Deepam; Roshan Nagar, Modi Road – Bangalore
Deepam, is an NGO, founded by David and Taru, to bring restoration within a community oppressed by poverty, crime and alcoholism.
Gathering Together partners with Deepam by raising funds and providing financial assistance, as well as networking with other NGOS.
Lara runs a medical clinic every Tuesday. She reaches out to adults and children who come to Deepam.
Through the efforts of Lara, children are enabled to continue studies at PROVISION INDIA; an NGO working with children who are differently abled, as well as Yuvalok; which is an NGO providing low cost education to children from economically poor communities).
Currently, Gathering Together is working with the management of Deepam to provide expertise in strategic planning and capacity building for the staff of Deepam.
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Roshan Nagar, where Deepam is located has about 50,000 residents. Most of the families live in tiny, match box sized, one room tenements, with 4-5 families sharing one toilet, situated outside. Around ten to twenty people live and sleep in each of these one room homes.
Women and children earn a living peeling garlic or rolling incense sticks, for paltry sums of money. Both of these activities cause a lot of allergies and injuries to the palms. Men are mainly auto drivers. Modi Road is known for human trafficking, addictions to alcohol, drugs and violence.
Projects and Partnerships
- Foundational Learning: Deepam runs a center for children between the ages of three to seven years. Children are taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Children at this center are given a nutritious breakfast and lunch. Deepam seeks to bring about a paradigm shift reaching out to these little lives and instilling values different from what they see.
- Vocational Unit: Life skills and tailoring skills are imparted to women to enable them to have a trade through which they can earn a livelihood. Most of the women have not studied. Life skills education which teaches values and helps them to care for themselves and their families, in addition to understanding and learning life skills. Spoken English classes are run by a volunteer from America and by Gathering Together.
- Women’s Clinic:A weekly clinic is held for women, with Dr Anuradha, providing medical interventions. Dr Anuradha works with an NGO that partners with Deepam.
- Weekly Clinic:A weekly clinic is held every Tuesday at the center. This is run in partnership with Gathering Together. Lara Olson, CEO of Gathering Together, is a nurse practitioner who examines and treats, mainly the children from the foundation center. Many men and women come for treatment from around the area having heard of Lara, who has helped many people get healed of various ailments. ( word of mouth ).
- Recreational Activities: Lara hosted a Teachers day special invite for Deepam staff. They were treated to pedicures and nail art. They also were able to distress with coloring pages taken from the net to provide relaxation and finally to a sumptuous lunchTeachers also had a two day recreation cum retreat, sponsored by Lara at The Hilton Hotel.
Children and staff got a taste of America and were treated at Thanksgiving day with different headwear and coloring and food.
December 2016 saw Deepam celebrating the year end with children and staff. Children learnt new songs and performed before a select audience.
- Home visits: Weekly home visits are made by Taru and Dr Anuradha, to build rapport with the residents of the neighborhood to get a better understanding of the challenges they face, as well as provide family education and counseling.Visits have also been made by Lara and team to homes to understand the living challenges as well as on the invite of grateful patients who have received a healing touch by Lara
Intercultural Celebration: American Culture greets Deepam Children.
The children of Deepam, a preschool in Bangalore, live in tiny matchbox houses. Each house a home to at a minimum of ten people who sleep crushed against each other. Located in Bangalore’s underbelly, crime and poverty walk hand in hand. Most of the people of this area know nothing more than what goes on in their neighborhood.
The teachers, at Deepam have been specially selected, to be able to understand and reach out to the children. They have been given special sessions to be teachers. Neither the teachers nor the children at Deepam had heard of Thanksgiving. What better way to teach Indians a bit of American culture than to celebrate it?
Lara Olson and her son Ian Olson planned to celebrate Thanksgiving at Deepam with the students and teachers. The family prepared in advance using KG cardboard, the different types of head wear used to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Excitement filled the room, as teachers helped children color the head wear. There were pilgrim hats and bonnets and Native American Indian headbands. It was fun and games all the way, to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Teachers were given an orientation to the history and celebration of Thanksgiving.
What better way, to celebrate Thanksgiving, than to spend time with children from underprivileged backgrounds, give them the gift of love and laughter and teach them to have thankful hearts. Most of the children, said they were thankful to Lara for the love she gives them.
