BANGALORE: In a country socially stratified on the basis of class and caste, ruled by politics, cricket and Bollywood most of us belong to the class of people who would rather wait for a change than initiate anything progressive. And, that is indeed the reason why we have become immune towards the never approachable autowallahs, ever demanding basis and the quintessential muchhads at the Government offices. But amongst us are a few, belonging to the class of people who try to bring about a change in the ‘system’.For the members of Mission 5, Rs 5 is all it takes to revolutionise the world around them. Every month, their volunteers collect `5 from willing students in colleges and use the amount to sponsor two orphanages and an old age home. On an average, Rs 9,000 is collected every month from the students of Garden City College, Central College, Kristu Jayanti, SFS College and Tata Institute Of Social Sciences among others.Mission 5 was founded in 2007 by a bunch of students at the Garden City College, who wished to contribute to the society in their own unique way. The incident that heightened their spirits was the plight of ninety-year-old Muniyamma, who took refuge near Garden City College after being abandoned by her family. “The students would feed and bathe her regularly and even made her a small shelter where she lived until her last days, ” recalls Vijaya Nagpure, one of the founders. Initially the team started off with three members — Vijaya Nagpure, Ashok Shah and Shailesh Kumar — and now has spread throughout the country and even abroad with the contributions from Indians working and studying there. The team Mission 5 supports two orphanages, an old age home and a blind school by providing them with essentials and other requirements. The first project that took off under the NGO was the '3 help 1’ child programme which as the name suggests is aimed at educating underprivileged children. This involves contribution from college students where three of of them provide for a child’s education by donating Rs 50 for 10 calendar months of an academic year. Today, the project supports education of thirty children and receives active participation from people and firms like Raga group, Motorola, G 7 Tech Solutions and Paragon.Through the Ahar Project, they donate four litres of milk and fruits to each of the orphanages. Unnati, a recent project was launched targeting computer literacy among children. The latest project undertaken by Mission 5 is the renovation of Kannada Adarsha Mahila Makkala Samasthe. Known as the Gharonda Project, the group have constructed dormitories for both boys and girls. “The initial plan also included an assembly hall which has been shelved as of now due to lack of funds," says a high-strung Vijaya, also adding that many members who have left the college still continue to contribute to the cause, citing the example of Ashok Shah,currently pursuing MA in Social Service at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
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