MOHAN Foundation conducted Angels of Change volunteer training program for the students of Sachdeva Global School, Dwarka. It was a full 2-day training, conducted during school hours on December 12 & 19, 2019 respectively. 

23 students from classes 9^th and 11^th volunteered to undertake the training. These were the same students who had attended the awareness session on organ donation that was conducted in their school on October 10, 2019 by MOHAN Foundation representatives and had expressed keen interest to undergo the training.

Ms. Aman Arora Nangia (Computer Teacher) organized the training under the able leadership of Ms. Sumana Dutta (Principal, Sachdeva Global School), a keen promoter of the cause and MOHAN Foundation Delhi-NCR team conducted the two day workshop.

The two days training had the following sessions: 

December 12, 2019 (Day 1): 

·      Introduction to the Workshop – Registration and introduction to the programme

·      Short introduction by the participants

·      Presentation on organ donation – concepts, types of donation, THO Act, myths and their corresponding reality check and other relevant facts

·      Screening of short films on organ donation and brain death 

·      Short presentation covering other topics related to organ donation and transplantation i.e. information about national organization (NOTTO), pledge registry, organ sharing registries of different states and process of signing up and donor card. 

·      Activity 1: - Letter writing “Thank you”- students were asked to write a thank you letter to an anonymous donor family thanking them for an organ received. The aim was to help students to think from the perspective of an organ recipient.

·      Activity 2: - “Stories of Hope” Students were given 4 donor stories to read and were told to pick one that inspired them the most and then answer few questions based on their choice. The aim of this activity was to help students to understand the donor family perspective.

At the close of the first day of the training, Ms. Pallavi guided the students on the basic essential information that was to be included in their individual presentations on organ donation which the students will present next week in front of the trainers i.e. day 2 of the training. Students were also given resource material that would help them to make presentations.

December 19, 2019 (Day 2):

Presentation by the students and the way forward

The students made mock presentations in groups of two’s and three’s. The main objective of this session was to help the students to prepare for an awareness session in front of the general public. Feedback was given on the basis of the style of presentation, content of the information that was provided and its accuracy and validity, and overall presentation. Connectivity with the audience was also observed.

There were 7 groups and the details of the groups are as follows:

Group 1:  Saksham Dua & Jyotirmay Singh (XI)

Group 2:  Arjun Gupta & Yash Gautam (XI)

Group 3:  Abhi Gupta & Pratham Sagar (XI)

Group 4:  Ayushi & Priyanjali Chand (XI)

Group 5:  Utkarsh Rajput, Diya Kukreja & Navya Khandelwal (IX)

Group 6:  Nikita Jain & Apurva Choudhary (XI)

Group 7:  Vani Bali & Samidha Gupta (XI)

Post presentations, students were asked to incorporate the inputs and suggestions given during their individual presentations and share the same for final approval with the trainers. They were also asked to keep the presentation short and simple. The audience will not remember every point of the presentation, so highlight the most important parts was another suggestion given to the students.

Ms Pallavi emphasized on the fact that to be a noteworthy “Angel of Change” volunteer one needs to have good communication skills and clarity of the subject to connect with the audience which is essentially an important ingredient of public speaking. 

In the end, MOHAN Foundation team thanked Ms. Sumana and Ms. Aman for supporting the cause and partnering with MF to not just increase awareness on organ donation but encouraging students to engage more actively to play a role in making a difference. 

Talking about the AOC Program Ms. Sumana Dutta said,” I express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation at the very sensible and sensitive way in which you all groomed each prospective Angel of Change towards making them better and more considerate human beings, capable of understanding the needs of society and making themselves useful. I look forward to continuing this journey with MOHAN Foundation by getting more and more students, staff members and society under the fold of this programme”.

Feedback from few students:

“I really enjoyed the workshop. MOHAN Foundation team explained all the aspects of organ donation and gave individual attention to every student, analysing our presentations and giving suggestions. Apart from knowledge giving, I was able to build my confidence. I am very inspired to take this message forward and will not let the efforts of the Foundation go to waste”. – Diya Kukreja, class IX

“I enjoyed the workshop. I really liked how the team of MOHAN Foundation supported us and shared their feedback with us. I really feel inspired to take this cause forward and will organize an organ donation session for the general public”. – Ayushi class XI.