Miles to go before we sleep.......

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain. --- Emily Dickinson

I-Volunteer Hyderabad started on the above note to provide a meaning to .... to make a difference ....
Unbelievably, July 2007 marks 3 months since we Started I-Volunteer in Hyderabad. Looking back it seems as if we have just started, since 3 months is just a spec of time. But talk to the children of the high school or pay us a visit at our weekly meeting or least of all drop us a mail and the exuberance will tell it's tale. We started with a purpose in mind, brought together people from diverse background, age group, attitude and even perceptions of community service but having one thing in common: vision to make a positive contribution to society. The amalgamation has been phenomenal; we put in the best ingredients and got the best results, a group that has started ….

We started on a concept of providing help to any kind of community service that has bottlenecks due to lack of volunteers. Gradually we initiated contacts with some NGOs to take tasks on our own and in this process we came in contact with 'Naandi Foundation'. Naandi is an N.G.O working in varied fields from child education, nutritional programs, women empowerment to areas as diverse as water harvesting and safe drinking water project. Naandi provided us the ideal vehicle to do just that, but not before we had surveyed other possible avenues. I-Volunteer and Naandi has come together to share this common vision that ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’

I-Volunteer and Naandi are working together to create and prove the underprivileged access to opportunities in Education, Health and Livelihood - the three main factors that cause poverty when not accessible. To make this dream come true we are working directly with the communities at the grassroots level, which includes active and consistent participation of members of the community we are working for.

We have planned to accomplish 2-3 tasks simultaneously in the short run: These include

1. Improving Board exam results in govt. schools in Hyderabad

2. Mentoring underprivileged children.

3. Women empowerment

We have divided our small team into groups and started working upon these aforesaid tasks. But for bringing the vision into reality we need some enthusiastic volunteers in our group.

This short span of 3 months has been an incredible period in many ways and we feel privileged to have participated in the growth of the volunteer field. The progress has been inspiring and rewarding, if also at times frustrating and maddening. But it has never, ever been dull! And we look forward to what may lie around the next bend of this ongoing, curvy, up and down road.