Sanskar Shivir – April 2018

Vande Mataram foundation conducted its 32^nd Sanskar Shivir at Chinchavali Municipal School in Malad west from 19^th to 22^nd April 2018. 125 students of the school attended the Shivir and more than 30 young and versatile volunteers came along to make this Shivir successful. Sankar Shivir is an initiative taken by Vande Mataram Foundation for the students of Municipal Schools. This initiative focuses on overall personality development of the students by conducting interactive sessions and activities. An inauguration ceremony was held on the first day and we were blessed to have Shri Virendraji Yadnik as the chief guest.

All 4 days of the Shivir were divided in three phases- Early Morning Phase, Morning Phase and Afternoon phase.

Early Morning Phase started with Yoga and physical training by expert instructors followed by practical sessions on self-defence. Various team building sports activities and competitions were held in this phase. Healthy breakfast was served to the student and volunteers after these activities.

Morning Phase included interactive sessions conducted simultaneously in 5 groups. Sessions include Personal Hygiene and Health, Importance of Education, Communication Skills, Moral Values, Story Telling, Patriotism, Team Building Activities, Sports, Personal Safety etc. The sessions were planned to be interactive and activity based. This phase also had arts related activities like Drawing, Best out of Waste and craft to bring up the creative side of the students. We also focused on sensitive topics like Good touch and Bad touch, personal safety and child labour by showing videos and giving necessary information to the children.

Lunch was provided to the students after this phase. Some of the students were selected each day to serve the lunch to their friends and mentors.

Afternoon phase was completely dedicated to cultural activities like Dancing, Singing, Acting, Yoga and DIY activities. The students were divided into groups as per their interests and all these activities were conducted simultaneously by our expert volunteers.  Later the students were taken on the ground to play games like Kho-Kho, Dodge ball, Langdi, Fire in the mountain, etc.

On last day, we kept a special session where different kinds of species of animals were brought and information was given about them to the students. They were allowed to touch the animals and ask questions about them which made the session interesting and fun filled.

After the learning process of four days, a program was organized on last day where students performed on stage as they were taught during the 4 days of the Shivir. We were blessed by presence of chief guest Shri. Vijay Jadhav, founder of Samtol Foundation and Shri. Raju Patil from Anti-Terrorist Service. Parents of all the students were invited to the program. All our guests and parents were very impressed by the performances of the students.

Saying good bye to the children was the most difficult thing to do. There were tears for separation and smiles for promises made to meet again. Experience sharing was done by all the volunteers and everyone promised to be a part of all such events happening in future. We felicitated each volunteer with certificate and small token of appreciation.