21st Anniversary of Sakthi – Vidiyal
Every organization is known by its foot prints during its journey down the years. Sakthi – Vidiyal have been serving children from various disadvantaged backgrounds for the past two decades is now standing as a symbol of child rights protection in the city of Madurai, in Tamilnadu, South India. It is amazing to look back at the path that we have made and the impact it created in lives of hundreds of street and slum children.
The entire Sakthi – Vidiyal commune gathered at Sornam Mahal on 28th February 2015 to celebrate the 21st anniversary. It was a grand programme and the whole community felt part of this joyous celebration. This celebration had three parts which was much enjoyed by the gathering.
The first one was a formal stage programme with dignitaries. This year respectable district collector of Madurai Mr.L.Subramanian graced the occasion as the chief guest. The district collector praised our work and kept Sakthi – Vidiyal in high esteem. His speech had simple motivational message to the community and he very much identified himself with the gathering. It was a great honour to our parents, staff, volunteers and children to receive a gift from him. Dr.C.Ramasubramanian, a leading psychiatrist and a well-wisher of Vidiyal offered felicitation. He serves as the nodal officer for Tamilnadu in the National mental health programme of Government of India. He motivated the gathering that anything could be achieved with determination and perseverance.
The second part of the celebration is community celebration in which The Vidiyal Child Rights Movement, a child led organization, Muhangal, the volunteer forum at Vidiyal and Olirum Muhangal, our alumni forum were given 10 minutes on stage to present their thoughts and vision. It was followed by presentations from the Programme, Project and Childline departments. These were much appreciated by the audience.
The Final part of the programme was a spectacular mind blowing performance by our children which included dance, mime and theater. This year our children’s theater group produced a play titled “Thalaytti Bommaihal” which was written and directed by Mr.C.Ramesh our alumna. We take pride in this as our children are slowly taking up centre stage and the onus is taken over by them gradually. We are sure that our children will take prime positions in the organization and continue the journey forever.