One of the most traumatic experiences that a family can face is the diagnosis of a child with a life threatening illness. From that point on, their lives are never the same again. Parents face many new stresses and challenges -- emotional, financial, spiritual, and practical -- while coping with the situation. One of the guiding principles of those involved with childhood cancer care is that the patients and their families should never feel as if they are alone in difficult times.


This is where Samiksha comes in.


Samiksha Foundation is a Creative Learning Initiative for children with cancer and their caregivers, providing them with educational and spiritual support along with creative play and activities. It aims to increase the happiness quotient of the children, allowing them to live their lives with confidence and dignity, and empowering them to return to the mainstream without fear or apprehension.


Please look around our website to learn about our work, sign up to volunteer, or make a donation.


Together, we can make a difference.

Our Story

In August 2007, I met Samiksha and her mother at the Oncology Centre of a major hospital at Bangalore. 6-year old Samiksha bubbled with energy, constantly ran around, chatted incessantly and sang songs, all with a mask on her nose and mouth. It was difficult to believe that she had cancer.

On striking up a conversation with the mother, I learnt that all the other children sitting there suffered from different types of cancer and plasma-related diseases. None of them went to school, because of the fear of contracting infection, the treatment pattern and the behaviour of the disease itself. Their parents faced a difficult challenge looking after them constantly, entertaining them and keeping them engaged, apart from all other things that parents have to do. It was an intricate task for the caregivers, since cancer affected children at that early age are as demanding and vivacious as any other child.

The idea of an exclusive learning and activity centre for children with cancer struck me then. It would be a place that would look at boosting the happiness quotient of both the children and their concerned caregivers. Children could come here and make new friends while learning, playing, reading and participating in activities organised at the centre. They could even keep up with their studies using the learning tools and opportunities provided. Outings for children and their families could be joyous experiences while helping them connect to the environment. This could also be a place where friends, relatives could visit them, away from the hospital environment.

The Foundation is named after this 6 year old whose story inspired me to start on this mission.

Sandhya Sharad

Vision

Our goal is to provide an environment of independent and assisted learning for children with cancer and their families, increasing their happiness through learning and creative activity. This can also help increase the children's self-esteem and confidence, allowing them to face the challenges of their medical condition with hope and dignity, improving the quality of life of their families, and empowering them to return to the mainstream without fear or apprehension.

Samiksha is a creative learning initiative, not a clinical mission. It is specially designed for children aged between 4 and 14 with cancer or certain non-infectious life-threatening conditions. At Samiksha, we wish to make the life of the children and their caregivers a fulfilling experience. Our team consists of creative professionals, strategic partners and skilled volunteers.

Our motto is: "The pursuit of knowledge is key to our pursuit of happiness."

Mission

We have three main areas of action:

Educational Support

Some long-term survivors are educationally disadvantaged because of the loss of school time during treatment. We work to continue the children's education while they go through treatment at the hospital ward, so they can fulfil their academic potential and are able to return to the right grade level after treatment. Our teachers (both staff and volunteers) provide support for primary and secondary education according to the school curriculum, teaching younger students in groups and older students one-on-one.

Spiritual Support

We conduct activities known to be beneficial for the well-being of the children and their caregivers, such as yoga, meditation, art therapy, and creative visualisation, with the support of volunteers trained in these skills.

Support through Play and Creative Activities

We have built a dedicated play area at the hospital ward. Volunteers conduct creative activities such as art, craft, pottery, and singing, in addition to the usual educational support.

We conduct birthday parties on the last Saturday of each month, with different activities ranging from singing groups to magic shows. Every child in the ward receives a small goody bag of fun and useful things, and the children whose birthdays were within the month are given special age-appropriate gifts. These events are carefully run to be entertaining for the children and interactive without being too overwhelming or physically demanding.

Approach

Our therapeutic alliance is a partnership between the children, their caregivers, the medical assistants and Samiksha along with its resource partners:

  • The children are engaged in age-appropriate educational, spiritual, and creative activities. 
  • Their caregivers (parents, guardians, grandparents, siblings, and other relatives) can connect with each other and learn of other ways to deal with their situation. They are encouraged to participate in all spiritual programs and also use the library. 
  • The medical assistants (nurses, assistants and volunteers) also have activities specially designed for them, or encourage the children to participate in activities at the centre whenever they can.
  • The people at Samiksha and its resource partners are at the core of this alliance, which we call the Triangle of Care.

Strategic resource partnerships along with the right infrastructure and people are the necessary approach to our mission. Our current resource partnerships include:

  • Youth for Seva, Basavangudi – resource for volunteers 
  • Cognizant Outreach Team led by Deepak Prabhu and Vijay Rajagopalan - resource for volunteers 
  • Residents of Jacaranda, Brigade Millennium, JP Nagar - resource for volunteers and sponsors 
  • Roots & Wings Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd., for cancer retreats 
  • Adverto Advertising – the brilliant brochures and theme images (corporate identity) 
  • TSK Design

The triangle of care concept has been developed by Samiksha Foundation and may not be used without our permission.

Our Amazing Team

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Sandhya Sharad

Founder and Director

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Vijayalakshmi Nanjundeswaran

Trustee and Advisor to the Trust

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Manjari Bhatnagar

Director

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Meera Srivathsan

Program Coordinator

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Girish Jayaraju

Permanent Volunteer

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Ranjani Ramesh

Administrator

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Valli Narasimha

Administrator

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Akanksha Jayasheela

Volunteer - Creative Play and Activities

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Barnalee Sarkar

Program Coordinator and Special Language Teacher

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Tania Khosla

Advisor

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Rajinder Chopra

Advisor

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Anita Naolekar

Advisor

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Ravishankar Nanjundeswaran

Foundation Evangelist

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Padma Vishwanathan

Project Coordinator

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Aditya Sharad

Website Administrator

About Us

Samiksha Foundation is a Creative Learning Initiative for children with cancer and their caregivers. Since 2009, we have been running our education program at the paediatric ward of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, with around 110 children attending at a time while they undergo treatment.

Samiksha Foundation is a registered trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1881, document no. BNG(U)-BMH 237 2009-2010.

Donations made to the Samiksha Foundation are deductible under Section 80G(2)(a)(iv) r.w.s. 80G(5)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, with tax exemption certificate no. DIT(E)BLR/80G/5/AAJTS8922L/ITO(E)-3/Vol 2012-2013, dated 10/04/2012.

Samiksha Foundation is registered under Section 11(1) of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, with registration number 094421719.

Certificates

  • Registration Certificate
  • 12A Certificate
  • 80G Certificate
  • FCRA Certificate

Our Programs

    Upcoming Programs

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    Proposed new projects at Kidwai Hospital
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    Samiksha Scholarship Program
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    Library Program
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    • Others

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    Education Program for Inpatients
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    Yoga and Creative Visualisation
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    Infrastructure Projects
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    I Am A Star
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    Party Time!
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Our new blog is coming soon! Please visit the rest of our website and our Facebook page for updates about our work.

Updates

  • We are supporting a 17 year old undergoing cancer treatment. We hope to help her write her 12th board exams inspite of her Chemotherapy.
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    We are supporting a 17 year old undergoing cancer treatment. We hope to help her write her 12th board exams inspite of her Chemotherapy.
  • Samiksha Team attended the IAPCON 2017 ( Indian Association of Palliative Care Conference ) at Coimbatore, presented our updated documentary.
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    Samiksha Team attended the IAPCON 2017 ( Indian Association of Palliative Care Conference ) at Coimbatore, presented our updated documentary.
Interested in volunteering for the Samiksha Foundation?
Hands-On Volunteering 

We are at the Kapur Ward at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology four days a week – Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday – from 10.30 am to 4.00 pm. Teachers and storytellers are requested to come in at least once a week, for two to three hours at a time.There are 75 children in one oncology ward who directly benefit from our tutoring programs. 

We always require volunteers who can speak Kannada (not mandatory, but useful) and can teach subjects such as Maths, Science and Social Studies in Kannada. We currently need tutors who can give one-on-one lessons to students from classes 6 – 10 in these subjects (English or Kannada medium). 

Storytellers and English language teachers are also needed, to develop reading habits and writing skills in the children. Storytellers will also be needed as an extension of the creative visualisation program being conducted on Saturdays. 

Music teachers (singing) are welcome to come in to teach the children songs in various languages. 

Other Volunteer Duties

In addition to hands-on work, volunteers will be required to: 
- Spread word about the foundation in order to get sponsors and more volunteers for us
- Help organise book drives and stationery drives
- Help organise events and birthday parties for the children
- Help us with our back-end office work and documentation
- Help us extend our services to other paediatric oncology hospital wards
- Help us raise funds for our mission

Birthday Party Planning

On the last Saturday of every month, we organise a birthday party for all the children whose birthdays are recorded in that month.We have an entertainment program such as a magic show or fun and activities planned for the children’s enjoyment. We get Birthday hats and try to decorate the place with festoons. (No Balloons). Since the children cannot have cake or any outside food, we only get them a fruit and a toffee or a fresh sweet that is individually packed for hygiene purposes. All the birthday children get a special gift which is usually a tiffin box in stainless steel, and the other kids get some gift which is the same for all.These common gifts are given to about 95 children, which includes children from the Dharamshala and the other wards if they manage to attend the party. Nobody goes away disappointed! Volunteers and sponsors are required for this once every month.
We are currently hiring for the position of ONSITE SUPERVISOR at Kidwai Cancer Institute, Bangalore.
Read the details here.

Contact

Contact Details

#34, 1st Floor, CMH Road

Indiranagar 2nd Stage, Bengaluru, India

560038


For general enquiries

[email protected]

PHONE

To speak to our team, please contact:

Valli Narasimha: +91 9844132697
Ranjani Ramesh: +91 9901044220

HOSPITAL LOCATION

Kapur Ward, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology,

Marigowda Road, Bengaluru, India

560029

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