The Beginning of Sai Seva Sangh – 1961/88 (A Registered Charitable Organization)
The foundation of Sai Seva Sangh was laid in August 1988 by a group of compassionate, like-minded individuals who shared a single vision to educate and empower orphaned and underprivileged girl children by providing them free shelter, education and holistic care.
The executive members of Sai Seva Sangh are alumni of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthi, where they themselves received a free, value-based education. Deeply inspired by this blessing, they pledged to give back to society by creating a haven for children who had no one to care for them thus, Sai Seva Sangh was born, a ray of hope for countless young lives.
To reach those who needed help the most, we began our journey in a slum area surrounded by small-scale industries, where many children were at risk of child labor and illiteracy. With no infrastructure, just a heartfelt mission, we started with 26 children, teaching them the basics of reading and writing. Soon, we expanded learning beyond academics by introducing art, dance, music, and sports, encouraging each child to discover her hidden potential.
At Sai Seva Sangh, every child receives comprehensive education, nutritious food, safe accommodation, medical care and personal needs all completely free of cost. Once a child enters our home, she is nurtured with love, dignity and equal opportunities, without any financial burden on her family.
SRI SATHYA SAI VIDYAMANDIR SCHOOL
Sai Seva Sangh, a registered voluntary organization started the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Mandir, with the help of a small group of members with a primary objective of eradicating child labor in the Moosapet slum area surrounded by small scale industries
Why here?
This slum has been selected by the organization as the child labor problem is prominent in the area. The school was started in this area with the primary objective of giving basic education to the children who undertake part-time jobs in the surrounding areas.
The love and interest shown by the members of this organization attracted the children and the zeal & enthusiasm shown by the children to learn more made the school to expand further up to Xl standard within a short span of ten years.
What school does?
The school provides a free supply of textbooks and other related teaching materials eg., audio visual equipment etc. The school has provided a good seating arrangement along with a supply of notebooks. The school also provides free clothing, uniforms, school bags etc. for the children, which are sponsored by a few like -minded volunteers.
Free mid-day meals are also provided by a voluntary organization to compensate the children, as they would have otherwise earned their livelihood for the day by working in the small industries around. Apart from these, routine medical check-ups are also being conducted and free medicines are provided to them by a voluntary medical team. Some teachers are volunteers and the rest are paid which are also sponsored by volunteers. This active involvement of the community and voluntary organizations have helped the school to develop in a big way.
Our School routine:
The school has grown gradually from I- lll classes with a strength of around 25-30 children and now has a strength of around 350 students from I class to Xll class. School starts at 08:30 am and closes around 7:30 pm.
Since the slum does not have electricity, the children finish their home-works given in the class, and they leave for their respective homes. At around 4.00 pm, they are given a glass of milk. His academic year students have passed the X Class SSC, common examination with flying colors and students have passed their 7th class public exams with 100% of them achieving distinction division.
How do we support it?
These students, whose parents are illiterate and are casual laborers are also unfortunate to be classified as 50% of them have only a single parent, and another 25% of them being orphans, have been studying in Sri Satya Sai Vidya Mandir from the beginning. The teachers are also very enthusiastic and have a wide range of ideas to impart education with additional emphasis on human values to make the children better future citizens.
Some earlier batch of students are pursuing Intermediate regularly as well as vocational Intermediate in different Institutions but with their after school follow-up hours being spent under the able guidance of the teachers in our school. It has been a proud achievement for our school that some of these vocationally trained boys after completion of their courses have been placed immediately in different organizations, and have been appreciated by their new employers for their basic value systems taught to them in our school.
Girls who have completed their intermediate education have now enrolled in Nursing courses at NIMS and Mahaveer Hospital. They will now be able to take up a successful career in nursing after this course. Their educational expenses are borne by taking loans from various banks with the surety provided by Sri Sai Seva Sangh Even the interest on the loans is borne by the Seva Sangh. Only the principal amount needs to be repaid by the candidates once they take up a job There is an increase in demand for enrolling children in the school every year and the interest of the parent in joining their children in this school instead of sending them for mental jobs is noteworthy. This adds to our responsibility of being supportive to their interests and helping more children to be better citizens. We look forward to your cooperative and support in this valuable cause.
SRI SATYA SAI DENNAJOANODHRANA PATHAKAM
The Pathakam was started on 17 February 2006, with an orphanage for young girls, a destitute home for ladies and an Old Age Home for the elderly ladies.
Observing the suffering children who attend the free school (Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Mandir) and the other people around, the need to provide food and shelter to the orphans, destitute and the elderly became quite evident. And with that the idea of starting a center which houses all the three categories became clear.
The concept behind starting the three units together is that each unit provides moral support to each other, shares love and helps each other. The destitute women take care of the children and the elderly who in turn love them as their own family. The elderly also gain the affection of the small children and forget their pain. They also share their experiences and give their valuable advice wherever necessary.
All the three units work together in harmony. They share their routine work like cooking, washing, cleaning etc. which would otherwise be a cumbersome task. Now they enjoy doing their work.
HOME FOR DESTITUTE & OLD AGE WOMEN
The home now houses 18 elderly ladies. There is provision for 25 inmates.These inmates are being taken care of well by the other unit members and the other volunteers as well These ladies are self-sufficient, they cook their own meals mostly, help the other unit cooking by cutting vegetables, make pickles, snacks etc. They are given nutritious food.
The inmates feel happy in the premises where they get the love and affection of the young children and school children along with the other ladies. Medical facility is also available to them through the free clinic that operates on the premises.
MEDICAL CLINIC
A free medical clinic is functional at the premises on all Sundays. This clinic caters to school children, orphanages, destitute ladies, old people and also the families of the school children. Around 200 families have been adopted and are provided free medical help.
Eminent doctors and efficient volunteers offer their services to this clinic. Medicines are supplied by good pharmaceutical companies free of cost, which are distributed by medical prescription of the doctors. For any serious ailments patients are referred to other hospitals.
ORPHANAGE HOME FOR GIRLS
The orphanage is now open and running with 36 children and also has a capacity to house around 50 children. The little girls are mostly below the age of 8 years. The children come from disturbed homes like different cases of parental abuse, born to unwed mothers, orphans for whom no one is there to take care, girl children being sold by their fathers.
HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Sai Seva Sangh provides financial aid to the children for their junior and senior graduation years, be it for mainstream college or open school, a vocational or professional course or coaching classes.
The aim of the program is to be a mentor and guide for students to help them stay focused on their goal as they begin their second phase of learning journey. It is an anchor for each child, post Grade 10, to turn to for emotional, moral, academic and financial support to tide over the trying period of doubts and decisions.
It begins with sessions of aptitude testing and career counselling to understand one’s strengths and challenges in order to choose an appropriate course of study. A one-on-one counselling session helps students make an informed choice towards the path of higher level education.
So far about 243 girls have been supported in pre-university studies, diploma and graduation courses, such as nursing, engineering, pharmacy, agricultural sciences and are successfully employed in their respective fields of education.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
For Parents:
The parents of the children are requested to take part in medical camps conducted quarterly at the school premises for the students as well as for the parents. The mothers are given training in tailoring after school hours at school. Community prayers are held with multi-religious songs to inculcate that religions may be many but god is one. Festivals of all religions are celebrated in the school to promote religious harmony. Parents’ education is conducted once a week.
These activities help the parents to give them a feeling of being a part of the whole project.
For the Nearby Areas:
The school also functions as a community service center. The local slum people have been providing relief during the floods in the Twin cities. They were provided with food and clothing along with shelter during their times of need. The slum has now been provided with regular drinking water supply. Separate water connections were given to them by laying pipelines. The slum people actively participated in the program by their shrama dhan for the entire work.
Their drainage system is also now greatly improved under the AP Government’s janmabhoomi scheme. All these facilities have improved the living conditions of the residents who now actively participate in all activities initiated for their well-being.
They now look up to the school authorities for any problems in their locality Tailoring classes for the young girls and interested ladies in the slum are also provided with the help of the Vocational training institutes. Certificates are also issued after completion of the course. This provides enough skill to the ladies and girls to take up alternative methods of self-employment to support their families.