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 Some of our school going children participated in sports event organized by CIF our local supporter and won few prizes, you can see few children on the run in the picture.- Regarding Community Col
lege, after finishing Arcana 10th Anniversary celebration of Concerns in January, we focused all our attention in the academic activities of the students and 42 students completed the course.
 The students who getting trained as Early Childhood Educator did a display of the teaching materials prepared during the course, a part of it can be seen in the picture.
- Among them 19 got trained in Office Management & Accountancy and 23 students completed the course on Early Childhood Education. Already few have jobs on hand and other girls are putting efforts to get in to jobs with our assistance. We are also encouraging the students to continue their higher education and planning with them according to their level.
- After finishing all their exams on the last working day we had a lighting of the lamp in the classroom and you can see the picture
- On 1st April 2011 the students of the Community College and all Concerns team members went on a day trip to Mysore and had a good time and you can see the picture
- We issued the certificates for the eligible students based on some criteria like attendance, academic performance and other involvement. Some of the girls who have not completed the adequate numbers of working days will continue to teach in summer classes to compensate the loss of attendance.
 After fulfilling the expectation they would receive their certificate.
- As you know anemia is a major problem in India, especially with women, through Dr Michel, we initiated the project of Government of India to prevent Anaemia in Janakiram Layout community. We are doing intensive health education to utilize the green leafy vegetables available in the locality in their daily diet.
 Hemoglobin and other anthropometric assessment have been done for 117 adolescents and 50 married women and de worming has been done for all of them.You can see few pictures of that new intervention. 
- With regard to tuberculosis control program, 12 patients were under our care getting medicines from Coxtown dispensary 8 completed DOTS treatment one died, since he discontinued due to alcoholism and 3 are continuing their treatment.
- On 18th of March 2011 RNTCP (Revised National Tuberculosis Control program broad way) organized awareness program on
 Tuberculosis for Janakiram lay out community people. Ward corporator got involved by sponsoring expenses like PA system, furniture etc for the program.
- Last week I had to attend the court there was hearing procedure for the deposit money, which we got cheated by CC II land lord. Hope this matter will end in this month successfully.
- Our hunting for a suitable land is still on; also search for a rented building to conduct community college classes is also going on.
Hope and wish all well with you and family.
Closing with lots of wishes & thanks
Chitra & all at Concerns.
Many of you continue to show interest in our work with Concerns Universe Foundation. Below is an update which highlights the great achievements the project is making.
Arising from a connection we were able to facilitate with an amazing local CEO of a private sector business – there is now a DVD which shows the project in action and outlines the ways in which securing a site and building would help provide some security for this work.
The Connectives continues to work to support Chitra and her team, with others in the UK and elsewhere, to promote, fundraise and use networks, skills and resources to co-create solutions based on partnership –all very much led by the wisdom and direction of Chitra and her team.
If you want to know how you might play a part in this endeavour – please contact us.
For now we hope this update will show you how the investments of time, money and talents is making a real difference.
Greetings from CONCERNS!
On behalf of everyone at Concerns in Bangalore, warm summer greetings to you. It is my pleasure to share with you the recent news from Bangalore Concerns . Now almost summer has come to an end and we are getting some rains too making Bangalore bit cooler.
• At Concerns the Community College students gained practical experience in local pre-schools, hospitals, retail outlets, offices and communities. They did their exams and in the end of the course they have realised their own personal worth: and expressions like “I can also be useful to others”. Now some of the girls successfully gaining employment in the process of applying for jobs attending interviews and so on.
• To gain experience in organising and managing events the Community college students conducted sports in different local schools.
• After a stressful week of exams for the Community College students, the girls had their Graduation Day. In true Indian spirit, a lighting ceremony was held and the girls were wished all the best of luck in their futures by important well-wishers who are involved in the project.
• They then celebrated with a picnic at Nandhi Hills and a visit to the new international airport, which was a first-time experience for most of the girls.
• Our local supporter, Concern India Foundation organised a mega sports event for the children of many different NGOs. 30 children from our community participated. We won a few medals and were given the ‘fair’ award as we did not cheat but we learned that in order to be better in sports, we need to train the children and get their strength up.
• As a part of in service training, three of the Community Health Workers attended three days workshop on Health Rights for Women at ISI Bangalore. They gained a lot more information which will better their work.
• Also, a team from the Revised National Tuberculosis Program at Bowring Hospital conducted a TB awareness programme for the Community College students and all at the project.
• For some weeks leading up to Women’s Day, community women came together to share what they had learnt at Concerns with other women from the local area. They used collage work with magazines to express health concepts on posters which were displayed on Woman’s Day for all to see. There was a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement in the woman as they saw what they had accomplished. An impressive 159 women participated in events such as hair styling, a Rangoli competition and games. The Community College students did a cultural program, a dance and a play about the empowerment of women.
• Meanwhile, before the end of academic year all the children at our childcare centres had health check-ups and nutritional status assessments, followed by a health talk for the parents. Except for a few who were underweight, most of them were healthy
• This academic year, we were glad to pay the fees towards the education of all 113 underprivileged children in different schools; the support came through Vathsalya charitable Trust.
• This academic year , we could get support from KSCCW to run one Child Care unit in Janakiram lay out. We are also planning to approach them again for some more support to run more preschools.
• As it is always our wish for our girls to continue their studies further, the facilitator from Distance Education of Andhra University gave a session on graduate requirements to encourage the students to consider University. We are currently preparing the girls for the entrance exam and procedures for admissions. A generous I-to-I volunteer from Australia has kindly donated the seed money for this program in the memory of his late wife. We would like to thank him for this heartfelt gesture. The money will be a great help towards the girls’ University education.
• Recently, Rotaract Club of Bangalore Kalyan organised an all-day event called Vishwas – ‘I Believe.’ It was a competition between NGOs and was in three parts - Sing along, Passion for Painting and On the Spot Dance Masti. 20 children from the community participated and won some medals.
• With the school holidays upon us, our summer camp got off to a great start with 88 children attending for the first week. A different theme every day, the children learned about healthy eating, TB and global warming through songs and activities. To finish with a bang on the Friday, children and staff alike took to the slum community, armed with informative banners and enthusiasm as they chanted, “Eat more fruit and vegetables”, “TB is curable” and “Keep surroundings clean”, to name a few. Sharing what they had learned with their community, the march was a fun end to a successful week. We are very proud of our teachers and students for working so hard and managing such large numbers of children.
• That takes us to the here and now where the summer camps are continuing. Almost 100 children are attending in the mornings at Janakiram Layout and around 60 at M.R.S Palya near Chinnappa gardens in the afternoons. Likewise, computer class and child care is ongoing. The older children have joined schools and will begin with the next school year while the younger ones continue here with us. Some also continue to come here while their parents are at work.
• We had our elections and as usual, there were loud-speakers and rallies from different parties, interfering in normal life and making Bangalore even noisier than usual, of course we are glad a stable government is formed .
• With people migrating into Bangalore, the city is becoming more congested every day and traffic is unimaginable. Being summer, the city is hot but we did have some rain last week which we call mango showers. Our local markets will soon be over-flowing with sweet mangoes and other fruits.
• All our Concerns team had a week of break ,everyone took in turns, our program continued. We are now planning our programs of coming new academic year.
• The good news is the documentary film on Concerns and a new flier is ready after few months of hard work ,done for supporters and well wishers of Concerns . If you are interested to get. Please write I can send it to you.
We invite all of you to come and visit us sometime and experience the project firsthand. We always remember and thank you for all your contributions towards Concerns.
Thank you & warm wishes from
Chitra and all at Concerns
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formal school and few others would remain in our CC for another one year. You can see some children holding with a soap given by CIF