacks, gifts and asked every child to write a wish list. The children were welcoming and disciplined. Majority of the children were able to understand English hence we were able to communicate with little difficulty.
It felt nice to bring a smile on the face of the children. We plan to sponsor education, provide uniforms for the children in future (during June-July) and get involved in the development of the Ashram.
As the children had to do their home work we could not conduct games but we did play in the swing, see-saw, slide!!!!
