<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> <title>Vibha Xpressions Vol. 3, No. 12 | December 2007</title> <style type="text/css"> body { background-color: #ffffff; font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; } table { background-color: #FFF2BD; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: #336699; font-size: 10pt; } td { background-color: #FFF2BD; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: #336699; /* padding: 5px; */ } h1 { font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-style: bold; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center; color: #ffffff; background-color: #604D86; padding: 5px; } p { padding-top: 3px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 2px; } li { padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 5px; } img { border-style: none; } .style9 { font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #604D86; } .style11 {font-size: 7pt} .style12 {font-size: 8pt} .style13 { color: #660000; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body> <center> <table width="799"> <!-- Header --> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td colspan="2"> <table style="border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd"> <td style="border-style: none;" align="left" nowrap="nowrap" width="75%"><a href="http://www.vibha.org" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_2_No_1_Jan_2006/VIBHA_140x57.gif" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.vibha.org/Xpressions/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_2_No_1_Jan_2006/VIBHA_XPRESSIONS_400X57.gif" border="0" /></a></td> <td style="border-style: none;" align="right" bgcolor="#fff2bd" width="25%"> <p align="right"> <a href="http://www.vibha.org" target="_blank">www.vibha.org</a> </p> <p align="right"> <a href="mailto:info@vibha.org">info@vibha.org</a></p> <p><font style="font-size: 8pt;">Vol. 3, No. 12 | December 2007</font></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td colspan="2" height="193"><!-- FIXME: Message from the Editor --> <p align="center"><b>VIBHA WISHES ALL ITS PATRONS A JOYOUS HOLIDAY SEASON <br /> AND<br /> A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR</b> </p> <p align="justify">As 2007 comes to an end, Vibha has quite a few successes to celebrate, raising over $509,000 till date for the cause of child development. During the course of the year, we have supported a total of 41 projects &ndash; 35 in India and 6 in the United States. In the year 2008, we anticipate supporting our existing projects while adding new ones to the tune of $700,000 in total, of which $100,000 is towards the expansion of current projects. Towards achieving this goal, we have set ourselves a target of raising $20,000 in the last 20 days of 2007 through the Vibha Twenty20 Challenge. All donations made online through this campaign, ending on 12/31/2007 will be eligible for tax deduction in 2007*. Make your contribution here! <a href="http://www.vibha.org/Twenty20" target="_blank">(http://www.vibha.org/Twenty20 )</a> </p> <p align="justify">Vibha&rsquo;s walk /run, is the national annual flagship fundraising and awareness building event organized by several action centers countrywide. The funds resulting from event have brought hope to many children over the last decade. Newly christened the Dream Mile campaign this year, Vibha raised around $130,000 of revenue from all action centers in 2007. </p> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td rowspan="2" style="background-color: rgb(255, 242, 189);" bgcolor="#fff2bd" width="50%"><!-- FIXME: Project profile here --> <h1> <strong>A look at the year 2007</strong></h1> <p align="justify">Looking back at 2007 we would like to highlight a few important facts and contributions;<br /> </p> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Vibha is very grateful to 24hour Fitness who sponsored the Austin Dream Mile 5K/10K on October 7 2007. </li> <p align="center"><a href="http://24hourfitness.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/head.jpg" height="80" width="355" /></a></p> <li>Two excellent projects with great potential have been short listed for scaling. Read more about DSS and Sikshana in our February and March issues</li> <li>Vibha India was successfully set up and the US action centers experienced a tremendous growth spurt in terms of volunteers </li> </ul> <p align="justify">No year can come to an end without a resounding thanks to our patrons who have helped us along with their selfless contributions. Every dollar has gone a precious way in saving one more child from starvation, in keeping one more little girl from a brothel, in bringing education, and with it hope to one more deserving candidate. And yet, we still have miles to go before we sleep. If you have not made your year end donation yet, this is the time to reach out and make a difference. You can contribute online at<a href="http://www.vibha.org" target="_blank"> http://www.vibha.org/donate</a> </p> <h1>Volunteers of the year</h1> <p align="justify">As part of our Xpressions Volunteer Spotlight for December, 2007, we are featuring Ramdas Nagarajan and Suriya Subramanian from Vibha&rsquo;s Austin chapter. In addition to local contributions at Austin, they are part of the National IT team and have helped build the technology infrastructure that enables Vibha to coordinate all activities at the national level. </p> <p align="justify">Ramdas and Suriya helped conceptualize, design and build the current Vibha website and continue to maintain the central Vibha server. In addition, they have contributed to the company database for matching donations, HTG online sign-up page and Dream Mile website and just finished work on getting the new Vibha Donation page functional. They are currently in the process of creating specialized pages for the Dream Registry initiative. For effective project tracking, they built the hugely popular internal Projects Database and the functionality to monitor project disbursals. Last but not the least; they helped secure a grant from salesforce.com to help Vibha with our Patron Database solution. </p> <p align="justify">Please join us<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span> in commending the phenomenal contributions of Ramdas and Suriya and please join them to make Vibha a larger and more effective force in 2008. Please e-mail coordinator@austin.vibha.org to get involved in the Austin Action Center activities. Contact information for all other Action Centers can be found at<a href="http://wiki.vibha.org/About_AC_Contact" target="_blank"> http://wiki.vibha.org/About_AC_Contact</a> </p> <div> <p class="style13" align="left">Ramdas Nagarajan</p> <p align="justify">Ramdas was the driving force for Vibha&rsquo;s Austin chapter from 2002 to 2007. He hails from Chennai and holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Engg/Science from IIT Madras. He completed his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2007 and has since moved to Portland to work for Intel. </p> <p align="justify">His commitment and leadership have been the highlight of his association with the Austin chapter. If there was a task at hand, he was always ready to take up responsibility for it and ensure it was completed effectively. During his 4 year association with Vibha Austin, he played a lead role in all Vibha walks, cricket and chess tournaments, community service, local concerts and many other events organized at Austin. As the Austin AC Coordinator in 2004-05, his leadership was tested most during the times when the Austin chapter would fall short of volunteers required to organize an event. Every single time he stepped up, took the additional responsibility and made the event happen. His contribution to the growth and the success of the Austin chapter has been more than significant.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/Ramadas.JPG" &nbsp="" align="middle" height="208" hspace="5" width="312" /></p> <p align="justify">Ramdas loves the outdoors and has hiked a few 14k feet mountains in Colorado. The picture has him posing in front of the Delicate Arch in the Arches National Park, Utah in Nov 2007. </p> <p class="style13" align="left">Suriya Subramanian</p> <p align="justify">If Ramdas was the backbone of the Austin Chapter, Suriya has been its lifeline. Suriya did his B.Tech in Computer Engg/Science from Anna University, Chennai. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. </p> <p align="justify">Over the last 4 years, Suriya has been one of the most important and dedicated volunteers for Vibha in Austin. He has single-handedly managed all accounting, e-mails and other paperwork related to the Austin AC activities. Suriya also maintains the Vibha website and is our key liaison with the University of Texas (UT), Austin. Vibha in Austin is a registered student organization at UT and Suriya helps with applying for university funding, getting permission for various Vibha events and reserving meeting space for the same. He has been an extremely important part of the events team in Austin and has played an instrumental role in various Vibha events over the years. Suriya&rsquo;s noteworthy qualities are his reliability and efficiency which are reflected in any task he takes responsibility for. </p> <p align="justify">He is a self-proclaimed IT geek who is excited by emerging technologies and is an avid Mridangam player.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/surya.JPG" &nbsp="" align="middle" height="208" hspace="5" width="312" /></p> <p align="justify">Suriya (on the left in red T-shirt) with Rohit at the Austin Dream Mile 5K/10K event on Oct 7, 2007</p> <h1>Write To Us...</h1> <p align="justify">Your feedback is important to us. Vibha welcomes any comments, suggestions or questions you may have about our projects, programs, products, monitoring etc. If you are particularly interested in a topic and would like to see Vibha showcase it please <u><a href="mailto:xpressions@vibha.org">let us know.</a></u></p> </div> <p class="style13" align="center">Together, we can do much more!<br /> Dream a little! Do a Little!</p> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td bgcolor="#fff2bd" height="1668" width="50%"><!-- FIXME: Program profile here --> <h1> Project Profile </h1> <p class="style9" align="center">AMTA Block Project <br /> West Bengal, India </p> <p align="justify">The goal of the AMTA project is to motivate, influence and empower young women and girls in the age group 14-18 from families that live below the poverty line in several villages (80) of the AMTA block in the Howrah district of West Bengal state. Girls are provided non-formal education and vocational training to help them become independent. <b>Vibha</b> began by funding 2 centers at a cost of Rs. 4,00,000 in the villages of Habla and Muktirchak villages of the Howrah region. The project coordinators are Mr. Hemanta Samanta and Mr. Chandar Malik. </p> <p align="center"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/Amta4.JPG" &nbsp="" align="middle" height="208" hspace="5" width="312" /></p> <p align="justify">The project is run under the larger umbrella of the Ranapara Gram Bikas Kendra (RGBK) which is a society setup over 16 years ago to help the poor women in the village of Ranapara. Owing to changes in ecology caused by heavy rainfall, agriculture, the major source of living has been severely impacted since 1992. Currently, the cultivation period in this area is only 4 months leading to more poverty and social evils the rest of the year. Self-help groups are formed to empower the women with the ability to do basic reading, writing, counting, provide vocational training, set aside savings and micro credit management. </p> <p align="center"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/Amta.JPG" &nbsp="" align="middle" height="208" hspace="5" width="312" /></p> <p align="justify">RGBK aims to provide positive, earning opportunities to the women in these areas. This project is run primarily by women and is supported well by the West Bengal government. There are several self-help groups (SHGs) that report paddy cultivation, rice husking, goat rearing, zari (type of thread made of gold or silver) work and embroidery, as major income generation activities. The weekly local markets and the Howrah Bada (big) Bazaar are the main sources to market their products. Group leaders report with pride that they have bought some bicycles for their children to attend secondary schools at a village 6 km away. Very important to the social climate of the village, the group has been successful in closing down all liquor shops in the village. The members also oppose early marriages and the dowry system and educate women about their impact. </p> <p align="justify">Many of the young women were either school drop outs or had never been to school. Poverty and lack of awareness were the main reasons behind it. With the recent awareness around the opportunities opened up by education, the girls are very interested in getting vocational training in beauty therapy, henna application and food processing. In villages where the average family income is Rs. 1,000 p.m, the families of SHG members enjoy a monthly income of<br /> Rs. 2,500 - Rs. 3, 000. </p> <p align="center"><img src="http://vibha.org/Xpressions/Vol_3_No_12_December_2007/Amta3.JPG" &nbsp="" align="middle" height="208" hspace="5" width="312" /></p> <p align="justify">The goal is to start more centers for non-formal education and vocational training. With funds from Vibha, this is now a reality. New materials for teaching, uniforms and hygiene kits for the girls have been purchased. The girls will also be provided with a healthy midday meal. Drinking water and toilet facilities are also being arranged.</p> <p align="justify">The program has also expanded to provide basic and social education, counseling, health and sex education to adolescent girls of commercial sex workers at Chengail, in the Howrah district of West Bengal. STDs/HIV/AIDS Awareness Intervention Programs in the red-light areas have also been implemented. 10 non formal centers cater to over 250 girls, the vast majority of whom have basic skills in reading, writing and counting, in addition to a greater sense of self-respect. </p> <p align="justify">Early in 2007, additional vocational training areas such as kitchen gardening, nursing care of older persons and patients, goatery, designing and painting of posters and billboards, have been added and the girls are learning a lot. Both theory and hands-on training are provided by experienced and service oriented instructors.</p> <p align="justify">A video show and cultural action program was presented in which more than 100 villagers participated. The show has influenced the girls to establish their rights and change their mental setup on long established male dominancy. They realize that economic empowerment is a must for establishing their rights. Community sensitization programs such as voting rights for women, rights to get birth certificates and ration cards, child rights and rights to education have done much to educate and empower women. </p> <p align="justify">The AMTA project is bound for bigger successes, based on Vibha&rsquo;s interactions with this highly motivated organization which is very keen on empowering women to bring about many positive changes in the poverty stricken villages of the Howrah region. The total annual budget for 26 such centers is estimated to be Rs. 78,50,000. Given the many positive changes made by this project, Vibha plans to be actively involved going forward. </p> </td> </tr> <!-- Contact Address --> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td colspan="2"> <p align="center"> Vibha 1030 E El Camino Real, #424 Sunnyvale, CA 94087<br /> Phone: 408-997-9992 | Fax: 775-593-1061</p> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td colspan="3"> <p align="center"> <a href="http://www.vibha.org" target="_blank">Vibha Main Page</a> | <a href="http://www.vibha.org/Xpressions/" target="_blank">Newletters Home</a> (Previous editions) | <a href="http://www.vibha.org/donate" target="_blank">Donate Online</a> </p> </td> </tr> <!-- Disclaimer here --> <tr bgcolor="#fff2bd" valign="top"> <td colspan="2" height="45"> <p class="style11" align="center"> <font style="font-size: 8pt;" color="#336699"> 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. <br /> All donations to Vibha are tax exempt in the US.</font></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </center> </body> </html>