Friday, October 31, 2014

Ekal News, November 2014

GLOBAL NEWS

Ekal support meet - Muscat

Muscat Ekal support meet was held on 20th Sept 2014.  Mr.Gajesh Dhariwal. Co-ordinator welcomed the guest.  Meeting was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by Guest of Honour Mr.K.K.Taori, chairman and it was followed by prayer.

The programme went ahead by Ekal video screening and power point presentation which was followed by question & answer session.  Presentation was given by Mr. Shankar Chelaram of Ekal UAE and the closing remarks were given by Mr.K.K.Taori and the meet ended by Indian National Anthem.

Few members have assured to continue their support for the next year also.

Ekal,USA raises Rs. 1 Crore to implement clean India campaign in villages
By Ranjani Saigal, Executive Director, (EVF-USA)

'Ekal vidyalaya foundation – USA (EVF-USA)’ recently (oct3-5) hosted an international conference in Cincinnati, Ohio to address various issues like integrated development in remote parts of India. 

 Inspired by the Clarion call for ‘SWAATCH BHARAT’ (clean India) by Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi, Ekal volunteers whole heartedly adopted this campaign to create and implement a strategy to clean the Ekal Villages where 1.5 million children are being nurtured and groomed.

This conference had brought volunteers from across India, US & Canada and astoundingly raised Rs.1 Crore for this purpose.  Ajay Singh, Project Co-ordinator for EVF-USA, informed the gathering about the state-of-the- art approach adopted by ‘ Ekal-India’ to administer and monitor various aspects of 'Ekal’.



At the conference, Ekal also addressed the national tragedy of the floods affecting the Kashmir Valley.  Ekal USA has year-marked $150,000 for the flood victims. In short Ekal vidyalaya is playing a key role in the lives of neglected masses for their self-sustenance & empowerment.




Ekal impact through the prism of mahila varg

In 2013 seventeen Mahila Vargs were conducted and 3198 women volunteers  participated to improve the Ekal Villages at the grass root level.
School children, both present and past, does not touch liquor,
All these women authenticated with full authority and confidence that:
·         Ekal schools run their villages regularly.
·         All the schools have lady teachers.
·     The children of Ekal schools both past and present do not touch liquor even though their grandparents and father drinks.
·         Stopped all bad habits like smoking, using abusive languages, pays attention to the hygiene, becoming devotional and patriotic.
·    In Punjab border area Ekal-Villages drug menance have come down considerably due to Ekal schools as the Gram-Pramukh-Sardaji reported.

By this trend, Ekal is producing a new generation of nearly 40 lakhs Ekal children and youth who do not touch liquor.

Ekal Sansthan launches the study circle

 Honourable Minister of State Shri.Pravesh Sahib Singh – Chief Guest inaugurated the Ekal Study circle on 30th August 2014 at India International Centre, Delhi.

Smt.Manjushree, President Ekal Sansthan gave the welcome address and explained about the role of the Ekal Abhyan which had started its journey 26 years ago.  Shri Praveen Arya, during his presentation highlighted the concept of Ekal Study circle.

The chief guest in his address focussed on the priority of Government of India on the promotion of skill development and entrepreneurship, particularly in rural and urban areas.

Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, CEO-Common Service Centre explained the concept of Common Service Centre and its role in rural and tribal areas.  He also laid great emphasis on developing heart to heart relation with the tribals to gain their confidence.

Shri.Singh urged the Ekal to link Ekal movement with their schemes.
The session was concluded by Dr. P. L. Chaturvedi, Chairman, Ekal Sansthan & former Vice Chancellor.



My Visit to Ekal Vidyalaya Schools
By Adarsha Prahalad, Houstan, Texas

I visited the Ekal vidyalayas near Mysore, in Karnataka to get the first-hand experience of how the schools are run.  If one of the people in USA took time to see how the less privileged coping without proper facilities it would be clear how lucky we are.

The first Vidyalay we visited was in Boochalli on 14th August 2014.  It was well organised.  There were about 16 students who greeted us with ‘JAI SHREE RAM’ as we entered.  I was very impressed as I had never heard the phrase used as a greeting.  We all encouraged them to keep studying hard.


The school in Devarhalli was run in a big hall used for group puja’s of the village.  They called it as Ram Mandir.  They too greeted us in the same way.  The teachers followed the curriculum provided by Ekal Vidyalaya to teach.  The main agenda for the day we visited, was to practise the dance taught by their teacher whom they called ‘AKKA’ which means sister in Kannada.

We liked how the school were run and how the teachers take extra effort to keep the learning experience unique and fun for the kids.  

By visiting these two Vidyalayas, my perspective of Ekal Vidyalaya efforts increased by leaps and bounds. 

Overall from this experience I see knowledge in new light and education for what is true value, is priceless.


Tree Plantation

Ekal Vidyalaya, Salem Phoenix Trust along with Green World organised the planting saplings in 19 villages around Yercaud on 19th Oct 2014.  Puja was performed by chanting mantras and the saplings were planted.

This programme was attended by Smt.Lankeshwari and Sri. Sampath Kumar of Ekal Vidyalaya, Tamilnadu.



Diwali celebrations


Friends of Tribals Society Coimbatore celebrated Diwali with full time workers which was attended by President Sri. Shreegopal  Maheswari and Ladies Wing Secretary Mrs. Kavitha Maheswari and by Mrs. Rajeshwari Ravikumar.  The programme started at 1.00 pm.

The introduction speech was given by Dr.Satheesh, after that  all the karyakarthas of Coimbatore were handed over a packet of crackers and sweets  as gifts.  The crackers were bursted and home made food with variety of dishes were served in banana leaf.




Vanyatra

 
 Ekal abhiyans Bharat Lok Siksha Parishad, Delhi  arranged a trip to Amritsar on 5/092014 to visit  the Ekal school.  Sri Manmohan from Australia, who was visiting India was accompanied by Sri Hardev Singh from BLSP Delhi .

They visited 2 villages,  first they visited Ludhad, where they met the teacher, children and the Gram Smethi.
Then they went to Dayalpur where they met the Gram Samethi, 18 ladies and 7 men participated.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Ekal during Kashmir Flood



Ekal Movement in Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh

Ekal Vidyalaya Movement reached Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2000. Presently Shri Sanjay Kumar is the Sambhag Pramukh (In charge of J&K). Under his leadership many karyakartas have been cultivated and groomed. Shri Jaidev Ji a life devotee is in charge of Ekal schools in Kashmir valley; it is interesting to note that all the children and teachers are Muslims.
It isn’t an easy task to travel from one place to another in J & K; it is time consuming and exhaustive due to extremely rough geographical conditions in Kashmir valley & Ladakh. Our karyakartas face a lot of hardship in the hilly areas of Jammu & Kashmir. In spite of security threats it is amazing to learn that most of the teachers in these parts of the country are young girls.

Ekal in Leh and Ladakh

The rough mountain terrains and landscapes separate Ladakh from the rest of India and is no less than a foreign land for Indians and foreigners alike. Ladakh is literally translated as, ‘Land of high passes’ in Tibetan and is located at an average altitude of more than 3,000 meters above the sea level. Ladakh's culture, economy and society has been shaped by many factors.
Leh known as the Land of Heaven has been the battleground for many a war between India and China and India and Pakistan. It has been tainted with innocent blood!
Ekal is the ray of hope for many Indians perishing in remote and extreme terrains.
Flood in Kashmir



Unfortunately, in September the incessant rains for six days caused havoc in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The condition of the victims was pathetic. The deluge of water was a horrific sight. Many areas of Srinagar district such as- Lasjan, Nowgam, Chhanpura, Nayak Bagh, Badshah Nagar, Hyderpura, Batmello were flooded and the worst affected villages were Lasjan, Nowgam which are adjacent to river Jhelum. The flood waters breached the banks of Jhelum and submerged Srinagar, including the Badami Bagh Cantonment, disrupted “electricity, water supply and civil communications.”
People who shifted to higher and safer places escaped the deluge. In Rajori, a village near Naishara 190 people who were returning after attending a marriage were washed away completely. In Udampur near Panchori a village named Sadal was wiped out due to land slide. Ekal had 2 schools in this area, both of them are wrecked.
Although some members of various rescue operations and other government forces were aiding in rescue and relief operations at some places, the major rescue and relief work was solely being performed by volunteers, young men and local boatmen.

People suffering on account of the flood — both elite and poor—spread their hands out to collect some ‘tehri’ (rice cooked with turmeric/haldi) from relief camps set up on a Srinagar bridge.
Brave hearts rescued many pregnant women from inundated areas and carried the distressed on their shoulders while wading through flood waters in trying circumstances.
Boatmen rescued hundreds of people in their boats, without getting any credit for their heroic efforts on prime time television debates.
Our Ekal Vidalaya teachers in Budgam viz. Mehraj, prepared wooden log boats for rescue operations and also made arrangements for food to be transported to roof-tops where most victims were huddled. They distributed rice, fruits, vegetables and other materials for free as part of a humanitarian gesture. Ekal volunteers opened shelters to make sure people have a safe place to stay, a hot meal and access to other support. Relief items help people in the immediate aftermath of floods. They tried garnering food, blankets and other essential items for survival as people had lost things and lives to floods. Counselling for flood victims was offered. People who were piled on the roofs and other high points were reached by boats for rescue operations.
Disaster had set in Reshipura, Pedgampura, Larikpura, Gulzarpura where the water had reached 12 ft. to 32 ft. The flood did not spare even concrete houses. Our team of Ekal teachers with the help of other groups had involved in rescue operations and also had helped the medical camps by providing some medicines to each group of villages by way of relief measures.
Ekal teachers have even gone to the extent of housing flood victims especially womenfolk and children. It has been a major concern because of a heavy loss to the field crops, fruit crops, and the detail of cattle mortalities can’t even be accessed at this stage, which is beyond imagination…the non-stop heavy rain for about 140 hours has done some irreparable damages.
The floods were an unexpected occurrence and hence relief operations had to face many constraints. Within the limited resources that were available Ekal volunteers had engaged day and night in doing a commendable job for the society.

Ekal feels proud of its mite.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Ekal News, Septer 2014 from Ekal India


Self-employment Training Program for Past Students of Ekal

FTS Guwahati conducted a self-employment training program for students passed out of Ekal Vidyalaya. The village Ammuni in nagauv jilla saw a collection of 350 students. There was a Power Point Presentation on the opportunities for these students to earn money, living in their own village without migrating. The success of this program has motivated Sri Nathan Bagadiya, Secretary and Sri Arun Kumar, Vice Chairman to organize more such programs in other Ekal Villages under FTS Guwahati Chapter.

A Training Program To Empower Tribal Women
Smt. Sathyashree Priya. E.,
Chairperson, Mahila Samithy, FTS Kochi
 

FTS and Mahila Samithi, Kochi organized training program for SHGs supported by BPCL on June 7th & 8th. There were 46 male and female participants, of different age groups. They were trained on Mushroom Cultivation by Smt Anitha, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council and making dry flowers bouquet of different shapes and sizes with bio-degradable papers and environment friendly materials by Smt. Sudhakshina and Dr. Namitha.
These sessions were followed by a formal Inaugural program at 4.30 p.m. by Smt. E. Sathyashree Priya, Chairperson, Mahila Samithy who also welcomed the gathering. This was followed by an address on ‘Self Help Groups - A Banker’s perspective’ by Shri.P.K. Venkita Raman, ex-banker and member of FTS. Shri S. Muralidharan, Shri P.K.Krishnamurthy and Shri Suryanarayanan distributed mementos (Umbrellas) to the participants. Smt. Bhavana Pareksh, Vice President, Mahila Samithy and Smt. Muralidharan gave away dress sets to the two Acharyas and the three karyakarthas (who had accompanied the participants) recognizing their services rendered to the Ekal Vidyalayas.
Second day started with the training session on the actual procedure for the formation of SHG by Adv. N.N.Girija.


THE UNSUNG HEROES OF EKAL
Recently I received a copy of “INCREDIBLE CHAMPIONS” by N.Chandrasekaran published by Partridge India.
This book is an interesting and well thought effort in bringing out various professionals who are contributing significantly to the society. It explains how exemplary professionals see opportunity in challenging times and circumstances to serve a large society.
The book covers 25 most inspiring social activists from Tamil Nadu, and one name in this list is our own Dr. C. SATHEESH KUMAR (Project Coordinator–EVFI)
 
The excerpts from the book:
“Satheesh, who was born to a middle class, conservative family, went ahead to pursue his ambition of serving society. He was qualified to become a doctor (BAMS) in Ayurveda medicine from Coimbatore. After passing out he joined a social work project in Arunachal Pradesh where he worked for 2 years serving 10 tribal villages, after which he went back to Udagamandalam, Tamil Nadu and joined J.S.S. college of Naturopathy and Yogic Science as a lecturer and it is during this period Satheesh met his mentor Sri Shyamji and pursued his ambitions to educate tribal children.
His location in the Nilgiris District helped him to go ahead with this mission. Over the years, he has become a leader and mentor for many in the organization, and has been able to significantly impact tribal children’s education, bring in more volunteers and work on the large requirements of the organization.”
Currently he is also involved in Arogya foundation of India, Home remedies project in Coimbatore.
These great efforts from a person of humble beginning are worth emulating. 


FTS Coimbatore celebrates Silver Jubilee
Friends of Tribals Society, Coimbatore chapter celebrated Silver Jubilee of FTS on August 31 by organizing a drama event by cine fame Kathadi Ramamurthy. They had 2 plays, one exclusively for all Rotarian clubs in Coimbatore. Packed audience not only enjoyed the humor but also came to know about EKAL VIDYALAYA and its activities.
 
FTS took this as an opportunity to honor top 10 Acharyas of Ooty Anchal. The awards were given away by Sri R.L.Maheswari, Treasurer, FTS Coimbatore and Sri Uday Chandran, President, Rotary Coimbatore Manchester.

Rakhi in Ekal Village with people from Sharjah

A 50 member team from Sharjah visited Ekal Vidyalaya. It was a wonderful and a first of its kind experience for all of them.  The village children were very excited and waiting for their arrival.   They demonstrated shloka chanting,  yogasana very happily. Together they celebrated Rakshabandhan Utsav there.
Ekal Vidyalaya won the ‘Impact Contest 2014’

Harvard University conducts a Model United Nations Program (HMUN) each year at Hyderabad India. They announced the "Impact Contest 2014" in which participating delegates were allowed to nominate an NGO of their choice which works towards the UN Millennium development goals. They were asked to prepare a 3-minute video for a campaign to support the NGO. The NGO whose video has the most online popularity was to receive an award from them. The fund collected by HMUN India from their charity initiative this year was to be awarded to the winner. Our youth member Shyam Sriram nominated EKAL Vidyalaya. Shyam visited Amrakavas village at Alwar, Rajasthan to capture the good work being done by EKAL team and presented his video. The nomination was accepted and the campaign was on for about 20 days.
The participants were judged based on few factors (i) legitimacy of the organization (ii) the online popularity and (iii) their impact towards their communities.
We are delighted to share with you that Ekal Vidyalaya won in this competition (shared the first place with another NGO based at Hyderabad). This is very prestigious for EKAL for having won this recognition in a visible public forum. EKAL would like to also thank the volunteers who participated and shared their LIKES in Facebook during this campaign.
Our heartfelt gratitude for all the support right through this campaign!
Sriram and Sujatha
Lucknow Ekal Carnival

Ekhal Abhiyan’s Lok Siksha parishad, Lucknow chapter’s ladies wing celebrated Rakhi, Theej and Sri Krishna Jayanti. Ekal carnival was conducted on 19th July at Lucknow city. About 35 stalls were there in the carnival with handmade Rakhi, Bangles, Saree, organic fertilizer etc. About 300 families participated in this carnival. During the event lot of competitions like fancy dress, rangoli, cooking competition etc. were held. With this program they were able to collect donations for 5 schools.

 
 
Ekal Abhiyan Mahila Nagar Sangthan Vargs
Prof Manjushree

Himachal Pradesh is fondly known as Devbhoomi and Devlok. It is the land of Lord Shiva and Parvati. True to its testimony Mother Nature has blessed this hilly terrain with abundance of rare and valuable vegetation, fruits, herbs, vegetables, flowers, lush greenery, clean water from the glaciers and gods and goddesses spread fragrance and aura of spiritual energies to encompass the humanity.


Ekal Abhiyan reached Himachal in 2001-2002. Presently Himachal Pradesh has been divided into two administrative units as Himachal and Himgiri. Two Mahila Vargs were organized for both the areas. There are 4 anchals in Himachal and 5 anchals in Himgiri. Ekal is functional in 3,430 villages in this hilly terrain. Three hundred fifty full time volunteers face tough challenges during rough weather.
Ekal Teachers are all young women. This fact makes it more significant that we involve greater support of urban, semi-urban and village women in Ekal Abhiyan. Around 90,000 people have taken Ekal membership in the villages, because 70,000 children are getting education in Ekal schools of Himachal. No wonder around 1600 Ekal school are supported by Swavlamban collection (local resources) by local, Ekal volunteers (not full-timers).
The Himachal Bhag Kendra Mahila varg commenced on 20th July 2014 in CHOWARI Kendra of CHAMBA district. 85 women volunteers from 4 anchals Chamba, Nurpur, Palampur and Joginder Nagar, participated in the varg. Some were from anchals, but most of them were from sanch kendra (30 schools centres) and Ekal Vidyalaya Gram Samiti. These women provide authentic evidences of social change taking place in Ekal Villages certainly due to Ekal.
These women volunteers termed as Free Timers or samiti members of Ekal are basically trained in six subjects in the Mahila Varg.
1. Quality of Ekal Vidyalaya: Regular visit to Ekal schools to encourage and inspire the teacher and to supervise the school functioning.
2. Matri Bhojan: Thirty ladies of Sanch Kendra form the ‘Mahila Mandol’ to organise Matri Bhojan for 30 Ekal teachers who come for Abhyas Varg every month on definite date. Thus a bond is established between Sneh Sampark Parivar and the teacher.
3. Ma. Yasodha Yojna: Seva Patra (we call it nandan patra) is kept with the lady of the house to collect one or two rupees a day to support poor children’s education. Just like Ma. Yasodha brought up Balkrishna born to Devki, urban affluent ladies can bring up poor village children by sponsoring for their welfare and education through small savings.
4. Upahar Samman Yojna: Once in a year on the occasion of Sankranti, Onam, Lohri or Deepawali these ladies of supportive group play the role of Abhibhavak and honor the respective teachers and the sevavratis publicly by giving them gifts in the presence of Gram Panchayat or Gram Sabha and respected people of the city.
5. Organise vanyatra or school visits for cultivating donors and city volunteers.
6. Organize Mahila Samiti to execute different programs for Prachar - Prasar, strengthening the organization and for raising funds for Swavlamban.
Similarly Himgiri Bhag Mahila Varg was held in Kullu on 22 and 23rd July 2014. 70 women participated. They represented five anchals-Shimla Rodu, Sirmore, Kinnor, Kullu and Anni.
In both the events, local samiti members of Ekal have given full support of every kind to make it successful. The self-confidence and leadership command of the village women who did not even know how to hold the mike, are worth appreciating.


Chennai FTS Bazzar

The Mahila Wing of FTS Chennai Chapter successfully organized 8th FTS Bazaar on 18th-19th July 2014 in The Park Hotel, Chennai. It’s a 'Sale Event' with the noble objective to support Ekal Vidyalayas in Tribal & Rural Areas. The profit from this event was given to Ekal Vidyalayas supported by FTS-Chennai Chapter.
  • The Chief Guest and Sponsor for the event Smt.Rajshri Narayan Rathi inaugurated this gracious event
  • As part of Corporate Social Responsibility, Bank of India, a leading Public Sector bank - adopted 20 Ekal Villages during this Financial Year. Shri.Sripada S Rao, Zonal Manager & Shri.E.Shanmugam, Senior Manager – Administration from Bank of India, Zonal Office – Chennai presented the Cheque worth Rs.4.00 Lakh to Shri.K.K.Maheswari, President-FTS Chennai Chapter, Smt.Krishnaa Bhaiya, & Smt.Sadhana Mimani & Smt.Vimala Damani, Immediate Past President of Mahiala Samithi -FTS Chennai.
  • More than 40 stalls were put up by various business establishments
  • Though it is an event of sales, the FTS-Chennai chapter - Mahila Samithi members actively promoted the cause of Ekal Vidyalayas to the visitors and other signatories attended this event
  • Hourly Lucky Prize coupons were sold during the event.(3 participants were selected as Lucky Prize winners for the hour and gifted with some essential household items. The participants bought coupons for Rs. 25 /- worth to participate in this lucky draw. More than 3000 Hourly Lucky Prize Coupons were sold during the event) 


SHSS's first NCC meeting held

Shri Hari Satsang Samiti (SHSS), member of Ekal Abhiyan conducted their first National Co-ordination Committee (NCC) meeting on June 14 and 15 in Mumbai. Established in 1993, SHSS is the cultural society of Vanavasis imparting Sanskars to tribal community. It has 21 chapters across India of which 5 are National chapters and 16 are State chapters.









Ekal” In NYC ‘India Day Parade’
Prakash Waghmare, Ekal Nat’L PR/Publicity Committee
 

Every year, on the occasion of India’s Independence Day, New York City witnesses the largest fun-filled “India Day Parade”, in North America and this year was no exception. The parade, which is in fact an expression of public celebration of ‘Independence Day’, is convened each year by an umbrella organization called “Federation of Indian Association (FIA).” This year 40 floats and 25 walking-dancing groups, representing multitude of ethnic, religious, social and cultural Organizations took part in it.
This year’s parade had special significance to “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, USA.” For the first time in its history, ‘Ekal’ participated in this eagerly awaited parade with throngs of volunteers from Edison (Staten Island is part of it), Wayne, Philadelphia and Connecticut chapters who wanted to emphasize their support for the ‘cause’ that was dear to their heart. The primary objective of Ekal’s participation was publicity and exposure to the Organization and thereby reinforces its prominence in NY, NJ, Connecticut areas.
As per the tradition, this 34th annual parade took place on ‘Madison Ave’, starting at 42nd street and concluding at 24th street. This year’s theme was ‘Colors of India’ and therefore, the whole parade was immersed in colors, colors, and more colors everywhere. The grand marshals of this parade were Bollywood stars Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon and Vivek Ranadive, the first Indian owner of a basketball team in NBA history. Indian Tennis ace Leander Paes, was a special guest. India’s Consul General in NY, Hon. Shri Dyaneshwar Mulay and New York City Hon. Mayor Bill de Blasio started the procession at 1PM by leading ceremonial Bands, ‘Lezim’ troops and Indian drummers. This year, the parade was watched by a record crowd of over 200,000 people; add to this the TV/Social-Media coverage and print media exposure.As per the limitations of Ekal- 67 volunteers (27 Ladies, 40 Gents – 15 youth among them) participated in this 11AM to 3 PM event. The Herculean task of coordinating minute details of this event was spearheaded by Shri Jyotindrabhai Patel, Regional President, who also came up with the conceptual idea of decorating the ‘Float’ with a village-hut and a school class in session. The float was wrapped all around by banners and slogans.

People involved in making this parade a success are aplenty: Ekal info-paraphernalia (handouts, flyers) for public distribution was provided by Kalpana Fruitwala and Pooja Shah. Jayesh Patel, Prakash Waghmare, Prajna Khisti and Parveen Sharma monitored the procession while Sanjay Phanse, Nanda Mounasami, Neera Tulsiyan clicked the pictures. Shri Devkinandan Thakurji Maharaj of ‘Bridavan’ led the Ekal’s flotilla procession. During the parade, the youths distributed several thousand Ekal bookmarks in the crowd surrounding the parade while Satish Karnik and Deenbandhu Tulsiyan distributed Ekal flyers at the end-point of it. All men volunteers wore blue Ekal t-shirt while all women volunteers wore dusty-brown Ekal t-shirts.

Our volunteers carried two dozen banners, making the float the most eye-catching, and most photographed (by public) group of people. While marching in the parade, the volunteers, from time to time also resorted to loud slogan - ‘Sponsor a school, Dollar a day’, in unison. Not only the public and the commentators of the ‘Grand Stand’ took significant notice of Ekal’s presence because of all this, but also, the media covering the parade paid more attention. TV Asia, BU4 and CNN took Jyotindrabhai’s ‘moving-interview’ and ITV interviewed Jyotindrabhai and Prakash Waghmare. For this parade, Ekal volunteers, not only gave their valuable weekend time but also paid for their t-shirts and the lunch at the end of the parade. Kudos to our overseas volunteers!


EVF Australia completes 10 years
 
I was fortunate to be an official photographer of this wonderful fund raising charity event organized by Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of Australia, celebrating the 10th Anniversary in Sydney. Among the eminent invited guests were Member of Parliament and Secretary to the Minister for Communications - Paul Fletcher and Consulate General of India - Sanjay Sudhir. 
Currently Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of Australia is sponsoring more than 700 schools in India. Approximately 30 new schools will be opened in the near future as more people announced to sponsor the schools at this event. Among those were Seema and Sanjay who announced to sponsor 10 new schools. More funds were raised by auctioning ex-Australian Cricketer Bret Lee’s T-shirt ($1600), painting drawn by a young artist - Mili ($1000) and by selling raffle tickets. Some of the renowned Dance Academies in Sydney participated (without any monetary gain) with their performers and choreographers at this event and made it a huge success
More Photos:
Amber Desai
Photographer, FotoKnack Photography



EVF USA's AGM in Cincinnati
 
We, at Ekal Vidyalaya take Swami Vivekananda’s vision of taking education to the poor child as our mission. While we raise just one dollar for a school, we leverage it with the work provided by on-the ground volunteers and intense support from our well-wishers. To bring all our well-wishers together and motivate many others, Ekal Vidyalaya is hosting its Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio from October 3 to 5, 2014.
Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA will work to significantly enhance its contribution. Please join us in Cincinnati from October 3-5 and share your experiences and suggestions!

 
Awesome work by Arogya Foundation
Akshaya Sekhar, USA

“One person can inspire one village”, this very mentality is what propels the people of Ekal in lending a helping hand to those in need. A valuable lesson I’ve learnt over the course of my stay is that it isn’t the amount of people that attend these summer camps that truly counts, but the lessons you walk away with, that you implement in your daily lives. Sometimes all it takes is the drive and dedication of few to really make an impact. After all how did Ekal start?

A boy from Chicago traveled to over 200 villages throughout India, and gained from that a sense of understanding and perspective of all the obstacles those people must overcome on a daily basis. It is one thing to hear and see things through internet, television, newspaper articles, and another to observe their surrounding and environment for yourself. I feel that creating your own vision rather than seeing it through
others’ eyes is the make or break for some to really step up and achieve a greater understanding than what meets the eye. For this reason I found this exposure to be an unforgettable privilege that the Arogya house has not only been so welcoming, but allowed me to have direct involvement in the project process.

My particular sector of involvement was through Arogya Foundation: Managing Malnutrition and Anemia through home remedies. Over the course of my stay I traveled to several villages including Thudiyalur, Mettupalayam (Gopanari village), Boluvampatti, SandhegoudhanPalayam, and Thenmanallur. I traveled to the local schools and villages and administered HBT Anemia tests on
women and kids; the people’s ages were ranging 15-30. Astonishingly, the demography of over half the population was a blood level of below 6, proving the theory that women and children are malnourished.

For the people with levels of 9.5 or below we supplied Ayurvedic medicine for 15 days and people with severely low count of 6 or below were given a 1 month supply. Alongside us, were two doctors from Australia and London who were conducting oral and eye examinations for those within the villages, and giving presentations to the kids about the importance of oral hygiene. I learned the effectiveness of home remedies in comparison to using western medicine
; I can say from personal experience that western medicine only puts a bandage on the complication and is used primarily as a quick fix.




Ekal Abhyan Monthly Update Chart


Abhiyan Karyalaya (ABK)
Tel. No. - 033-24988508Email ID - ekalabk@gmail.com

EKAL ABHIYAN
Monthly Report Chart (MRC)
Reporting Month: 30th June, 2014                    Publication: 31th July, 2014
SN

Heads
Figure
1
(I)
Anchal ( Project Area)
228
2

Sanch (Cluster)
1945
3
(II)
School  (New School – 6390)
54241
4

Student 
1500291
5
(III)
Seva Varti Karyakarta (Full time worker)
5775
6
( IV)
Saptahik Pathshala
(Weekly classes for the villagers)
44709
7

Attendance (Weekly)                         (A)
1065222
8
(V)
No.of Motivational Assembly
1792
9

Attendance (Monthly)                       (B)
48384
10
(VI)
No. of Awareness Program
(Mobile Video Rath)
22
11

No. of Public Meeting
376
12

Public Meeting Attendance(Monthly)    (C)
151333
13

No. of Contact Program
590
14

Contact Program Attendance(Monthly)(D)
62580
15
(VII)
Total Public involved (A+B+C+D) Program
1327519