The Extra Mile campaign was launched in November 2008 to bridge a $103,000 revenue shortfall against our goals for 2008. Since the launch of the campaign, we have been able to reach about 18% of our revenue goal by raising $18,138, thanks to the support of generous patrons like you. We still have a long way to go and there is not a whole lot of days left in the calendar year. We hope that the following story will be of interest to you and would make you go that extra mile

This is Durga. She lives near Pune, India. Until a year ago, Durga's life was nothing like that of an average 10 year old. Her time was divided between staying at home to look after her younger siblings and working with her mother to make ends meet. School and education were just a distant dream for her.

All that changed a year ago. That is when she became a part of Rachana, an organization that uses innovative techniques to attract and keep children in school. That gave Durga and many other children like her a chance for education. Today she is truly hopeful. She is learning to read and write. She is optimistic of her future and hopes to become a teacher one day. This has been made possible by the generous support of patrons like you.

Can you help us restore childhood to many more Durgas?
39 million children of the school going age are outside the school system in India
At Vibha, our vision is a world where every child attains his or her right to education, health and opportunity. We truly appreciate your support of our work given the multitude of organizations doing admirable work. Encouraged by the outpouring of support in 2007, we started this year with the ambitious goal of raising $625,000 and making a difference in the lives of 25,000 children. But, we find ourselves about $85,000 shy of that target today. Along with tough economic times come challenges for non-profits like ours and more importantly to projects like Rachana.

We are confident that the kindred spirit of our patrons to the cause of the underprivileged child will help achieve our goals. You can be a part of the action, by donating online at:
 http://www.vibha.org/donate

$1000 can fund the programs in a school for an entire year
$500 can fund the rehabilitation of 10 children with special needs
$250 can fund the immunization of 8 children against preventable diseases
$120 provides quality education for a child for a year
$50 can fund the educational supplies for two children for a year

Gandhian Organization for Rural Development (GORD), provides supplemental and computer teachers to six government high schools in Andhra Pradesh, focusing on High School Education.  The project is located in Somapalle, Mulakalacheruvu, and Burkayalakota villages in Andhra Pradesh, India. This project has 1315 direct beneficiaries. The project is run by an extremely dedicated couple. One of the many strengths of this organization is  its excellent rapport with the local community. It has engaged the community for many years and has built relationships with the local political leaders as well as headmasters of the local school district. This project was visited on recently by Vibha volunteers, Vijay Vemulapalli and Sasi Tadepalli.  From the visit, it was very evident that Vibha’s  intervention had generated visible enthusiasm among the students and government teachers.

At the Burakayalakota ZP HS, Vibha supports one supplemental teacher (social sciences) and one computer teacher. The visitors met a few students from the 8th and 9th grades. They were particularly excited about their excursion to Chennai.  They saw for the very first time the beach, the zoo and a museum and especially enjoyed boating and waterfalls. Educational tours facilitate underprivileged students to get much needed exposure to the outside world. In addition, they also acquire necessary skills like report writing and sharing of ideas in a group. Since the last visit to the project, all the old science equipment had been cleaned and was ready to be put to use.  Students started using GORD’s watershed and other material from the surrounding environment to do small science experiments. They used commonly available natural materials to perform their experiments. Some of their projects included experiments such as  building a solar cooker and  studying soil erosion.

Vibha supports two supplemental teachers (Math and Science) and one computer teacher at Mulakalacheruvu ZP HS that has 500 students and nine teachers.. The Vibha volunteers  suggested that the teachers use innovative projects to stir excitement in the students and use the lab to increase enthusiasm and decrease the dropout rate. The teacher was very receptive to new ideas.  At this school, the addition of supplemental teachers helped provide special classes for  students who were performing below average. This, helped to raise the school’s pass percentage go to 85% from 64%, a couple of years ago. The headmaster of this school hopes that the school will attain a pass percentage of 90% this year!

The Kammacheruvu ZP HS is situated near the AP-Karnataka border and caters to a few extremely isolated villages. The school itself is in a very remote area.  With only 142 children, the school has a hard time retaining its students; accessibility, poverty and lack of education among the parents being the main reasons.  The school has large play grounds but lacks even a compound wall. Vibha supports one supplemental teacher here, but there are many more immediate needs than an additional teacher in this small school The head mistress is extremely dedicated, lives in a nearby village away from her family and works hard to encourage girl students.  Most of the staff are forced to live near the school because of its remoteness. The staff at this school improved the pass percentage from 10% in 2004 to 33% last year and to 38% this year.  The goal is to go up to 60% this year !Mr. Mohan Reddy, the Physical Sciences teacher said that the educational tours, science and sports equipment, along with the support and encouragement from GORD has helped raise the confidence levels in the teachers and the students.  They are looking for other ways to motivate students to come to school, continue on after the 10th grade and to avoid a high dropout rate.

All the schools visited by Vibha volunteers had one thing in common – extremely dedicated staff, especially the principals.  The GORD coordinators are very committed to better the schools in the area, not just the six Vibha supported schools and have a good rapport with the principals.  From the last two visits,  Vibha has high confidence that the project is progressing smoothly and that every effort is being made to improve the current model. 

The girls at one of the schools supported by GORD share their experience of the study tour

The Houston Action Center organized ‘SPB: Live in Concert’, Vibha’s largest fundraiser concert in 2008 on September 5th. Months of planning and dedicated work by 20 very active, young and vibrant Vibha Houston volunteers, ultimately  translated to bringing joy and smiles to thousands of under-privileged children half-way across the globe.

  SP Balasubrahmanyam, popularly known as SPB is a legendary playback singer from India. He has been decorated with Padmashri, one of the highest civilian awards in India. So far, SPB has sung over a record 36,000 plus songs in a span of 39 years, in several languages. At the concert, SPB was accompanied by K. S. Chithra, known as the “Nightingale of South India and a full orchestra.

The concert was preceded by a fundraising and awareness dinner on Sep 4th with the elites and high-ranking dignitaries from the Houston Indian community.  This was also an opportunity for the invitees to meet with Mr. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Ms. K.S. Chitra and other supporting artists. The evening started off with a brief presentation on Vibha and Shikshana, by Mr. Vijay Vemulapalli, the Co-founder of Vibha. This was followed by dinner and a social hour.  One of the speakers,  Ms. Karishma Prasad touched everyone’s hearts and souls by sharing some of the unique, first-hand experiences from her visits to three Vibha supported projects in Delhi and Jaipur.  Mr. SP Balasubrahmanyam also spoke very encouraging words about VIBHA. The evening ended on a good note and a vote of thanks by the Director of Vibha fundraising  – Mr. Harshad Parakh.

Vibha Houston Chapter raised approximately 25,000 USD by the end of the show.  The 20-20 challenge took away all the awards! This challenge was introduced to the audience with the idea of raising a total of 20,000 USD from the concert for adopting 20 schools with 1,000 USD for each school through project Shikshana in Karnataka. The audience was urged to donate 10,000 USD to help us meet our target. Within 15 minutes of the break, close to 9,500 USD was raised.  The star of the show Mr. SP Balasubrahmanyam personally complimented the volunteers on a well organized show. He thought that this show was one of his best shows so far and that he will remember and talk about this show wherever he goes.

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 let us know.

Together, we can do much more!

Dream a Little! Do a Little!

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

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