Personality Development Camp in Mangaon

A weeklong Personality Development Camp was conducted at Mangaon which saw the participation of our Future Smiles, Girl Child and Life Skills Empowerment beneficiaries. The objective of the camp was to build self esteem, provide exposure enabling to interact with the community outside their comfort zone, learn new perspectives towards the society, networking and empower the young minds to be leaders of tomorrow.

The camp was organised by Sane Guruji National Memorial Trust and their initiative was called Yuva Chawni. On the first day, the camp was inaugurated by  guests from Sarhad organisation based in Kashmir. The camp began with a prayer followed by Shramdaan, a social service within the society and community for development. This included constructing a street, cleaning the area, making a waterfall which allows the storage of seasonal rains to save water.

Session conducted during the camp-

• Methods of Communication

Conducted by Mr.Yuvraj Mohite, Maharashtra 1 Editor and Ex-President of Sane Guruji National Memorial Trust and Mr. Sanjay Avate. They spoke about what exactly is communication and how important is it in our day-to-day life. He spoke about origin of communication and how it began in the ancient period by code language, paintings, facial expressions, signs etc. Also, he emphasised on how lack of communication is one of the core issues which aids societal inequality.

• Astrology

Conducted by Mr. Aksahy Bhide, he spoke about the earth and its scientific changes, stars and satellites. He also made the participants witness various constellations, allowing them to stargaze and understand the vastness of nature.

• Communication through Art

Conducted by Mr.Jayprad Desai, Bollywood Film Director, he indulged the participants in photo presentation, debate and discussion on role of media in society, cinema and its impact on society etc. He also showed them a documentary, Nagrik, to make them further understand this.

• Games

The participants played different games which would make them understand the importance of team work, identifying their strength and weakness. The games were conducted with the theme of communication kept in mind.

• Communication Constitution

Conducted by Mr. Subhash Ware, this session talked about issues like fundamental rights and duties, election process, corruption, reservation policy, globalization, liberalization, privatisation etc.

• Great Bhets (sharing inspirational stories of one’s life and achievements)

1- Mr.Nalawade, ACP of Mangaon Police

He shared his experiences of his posting in Naxalite areas, social perspectives of people, social norms, customs and marriage system in tribal’s, livelihood and education system in tribal areas, their issues & challenges, role of government and police in tribal area.

2- Mr. Sumit Paringe, Cycling Champion

This was an inspiring story of Sumit’s journey from Panvel to Siachen on bicycle.
He shared this incredible journey of his trip with the participants, making them understand that achieving one’s goal is not difficult if you put your heart and soul into it.

3- Ms. Swanandi Wadgaonkar, Justice of Mumbai High Court

She shared her experience about court cases, law on field, court processes etc.

• Swaanubhav Kathan, a confession

This was one of the highlight session. It so happens in life, one cannot share their stories with everyone which gets etched in their mind forever stunting their personal growth. A confidential sharing of stories with each other, and allowing suggestions only if the story-teller wishes so. It’s more of a way to bring out incidents hidden deep under one’s conscience and which can be shared only with random strangers.

• Nature Walk

Conducted by Mr. Rahul Warange, the participants went for a nature walk where they learned about different types of flowers, trees, insects etc. They also indulged in rappelling and hiking.

Feedback from Beneficiaries

Ankita Waghmare (LSE) said,  “I felt happy during these 8 days in this camp. I made lot of new friends who are from outside of Mumbai. I got to celebrate my birthday with my new friends who are from all over Maharashtra. It’s an experience I will never forget. I got a chance to perform on stage which will help me to increase my confidence.”

GCE beneficiary Ms. Manali said “Initially I wanted to go back home when I came to this camp but gradually my interest grew and now I want to just stay here. I would now like to attend other such activities as well.”

LSE beneficiary Ms. Manisha Dhumal said “I learned new games and was made more aware about the social issues and political science. I would like to thank Mumbai Smiles to give this exposure to represent the Organization in a different place. I learned new tribal dance & it’s really a great experience to perform in front of people. Now my confidence level of represent or presentation of me has increased. It was a chance for me to meet people from different background like tribal area, rural, urban etc.”