Assitance Required for Flood Relief Efforts in Pakistan

The monsoon has hit Pakistan particularly hard this year and there is already much devastation because of it. Here is a description of what is going on with the flood in the NWFP, Pakistan and our relief efforts. Please do spread this email and reach out to your network for supporters.

UM Healthcare Trust is setting up a medical relief camp in out skirts of Risalpur, where the flood water reached its maximum, to treat and help victims of the flood disaster.

On July 31, 2010, our needs assessment team visited the region to get detailed information of the crisis. We quickly realized that no major relief effort has begun so far and only Abdus Sattar Edhi has showed up. The situation is dire on the ground. No relief effort has begun by the government or internal agencies like Red Cross, United Nations or anyone. So far, everyone is helping each other. All victims are helping the new ones being rescued. Yes, even after three days of floods, new survivors are found and brought in. Click survey Analysis for the report of what we found out today.

Survey Analysis

A Photostream of Flood Devastation can be seen here

Our (UM-Healthcare) Plan of Action

After completing our survey, here is what we plan to do:

* We are setting up a field medical clinic in a closed up Children’s play school immediately.
* A medical team from UM Healthcare will start treating patients immediately and will man the clinic untill the crisis is over.
* We estimate to be there for at least a month since the local facilities will not become operational anytime soon (even when the flood waters recede).
* Todd Shea and CDRS have pledged to join us and we will work together to help the flood victims get better care. We are encouraging other organizations to join us in this time of need.

What We Need Urgently

A list of all the items that we need is listed here.

http://tinyurl.com/umrelief

How To Donate

The instructions of how to donate are listed here. Please download this document to get details of various methods for making a donation.

UM-Healthcare Background Information

Please spread the word as we need your help and assistance at this time.

If you've never failed ... you've never lived ...

Give it a though......

Atlas Service Corps Fellowships for non-profit leades

Atlas Service Corps is calling for fellowship applications for its next session. Its an amazing opportunity for the non-profit leaders with 3+ year of experience to learn the best practices and strategies followed by the non-profit organizations in United States of America. This fellowship provides the opportunity to its fellows to work with a non-profit host organization for one year. You are encouraged to apply by October 15th for the Spring program, and by May 15th for the Fall program to receive priority consideration. For further information check the following link.

www.atlascorps.org

Good Luck.

News Feed added from EME

Just a short post informing all that a new News Feed has been added from the SICT (Society of ICTs, previously ICT& Entrepreneurship Club) College of E&ME on the right side. The SICT Blog is getting regular posts by the club co-founders as their part of blogging research for ITU (international telecommunication network). The Research is about school and community connectivity initiatives in Asia Pacific Region. For review of the whole posting visit here.

Tata Computer-based Functional Literacy Program

India, a rapidly growing economy, having recorded 19% reduction in poverty over a decade, still has poor literacy rate with around 400 million people unable to read and write. Fakir Chand Kohli, widely regarded as the father of India's software industry challenged the software application reduction in literacy rates. The project poses great potential for improvement of women literacy. (54% women are literate as compared to 76% men)

“Launched in February 2000 in the Beeramguda village in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, this ground-breaking project seeks to combat illiteracy with a new approach to learning, using multimedia and flashcards to fortify the learning experience”. The Computer-Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) method, primarily focused on reading, is designed to provide a basic 300-500 word vocabulary to adults over the course of 40 hours – ‘about a third of the time of traditional training’, and essentially based on the theories of cognition, language and communication.

A typical class has between 15 and 20 people and is held in the evening hours. CBFL curriculum provides flexibility to adjust to the varied schedules of working adults with families, and does not require trained teachers. A detailed analysis of CFBL is given here and the pictures here.

“"You don't need a state of the art computer for this program to really fly," says Tata Group Chairman Ratan N. Tata, which means that the training can be conducted on donated 486 Pentium computers deemed obsolete by many users but adequate for CBFL.”

Today the CBFL project is operational in more than 1,000 centers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and it has helped more than 50,000 people learn the most basic reading. More centers are in the process of being set up. CBFL has been field tested in five of India's 18 languages -- Telegu, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali, with the help of government and NGOs in various locations throughout India. Tata claims that if implemented properly, the project can make 90 per cent of India literate in three to five years, thereby transforming the third world workforce.

CBFL has even been exported to South Africa, thanks to the interest of First Lady Zanele Mbeki. A TCS team is helping experts in that country to map the sounds of unwritten South African languages and develop a script for use in computer-based literacy training.

NSEC joins hands with YES

I am glad to share that NSEC and Youth Entrepreneurial Society (YES) signed MoU for arranging entrepreneurial events and competitions for students.

Fast Track to professional and Personal Success by NSEC

we have planned to launch a program with title "Mentor Sessions: Your Fast Track to Professional & Personal Success" under NUST-SEECS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB (NSEC). Under this Mentor Program we will arrange regular talks from IT Professionals andexecutives from various domains of field on regular basis. We have plans to arrange one mentor session per week and will publicize it well enough so that all SEECS students know about its date and time plus its details as well.

Mentor sessions from Industry professionals will be very beneficial for our students as it would make them aware of all things which are not taught or told during our courses. Professional advice is very valuable for those who are passionate and dream big about their careers. Every Mentor will give a talk on a topic he has expertise in which can be a technology related talk or on how to select Projects or even on Best Resume Writing. Diverse topics will enhance the knowledge of students on larger scale and at the end of session we will have dedicated time slot for audience to discuss questions or problems they are experiencing.

Where else can you gain priceless advice on all aspects of the industry from professionals with a world of experience beneath their belts? Mentor Sessions are designed to give direct access to industry professionals who have agreed to share their time and experience with us. The Mentor Sessions provide an opportunity to receive personalized input more directly than a larger panel can offer.

Our First Session is planned to be on 15th Dec, Tuesday from 03:00 pm- 05:00 pm.

The talk titled "The Final Year - preparing for the Road Ahead" by ObaidUllah Khawaja from LMKR . He would like to share experiences on the critical importance of the final year, applying for higher studies, applying for a job, doing research to get into a Phd program or starting your own venture.