ENACTUS KISS-KIIT to Improve Quality of Life
Bhubaneswar: ‘ENACTUS KISS-KIIT’ is an innovative initiative by some students of KIIT to improve the quality of life in society. Under the initiative, in 2016, Project SIDDHI was undertaken, which provided opportunity to the oppressed communities in and around Bhubaneswar to change their lives for the better and, in the process, eliminate the use of plastic bags by replacing it with handmade paper bags.
Initially they approached the transgender to work with them. They were trained in making newspaper bags and were successful in receiving a number of orders also. After successful collaboration with the transgender, ENACTUS worked with a voluntary organization, Aaina. The students worked with the disabled women to make them self-sufficient. The disabled women worked on an order of 5000 newspaper bags from Urban Micro and started making crafty bags with designs like gift bags from handmade paper.
Another Foundation Daya, which is an organization working for women from backward areas, started working with ENACTUS. They prepared an order for “Delight Bakeries” of 14000 brown paper bags with customized print. Simultaneously, the students signed a deal with the founder of “Biggies, Burger n more” for an order of 20000 brown paper bags with customized print.
Likewise, Niyatee Foundation, having 1200 Self Help Groups, collaborated with ENACTUS. With such a large manpower, Niyatee is capable of producing at least 1500 bags per day. Another organization, Udyog Foundation produces 500 bags per day. Both these organisations worked on the Biggies order. ENACTUS considered bagging orders an important step in convincing people to give up plastic bags and replacing it with paper bags.
ENWIPE, a project introduced by KISS-KIIT, is a unique concept of water-less car wash service at customer’s doorstep. ENACTUS promoted a special eco-friendly solution for cleaning the vehicles, adding only 500ml of water to 5ml of the solution. “We also use a vacuum cleaner in order to clean the interior, thus making the entire car dust-free. Unlike the normal car wash service, we bring shine to the exterior of the car with good quality wax, thus minimizing the scratches on them”, said, Ashish Panda, a member of ENACTUS KISS-KIIT. The main aim of Project Enwipe is to use minimal amount of water and provide employment opportunities to under privileged and physically challenged (hearing and speech impaired) individuals, simultaneously helping them earn and live as equal contributors in society. As there is a huge difference in the amount of water that is normally used to clean a car, it helps with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal # 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, he added.
ENACTUS KISS-KIIT thanked Dr. Achutya Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS for encouraging them for different ventures. They also thanked Dr. Kaish Q Khan, the Primary Faculty Adviser of Enactus KISS-KIIT and Dr. Shyam Sundar Behura for their support and guidance.