Our roots are planted in family of origin or creation, when we are firmly grounded we can spread our wings and soar.
Anonymous
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONE!
It is impossible to believe that it has already been a year since this project began...and look how far we have come!!!
January 28th was our first year birthday and we already have more than 30 children, already 20 GCC sponsors, a base of volunteers, and so much more!!!
Of couse we still have a long ways to go - so many more projects to start and places to grow to.
BUT
For a one year old child, I think that we have taken our first steps if we aren’t already running!!!
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One! Children Shine!!!
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It was a day that made so many of us proud: me, Pallavi, all the other volunteers, the children, and especially their mothers.
The event started with our prayer led by our ever faithful student Radha. Then the first performance was by the Little Wonders of One!. They performed the oh so difficult ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’.
After this it was time for the big kids to take to the stage Radha, Roopa and Manda were our ever so lovely ladies and Raju, Rakesh and Roshan were our very talented men! They performed wonderfully to a song from the Bollywood film Mohabbatein.
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Then it was our third degree black belt sir, Shankar’s turn to show off. And oh did he ever. Raju and Rakesh started us off by breaking tiles and then Shankar followed that up with some high flying kicks and punches, some more broken tiles and even a bit of fire!
Last (and actually maybe least!) was our play ‘What is Christmas?’. It was the children’s first time at a performance and they tackled so many issues just getting on stage. Hey, maybe it wasn’t the kids at all - maybe it was just the poor screen writers and directors!?
The best part of the evening was the light in the mother’s eyes after seeing the potential and successes of their own children. It seemed that from that day forward they looked at their children in a slightly different light!
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Choi Kwang Doi Anyone?
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I think one of the most shocking days for both Pallavi and I since all of this began was the first day that Shankar Makwana was teaching karate (an easy name for the children to remember but actually Choi Kwang Doi). More than 15 of our children were walking in a singe file line, and as you can see in the picture, followed that up by doing exactly what Shankar asked, all in the same way at the same time. We were convinced that we brought the wrong children for a while, but they really were ours!
Shankar is extremely talented at what he does (as is more than evident by the picture above) and we are more than lucky to have him as a part of One!.
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The children love their Sunday karate days and have grown so much from having his incredible leadership skills on board with One!.
The children - especially the boys - look up to him as a role model. The children have learned to control their aggression and have blossomed in many other ways through his teachings.
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