It’s the time of the year when a team of optometrists from Vision Aid Overseas, UK assisted by Deep Griha staff go out in the villages and urban slum communities to help people with poor eye sight.

For the next two weeks, the team will organise eye camps at three urban slum communities in Pune and villages around Pune that include Pargaon, Nangaon, Pabe, Velhe, Dapoda, Vinzar and Ambavne.

Vision Aid Overseas is a charity dedicated to helping people in the developing world whose lives are blighted by poor eyesight, particularly where spectacles can help. It works by sending abroad teams of volunteer optometrists and dispensing opticians who set up clinics, screen large number of patients and provide appropriate spectacles.

Last year, we reached out to more than 1300 people during this camp. Hopefully we will be able to reach out to a similar number this year.

Katie, dispensing optician in the UK who came as a part of the VAO team last year shares her experience. Click here to learn more

We have edited the scanned image of the newspaper article to fit on one page.

The Celebration of Life 2009 was organized by DISHA to raise awareness about HIV and sensitise the community on the need to support people living with HIV on Friday, December4 in the Tadiwala Road area.

A rally was held in the morning in Tadiwala road and the participants included members of the staff, volunteers and clients of Deep Griha Society, local school students and people from the community groups. A total of 250 people showed their support to the cause of raising awareness and fighting the stigma associated with HIV by participating in the rally. The rally concluded with fireworks in the afternoon.

The event in the evening saw lot of people gathering to see what is happening even before the show started. The chief guest for the event, Milind Kamble, Member, Pune Board of Education, began proceedings with his speech on HIV and AIDS. The event comprised of cultural activities, song and dance performed by the beneficiaries and staff of Deep Griha Society.

Prizes were awarded to the winners of Condom Cricket Tournament, Poster, Mehendi and Drawing competition organized by Deep Griha Society. A street play was put up by the students of B T Shahani High School. Children from Aadhar Kendra with the help of one of the interns working with DGS also performed a street play.

The highlight of the evening was the positive speakers from Sahara Aalhad and DISHA client from Ramtekadi (Click here to know more about what they said). DISHA was grateful to all three clients who had the courage to share their story in front of such a huge crowd. All stressed on importance of being aware about HIV/AIDS and demystifying myths about HIV with their own examples. All stated the need for support and the fact that people should stop stigmatizing and discriminating against people living with HIV as HIV doesn’t kill people, STIGMA KILLS! Positive living approach towards life is what all emphasized on.

The evening ended with a dance performance by the volunteers of Deep Griha Society. The program was a huge success with hundreds of people attending the event.

Click here to see more photos from the event

A positive living session was organised by DISHA in association with Soulbath Peace Foundation on December 2 at Varsha Hall, Deep Griha Society, Tadiwala Road.

Fifty-five people from DISHA Ramtekadi and Tadiwala Road and Sahara Aalhad participated in the session. The workshop was conducted by Dr. Shantu Thakurta SAHHEAL Healing Consultant & Head - SAHHEAL Learning Studios (SLS), India and Shubha Godbole - SAHHEAL Healing Consultant from Soulbath Peace Foundation.  The workshop focused on empowering PLHIV from within and moving out from any of the stigma patterns. During this process they aimed at helping the clients to move to an inward acceptance phase through meditation and self inquiry.

Initially, Dr. Shantu emphasized on the fact that PLHIV face a lot of stigma and discrimination from others. But before dealing with others, every PLHIV needs to stop discriminating against themselves from within. They need to understand that they can live with HIV with the help proper nutrition and medicines and support from friends and family. Shubha described in detail how stress affects the human body. She shared information on ways to reduce stress and taking control of one’s life.

Through out the session the resource personnel encouraged every participant to interact and ask their queries and discuss their worries. A series of exercises, interactive activities were organised in addition to some meditation techniques which the clients can practice in their daily lives. Avinash Chakranarayan, Team Leader, DISHA  said, “It was a fruitful session for the clients. We do understand that one session is not enough to change the mindset of people. So we will continue to have such sessions in future.”

Children at City of Child, Deep Griha's residential project for vulnerable children in Kasurdi, watched enthusiastically as Magna Steyr India delivered a swing to their playground, and installed it at the weekend.  Six members of the organisation helped in its delivery and installation.  Magna Steyr's Managing Director, Simon Dobson, commented that “City of Child provides a great opportunity for children to thrive in a welcoming and stimulating environment, and thanked the staff and the children for their warm welcome and enthusiasm”.

City of Child is a residential project, located in the village of Kasurdi, 45km away from Pune.   It provides a safe home for very vulnerable children, where they can develop, study and play away from the particularly difficult circumstances they faced in the slums of Pune.  There are currently 50 children living there.

Magna Steyr is the leading brand-independent engineering and manufacturing partner to the automotive market, offering a whole range of solutions from individual engineering services to complete vehicles.

Wake Up Pune Condom Cricket Tournament 2009 started today, with the first match between two teams - Maharaj and Target 11. Twenty teams will be participating in this eight day tournament.

The tournament has been organised by DISHA (Deep Griha’s Integrated Service for HIV & AIDS) under Wake Up Pune, Take 10! Campaign.

Final match will be played on November 22, 2009. Wake Up Pune team will play a friendly match with the winning team. The Wake Up Pune team will include individuals from corporate organisations, colleges, schools and partners.

Anyone and everyone in Pune are invited for the final match to enjoy a game of good cricket and support the cause.

For daily updates visit www.wakeuppune.org

The youth of DIYA celebrated Diwali this month with several employees of ZS associates, a local corporation. They decorated the place, played games, and had sweets. DIYA was also visited by a representative of the Institute of Hotel & Tourism management. The Institute is offering 100% scholarships to students of minority background (Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Christian) even if they have not graduated 10th standard. Seven DIYA youth filled out applications.

In the month of October, parents from the Tadiwala community received an educational session from Dr. Rani Parasnies regarding child development and handicap testing. Parents were taught the typical stages of development in children’s early years so that they could be aware of delays and seek special education. They were also taught how to test for hearing and eyesight problems in children. They were asked to refer any families dealing with these issues to Dr. Parasnies and were offered a 50% discount on hearing aids for anyone who needs them.

DISHA had big news this month with the confirmation of a three-year grant from the Oak Foundation.  The grant will fully cover DISHA’s activities (with the stipulation that DISHA also raise a certain amount from outside sources) and will allow DISHA to expand services and the staff. The grant came at the perfect time, as DISHA was going through a rough phase under the current economic climate. Many aspects of the programme were suffering due to lack of funds. The news was received with great jubilation from all our staff and a “happy dance,” from our key fundraiser Rujuta who was working on the grant proposal.  As a result of this grant, DISHA will be able to continue with the crucial work of making Tadiwala Road and Ramtekdi model communities in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Also, DISHA will be able to host the much loved and needed “Celebration of Life,” on World AIDS Day this year.  Some new fieldworkers will be hired to form a complete team to execute this project.

DISHA held an awareness session and lunch with 12 people from the MSM community (men who have sex with men). Many MSM face banishment from the community - people refusing to talk to, sit near, or touch them. DISHA has always made an effort to embrace the marginalized and work to educate and support those who are at higher risk for HIV transmission. While the turn-out was lower than expected, the response was tremendous. The twelve participants vowed that with our support, they will continue to participate in and be an active part of DISHA’s work, attending bi-monthly meetings to discuss pertinent issues to their community and hopefully expanding our reach within it.

103 HIV tests were given; 3800 condoms were distributed; 7 clients improved their weight; 4 increased their CD4 count; 68 clients were treated for Opportunistic Infections; 1 client passed away from OI’s.