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studies. This had proved to be a bigsuccess, apparently because the littlechildren loved it when “older girls”rather than “strict teachers” took uptheir studies!However, students of Std. IX usedtheir “Social service” period to go tothe “Garden school”. This was theplace where children whose parentscould not afford to send them to schoolwere taught by Interactors and others.The children learned arts, crafts, poemsand spoken English.Apart from the above, the Inter-actorsorganised many other activities,such as plays by the different houses.A presentation on the girl child was achildren. They commenced theirprogramme with a prayer service afterlighting some candles. The show thatfollowed consisted of three skits andtwo dance performances.The show-stopper was a specialskit with Ms Kakar, a police inspector,in the main role. The message thatit conveyed was that it was not goodto watch too many inane televisionprogrammes. And even if they did, itwouldn’t pay to emulate what wasshown on the “idiot box”. More oftenthan not, it was senseless and puerile.At a time when the police force wasin the dock all over the country, MsKakar put in an excellent performancespecial feature. All these activities in the leading role.The Interactors of Fort Convent organised a thoughtful programme athelped raised awareness about social Yet another interesting programmewhich they invited and felicitated grandparents of school childrenproblems.was a visit to Anza Special School; itMs Helen, the Headmistress of the brought home the truth behind the dictum“every child is special”. The in-oncerned with the increasing pol-community issues, cleanliness drives,Campion School mentaries to learn about social andCPrimary Section, and the Principal,Sister Arina, were the judges of a debatenocence on every child’s face made the lution at various historical monumentssaving electricity and so on.on capital punishment. The awardfor best speaker went to Zara Presswala,while Dana D’Souza was therunner-up.The Interactors also took part in the“Alexandra Fest” and the “We Are TheWorld” competition organised by theRotaract Club of H.R. College. At thelatter event, the Club won a few medalsin athletics.On October 1, the Interactors observed“Helpers’ Day”; they took theschool’s non-teaching staff on a daylongpicnic and presented them withgifts and saplings.A week later, they celebrated thebirthday of Principal Sister Arina withInteractors want to reach out to them.They spent some memorable momentswith them which would remain in theirhearts forever.Apart from offering the special childrensweets and other goodies, theInteractors joined them as they attemptedto add colour to a plain sketchof a princess. The joy on their faces asthey looked at the completed workwas worth going miles to see.Some of the Interactors confessedthat this visit had helped them to realisethe importance of values and showedthem the way to becoming good humanbeings.On January 30, some students ofin the country, the Interact Clubof Campion School organised a fieldvisit to Delhi and Agra. It was to thesetwo historical cities that large numbersof domestic and international touristsflocked to see some of the world’sbest architectural wonders. But theyalso left a lot of litter – and worse.By taking the students on an educationaltrip to these two cities, the InteractClub and the school authoritiessought to create awareness about theill-effects of unbridled pollution.Back home in Bombay, theInteractors launched a signature campaignagainst littering and asked theirfellow students to promise not to marAn outdoor trip to Lonavala for theannual camp afforded the children anopportunity to interact with one anotherand also to become more sociallyaware of the abilities and achievementsof the differently abled.They visited the National Institutefor the Blind and were taken on treksso that they could attempt to be onewith nature. The camp and the treksproved to be an enjoyable learning experiencefor the students.Summing up, the two teachers, MsFernandes and Ms Menezes, statedthat the year gone by was a fruitful,interesting and memorable one for thestudents and for them, too.a special assembly and a series of hugs Std. VII, most of them aged 12 or 13, their environs. They also set an exampleby picking up litter from com-embers of the Interact Club ofG.D. Somani Memorial SchoolMand kisses. And then they went for a visited the Shepherd’s Home at Byculla.This was a home for aged women mon areas during their break.G.D. Somani Memorial Schoolpicnic to “Royal Garden” where theyenjoyed the series of swings, rides andother equipment set up for amusement.On November 22, the Interactorsvisited INS Shikra, the Indian naval airstation at Colaba. They were accompaniedby two teachers.INS Shikra was earlier known as INSKunjali which was the only Indiannaval air station without a full-fledgedrunway to operate fixed-wing aircraft.It was primarily a heliport.Director Drashti Zaveri reportedthat the Interactors were keen to visitTalwada to see how the Rotary Clubof Bombay had involved itself withthe community there.On Children’s Day, November 9,the Interactors of Fort Convent attendedschool in colourful clothes andwere soon sporting brilliantly colouredwristbands. Once in class, their teachersgave them coupons (for games,snacks and soft drinks). In the normalcourse, that would have been the endof the programme.But there was a big surprise arrangedby the Principal, the Headmistressand the teachers in store for thewho had no one to look after them(some were abandoned women).Several smiling faces welcomed theInteractors as they reached the Home.They spent about an hour with them,trying to bring wider – and happier –smiles on their faces with the help ofjokes, songs, dances and music. Beforeleaving, the Interactors promisedto visit them again. The Interactorsthanked Principal Sister Arina for suggestingthis interesting visit.In the midst of all these activitiesthe Interactors did not forget their datewith the residents of the PallonjiShapoorji Home for the Aged at theB.D. Petit Parsi General Hospital.They sang Christmas carols andengaged in some vigorous singing anddancing to old and popular songs. Allof these were washed down, in a mannerof speaking, with sweets, snacksand soft drinks.Interact Club Director DrashtiZaveri took her mother along for thevisit. Later, she found it very difficultto say who was more touched – hermother or the residents of the homefor the aged.Another campaign was to spreadawareness about the harmful effectsof plastic, especially when it had servedits purpose. Charts were displayed inthe school premises to describe howplastic ruined the environment.The Interact Club had two Moderators,Ms Rosemary Misquitta andMs Jennifer Fernandes. Its Presidentwas Aman Kargaonkar and he was assistedby Shivam Jaggi.The students of Std. VII joined theInteract Club of Campion School inthe academic year 2012-13 and bolsteredthe movement. The students ofStd. VII A were led by their classteacher, Ms C. Menezes; those of Std.VII B were guided by their classteacher, Ms J. Fernandes.The teachers reported that everyweek was a fun-filled one, with severalprojects organised to develop aninterest in Interact activities among thechildren.These ranged from developing a sloganfor the class, chart-making, a signaturecampaign against the use of plastic,making cards for the traffic police,a tetrapack campaign, watching docu-organised or took part in three differentinter-school programmes in thefirst half of the Rotary year.First, they hosted an inter-schoolprogramme with an intriguing title.They called it “Melange Total 5” andexplained that it was an amalgam offive mega events.It attracted participation by 16schools, was held over two days andwas an unalloyed success. Interestingly,this was the second annual editionof the programme and the studentstook active part in organising it.Another interesting project was“Go Green Day”. All students wereasked to bring unique, exotic pottedplants to school and those judged themost exotic were given prizes. A largenumber of children took part in thisprogramme designed to increase awarenessabout the need to conserve theenvironment and to grow more trees.Finally, there was “Cascade 20”, aninter-school event organised by JamnabaiNarsee School; the Interactors ofG.D. Somani took active part in it.Interactor Adil Harianawala providedmost of the above information.June 25 to July 1, 2013 THE GATEWAY, The Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bombay Page 25