Wishing you a very happy new year!

A Letter from our Chief Operating Officer

Dear Patron,

The year 2006 has been a wonderful year for Vibha and the children we support in India.  We are currently supporting 42 projects in India and in the US, which reach out to nearly 15,000 children. This year, 21 new projects were selected, which target our core focus areas of education, health, vocational training and eradication of child labor.  Vibha has disbursed so far, $375,000 to these projects this year. Some, such as Shikshana, Vidyaramabam and Science Library are tackling the root causes of the problems and are expected to bring about serious changes in the lives of underprivileged children in India. 

Vibha is an organization driven by volunteers and this year we have shown a tremendous growth in our volunteer strength.  Three new Action Centers - Houston, New York and Seattle – started this year.  Our overall volunteer strength increased by 200 volunteers, bringing the total to 600.  Our volunteer teams in Chennai and Bangalore have begun getting more involved with the projects we support.

We also made significant progress in reaching out to you, our patrons, who contribute generously to the cause.  Through this newsletter we attempt to inform you the details of the projects we support, thus highlighting how your contributions make the dreams of underprivileged children come true. We have revamped our web site and have added a lot more information for easy access at www.vibha.org. Upon request from patrons, we have started the Vibha Dream Registry program. This is an avenue for patrons to dedicate special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries by donating to Vibha and creating awareness.

We thank you for your unstinting support in various forms.  There are millions of children who still go to bed hungry, work in hazardous conditions or are forced into brothels at a tender age. So, if you haven't made your donations yet, this is the perfect time to make a change in the lives of these children. Wishing you all a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year 2007 on behalf of the Vibha family!

Sincerely,

Rajesh Haridas
Chief Operating Officer

Vibha volunteer gets an internship at the United Nations!

Vibha volunteer gets an internship at the United Nations! Sandhya Gomadam,  a Vibha Volunteer, is  currently interning with the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF). She reviews proposals from various countries which finance projects that build and strengthen democratic institutions, promote human rights, and ensure the participation of all groups in democratic processes. Her work at the UNDEF is very similar to the role played by a project lead at Vibha.   She says, "I was really surprised to see the similarity between the UN project document and Vibha's project document. They almost look identical with regard to each section and the requirements. The main reason I got this internship was because of my experience as a project lead with Vibha. I'm really happy and proud to be part of the Vibha team! "

Together, we can do much more!
Dream a little! Do a Little!

Pictures from Aasman Project

Eye-hand Coordination Activity

Pavement Community

School Going Beneficiary

Support Class

Project Profile

Aasmaan by Saathi,
Mumbai, Maharashtra

Saathi, an organization based in Mumbai, has the lofty vision of working towards a just and equitable world with a specific focus on youth on the street. Saathi recognized that very few organizations worked with adolescent street children. Believing that older teenagers on the street were as much in need of support and guidance as the younger children, the founders of Saathi started conversations with street youth to understand their issues and needs. These conversations led to the creation of a pilot project in 1995. Its success led to a flagship program and Saathi became a registered NGO in 1997. Projects run by Saathi address the health, vocational training, psycho-social support and educational needs of children living on the street.

Some of the projects successfully run by Saathi are:

1. A youth center for teenage boys in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai. Here, teenage boys who live on the street and train stations come in for a wash, food, friendship, vocational training and educational assistance.
2. The girls’ center is located in Agripada. It provides teenage homeless girls with a night shelter in addition to healthcare, nutrition, non-formal education, counseling and recreation.
3. A home placement program for girls and boys of all ages who have left home for various reasons and wish to return. Saathi makes extensive effort to prepare the children, escort them and intervene to address the issues that caused them to leave home in the first place.
4. Saathi is the lead organization in Maharashtra for the nationwide initiative –“Quality Iinstitutional Care for Children and Alternatives (QICC & A)”. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that minimum standards are met by institutions that care for children and also to find alternatives for institutional care wherever possible.
5. In partnership with Inheritance India Land Conservation Company, Saathi works on Project Nilambur in Kerala on community development issues and vocational training for reformed poacher and others.
6. Saathi was one of the first projects to address the needs of children traumatized by the violence in Gujrat in 2002.
7. Project Aasman, in collaboration with Committed Communities Development Trust (CCDT) works with a pavement community and provides non-formal education to the children and health information to the women. This project is funded by Vibha and will be described here in detail.

Project Aasmaan:

This project works with the street community around Morland Road in Kamthipura, one of the oldest red light districts in Mumbai. Most of the families living here are migrants from rural areas who have come to Mumbai in search of a better future, only to find themselves on the streets! They live in the open or in shelters made of plastic sheeting. The men are semi-employed and the women work as domestic help for extremely low pay. In this city, that Suketu Mehta calls “Maximum City”, these people are stretched to create even a minimum existence for themselves.

The goal of this project is to empower the community to address the health and educational needs of its children. Vibha has been funding this project since 2004.

The components of the project are:

• Education: By providing support classes, Balwadi, school admissions, sponsorships, life skills sessions and networking with municipal schools and taking advantage of government programs.
• Health: By way of periodic health check-ups for children under 5 and conducting health sessions to train the community to monitor its health status.
• Community Development: By addressing the vocational training needs of the youth and the psycho-social needs of women in crisis.

Vibha’s funding of $15,000 for the period 2006-2008 will cover nearly 60% of the operating expenses of Project Aasman. The funds will provide for enrollment of children over 7 into schools, preschool classes for 60 children, educational support classes for 30 children, educational sponsorship of 10 children, supplementary food, recreation, life skills programs and awareness programs.

Project Aasmaan addresses Vibha’s core focus areas of providing nutrition, education and healthcare for underprivileged children and we are proud of our association with this high-impact project.

If you would like more information on Aasmaan please contact us at projects@vibha.org.

Vibha 1030 E El Camino Real, #424 Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Phone: 408-997-9992 | Fax: 775-593-1061

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Vibha is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, non-religious, non-political organization that seeks to restore to underprivileged children their basic rights to food, shelter, health and education - in short, a future.
All donations to Vibha are tax exempt in the US.