Jalebi

Watch this 60sec video by Nandita Das.  Just 60 secs. But the impact? Feel it.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=104577226221473&ref=mf

Now you will understand why Janyaa does what it does. We focus on activities to increase interest in children to attend school. We encourage their creativity. Check this: http://picasaweb.google.com/events.janyaa/OctActivities#

Support us in anyway you can. Contact us at admin@janyaa.org if you are interested in working with  us.

Janyaa Walk and Run event completed successfully

What a weather. Can it get any better than this for running? It was like walking in a hill station. No rain, just foggy, no sun. All the runners and walkers loved it.

Thank you all for making it happen and for participating in our event. We appreciate all your support. Please check the photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rajibshome/RunForJanyaa#slideshow/5394187303774445442 &

http://picasaweb.google.com/i007808/Janyaa#5394216748003112738

Our page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Janyaa/119051767037?ref=ts We urge you to become fans of our page so that you can get regular updates on our program.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who helped us. All of them showed up at 6AM and stayed till the end until we finished the cleanup. How can we make it without you all? You are our strength. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Ankur: Glad to have you on team Ankur. You took care of so many things for us starting from posting our event details on countless websites, distributing flyers at various races, finding food sponsors, working with Usha on PA system and getting Yogi Mahendra & Fusion Beatz for warm up & cool down sessions.  What would we do without you?

Chinmaya: You biked through the whole trail the previous day, checked the details online, provided valuable suggestions and on the race day setup mile markers and directions for the race. Handled the situation very efficiently when the original path was not run-worthy and deviated the runners on to the track seamlessly. Thank you so much Chinmaya.

Madhu: Thank you making it in the last minute in spite of your busy schedule. You helped us with distributing flyers and other key tasks for the organization itself. Glad to have you on the team Madhu.

Manikanta: Responsible for pre-registration desk, setting up the timer and noting the finish timings. Well, what can we say. You had the one of the most important tasks of the race and managed it extremely well without any hitches. Cannot imagine how you could take care of everything under such pressure. Thank you finishing off with compiling race results. Thank you so much Mani.

Mani Sreedharala: Thank you for making it fun for us Mani by cheering the runners while reaching the finish line, keeping the atmosphere alive with your comments and of course taking care of preparing mile marker sticks the previous day. You have been there right from the beginning starting July till the end on Oct 18th including communication related tasks or booths at SAP. Without your support, it would’ve been difficult to execute the race.

Ramu: Thank you so much Ramu for getting our breakfast. You had to knock doors and pick up food to deliver it on time for our walk. You also helped us with distributing flyers and we appreciate all your valuable suggestions to make this race a successful event.

Rati: You came to participate in 5k and ended up helping us out with on-site registrations. You could not participate in the walk itself, but I hope you had fun with us. Thank you very much Rati.

Siva: Thank you for taking care of getting the water for the event amongst other tasks. You have been our support right from the beginning and been very proactive with all the tasks. Your enthusiasm in supporting Janyaa gives us the energy to go for more. Thank you very much Siva for supporting us through out the event.

Srikanth: Or technical guru who was there for every technical need. Whether it’s creating registration pages on a fly or helping us market on social network sites. I had to wake him up in middle of his sleep to help me out with last minute glitches. Thank you Srikanth for everything including your valuable marketing suggestions.

Sudhir: Thank you Sudhir for helping us out with tables and chairs during the event. It would’ve been such a pain if you were not there for us. In spite of your busy schedule you managed to contribute your time for the event. Thank you for your time and support.

Usha: Last but not the least, always manages to step up to the occasion and taking care of every minute detail. You helped with so many tasks including distributing flyers at various races, coming up with wonderful ideas for marketing or with our booths at SAP. You are the heart and soul of Janyaa. Thank you so much Usha for all your time and support. I don’t know what we can do without you and your creative ideas apart from effectively executing them of course.

Apart from our team we had quite a few volunteers from SAP who helped us out. Special thanks to all of you for making this event a great success. We would not have been able to do this without you at all. We hope you can continue your support to us in future. Here they are in random order.

Sathish, Rama Dasu, Kaushik: Thank you all for helping us out in setting up the water stations on 1/2 marathon trail. It was definitely not easy to check it the previous day, bike through the trail to see if it’s run-worthy. Or was not easy on the race day to carry water on bicycles to setup the water stations. You guys have done a commendable job in keeping the water supply for our runners and setting up the mile markers.

Shahvir: You took care of pre-registrations and also helped Nick in finding names of runners based on bib numbers. This was something all our runners liked – a personal touch. Thank you Shahvir for all your support. We appreciate it.

Nick: who immediately said ‘yes’, when I asked him to emcee our event. Thank you so much Nick for doing such a wonderful job along with helping us out with other activities during the event. We appreciate all your help.

Srinivasa Raju and Baski: You both handled the situation well with your water station and we cannot ask for more. You helped us with tasks before the race started and also after. It is really nice to have people like you supporting us. You are our energy. Thank you so much Srinivas and Baski. We appreciate your support and time.

Gaurav: You single handedly managed water station 1. You helped us with other tasks along with clean up. How can we thank you Gaurav? We appreciate your help and support. Thank you so much.

Jani: You were one of the key people at the finish line helping us out and also cheering the finishers. You also helped us with post-race tasks. Thank you so much Jani for all the help you provided.

Seema: You were so eager to help us out with the tasks at the race, you were always behind me asking ‘what can I do’. You helped with so many tasks and finally took care of pre-registration tasks amongst others. Thank you so much Seema for all your support.

Susanne: When I asked you what time you can come on the race day, you said ‘anytime’. I was surprised. With 3 little children, you managed to come by 6:30AM and stayed till the end. You helped with on-site registration and other tasks at the event. You are very supportive and it has been a pleasure having you part of the event. Thank you very much Susanne.

Ananda: You came to run for 10k and ended up helping us pre and post race. You could’ve just warmed for the race, run and gone home. But you volunteered to help us out and that helped us a lot in managing the event. Thank you so much Anand.

Rajib and Yingjiong: I don’t have to say anything. Their pictures speak for themselves. What a wonderful set of pictures. They captured all the runners at the finish line, beautiful landscape and the whole event. Rajib and Yingjiong: we appreciate your help and your work. Thank you very very much for capturing our memories in such a wonderful manner.

Thank you Arun, Priya and Partho for cheering and supporting us all the way.

Thank you one and all. We hope you had as much fun as everyone at the event.

Feedback from teachers and students on our program

Our Director Usha Hanumolu visited the schools in August. Here are some of the comments from teachers:

• Nice reminder of our responsibility as a teacher
• Very innovative way of teaching
• Entirely motivated to teach practically
• Happy to see kids getting excited to learn
• I don’t know why we haven’t been teaching this way until now. You reminded us of our responsibility through your program.
• These students will never forget what they are learning now through this program
• Happy that all the activities that are being done are relevant to the current syllabus

Students feedback:

• Like this way of learning
• Easy to remember
• Very proud to display their activity items
• Extremely excited about these activity days
• The class strength is full on the activity days. Nobody wants to miss the school on this day even if it is raining
• Answered ALL the questions related to activities and proudly displayed their windmills, pumps, cubes, cuboids etc.

Well, what more can we ask for. We are more than happy to get this feedback. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve. Of course there is a long way to go. But we are off for a good start.

If our program interests you, please support us by donating: http://janyaa.org/donate.php

August set of activities

Going through these pictures is what gives us the energy to go for more. Check the kids in these activities pics. I am sure you will be as excited as we are.

http://picasaweb.google.com/events.janyaa/AugustActivities#

In the above link you will see both the sets of activities we have completed in August.

With tears in her eyes…

My visit to schools was an overwhelming experience for me.  Teachers were all so excited about our program. Here are some of their comments:

• Nice reminder of our responsibilities as teachers
• Entirely motivated to teach practically
• Happy to see kids getting excited to learn. This was never seen before.

One comment that touched me: “I am not sure what I have been doing so far as a teacher. Thank you for reminding our responsibility as teachers through your program”.

Highlight of my visit was this from one of the teachers with tears in her eyes: “I am so happy you have selected our school from hundreds. I am very thankful for providing this program to our students”. We just happened to select their school. We at Janyaa did not have any selection criteria for schools. Our goal is to provide the program to all children and all schools.

My visit gave me renewed energy to continue our efforts here in raising funds to reach more students. I request you all to support us in our fundraising programs.

– Usha Hanumolu

Rain or shine – we go to school

This is the feedback Usha Hanumolu received from children and teachers at the schools we are conducting our program. Children are very excited about the activities and on the day of activities, may it rain, they attend school. They are learning while enjoying. They proudly showed their activities to Usha.

Proud moments for Janyaa: Check slide 18 in this link for children’s feedback: http://picasaweb.google.com/events.janyaa/2009Activity1#.  You can also check this video to see how children are enjoying their new found learning experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kzi1p_xZlA

This is what we wanted to achieve with Janyaa. We want children to attend school with joy rather than by force. Well, seems like our goal is not far off. This gives us the energy to spread our program to greater levels.

Thank you all for your support.

Janyaa Walk/Run 2009 – on Oct 18th

Most of you have supported Janyaa by participating and volunteering for our Volleyball tournaments in June 2009. With your support we could kick-off the program with great feedback from teachers and students. You can find all the information at http://janyaa.org/projects.php.

Location: Shoreline Park, Mountain View, CA

Distance: 5k, 10k and half-marathon

Details of the race can be found here: http://janyaa.org/w_details.php

Category	Early bird ($) Until Sep 2nd	Regular ($) Until Oct 1st	Late ($) Until Oct 18th
5k	20	25	30
10k	25	30	35
1/2 marathon	50	60	70
Group of 6 discounts
5k	75	90	120
10k	90	120	150
1/2 marathon	200	240	300

We urge you to register and support our dream.

We are so glad we started this program. Wonder why? Read this.

We finished our first activity program in July. The results are very encouraging in spite of the challenges. We never said it would be easy right?

Check this: http://picasaweb.google.com/events.janyaa/2009Activity1#5365402402383119586

Specifically the slide 18. Children’s feedback is amazing. We will keep you posted. Do you think you can support us? Can you donate $15 per paycheck?  It’s just $1 a day. Aren’t you motivated to support us after looking at the slides

We are sure you are.  Well, then what are you waiting for. You can donate on http://janyaa.org/donate.php.  We request you to check out the employee gift matching program so that your contributions can be doubled.

Eco-friendly Janyaa

Most of you who know the team might have already understood that we at Janyaa are very eco-friendly. Here is more on that: http://janyaa.org/eco_friendly.php

Janyaa Walk – for better education and life

We are hosting our next fundraising event on Oct 17th – 5k/10k and half marathon. We request you to spread the word amongst your friends. We will post the registration details/location in few days on our website.

It’s not even a week since we planned for this and we already have quite a few supporters who are willing to help us out. Thank you each and everyone of you. You have given us the confidence that we can organize our first ever Walk-a-thon successfully.