MOHAN Foundation conducted the Angels of Change volunteer training programme for the students of Queen’s Valley School, Dwarka, New Delhi. It was a full 2-day training, conducted during school hours on December 30, 2022, and January 9, 2023, respectively. The students of class XI 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 December 6, 2022, by MOHAN Foundation representatives and had expressed keen interest in undergoing the training. MOHAN Foundation’s unique training program, "Angels of Change," has been designed to train and educate the volunteers, who are taken through a customised training module to enable them to undertake awareness initiatives on organ donation amongst various audiences.

 

Queen’s Valley School is located in Dwarka, New Delhi. The school is built upon the firm foundations of futuristic aspirations, hope, and optimism. Far from being a static organisation founded on stagnant and obsolete principles, it functions as a living organism where the members, including the principal, teachers, and students, are constantly engaged in the process of reinventing education. The consistent endeavour at QVS is to function as a "thinking school" where the queens are given the maximum scope for innovation and creativity.

 

Ms. Savneet Kaur, TGT & Coordinator, Queen’s Valley School, organised the training under the able leadership of Dr. N. Sharma, Principal, Queen’s Valley School, and the MOHAN Foundation Delhi-NCR team conducted the two-day workshop.

 

The two days of training had the following sessions:

 

December 30, 2022 (Day 1):

• Introduction to the Workshop: Registration and Introduction to the Program

• A short introduction by the participants

• Presentation on organ donation: concepts, types of donation, the THO Act, myths and their corresponding reality checks, and other relevant facts

• screening of short films on organ donation and brain death

• a short presentation covering other topics related to organ donation and transplantation, i.e. information about the national organisation (NOTTO), the pledge registry, the organ sharing registries of different states, and the process of signing up and getting a donor card.

 

The following activities were also conducted for the students:

• Activity 1: "Thank You" Letter Writing: Students were asked to write a thank you letter to an anonymous donor family for an organ donation. The aim was to help students think from the perspective of an organ recipient.

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

 

At the close of the first day of the training, Ms. Pallavi Kumar, Executive Director, MOHAN Foundation-Delhi NCR, and Dr. Muneet Kaur Sahi, Programme Manager, MOHAN Foundation-Delhi NCR, 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 make presentations.

 

January 9, 2023 (Day 2):

 

Presentation by the students and the way forward

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

 

There were 8 groups, and the details of the groups are as follows:

 

Group 1: Akshra Maurya and Sanskriti Ray (XI-B)

Group 2: Ashu, Anjali, Anushka Jha, & Asmita Banerjee (XI-D)

Group 3: Shreya Rawat (XI-F), Bharti (XI-D), Nimisha Singh, and Nitika Sharma (XI-E)

Group 4: Komal Kumari, Srijani, Sanchita, and Yuvica Bhargava (XI-A)

Group 5: Urjita Bisht, Agamjot Kaur, and Riya Yadav (XI-B)

Group 6: Shabnam, Rishika Vaishya, and Likhi Kisan (XI-D)

Group 7: Vanshika Yadav (XI-B) and Dishita Dahiya (XI-E)

Group 8: Ridhima Coel (XI-C)

 

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. Another suggestion given to the students was to highlight the most important parts of the presentation because the audience will not remember every point of the presentation.

 

Finally, the MOHAN Foundation team thanked Ms. Savneet Kaur and Dr. N Sharma for their support of the cause and collaboration with MF to not only raise awareness about organ donation but also encourage students to participate more actively in making a difference.

 

Talking about the AOC programme, Dr. N. Sharma said, "I express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for 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." She also shared, with pride and joy, that her entire family had pledged for whole body donation.

 

23 students underwent the training. 1 student was absent on the second day.

 

Feedback from students:

"I enjoyed the workshop. It was really interesting, and we learned many things. “The training gave me a lot of information about organ donation and made me realize the importance of organ donation." - Rishika Vaishya, class XI-D

 

"I truly enjoyed the training. “The thing that I liked most about this training is that it enhanced my public speaking skills."- Shabnam, XI-D

 

"This workshop has helped me gain insight into the procedure and necessity for organ donation." "I enjoyed the feedback session on our mock presentations." - Urjita Bisht, XI-B

 

"I enjoyed the workshop. The other side of life was revealed to me in this training. The emotional aspect touched my heart the most. "I hope I make the best use of this training and be a good ambassador." - Riya Yadav, XI-B

 

"I loved this workshop. The brain death topic was totally new to me, and it was an interesting topic. "I have decided to pledge for organ donation.”- Komal, XI-A

 

"I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. We got an opportunity to express ourselves, and we were asked to give presentations. The trainers were really good. "They gave us new and useful information to help us understand the concept of organ donation."- Yuvica Bhargava, XI-A

 

"The thing that I liked most about the workshop was the hopeful stories and how interactive it was."- Nitika Sharma, XI-E