“Corona” means Time to demonstrate
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- Caring Elders
- Optimism
- Renewal of self
- Obedience to calls from Government
- Nurturing new Habits
- Adaptability
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Kerala Man Rescues 14 Indian Students Stuck in Rome Without Food
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“Right now we’re in Italy. We’ve booked the ticket to Kerala and we’ve reached the check-in but the Italian government is saying that the Indian govt. is not permitting anyone inside the country right now. Where are we supposed to go? . . . They should have informed us earlier. There are pregnant women and children with us and right now we have nowhere to go. . . . It’s like we’re in purgatory.”
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Dr Bindu Satyajith received this video appeal from a group of students on the morning of 10 March. These students were stranded at the Rome airport and were not being allowed to return to India without a COVID-19 negative certificate. Dr Bindu, the founder of Kerala-based NGO, EUnnathi already knew that Italy was under lockdown due to the thousands of new COVID-19 positive cases being reported daily from 1 March.
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She instantly forwarded this video to Shyam Kurup, a Naval architect from Alappuzha. Shyam had been an active volunteer for relief missions during the Nepal earthquake (2015) as well as floods in Chennai and Kerala (2018). Dr Bindu had a feeling that he wouldn’t hesitate to help the students and surely enough, both of them got to work immediately.
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For seven days, the duo worked tirelessly to provide essentials to the students stuck at the Rome airport and brought 14 of them back home by paying for their flight tickets.
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Dr Bindu and Shyam had assembled a team of volunteers who could aid in the evacuation of the students stuck in Rome. This team consisted of campaign designers, counsellors, coordinators, mentors, fundraisers and volunteers from the World Malayalee Federation (WMF). WMF, headquartered in Vienna, has its branches in 120 countries. Its support was crucial for on-ground work in Rome where Shyam’s team couldn’t reach physically.
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“Truth be told, we were also not in favour of evacuating the entire lot without confirming that they were all COVID-19 negative. But we had to act fast. From the entire group stuck in Rome, 20 had enough resources to book an airline that was still operating to India. They took the opportunity and flew back. It was the people with limited resources that were suffering,” says Shyam.
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By 16 March, Shyam and other members of the team had found out about an Ethiopian Airline that could take the students from Rome to Addis Ababa (the Ethiopian capital) and from there to Mumbai. They informed the students about this and asked them to contribute as much as they could. Each ticketncost about Rs 68,000. The total amount for 13 students and Akshita came to over Rs 950,000. Shyam could afford to sponsor four tickets. Dr Thomas, who worked for rescue operation contributed Rs 3.75 lakh.nEveryone else in the team pitched in as much as they could and bought tickets for the Ethiopian plane that took off from the Rome airport on the 17 March. Of the 200 people stranded in Rome, 20 booked a new flight. Fourteen were evacuated by Shyam, Dr Bindu and their wonderful team. The remaining students were finally evacuated by an Air India flight on 22 March.
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There were many players in this rescue operation. Shyam and Dr Bindu stand out for their proactive efforts in setting the wheel in motion. Krishna Teja, an IAS officer who worked with Shyam during the Kerala floods was happy to comment on his efforts. “I can describe him as energetic and empathetic.nWherever there is a need, he makes sure his services are available.”
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But we also want to highlight the contribution made by Dr Thomas, the FloodVolunteers Family group and the students themselves who showed resilience institution full of uncertainty and panic. The evacuated students are under home quarantine as of now and so far, haven’t shown any symptoms of COVID-19. Their results from the hospital came back and all of them are negative.
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Advice :
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- Observe Hygiene
- Be in Home
- Wear the mask, if going out
- Maintain social distancing
- Download “Arogya Setu App”
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nnSelf- Betterment – “ 7 Habits”nnObjective: It is a transformational therapy which will form our behaviour in the short term and manifest as a national character in the long term. It consists of 7 habits that are required to be developed for stronger Self and sustainable environment.nn“Be the Change you want to see” – Mahatma Gandhi.nWe have developed 7 habits for Self-development, which are as under:nFor Self:n
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- Self-belief and dare to dream
- Focus on your Goal
- Be intrinsically motivated
- Understand the value of time
- Persevere in the face of adversities
- Foster Positive Approach in all aspects of life
- Never stop learning
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SEVEN HABITS FOR SELF
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Habit 2: Focus on your Goal nThe ability to focus is a far greater strength than intelligence. Focus gives the power to channelize all the energy or knowledge available at one’s disposal towards achieving a Goal. It’s like a convex lens that concentrates all the sun’s rays to the point that can even burn a paper by itself.
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One of the well-known studies on focus is a longitudinal study conducted with over 1,000 children in New Zealand by Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi, psychology and neuroscience professors at Duke University. The study tested children born in 1972 and 1973 regularly for eight years, measuring their ability to pay attention and to ignore distractions. Then, the researchers tracked those same children down at the age of 32 to see how well they fared in life.
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The ability to Focus on your Goal is the strongest predictor of success. “This ability is more important than IQ or the socio-economic status of the family you grew up in for determining career success, financial success and health,” Goleman said. That could be a problem for students who often can’t focus on a given task. Divide your Goal into Micro, mini & neo targets to achieve your ultimate goal.
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Obstacles and distractions are two sides of the same coin. But one should think that obstructions are nothing but the challenges that come in the way to make one stronger and passionate to come out as a winner.
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Big Message: Make it a habit to concentrate and focus stronger on your Goal.
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nnToday’s Quoten
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.nWilliam James
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nnGratitude: nnWe, on behalf of all, pay our Gratitude to all Corona Warriors.nn
nnWe Shall Overcome One day: Hum Honge Kamyab Ek Din.n
An Effort of “Plus Approach Foundation”
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Join The Foundation as Positive Ambassador
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