MATSAKANYA

With lights on her face and springs on her feet, one little mermaid danced her way into a thousand hearts on July 29th, at Chowdiah Hall.

The entire hall was electrified by the little fairy, who played the part of ‘Matsakanya’.

This was a dance drama with a huge cast. It was a spectacular show, hosted by SIB and presented by the globally acclaimed dancer, Dr. Sanjay Shantaram and The Shivapriya Ensemble.

SIB organised the show as a huge fundraiser in order to support areas that explore educating, enabling and empowering women and children.

The dance-drama gave beautiful glimpses of a fairytale that also indicated miraculous offerings of hope and love. ‘Matsakanya’ lured almost a 1,000 visitors and opened the gates for new avenues that can encourage fundraising through team effort and sustained efforts.

It was a truly magic evening.

Fistful of grains

In the final week of July, SIB visited a privileged school to share some messages of goodwill and lessons on caring, sharing and loving.

SIB distributed its eco-friendly bags to a 100 children. They took them home for a month, with a project to fill each bag with a particular grain everyday before supper. At the end of the month, SIB plans to collect the bags and transport them to underprivileged sections.

This ongoing project, which is an SIB idea, has received national acclaim and goodwill from all the clubs in India.

Distributing Biodegradable Sanitary Napkins

Biodegradable Sanitary Napkins were the centre of a new and exciting project. On June 29, SIB distributed them to

inmates of four homes – Abalashram, Abhayashram, Mahila Dakshita Samithi and Ujjwala.

Rani Shetty, SIB’s Honarary Member, who runs Parihar, a social initiative at the campus of the Police Commissioner’s Office, identified the shelter homes. It was a programme that also drew in the partnership of Gallagher employees, who contribute Rs 50 every month to produce them in a machine set up by Soroptimist International Pune Metro East.

Plan B for Beautiful Bengaluru

Can one Plan make for a Green, Clean Bengaluru?

It can. Plan B is an exciting eco-social initiative has been designed to bring planners, green activists and concerned citizens together. It is a creative policy draft that visualises that trees would be blazing and a heady air would waft through the city …. someday!

The initiative was deeply debated on Environment Day, June 12, with panel discussions on urban landscaping, vertical gardens and their benefits, citizens’ issues and better eco-friendly environments, sewer water treatment and re-use of grey water and climate change. All these and more issues are important to usher in the Garden City of our Dreams.

This year’s International Women’s Day on March 8 was quite purposeful, as SI held a Cancer Detection Camp for their sisters at the Primary Health Centre of Kanakapura taluk, Venkatarayanadoddi, just out of the city’s limits.

SIB team, with two other doctors and lab technicians, conducted pap smear tests to detect Cancer of the Cervix in a 100 women, aged between 25 to 40, from nearby villages. About seven women were found to be in need of further tests and care.

The camp ended with a delightful lunch and gifts contributed to the inmates, participants and the team by SIB members Sudha Manandi and Shruthi. 

Sharing giggles and goodies with kids at Sneha Care Home 

 Protest Rally and Panel Discussion

Orange splashes of women and students marked a protest rally on November 25th, to mark the ‘UN Day Against Violence on Women’. There were more than a 100 SI members from all over India, as well as supportive students from St Joseph’s School, who marched from Gandhi Square to St Mark’s Road.

In orange and black clothes, caps, banners and boards, the rallyists held up their placards at the traffic signals to beam their message across. “Wake up the gentleman” “Say No to Violence” and “Women are everywhere” were some of their missives. Silently, all afternoon, they held up the signs to convey what they wanted to say in front of signals, waiting till the lights turned green and made the traffic zoom again.

On the following day, November 26th, SIB conducted ‘Educate to Enable’, an electrifying Panel Discussion (watch it Here). Luminaries Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta, (Principal Secretary, women and child development), Shoma Bakre (Founder of ‘Let’s do some good’ and BEETF), Dr Shailaja Shastry (Director of Training and Research Initiatives) and Dr Florence D’Souza (Principal of Carmel High School) were moderated by Vandana Mehrotra (co-founder of ‘Social Ventures Solutions’.)

It was a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion that focussed on chalking out plans for enabling, empowering and educating women. They talked about the value of skill-development and the importance of helping underprivileged sections to take their lives forward with effort and drive.

 EVERGREEN PROJECTS

Theatre of the Oppressed: Live action and expressions through fluid movements…Theatre is creating some revolutionary communication in various parts of the city. Read about it in Recent Achievements, The Hindu and Deccan Herald.

Fistful of Grains: Bags bursting with rice and lentils and branded with SIB’s logo….These are rich collections of rice and lentils at many elite schools. They are the distributed to needy children by SI. Read more about it in Recent Achievements and in Deccan Herald.

Scholarships for needy children: SI locates meritorious but underprivileged students who need a generous supporting hand in order to complete their education.

Recordings for the visually challenged: SI members enable recordings of books for inmates of Mithra Jyothi, a special school for visually challenged students.