Samaritans, the social initiatives club of MDI Gurgaon has a clear agenda which is to bring smiles to the faces of those who need it the most. We conduct activities throughout the year to help the deserving, those who have been forgotten or have been overlooked in the hush of life. And we are committed to it because it brings a smile to our face as well. Not just that, Samaritans has been conducting activities for raising awareness on several issues on campus which have not only been taken well by students but have also been appreciated by faculties.
We bring to you some of the events and activities that Samaritans conducted this year.
The year began with conducting the ‘AIMS week’ in the month of August. As part of the AIMS week, twelve different activities were conducted which aimed to touch different aspects of human life. We ended the year with ‘Aarohan week’, a social awareness week with fourteen activities for various stakeholders. And in between we conducted numerous other activities.
AIMS Week 2019, MDI Gurgaon
MDI is very proud of its green campus and we leave no stone unturned to maintain the same. A
‘Plantation drive’ was conducted on campus where about a hundred plants were planted to add to the green lush and enhance the beauty of the campus. We understand the importance of our staff members and we value their contribution without which our lives not have been this easy. We
regularly organise cricket matches for their rejuvenation. We distributed t-shirts and hoodies to the staff members to show them our gratitude towards the work they are doing. We went one step ahead this time and conducted a
Menstrual Hygiene Workshop for female staff workers teaching them the importance of personal hygiene and that it is not a taboo to discuss the same.
We
visited three different NGOs this year as well. Other than the gifts and refreshments we give them, we do something much more precious- spending time with them. Spending time with kids and seeing the smiles on their faces is indeed priceless. We cannot feel happier.
In the hush of life, we indeed forget about ourselves as well. We tend to not take care about our own wellbeing. We, at Samaritans understand this and thus we conducted an
eye and dental check-up camp open to all. We saw a huge participation from the campus as people saw this as an opportunity to spend some time for personal wellbeing as well.
We
conducted two blood donation drives at the campus as well. A number of students and other people as well turned up to serve for this noble cause. Each unit of blood donated saves three lives and this awareness encouraged even the first-time donors who the afterwards felt proud of their contribution.
Aarohan Week 2020, MDI Gurgaon
Waste segregation at the consumption level is the necessity of the hour. Samaritans
installed wet and dry bins across the campus and put up hoarding to educate others about waste segregation and how to decide which bin you should throw the waste in. MDI aspires to be a plastic free campus and, in this effort, we try to educate the students about the ills of plastic and make them aware about the alternatives available. We encourage the efforts of admin as well which whole-heartedly support us in this endeavour and do their best in supporting our initiative.
We believe that no society can succeed if it does not know how to take care of its animals. MDI being a sanctuary for birds, we have
installed bird feeders at appropriate locations and it gives each one of us immense pleasure to see birds feeding from them. We also
organised an animal behaviour awareness talk for the resident kids for them to understand what to do and what not when dealing with companion animals and how to understand their behaviour.
Apart from that, Aarohan Week saw
awareness camp on Mental Health where we invited our counsellor, Ms. Preeti Singh on campus for a talk. For the mental health awareness camp, we also invited Jinia Mukherjee as a guest who is also a clinical psychologist and an asst. professor at Montpellier Business School, France. A
Cancer Awareness Workshop which was conducted by people from Cancer Care India was also conducted to raise awarenss about various forms of cancer among students. Moreover, a
Stem Cell Awareness Stall was installed which was appreciated a lot by students and faculties alike as many got to know and donate samples which might help of millions of children in future.
Other activities held around the year
Inclusiveness is what we abide by. We
invited people from LGBTQ+ community from Sehej and in association with them put up a stall at Illumina- The Diwali mela of MDI- where they sold handmade bajra cookies which were out of stock in an hour. It also gave an opportunity to the students and faculty members to interact with them and get sensitized about their issues. We believe that creating awareness is the best remedy for ignorance and prejudice prevalent in the society.
During
Independence Day, we also invited kids from NGOs where in a drawing competition was held and kids were encouraged to put their imaginations on paper. We were indeed surprised by the beautiful talent each of them possesses and that we could play a small part in bringing forward their creativity. Moreover, we also
invited a counsellor who talked to the kids for hours so that they can open up about any issues they are facing in their lives and can be understood.
Diwali the festival of light is celebrated with all vigour across the country - a time to spend with your loved ones and cherishing the present moment. But there are people amongst us whose nature of job doesn’t allow them to be with their families on this beautiful occasion. This Diwali, we
distributed sweets, clothes and handmade diyas to all the staff members of MDI. We want them to know that we are their family and they are not away from home.
It is a regular exercise to conduct collection drive at our campus. People donate clothes and other usable materials enthusiastically. All this is donated to an NGO by the members who then spend the day with the needy.
This year we identified an NGO- Earth Saviour- to donate the clothes. Team Samaritans had a good time interacting with the residents and spending time with them.
Write-up Credits:
Vishal Sharma, Secretary (2020-21), Samaritans