We give flowers to others to make them feel special on important occassions. And yes, selling flowers is also a source of livelihood. But lets give plants instead; they stay alive longer, spread greenery and contribute (even if in a small way) to the healthy environment! Let us spread the culture of "Give a plant as a gift!"

Go to http://commit.tigweb.org/1101
and join the commitment. and Lets fill up the photo gallery with photos that reflect our vision for the greener world!

I have not written a blog post for such a long time. I was thinking of opsting somethign substantial. It took months for me to finally write something. Not because i found something substantial now! but because i thought of expressing whatever i have been thinking.

I have been thinking how important it is to express your thoughts and feelings. We cannot assume that others will understand on their own. When we do not express, we take away opportunties from others to understand us. We get inot a cycle of anger where we feel not understood, and we also start assuming the intentions of people.

It is important to share and clarify. This helps relationships grow.

Greetings from DOR!!

We thank all for contributing in the Winter Campaign. In November 2007, DOR launched a campaign to collect resources which could help in making the winter warm for the homeless people and children. With everyone's support, DOR accomplished this campaign successfully in third week of December.

During the campaign, we visited many people and institutions to collect the resources. This includes- Zakir Hussain College, Kaplan Financial India, Fujitsu, ASN School in Mayur Vihar, Lodhi Colony and other friends who joined in the campaign.

All contributions in kind were forwarded to homeless people in a dignified manner. The clothes were washed, ironed, mended and packed. We utilized cash contributions to buy blankets, warm inners, sweaters for children, scarves, pajamas, and socks. Copy of bills will be posted soon to those who contributed through cash.

There were many clothes which could not have been used in thier present state. As we would not like any contribution to go waste, we sent the consignment of worn out clothes to Goonj. Goonj recycles such things to create products which can be used further.


As you already know, DOR collaborated with Aman Biradari and Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan in the Winter campaign. If anyone around you would still like to contribute, please share the following information with them so that they can contact directly:

Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan
S-442, 2nd Floor, School Block, Shakarpur, Delhi-92
Contact person: Ms Paramjit Kaur
# 9312668807, 22481609
Contribution by cheque will be in favour of- ActionAid India Society

Aman Biradari
B-102, 1st Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi-17
Contact Person: Mr Tanveer, Mr Abdul Shakeel
# 9818416968 (Tanveer), 9958205558 (Abdul Shakeel), 26851339
Contribution by cheque will be in favour of- Aman Biradari Trust

The winter campaign initiative is our contribution to the community that we live in. It is our way saying that people living with disability are aware citizens.


Wishing you a Wonderful New Year ahead!!

Dear Friends,

We all have the right to life. However, the harsh winter of Delhi creates challenges for many of our fellow citizens. Join us in making this winter a safe and a pleasant winter!

DOR is launching a campaign to collect resources which can help in making the winter warm for the homeless people and children. Let us work together for the rights of people who are homeless.

Any contributions in cash or kind for the following will help with the following resources.

 Blankets
 Woollen clothes- Sweaters, Shawls, Coats
 Warm inners
 Woollen Socks, Caps, Gloves
 Shoes for children and adults
 Candles/Emergency Lights for shelter homes

All contributions in kind will be forwarded to homeless people in a dignified manner. The clothes will be washed, ironed, mended and packed.

All donations in Cash will be spent to buy the above resources and bills for the same will be posted to the people who donate.

We will like to visit you to collect your contribution. When we meet you we will also like to share what else we do.

DOR is a group of people whose lives are touched by disability. The winter campaign initiative is our contribution to the community that we live in. It is our way saying that people living with disability are aware citizens.

DOR is collaborating in its winter campaign with two other voluntary organisations:

# Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan- which works towards ensuring rights of the homeless people in Delhi. It runs 7 shelters for all age groups, and manages more than 50 temporary shelters in winters.
# Aman Biradari- is a people’s campaign for a secular, peaceful, just and humane world. It also runs shelter homes for children.

Contact: Tasneem, Salman, Indraneel, Minakshi, Shweta dor.library@gmail.com or 011 26537012; AADI, 2 BALBIR SAXENA MARG, NEW DELHI, 110016

The campaign is based only in Delhi and ends on 3rd December 2007, which is also the World Disability Day.

DOR is facilitated by AADI and Saarthak. DOR runs a Café, a Book Club, a Movie Club and a Music Club.
Know more about DOR at: 011 26537012 or e mail us at dor.library@gmail.com
Contact- Ratna/Minakshi

In centuries of patriarchal society in India, boys/men grow up believing that they have the ultimate responsibility to protect and generate resources for their family. There is always a pressure to live up to this expectation for which they also often recieve special care. A mother would want to ensure that the son does not have to be hassled about the household work because he has to be busy earning. And what is the product in the end? - A man who may not be able to cook,clean, stitch clothes, etc at home. He is only trained to use physical power (because thats the only thing that they have more than women at times!) and deal with the outside world because there are always women to deal with the world at home! The most common reason men can give for this is, " We were not asked to do such things. So we do not know how to. Of course! we can learn if we want to!" But how many men actually get into the practical part of this thought?

What needs to happen in present times? Women in urban cities are progressively learning to deal with the outside world as well as manage the world at home. Her efficiency and skills are increasing and becoming far better than men. Men are lagging far behind but they may not want to accept this fact. Most of the men are still stuck in the way of thinking from 19th century while women in urban areas are well settling in the 21st century way of being. The excuse of "my mother made me so" cannot work all the time. It is the reponsibility of everyone to take actions for change in thier life. Men are yet to prove that they can change and consider women as equal. Men have to get used to the fact that women will speak thier mind without fearing "what will the man think" of thinking "of course, he must be right!" Women are right too. Men have to learn to listen to them. Of course, this journey is not too easy. But men have to take the responsibility to take this journey. Otherwise, they probably will have to get used to being rejected by women who might be far more efficient then them.

Today is International Woman's Day!

Lets Celebrate each day by treating each other as equals,
respecting one another without the other having to prove her worth each time,
remembering that small things that make each other happy are also important!

And Do take care of your kidneys! its the World Kidney Day as well!!

Affirmative action is a policy or a program of taking positive steps [1] to increase the representation of certain designated groups allegedly seeking to redress discrimination or bias through active measures, as in education and employment. It is usually achieved through the use of preferential treatment for those groups. Proponents of affirmative action generally advocate it either as a means to address past or present discrimination or to enhance racial, ethnic, gender, or other diversity.

However, opponents of affirmative action contend that affirmative action programs create their own discrimination because they result in preferences given to individuals on the basis of race, sex, and national origin. (From Wikipedia)

My Views:
It is obvious that the circumstances or vulnerabilites need to be kept in mind before deciding what kind of support to be given to an individual or to a family. But then how do we justify those who "seem to be taking advantage" of the schemes/policies put in place specially for them? Whether its about Reservation for people from minority community or a person from so called "scheduled castes/tribes", many of us suggest that we need to keep the economic stability as one crieteria to decide whether resources need to be allocated to a family or not.

However, I think the difficulty lies in "qyantifying" the vulnerabilities. It has been such a complex thing, especially in the developing world. Vulnerabilites can range from -belonging to lower social strata to having disability to being a woman to being a child without parents.

So, how does one decide what support needs to be given to a family where there are many children? Yes, the parents probably had choice and information to have few children , instead of many. But whats the fault of the child in this? Will stopping the support to family imapct this child? How do we manage that impact so that rights of the child are not violated?

Everyday, Govt. and voluntary sector faces these questions and work towards solutions. Probably there is no one right solution. And probably there are many soultions which need to be tried.

Yes, Govt. may at times decide on the basis of "vote bank". But is that reason enough to disgree with the measures that might reduce vulnerabilites in the long run?

There are boundaries that we all set around ourselves. We need a space which cannot be transgressed by others without our permission. But what is that boundary- which can protect us, and at the same time does not discriminate? Is it possible?

I think we all discriminate. In one manner or the other, we do. We do it to protect our Identity, our Space and our Rights.

For example, my home is not open for all. I would not allow strangers in. I need to be safe. But my criteria (for stopping people from entering) will not be based on caste, religion, gender, nationality, etc.

Often, we also discriminate because we become judgemental about others. We may start believing that others are out to violate Our Identity, Our Space and Our Rights. We may not have enough evidence to believe so, and yet we conclude on the basis of our assumptions.

For example, In civil wars, people form into groups to protect themselves from each other. Anybody who is different and does not belong their group, may not be trusted.

We discriminate also because that is what we have learnt in society while growing up.

For example, all communities have their way of functioning. But often, rituals are followed without remembering the objectives. So, if 100 yrs ago, it was decided that only a particular kind of people can enter a place, they would have specified a reason which was relevant at that time. Yet, people continue to follow the ritual for centuries and overlook whether the objective is being served. Or whether it is serving any purpose now? Jagannath Temple at Puri is one such example according to me. It allows only Hindus to enter. And I wonder why? I wonder what is wrong if others also enter.

And like I said earlier, we all follow boundaries. But my fight is not just with the Puri temple, but in fact with all who have such criteria to discriminate. My fight is also to challenge rituals which, according to me, probably do not serve much to humanity.

I think that reservation is important for ensuring the equitable access to opportunities and resources.

We need to work with multiple strategies for development. a major chunk of population does not have access to opportunities and facilitative environments. This happens due to their social, economic, political, as well as biological factors. We need to take these vulnerabilties into consideration and do two things parallely -

1. Provide opportunities through reservtion so that people get to use thier potential
2. Ensure access to resources for everybody so that people can realize their potential.

If i get 50% in my subjects...it des not mean that i cant do well otherwise..in other areas. if my education has been such that i cant score much as compared to people in Delhi...it does not mean that once i get admission , i wont do well in law/medicine/managemnt. I might need more support in my education even in post graduation..but you cannot question my potential and intelligence.

Let me take example from my school only... many people are forced to take humanities because they may not have scored well in 10th class examination. Thier opportunites are restricted. Tt is assumed that they are not intelligent and not worthy of studying science! but does that make you and others less intelligent? Have people studying humanities not done well in life? Have they not been able to achive their potential?

Yes..many have and many will because people like us got the environment. But so many people go not get such enabling environments and obviously cant score marks.

Reseravation should happen. Not just on the basis of caste but on the basis of other vulnerabilites too! There may be million examples of how people from adversity have potential but how whats unfair is that ..life gets decided on the basis of marks that you score.

We all know that our worth is much more than the marks we score! But when we decide for others..we want that to be taken into consideration.

There have been many many articles and media attention to show that India is back on track. And that this is the spirit of Mumbai and this is spirit of India. But is it really about the spirit? How would such blasts and other such disasters (natural or man made) impact human beings? Let us see..

There would be fear about what could happen next? and about what all catastrophies might happen?
There could be helplessness that " I can't do anything to stop this… or to change this.
There would be numbness and one may not react. There could be shock and disbelief that "This has actually happened to me! How could it happen? and Why me?"
One could feel overwhelmed with so many thoughts and feelings.
There could be detachment. By this, one would probably be able to protect oneself from the negative emotions.
There will be anger because nobody was able to stop this from happening and such anger could continue among those who have suffered losses, if relief does not come to them soon enough. Anger will continue if the promises are made and not kept.
There is definitely a thought of "Anything can happen anywhere! I am not safe anywhere". This could make one numb and also feel out of control. But this thought would also lead people to continue life as it is. People would not stop thinking or talking about what has happened but people would still continue their work.

It is about survival. It is about what we do about the fact that anything can happen anytime and anywhere! So how do we escape? Do we really have a choice and be at home all the time? No. And therefore people continue especially if their families have not been hurt.

What else happens?
So what happens when people have to find answers to their anger and the thoughts of "Why did this happen?" "Who did this?" and "How can we ensure safety?"
And then the blame and questions shift to poople who are in minority. It gives one more moment to people to pass negative judgements and say "See what Muslims are doing to the country!" It also makes some politicians pass statements like " We know all Muslims are not like this. But how is is that all terrorists come out to be Muslims? Why don't muslims say something against this?" Such double bind communication does not have any positive impact of course!! It only isolates one community against another and put up one religion against another. Voice of minority gets unheard as usual.

With so many incidents of targeted violence, abuse, discrimination and undignified behaviour against minority in India, not many people form majority come up and say it is wrong. But one expects the minority to participate and be communicative all the time. Not all the time actually but only when it is convenient for the majority! As a majority, one has more power and obviously the power to violate as well! When voices of minority are suppressed, when they remain unheard, when their security is not ensured and when they have to live in fear...then who talks?

In a society where we seem to be growing intolerant of each other day by day...the judgmental comments of people (especially politicians) only make it worse.

We all have to fight violence together. It is not about a religion. Blaming others cannot take the blame away from us. We all have to take responsibility for the fact we all are propagating violence, abuse and discrimination everyday..in one manner or the other. We all are judgemental everyday. We have accept this reponsibility and then take action together.

Youth for Technology Foundation, Owerri Digital Village, holds its 3rd graduation ceremony of young entrepreneurs- Global Education Telecommunity Initiative

For Immediate Release

CONTACT
Chinyere Mbachu
Program Manager
Crafties Youth Initiative
get2chichi2002@yahoo.com

Youth for Technology Foundation’s, Owerri Digital Village will hold the 3rd graduation of its GEI youth on May 18, 2005 at the premises. 10 youth will be honored for their hard work and dedication to the program and will be given certificates of merit in completing a program utilizing information and communication technology to address the issue of Ecosystem and water purification in Owerri Local community.
Global Education Tele-community Initiative is a Global Learning Community Comprising of 20 Networked International Education HUB’s at Schools and Community-Based Learning Centers across the United States and in Developing Countries like Nigeria (Owerri Digital Village)
Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) is leading the Africa efforts of GEI to connect youth at community technology and learning centers (CTLC) with one another. GEI (a project of John C. Ford Programme) is a joint venture of international grassroots public primary and secondary schools, CTLC’s, universities and leading international businesses to achieve education reform.
The mission of GEI is to end the education, digital, gender and cultural divide by providing a project-based link between the classroom and real world.
It is a youth-led programme that focused on Ecosystem and water Purification.
The first GEI presentation session was held in May 12, 2004 (which focused on Water Purification) whereas the second presentation was held in November 6 2004 (which focused on e-cyclopedia) ODV youth came first throughout the whole world.

Congratulations to Owerri Digital Village youth.

The African Regional Preparatory meeting will be holding in Accra in February
2005 and would be a great opportunity for young people from different African
countries to showcase what they have been able to build within the WSIS
framework; share best practices/ Challenges; and discuss proactive steps towards
the inclusion of their respective Nations in their information society.



WSIS Youth Consultation will give the opportunity of creating awareness of the
WSIS process among Nigerian Youths in Imo state; update them on the present
developments; inform them of the process progress ; empower them with the
possibility of active participation and taking action in their local communities
in line with WSIS plan of Action .



WSIS Youth Consultation is coordinated by youth-led Organisations in Different
States of the Federation while Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) will host the
final consultative session that will present the summary of individual Policy
Train sessions to the Nigerian Communities



The dynamic duo of Ugochukwu Nwosu and Chinyere Mbachu will host this one-day programme with support from OWERRI DIGITAL VILLAGE on January 25 2005 at Owerri Digital village,Owerri Imo State. The workshop will seek to consult a guided discussion to find out ways of making ICT4D a reality in the state in line with the WSIS action plan.

Delivering to the Community...Owerri Digital Village

Youth for Technology Foundation, Owerri Digital Village, holds its fifth graduation ceremony.


For Immediate Release

CONTACT
Chinyere Mbachu
Program Manager
Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF)/
Owerri Digital Village
get2chichi2002@yahoo.com


Youth for Technology Foundation’s, Owerri Digital Village will hold the fifth graduation of its youth on December 15, 2004 at the premises. 50 youth will be honored for their hard work and dedication to the program and will be given certificates of merit in completing basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills curricula.

YTF is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, community technology and learning center (CTLC) and the first digital village in West Africa located at the Okigwe road secretariat Owerri Imo State Nigeria. The mission of YTF is to create enriched learning communities by providing disadvantaged youth in rural areas with the technology, educational tools and resources they need to unlock their potential. It was established in 2000 commissioned in April 2002 by the Executive Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa.

YTF pioneered the digital village movement in and for Nigeria and has helped other non profit organizations implement this model in their communities. YTF takes a multi-sectoral approach involving the civil society, private sector and the government to successfully establish community technology centers that cater to young people.

The center offers technology skills, development and training to underserved youths in an effort to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, technical leadership and a passion for learning thereby bridging the digital, gender and education divides in their communities. YTF programs are focused on youth as they are quick learners, community catalysts and have the longest productivity horizon. YTF has designed innovative technology programs that improve the economic, educational and social status program participants.

Programs currently offered at the center are TechKids (8-12 years), TechTeens (13-19 years), Tech Communities (20-24 years), Global Education Initiative (GEI) and Mtandao Africa.

Congratulations to Owerri Digital Village youth!!!