Vol 5, No.4 | April 2009       »www.vibha.org » info@vibha.org  

Ramprasad Vijayagopal, projects contributor

Sarada Kalyan Bhandar (SKB) is located in Midnapore district in West Bengal. The organization was founded by a group of likeminded women united by the common thread of selfless service in the fields of child education and welfare. Twenty five years since the founding, the organization has transformed into an institution that has provided economic and career guidance to thousands of children around the area.

There is no better to way to tell the success story of SKB than through the story of one of its beneficiaries.

Prabhat’s story

Prabhat was born in a small village in Paschim Medinipur, Tala. The village itself is located in a sylvan setting with eucalyptus and cashew forests on one side and the Keleghai river on the other. Agriculture was the only source of income for many families including Prabhat’s. The crops were subject to the vagaries of nature and the only concern preoccupying his parents was making ends meet. With no basic amenities such as electricity and telephone, Prabhat’s education was considered a luxury.

Prabhat enrolled in the village primary school and progressed to the Mokrampur high school. With his tenacity and encouraging support from his parents, he was lucky to find a high school that took care of all his educational expenses. Continuing with the same vigor, Prabhat secured entry into the Jadavpur College for his bachelor of engineering in computer science. With faith as his only inspiration, he enrolled in the program without a clear idea of how he was going to sustain his studies. To augment his income, he taught additional coaching classes to high school children but struggled with his intensive studies and teaching responsibilities.

At this critical juncture, Prabhat was introduced to SKB. The organization, after a series of interviews decided to support his studies and did so for the entire engineering program. With not just financial support, SKB molded his value system through a series of seminars and discussions that impacted him in a profound manner. The guidance and suggestions of the SKB trustees formed the moral beacon of his life.

Prabhat’s life became a lot easier after completing his bachelors. He enrolled in Indian Institute of technology in Kharagpur for his Masters degree and went on to work for some of the best multinational companies including Texas Instruments, Sasken and Synopsys. He realized the need for higher education and enrolled in a PhD program at the University of California, Irvine. He finished his PhD in 2004 with the outstanding Dissertation award from the European design Automation association.

Prabhat then progressed to become a faculty at the University of Florida and continued to do the things he enjoyed the most: teaching and research. Finally, he decided to listen to his heart and returned to India to become a faculty at the computer science department at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore as an assistant professor in 2006.

As inspiring as Prabhat»s success, the ‘Higher Education Project’ was one of the seminal programs that SKB was founded upon. Much like Prabhat, the program has benefitted many a deserving child realize its true potential. Today, the program has become self-sufficient on account of the many successful professionals who want needy children to have the same opportunities that they obtained from SKB.

As Vibha patrons and volunteers, let us take pride in the constructive influence this relationship has on the lives of so many needy children. As we think through our charitable contributions for this year, let us keep in mind that our trust and continued support provide the strength for some to dream and strive towards the promise of a better tomorrow.

Children are the future of the world. Vibha’s vision of a world where every child has access to health, education and opportunity may not be achieved in ten or twenty years. It might take another generation or perhaps one more. Involving today’s children in Vibha’s movement is vital for ensuring that we continue towards realizing our vision where everyone has hope for a brighter future.

Across all the Action Centers in the US, Vibha volunteers are making a conscious effort to actively involve the local children in fundraising and awareness creation events. Some action centers like Atlanta already have a Volunteer Youth Wing. The parents of these children are often extremely supportive of the cause of underprivileged children and are delighted that their kids are finding spending time for a good cause.

Several action centers organize fundraising events where children can participate and donate their talent. The Dallas Action Center organizes an annual event, Art For Heart, a talent competition for children. This is the fourth consecutive year in which the event is being held. “There is tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the local community about this event”, says Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, who has been part of this event since the beginning. “Within two days of announcement of the event date, all the stage slots are taken,” he adds. This kind of success inspired the Minnesota Action Center to come up with two competitions for children this year. Kalakaar- an online painting and short story writing contest for children and Taal- a music and dance talent contest for children coming up on May 10th. Ashwini Kumar, the event lead for Kalakaar:”In Minnesota, we have long winters. I thought an online event would be easy to manage during the cold period” The Sacramento Action Center also organized a painting contest for children this year by the name, ‘Xpressions’. The event was very well received within the community. A Spelling Bee contest was what the Washington DC Action Center came up with to engage children. Vibha’s marquee event, The Dream Mile is organized across many cities in the US and most action centers have separate race categories for children.

At these events, children not only have a lot of fun but they also get a chance to think about the world that they inhabit and what they can do to make it a little bit better.

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!

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Vibha is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, non-religious, non-political organization that seeks to restore; 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.