Newsletter November 2011

Avni Nirmesh Patel has been involved with Ekal Chicago USA chapter because of her Nana and Nani (Chitranjan and Mayura Desai) since she was seven years old. She has been taking part with other students to lead shlokas to kick-off the Ekal fundraiser program for five successive years. She saw how the community pulled together to support schools in India and that was the beginning of her passion to support Ekal.

For the past two years, Avni has developed and presented a display featuring Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation during the University of Illinois Extension 4H competition. “4-H is one of the largest youth development programs in America with more than 6.5 million young people, age 5–19, and 5,40,000 youth and adult volunteers.” U of I Extension, 4H Youth Development Educator, Brian Williams said. Avni took part in over a dozen 4-H projects. One of her projects was Citizenship where she talks about what Ekal is and the important role it plays in the life of individuals living in rural India. She focused on the active role she has played in fund raising, and even being a Master of Ceremony at the Ekal fundraiser in West Chicago. The 4-H judges were so impressed that she was awarded with a blue and Grand Champion ribbons (top ribbon). “Ms. Patel continues to grow into a young adults that anyone can learn from, not because she is young, but because she is intelligent”, said Mr. Williams. These posters were on display at a recent donor appreciation event lead by Mananiya Shyamji Gupta, Ekal Founder and Dr. C. Satheesh Kumar.

In 2010 at the age of 12, Avni set two goals; to create awareness of Ekal and raise enough funds to sponsor a school. She worked with her Nana and Nani. She wrote letters and followed it up with a phone call to a list of supports. Avni said, “I was very surprised as to how much money I had collected. People wanted to know about Ekal and support the cause.” She collected over $365. That is enough money for 30 children of her age to go to school! She went on to say, “Most of my money was kindly donated by local business and relatives like Rekhaba (aunt).” She also earned $60 that she put towards the cause. “This experience was very rewarding”.

In 2011, Avni emceed one of the two fundraiser held in Chicago, Illinois. She shared her story about her trip to India in 2007, “I was hit with a shock of reality. In India, there were orphan children wearing tattered clothing running around the streets. These children would gaze up curiously at the huge billboards on the roadside and ask people passing by what the sign read. This made me realize how incredibly fortunate I was. I always remember those poor children and I want to do what I can to help them.” Avni presented to over 300 people. The two day fundraiser event resulted in $88,000 of contributions for tribal children in India. "Due to the overwhelming demand, this was the first time we have done back-to-back fundraisers in Chicago. We are delighted with the outcome and tremendous support from the community. We are particularly excited to see our next generation of young children, like Avni, take such an active role. We are proud to have her represent Ekal", said Dr. Hasmukh Shah, Central Regional President. “Our goal next year is raise enough funds to support 500 schools”. Dr. Shah added, “We encourage the community to get involved and support our home country.”

Ma. Shyam Ji & Dr.Satheesh Ji was in New England Region on Sept 25, 2011 & they had a meeting with the Ekal Vidyalaya Volunteers.  Dr. Satheesh Ji made a power point presentation about the working & vision of Ekal movement which was extremely informative & helpful & Shyam Ji's talk was a source of inspiration for all.  An article on this visit appeared in the largest website in New England area lokvani.com is as under:

Ekal Vidyalaya runs single-teacher schools in Bharat in the most remote or tribal areas on a shoestring budget of $1.00 per day per school educating 30-40 children.  A school typically has students up to the level of third grade and a school supported for about five years becomes financially self-sufficient.

On the evening of 25 September 2011, three senior officals of the Ekal Vidyalaya movement were in Lexington, MA. The officials were Mr. Shyam Gupta, Founder of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, Dr. C.Satheesh Kumar, Ekal Global Coordinator and Mr. Sankaran Sabramanium, Secretary Ekal Chapter in Kerala. Also present was the vice prisedent of Ekal USA, Mr. Vinod Jhunjhanwala who donates over $20,000 every year. Mr. Ram Nehra who is the President of the New England chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya, said that Mr. Shyam Gupta is a visionary who understands the problems of poor aadivasi people in India. He travels extensively in the most remote areas & jungles of India & is a source of inspiration for the hundreds of volunteers.

Mr. Puran Dang, being the chairman of the New England Chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya, greeted them at his home where he and his wife Kamlesh ji, also hosted a dinner for the participants in the gathering. The gathering comprised volunteers and supporters of the movement and also a many who were introduced to the movement for the first time. 

The major portion of the meeting was a presentation by Dr. Kumar on the progress the movement was making. He said that Ekal movement is the largest, grassroots, non - government education movement in India, operating in over 36,000 villages and educating over ONE MILLION aadivasi children in rural India. He added that Ekal Foundation is a secular, non-partisan (or non-religious, non-political) 501 (c) (3) registered non-profit charity education organization. 

He described the nationwide growth, a few hurdles being faced, and how a steady progress was being made to keep the villagers motivated to remain with their lands while becoming literate and healthier.  He further said that Ekal’s goal is to reach 100,000 villages by 2015 in line with the UN Millennium Development goals & asked every one for the support to reach this goal.

Mr. Shyam Gupta, Dr. C.Satheesh Kumar and Mr. Sankaran also fielded the questions of the attendees.  They underlined that owing to an extremely efficient use of donations and by keeping the management highly localized for the villagers, the movement was able to achieve many goals otherwise difficult for a government or a typical non-profit or not-for-profit organization. A great transparency in the use of resources and schools always welcoming the donors were reasons further to strengthen the movement.

Mrs. Geeta Singh thanked the officials for including New England in their itinerary and Mrs. and Mr. Dang to be the hosts.  The officials concluded the event with a request for the time of the volunteers to spread the idea even further.