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Empowering NGOs with culture
216 Plays1 year ago
In this episode we will talk about Empowering NGOs and culture with Pooja Sree. Pooja is a jack of all trades. She is participating in so many different organisations like the YLAC initiative, while she is offering English classes to high school students in her region.
You can connect with Pooja Sree at https://lnkfi.re/pooja-sree
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Episode's page https://podcast.changemakerz.org/pooja-sree
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Produced by Vasilis Skarleas
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello, everyone. I'm Hannah. And I am Vassilis. We interview teenagers with impactful projects and create resources to help you change the world. If they can't do it, so can he.
00:00:23
Speaker
On this podcast, we discuss the logistics of creating different types of projects with Gen-Zers who have already done it. We will leave our social media and website information in the description.
Meet Pudya: A Multitalented Student from India
00:00:51
Speaker
Welcome everyone to a new episode of the Dancer's Rise Podcast. With us and the students, Pudya is free from India. We could say that Pudya is a jack of all trades. She is participating in so many different organizations and initiatives which really made us think, when do you sleep? In this episode, we will talk about empowering NCLs and culture. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm quite excited for this.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yes, we are as well. Thank you so much for being here. So, you are a shadow of operations at your world's mother class. So, what are you doing there?
00:01:30
Speaker
Okay, so right now as head of operations, it's my role to manage all the department that is the outreach, the marketing and the event creation. I originally joined Your World Smarter To Us as an event creator last year in June. And here I am right now as the head of operations. So right now we're like sort of like setting up the organization after a few major changes. So we are like balancing out everything and establishing ourselves out there.
00:01:56
Speaker
Would you like to share with us what's the goal of the organization called Your World Smarter To Us? OK, so Your World Smarter To Us is a youth-led organization, writing organization that aims at helping people of various ages and interests to develop their writing professionally and personally. So we basically conduct a lot of writing events, like writing competitions and talks with people. And we also collaborate with many other organizations, too.
00:02:26
Speaker
So we do this, and then people participate. A majority of our participants are from India, but we also have participants from all over the world. And they all participate, take part in the competitions, and we help them. We give them critics as well. So we have this editing program that will take place. So we do that. And also, we conduct a lot of interviews. And I have personally interviewed Christina Suntonward as well. So we help them through those interviews too.
Balancing Personal Life and Projects
00:02:55
Speaker
This is so, so amazing. So you are creating, like you have some writing contents and also you are promoting different writing subjects, like articles that they are written from people with the rest of the whole. So this is so interesting. Thank you for sharing that. So which are your responsibilities as the head of operations?
00:03:22
Speaker
My responsibility as a head of operations is, like I previously mentioned, my main job is to make sure that everything runs smoothly over there. As a founder, she is not that active right now because of her studies, so I'm the acting person over here, and I have to make sure everything is set up. Also, my roles include
00:03:44
Speaker
and all like connecting between all the three departments, outreach, marketing, and even patient and ensuring that everyone stays coordinated and working towards the same goal and that they're on the same page.
00:03:56
Speaker
I see, we really understand that balancing your personal life with several projects and having to start at the same time is not an easy task. This happened to us recently. Let's hope for the best that this will be back to your duty as soon as possible because from my personal experience I can say that when you're following your dream and at the same time you're participating in something that is so inspiring and so challenging for the community,
00:04:25
Speaker
This is when you feel that you have contributed to your society and to the rest of the world. But for now, we have seen that you have hosted several events under the belt of your words matter to us like Loop Media and Gen Z. We are the future. Which was the subject of these events and when did they take place?
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, so Look Media and Gen Z We Are The Future are two different organizations. So we collaborated with them and hosted an event called Let's Talk this April. So it was basically a talk type of event where our founder and then people from both these organizations spoke about topics related to their field. So are you planning anything else in the future?
00:05:10
Speaker
Yes, we do have an upcoming event in the end of October and I'm not supposed to reveal it out yet because still in the works and yeah, you'll find it out soon on our Instagram page.
Volunteering Efforts and Motivations
00:05:22
Speaker
Alright, thank you so very much for sharing that. So guys, go check out the Instagram account if you're interested in any of these type of events so that you can be noticed when there is a new one available. Pooja, you are also a volunteer at BrainSmiles scholarship in Bhoomi. Why did you prove me? I guess Bhoomi is an NGO that's based in India. So it is one of the top NGOs in India.
00:05:49
Speaker
Their aim is to, you know, through volunteering to build a society that empowers every individual to reshape the world with their voices and stories. So at Boomi, I volunteer with this Breakin' Smile Scholarship Program. So Breakin' Smile Scholarship Program is basically about connecting with, like, really for helping provide scholarship with students of underprivileged backgrounds.
00:06:14
Speaker
You know, like those who have faced a lot of issues in their family and then like basically those who are under the poverty line, they're the main focus. So far I have helped around 17 students continue their education by helping them get the scholarships at BSS, Prince Myles Scholarship.
00:06:35
Speaker
so it was basically a reality check for me working with them because we get to see what the reality of life is when i'm personally contacting them and speaking with them right when they share their life stories with me so yeah yeah like the question the connections that you create also the inspiration that you're given is so important and at the same time the the fact that like
00:07:01
Speaker
Already the numbers are very important, like 17 students and this can be even more. Well, I think that's really inspiring and thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much. As a volunteer, what are you doing?
00:07:15
Speaker
Okay, in Boomi, I'm a calling volunteer in BSS. So basically, I'll be assigned referrals, and I'll call them and speak to them, get the idea of this situation. And then we have this criteria process to see if they fit our criteria and help in that. And apart from Boomi, I also volunteered in another NGO called You and I.
00:07:41
Speaker
So that's basically where I go and teach, again, underprivileged students and orphanages and homes, English.
00:07:49
Speaker
All right, thank you for sharing that because this is exactly my next question. We found really interesting the fact that in your free time you're also offering English lessons to unprivileged high school students who are not well versed in the language. So what inspired you to start these classes and in the end you're volunteering at UND? So well, everyone has always said that I'm strong in my language and I'm strong in English. I confirm that.
00:08:19
Speaker
Thank you. I wanted to share that with others because I personally do know a lot of people who are weak in English, and I also like volunteering and helping others, you know, basically make their society better, be the change that you want to be. UNI was a platform that I found through one of my neighbors, actually.
00:08:39
Speaker
So, yeah, I was I'm actually the youngest person over there, the only high schooler working at UNI. And then it's actually sort of like quite weird when I go there and I'm asked to teach a student of my own age or sometimes older than me, you know, those were in college. It is weird, but then at the same time, it's also inspiring and helpful for them, too. And that age connection is there. So, yeah, it's like you have some of you have the same lessons, too. But that also helps.
00:09:08
Speaker
So this means that thanks to your connections and in the end to the impact that these connections had on you, you have been like having professionalized in English language and again you are offering this knowledge for the rest of the society. Well done. So what are you doing at YLAC? YLAC was tutoring in one of your events at your world's module class if I'm not mistaken.
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah, so YLAC is a fellowship that I attended two years ago. So that's basically what started me and what got into me into volunteering and working in organizations.
00:09:51
Speaker
I'm here where I am right now because of YLAC, because of the fellowship. So, YLAC, in that we have a fellowship called Countess Beach Fellowship, which is basically where we advocate for social issues through social media, particularly Instagram.
00:10:09
Speaker
So yeah, I worked with them in that I was part of the fellowship and we featured while I see as one of our partners at your words matter to us. So they help us market our events through their, you know, pre or up to their fellowship alumnus.
Supporting Diverse Cultures in India
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:26
Speaker
Helping between organizations is something really common and when you have partners supporting your vision is always remarkable because maybe they will arrive to be good partners or maybe they don't really support your vision and they only need followers or things like that. But if it's a real partner and it is in your case, then it is really important.
00:10:50
Speaker
I have a last question for you. Okay. How do you support the culture in your community? Okay, so India, as everyone basically knows, is the most diverse country out there. I think that this is true. Everyone thinks that. Yeah, so like in every state of India, we have a different culture. In every street, we have people with a different culture here.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. So I am like, while I do follow a particular culture, I advocate for everything. I'm not like, you know, against any particular culture or religion or something like that. And yeah, that's about it, I guess. All right. So thank you very much for being with us today, Pooja. Sure. Thank you so much for having me today. It was great talking to you.
00:11:43
Speaker
Thank you so much. So today we had a great conversation with Puja about different volunteering opportunities that she's doing in India about many different subjects like teaching English to unprivileged students or helping the society and community to spread the word and to spread what they're writing to the rest of the world.
00:12:06
Speaker
There are some great examples from a person that is home in high school, but already since contributing so much. So thanks for being with us today and for those that have a good attention on the episode as well.
Engage with the Podcast Community
00:12:21
Speaker
Don't forget to download the James Mergers 8 app available both on iOS and Android devices where you can find
00:12:28
Speaker
exclusive content from all of our conversations other than the trans podcast and articles from our thread.com friends. But until next time don't forget to change the world! Bye!
00:12:53
Speaker
Thank you guys for listening. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. We had such a great time. Make sure to leave us a review. If you want more Changemaker's content, you can follow us on Instagram at JinsearsToRise and on Facebook at ChangemakerZ.