Akriti

On 12 January 2013, Spic Macay in collaboration with NSS, IIT Roorkee organized Akriti, a collage making competition for underprivileged children being tutored by Prerna and RT-Disha cells of NSS, IIT Roorkee. The event was held from 4.30 to 6 pm at the Multipurpose Hall, DOMS. The themes on which they could work were ‘Nature and Us’ and ‘India of my dreams’. The children, some of them still in kindergarten, astonished everyone with their vision and creativity. The first prize was won by a tiny child who’s dream India included education for all and sky-scrapers everywhere. The second and third prizes were both won by teams who explained the role of mankind in preserving the nature. Winning and losing aside, it was a gala time for the children who created wonders with only bits of newspaper and glue. It was a gratifying experience for the student volunteers of RT-Disha and Prerna as well who helped the children with their collages. The judge of the competition, Dr. Smita Jha, Program Officer, NSS, IIT Roorkee was quite impressed with the efforts put in by the children. On the parting note, she motivated the kids by telling them about the virtues of education and encouraging them to attend school regularly.

Health Check-Up Camp

NSS, IIT Roorkee organised a free health check-up camp in the village Sherpur, situated on NH-58, on 17^th March, 2013. The camp began at 10 a.m., with the arrival of Dr. C.S. Grover (Eye Specialist, Abhilasha Eye Hospital) and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar (Dental Surgeon, Dental Square, IIT Hospital) who provided their services free of cost for the well being of village people.

NSS volunteers also conducted a publicity drive on the eve of the camp in the villages of Majra and Sherpur. They did door to door publicity in all the houses. The villagers took great interest in the camp, with most of them coming with their entire families. They came to know about their health status in a detailed manner after the check-up. The camp was concluded at 4 p.m.

Both esteemed doctors showed interest in knowing about the activities conducted by NSS. Dr. C.S. Grover congratulated NSS for the efforts being put up to make lives better for villages nearby IIT Roorkee in the best possible way. He also said that he was very delighted to be a part of the camp. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar suggested ways to conduct a much better and more organised health camp for the next time. The Pradhan of Sherpur village also congratulated NSS for its efforts and said that the continuous activities that are being conducted by NSS in these villages have helped a lot in bringing up changes.Villagers also appeared to be satisfied by the services provided by the doctors, and they also had the appreciative words for NSS, IIT Roorkee.

There were some issues that came up to light:

1.Most of the people suffered from Pyorrhoea.

2.Many old people had Cataract disease.

3.A villager told that when they go to chemists with the prescriptions that are provided to them by the doctors, they are sold expired/outdated medicines, because of their illiteracy.

4.This time free medicines could not be provided to villagers.

This camp was like an initiation, a first step. From the next time, it will be tried that we organise a bigger and better health camp, so that the disadvantaged masses could remain healthy.