Surprises that were worth...!!

It was a windy October afternoon. The sun was right overhead and the sky was clear. I set off for a site visit for the “FARMFRESH” project. The target audience for this project is a group of marginalised migrants from poverty ridden eastern Uttar Pradesh. These people, in search of food and shelter have settled on rented lands from big Landlords in the basin of river Sutlej in Punjab. But their condition still remains the same. Now they have some land and job (farming) to do but this has never been sufficient to give them a better living condition.

On the way to the site visit, I kept thinking about how we, the team Enactus, can make a significant change and bring smiles to the faces of these people. Exploring these thoughts I finally reached this community. They don’t have proper houses, not even mud houses. They live in huts. When I reached there, I saw the entire family; ranging from the oldest in the house to the youngest offspring, from the male to the women; working in the field. I was surprised to see this unity, or in other words the essence of staying together with your loved ones, the feeling of being in concert.

Next thing which perplexed me was the way we were greeted. These people cook their food on “Chullahs” with the help of dunk cakes or wood. And as this involves lot of effort, they prefer to cook food only twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. But seeing us two young girls ran back from the field and set on fire the “chullahs” right in the afternoon (leaving all their important works) in order to prepare tea for us. This big heartedness surprised me. It took me several days to digest this that this family did this for my team, whom they barely knew. For the first time I saw the famous words of Hindu mythology “Our guest are like God” being followed with pure heart. They didn’t have the resources to greet us but still they had the heart and the feeling, and made best use of what they had.

The above two things mentioned are not big issues but in today’s industrialized and fast pacing world, these things are surely missing from many of our lives. The small but essential faculties are very essential to make one good human being and for well being of society and nation. Thus whenever we realize this, we should include in our own constitution of life. I felt it and have incorporated in mine and hope that all the readers will do in there’s.

- Manjeet Yadav (Secretary of Finance)

Enactus Experience: Incredible!!!

Her eyes were filled with tears and were just repeating the words, “I want to learn and I want to work”. Her house was situated in a secluded place away from the core of the city of Roopnagar (Punjab). The living condition of this girl, and many others of her community, was worse than our imagination. They themselves were responsible for their situation to a large extent. Women in her family were not allowed to work or go for higher studies because of some old tradition and profound superstition that girls are just to do household work. But I was there with my team members of Enactus to transform their lives. We were there for a survey intended to know the problems of people who have been kept away from the main stream of the society.

This was not the only incident of poverty and declined state of living which I have encountered. Being a new Enactus member and engaged in a project intended to help the farmers, I have seen the way of living of many communities of Roopnagar. Eagerness to help them with better ideas and make their life better, motivated me to give my best till. Dealing with farmers, advising and making them agree for our projects required a lot of effort and smartness even if it is for their better livelihood. This nature of farmers was justified because in past they have been ditched by many helping communities; by government, NGOs, etc. But with our dedication and trueness, team Enactus was successful in making them a part of our project.

The best thing that enactus provided me is to explore my ideas and implement them to its very helping projects. Working as a team and presenting myself before the different categories of society are the most wonderful experiences for me. I will like to be the part of the enactus team and give my full support in making this team better and better as long as I am the student of iit ropar.

-AVINASH KUMAR  (member-farm fresh)

The Enactus Saga...!!

ENACTUS stands for ENterpreneurial –ACTion-US which is the incarnation of SIFE whose expanded form is Students In Free Enterprise. Whatever is the name, ENACTUS or SIFE, objective still remains the same (due to which I will use both the terms interchangeably in my description) i.e.

“A Head for Business, A Heart for World”

It is an amazing organization active from last 40 years, widespread in 39 countries and has profound impact on million people’s lives across the world. I consider myself fortunate to be a part of this initiative which provides me with an opportunity to do something for the society and for the people and in course have transformed me up to a surprising extent. 

Back in January 2012, I came across the acronym SIFE first time, as some students from our senior batch were recruiting for newly established SIFE IIT Ropar club. I haven’t paid much attention to the proliferated notices regarding SIFE because at that time I was already engaged in many other activities and wasn’t willing to plunge myself in more such endeavours (though hectic academic schedule in 5th semester of CSE also played a crucial role). But somehow that acronym managed to stick into my mind. I browsed about it as soon as I got some spare time and the amazing work the organization was doing motivated me to be a part of it. I immediately registered myself and fortunately got selected. Afterwards began the SIFE saga which was a nice experience altogether.

SIFE activities consisted of wide range of diverse tasks from accounting to managing teams. Initially I was a member of “Farm Fresh” project, having 5 members in total, but luckily I got opportunities to contribute in many other SIFE projects. In “Farm Fresh” we need to work in close association with immigrant farmers residing in Ropar and have to interact with them almost twice a week. I always wanted to do this kind of stuff like talking to people about their issues and trying to help them but to do this alone is difficult because of plethora of reasons but SIFE provides me with that kind of platform. During my tenure I along with my team made many visits to various regions of Ropar and Chandigarh which remind me of the laughs we share with people as well as about the serious discussions in which we attentively listen and brainstorm about their difficulties in day-to-day life. Apart from meeting new people, which surely enhanced my communication and interpersonal skills, SIFE provides a way to mingle with people on campus. Enormous meetings and discussions regarding SIFE projects and their social, financial and legal aspects were so much informative, productive and enjoyable that I always look forward to these sessions. It helps me to form a network of like minded people for which I really want to thank SIFE IIT Ropar (now ENACTUS IIT Ropar). I have also contributed in many articles, reports and presentations regarding SIFE which had improved my written and presentation skills up to a great extent.

Other than having wonderful memories with amazing people in SIFE which I will cherish forever, the most important thing I learnt is that,

“Giving back to community is always a nice and mushy feeling which makes you proud and there is no substitute at all to this”

Today when I look back I can proudly and honestly admit that to be a part of SIFE is one of my few good decisions which moulded my life for better and have indelible marks on my personality & attitude. I look forward to work more passionately in future to uplift our communities and in turn ourselves. I also want to thank people who made the experience much more jovial and unforgettable.

-MADHU RANI (advisory member)

My journey in Enactus

My experience in ENACTUS IIT Ropar has been quite eventful. I have been its member since its inception as SIFE IIT Ropar in January, 2012. I joined in and was handed over the responsibility as a team member of the FarmFresh Project, which focuses to remove the middlemen in the farming business and to eventually help the local farmers to have direct contacts with the end wholesale consumers. This, not only helps the farmers to have a higher profit margin but also generates the much needed self-confidence.

The project had its ups and downs when the farmers didn't agreed simply because of their ongoing practice for so many years and also because of the risk of degrading their business relations that they have with these middlemen. This needed a lot of encouragement from our side, to persuade them to give it a try and to have the basic trust in transaction.

But right now, this project is doing great and the farmers are very supportive. They have been provided with Solar Lamps at subsidized costs to improve their living standards and to indirectly strengthen their relationship with ENACTUS IIT Ropar.

When I joined the college as a 4^th year student, I was made a member of the Advisory Committee and my work included to look upon the work being done under the different ENACTUS IIT Ropar’s projects. I was also a member of the Paper Mache project, which aimed at setting up a business of paper mache and related products for the target audience. This project is also doing well.

The sheer experience and joy of being part of a live project and the satisfaction that you have when you start getting output is tremendous. I learned a lot about team work and how to present myself in different scenarios. This surely improved my self-confidence and helped me overcome my introvert nature.

Another great thing that came out of my experience with ENACTUS IIT Ropar is that it provided me a great topic to discuss with my interviewer while I appeared for CISCO’s on-campus interviews. I talked and discussed at great lengths with my interviewer about all the work that has been done for social entrepreneurship under various ENACTUS IIT Ropar’s projects. This I hope projected me as a confident and socially responsible candidate, the qualities that any employer would look for in their prospective employees.

All in all, I cherished the entire time I have been a member of ENACTUS IIT Ropar and would love to continue doing so for as long as I am a student here at IIT Ropar.

-DEEPAK SACHDEVA (advisory member)