Dear Friends,
The primary online definition of "attitude" from "Oxford Languages" is "a settled way of thinking or feeling about something". Your attitude is more important than anything else. It is much deeper than just a few thoughts you might think or not think. Your attitude comes from the core of your being and represents your disposition, outlook, and character.
Our attitude is more important than circumstances, what others say, our past, our education and our money. Our attitude is more important than anything else. You can never trust people with bad attitudes because they will do things that you never thought they'd do. Your attitude can make or break you; heal or hurt you; make friends or enemies; make you happy or miserable; and make you a success or make you a failure. Here are some lessons I'm learning about our attitudes.
Lesson 1: My attitude reveals the real me
Our attitude is much deeper than just a few thoughts we might think or not think. Our attitude comes out of the core of our being. Our attitude represents our disposition, our outlook, and our very character. We often say, when we do or say something that obviously wasn’t the right thing, "I didn’t mean it" or "I don't know where that came from," - it came from inside!
I've often used this illustration in my teaching sessions. Imagine I'm holding a glass filled with water. Then when I walk and bump into someone what happens? Water spills. Why? I often get scientific answers based on the crowd I'm speaking with.
I get answers like gravity, the glass is open, glass shook, and even some fancy physics explanation. Why did the water fall? To prove there is a better reason for it, I then take the same glass with no water. Again I bump into someone but this time no water falls. Why? Obviously, because there is no water in the glass. So reversing that logic, why did the water fall when filled? The answer is obvious, there was water inside and that's why it came out.
Our attitudes always become actions or reactions. Bad attitudes affect our marriage relationships/our relationships with our kids/at work/at church/friends. And the thing that makes a bad attitude so destructive is that like the glass of water, a bad attitude is eventually going to spill out into some negative actions - destructive words and deeds. (to be contd...)
I'll continue this next time. Meanwhile, let's see where we as Purnata are.
Yours sincerely for a traffic-free world
aaboo :-)
More updates:
Children in the RLA:
22 children have been coming to Aashray centre for daily study and nutrition.
Last week Vivek, Sahil and Armaan came from the hostel as they have not been well.
We have had 12 teens for Football from Aashray and 9 teens - 7 girls and 2 boys - from Jeevan Asha have practised football.
Women in the RLA:
This week we started a Parlor class at Aashray and quite a few ladies expressed their interest in doing the parlor course.
When one of our staff asked Mahi about how she came to the RLA, she narrated her story: Mahi had only studied till class seven and not completed her education. She was married off young to someone much older. However, her husband had left her and she was very sad and broken, left to fend for herself. She had to do something to survive when her mother brought her to the area and introduced her to the trade. At first, she didn't like the work and she wanted to go back to her village and do some other work. However, unable to go back and getting used to the life here she has managed 2 months. We are encouraging her to leave the area and find a better life filled with dignity.
The General Secy of UESI, an organisation that works with college students, visited Aashray centre. We had a motivational session for the women where he spoke on the meaning of true love.
Our brave hearts in rehab & training
Health concerns:
Seema TB medicines have been stopped by doctors. She has spots on her lungs and needs further advanced treatment. Her food intake has increased but is concerning as she needs to eat something regularly.
Rani is anemic, and she is on medication. Her diet has increased, and she eats well.
Somaya (preparing to join the police force) had a blood check up and was diagnosed with typhoid. Currently she is staying with her mother and undergoing treatment.
Kirtina (has been running her own food business) health is not good - her body is developing prickly heat due to the heat & humidity. Presently, she is undergoing treatment.
Literacy progress:
As Seema’s health is not good, she has not been revising her literacy portions
Rani is revising her study portions daily and also making efforts to improve her English by using the laptop.
Training progress:
Ms. Violet, our trainer, taught the women phonics, vowels, consonants and drawing this week.
Ms. Rachel, our counsellor spent time with the staff and motivated and guided staff in managing the women in training.
Ms. Sushmita, our Bengali counsellor, took an individual counselling session with Rani. Also, she took the first part of a life skills session on self-Image.
Ruth, our intern, taught Rani the names of the months in English.
Rani tried to make new patterns of jewellery.
Some of the Life skills sessions taught this week –
How to be a happy woman? How to set a goal for life? Personality development.
Revision on basic etiquette.
Our champion brave hearts (some those who have moved on)
Riya (who cleared her auto driving and received her licence) practices auto driving for an hour every morning, and she is slowly gaining confidence. She is unable to practice four wheeler as she does not have access to a four wheeler.
Poonam (one of our first women rescued and now working in an export company) was given a tailoring machine from our Purnata Bhavan to help her take orders and stitch from home as an additional income. The machine needs some repairs which she will get it done this week.
Mohini (waiting for her exit visa to be repatriated back to her country, Bangladesh) was upset this week as she hasn't been able to connect to her family for two consecutive days. Her garment trimming work is progressing well.
Saloni (a student we are supporting with her studies) has got to clear five subjects again as her attendance has been poor. She was disappointed with us as she was hoping for us to use our connections and get her through to the next class but we could not do that. However, we will continue to support her and help her reach her goals with closer supervision.
Kirti is enjoying her experience at Smit Salon very enthusiastically, and is happy with the work she is doing. She was a bit disappointed that she had not received any tips from anyone this week.
Kolkata/WB Updates:
Women's Day highlight:
The Purnata Kolkata team was invited to do an awareness program with the women of a village in Nepalganj.
The program was co-hosted by the NSS dept. of St. Xaviers College (Autonomous) Main campus on the occasion of International Women’s day.
The program was attended by almost 100 women and about 35 students.
Snippets:
Mana, Susan and Sujit have been visiting the village RLA on a regular basis and speaking to over 30 different women and building relationships.
Last Tuesday, Sony was able to give an exposure to a Slovenian couple, around the RLA. He briefed them about trafficking and what Purnata does to end trafficking. He also shared on how we want to replicate our Mumbai model to start work in the largest RLA in Asia.
Our peer educator Mana covets your prayers as she has been fighting a severe chest congestion. Some of our Kolkata city staff are going through a severe health crisis due to a poor Air Quality Index (AQI) with an outbreak of Adenovirus leading to severe respiratory problems.
Our staff Mana and Susan were called to visit the principal at the Rainbow Loreto home with regards to our beneficiary Riya’s progress and her documentation. But the meeting was apparently cancelled due to an outbreak of chickenpox in the hostel. But thankfully Riya has not been affected. The Hostel is currently being vacated to carry out disinfection. Riya has been asked to go home. We are trying to accommodate Riya to a different hostel for the time being.
Anusree has been following up on Sehirina’s case for the closure of the missing FIR. Sehirina's grandmother has filed a petition and recorded her statement at ACJM court at Basirhat as per the procedure for case closure.
Sony has been working on an MIS for developing a comprehensive reporting format with various parameters.
18 children have been attending Akharpur DCC (Basirhat) regularly and been engaging in extra curricular activities last week and also enjoying nutritious meals every day.
Coming Up Women's Day Celebration:
A major program is being planned in one of our RLA for women's day. It's going to be fun, learning and lots of food and games 533 stalls with products all made by women. Watch out for more details next week.
We have launched an online crowdfunding campaign on Ketto to gather 20 lakhs to cover a shortfall in our resources here in Purnata. We now have 80 individual donors and 26 fundraisers and have raised ₹6,45,983. We want to exceed our goal by adding more fundraisers in the following weeks. To learn more click here.
Thank you for your continued support. Together, we can make a difference. I hope you’ll take the time to look at our website at www.purnata.org and the regular updates we put on social media via our handle @Purnataorg. As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged.