Unlock Smiles

Dear Co-Dreamers,

We have kick started our core programmes for this year and there is excitement all around and its raining highlights.  Special thanks to all of you for being a tremendous support in helping us continue our programmes.

With this update we would want to share with you story of Parvathi (name changed), who was part of Dream Life Skills Program,

Meet Parvathi, a 13-year-old, who has been part of our Life skills through Creative Arts Programme since the last 4 years.  Her father is a construction worker and her mother is a tailor.

The Challenge:  Parvathi was not very interested in attending the Creative Arts sessions, would not interact with anyone, especially the male facilitators and boys.  She would just interact with girls and most of the time would keep to herself due to some family issues in spite of efforts from the facilitator in explaining to her the consequences of not sharing and the benefits of interacting with others.  The facilitator started trying to make her feel comfortable by saying Hi to her on every session, asking her questions, and slowly making more and more effort to reach out to her and talk.

The Change:  After spending 4 years in Dream Life Skills Through Creative Arts programme; at the sessions now, she is more engaged and has learned to take strong decisions and has developed interest in creative arts.  She is now more interactive with everyone to include boys and more willing to express what she has learned freely.

Her dream is to become an art teacher.  Facilitator says, "she is naturally gifted at teaching."  She spends her free time teaching her friends and family various art skills and projects.  Parvathi has made a blackboard at home using materials her father had brought home to teach the neighborhood children.  She has now built her skills to teach and conducts classes at home.

The Dream Power:  “In the classroom, Parvathi is more talkative in class, which has actually become a problem for the teacher who has to control her at times. However, she is a very hard working student and is considered the class leader. When her teacher is busy, Parvathi is asked by her teacher to handle the class for 10-15 minutes on her own.  Partivthi is capable and willing to take on this leadership responsibility.” – Parvathi’s teacher

Organization and Programme Updates and Highlights (April 2013 – July 2013):

1. 2016 young people are enrolled in our life skills programmes – 847 in Life skills through football and 1169 in Life skills through Arts.
2. 32 Life Skills facilitators are trained to deliver the curriculum based life skill sessions to help deepen the impact of the programs.
3. 70 young people and 15 volunteers were part of 2 Outdoor Experiential Camps for this year.
4. 336 young adults were benefited through our Life Skills for Career Development training at our Dream Connect Centre, which offers the tools and foundational life skills necessary for career development.  Teaching them Basic computer skills, English speaking, workplace readiness, career guidance, and career talks.  83% of them completed the course.  We are also happy to share with you that one of our young adult have successfully completed his training at Barathi Walmart and now works with Life Style.
5. 19 volunteers were trained to be Mentors and 12 have been matched with their mentee’s already.
6. 90 volunteers have been engaged clocking over 3165 volunteers hours.
7. Teacher Development Workshop was delivered to 58 teachers from 2 of our partner schools with focus on Life Skills Facilitation.  The programme aims to train teachers and community workers to facilitate the development of Life Skills amongst young people in their own schools and regions. The workshops in particular are focused on enabling adults to deepen the understanding of self and young people.  A teacher says "I have learnt to listen to others and respect what they have to say" and going forward when I am teaching "I would guide the child rather than preach or force them to follow right path by giving them options."
8. Vishal Talreja, Co-founder and Executive Director of Dream A Dream was on a 2-month learning and inspirational journey through the Eisenhower Fellowship programme, U.S.  Know more about his trip; visit his facebook page- Dreamer on the Go - Vishal Talreja 
9. Suchetha Bhat, COO and Bopanna Pattada, Lead Trainer from Dream A Dream are learning, sharing and Co-creating the Creative Community Model at the first ever global gathering of Social Artists and Facilitators hosted by our partners PYE Global - Partnership for Youth Empowerment at Whidbey Island, United States of America. They will also be co-facilitating and volunteering at a youth camp hosted by PYE. We are proud to be partners with PYE and look forward to excellent learnings coming back to us as we deepen our own Teacher Development & Life Skills Model.
10. Dream A Dream has been shortlisted in top 12 NGOs (medium category) in the India NGO Award 2013 and assessment process is to happen shortly to decide the winner.

We look forward to your continued support and enduring relationship!

Thank You!!

Dear Patrons/Volunteers/Supporters,

"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." ~ Mother Theresa

It has been a great pleasure to have been associated with you through The “Unlock Smiles” campaign initiated by Dream A Dream.  Through this campaign we have been able to unlock 4667 smiles translating to a fund inflow of Rs. 9,33,400/-. This supports the life skills education of 389 young people for an entire year. We have had several feelings throughout this journey – inspiration, difficulty, happiness , optimistic, amazed, overjoyed, rewarding, ecstatic, thankful, spirited, touched, perplexed, courageous, loved and plenty more.

We take away a lot of learning and good friends for life.  We hope that you have had positive emotions triggered when contributing to the “Unlock smiles” campaign.  It was only with incredible support from the volunteers in the campaign and several out of the box ideas we introduced to make it fun for the facilitators and the contributors, you might have been reached as a  participant in one of the events listed below–

1. “Bake Sale" at Trio International School
2. “Smiley at your desk" in Oracle (Lexington office).
3. “Tour De Smiles" – cycling event.
4. “Quiz your way to Smiles" at Doff pub.
5. “Dedicate a Smile" for Women’s day.
6. Tied up with Lagori the rock band for Sunday Soul Sante.
7. Corporate promotions by VMware & Microsoft  who sent internal mails to promote the event.

We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for being there with us and hope that you will be associated with Dream A Dream in an active or passive form even in the distant future.

We encourage you to continue contributing when you have a reason to celebrate, dedicate a gift to someone you love, just want to do something different, spread the word with your friends.  The “UnlockSmiles” online payment gateway & website will be kept open through this year in anticipation of reaching our target of 10,000 smiles.

With Dreams,

Dream Team