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June 2009 in AID: Conference Special
Newsletters - This Month In AID

In this issue:
AID-US organized its annual conference this year from May 23-25 in Durham, NC. The many visiting activists from India this year were a source of inspiration to all attendees. In this "conference special" newsletter, we present interviews with a few of the activists and personal reflections by volunteers.

Inside-out: the life story of a worker in AID Chennai's Eureka program mirrors the social change it is trying to achieve out in the community. 
Outside-in: AID volunteers are inspired to make math fun. 
 
Abhay Shukla believes that there are ample healthcare resources in India, but they need to be redistributed to give rational healthcare.
 
Rachna Dhingra: We are all Bhopalis
AID Jeevansaathi Rachna points out that slow, silent Bhopals are unfolding everywhere, and that justice in Bhopal would lead to a safer world. 

Pankaj Sekhsaria: No conservation without communities
Pankaj Sekhsaria argues that environmentalism needs to be framed such that communities are the real leaders of the movement.
 
Dharmendra Kumar: A poet's revolution
Dharmendra Kumar of AID Bihar believes in working towards Bhagat Singh's ideal of sampurna swaraj. 
 
Nandini Sundar talks about how the ongoing civil war in Chattisgarh has drastically eroded the non-violent space needed for civil society. 
 
The conference ends on a high note as Dr Binayak Sen is released on bail after being jailed on false charges for two years. An AID volunteer describes the reaction. 
 
An AID volunteer looks back at his first AID conference. 
 
---
Editors: Supriya Kumar, S.P.Arun
Volume 15, Issue 1
 
January/March 2009 Dishaa
Newsletters - Dishaa

Making Education a Reality 
Eureka Child

AID INDIA's Eureka Child program pioneered initiatives in Reading, Math, Science and English. What a small group of IIT and BITS alumni started ten
years ago, quitting their corporate careers to work with children in villages and slums, has today become a mass movement for education.

Keeping up: The story of Santosh Gond

Santosh
November, 2006: It was on a visit to the Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS), a rural health clinic in the remote village of Ganiyari, Chattisgarh that I first met Santosh Gond. He sat patiently on a stool while Dr. Anurag Bhargava did a checkup. Santosh has been diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease. 
Chhattisgarh – In search of peace and justice

Bastar area of Chhattisgarh has been a zone of aggravated conflict between the Maoists and the State. After the government began arming the militant Salwa Judum in the name of fighting the Naxalites, civilians find themselves facing more rather than less violence.
Bhopal Marches On

Survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide chemical spill met with organizers of the International Campaign for
Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) in Bhopal on January 10-12, 2009, for an annual update and strategy meeting.

Medha Patkar visiting the US: Emory University has invited Medha Patkar to deliver the annual Sheth Lecture in Indian Studies. Seeking her guidance in how Indians abroad can understand and join hands with the struggles for people's right to resources and peaceful, just and democratic society, AID chapters have invited her to meet with volunteers and concerned community members in the following cities:
Atlanta - March 21-22; Boston - March 23. Visit http://www.aidboston.org/MedhaPatkar2009/ for more details.

Villagers struggle to get Work, Wages via NREGA
Andhra Pradesh: National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) guarantees 100 days manual
work per family, helping to reduce seasonal migration. In Andhra Pradesh, NREGA work started in April 2008 but was abruptly withdrawn in July.
The children of the Mahammed Bazar Block in the Birbhum district (West Bengal) only hope that one day their dreams of reaching out to the world will become a reality. With AID supporting the Child Growth Center at
the Jamboni Village, the fifth in this block, their hopes for better lives has only taken a step forward.


 
Your voice counts!

In Jharkhand two activists who helped villagers secure unemployment benefits in January have been jailed on false charges in February. Is this retaliation? Please write to the governor of Jharkhand - see http://www.aidindia.org/ for details.


Healthcare in the villages of Purulia
Healthcare in the villages of Purulia Perhaps the most effective means of delivering modern medicine to the majority of the people in the countryside is through training village level health workers who can treat several preventable ailments with minimal medication, detect impending medical complications and advise patients to be moved to distant appropriate care centres before they become life threatening.
Fatherhood – A journey
This essay is close to my heart because the heroes of it are five children – Sona, Soobi, Sajjaad, Saabreen and Julekha. AID-PRAYAS had helped around 20 children to get admitted to Government schools.

Recently Approved Projects

January-March 2009 Dishaa article in pdf


Editors: Geetu Ambwani and Subhrajit Bhattacharya
Issue 56, January-March 2009
 
November 2008 in AID
Newsletters - This Month In AID
calendar 

Malika

Malika is now the head of the Village Forest Council in the village of Sarmoli. She is also a founding member of Maati, a women’s collective in Munsiari.

Malika advocates subsistence farming as a way of life, and views the welfare of local people as being jeopardized by the intrusion of market forces into Munsiari. She thinks that one such intrusion is the government’s plans to construct eight dams on the nearby Gori river. When tunnels are dug in the mountains to divert water for the construction of these dams, it destabilizes the mountain slopes leading to increasing landslides and loss of forest.flood in Majuli

This year, Majuli was hit by one of the worst floods in recent years. The flood was caused by the breach of an embankment in Matmora, which channels the entire water of the Brahmaputra into the Luit River.

Prinston Runners

This year several chapters of AID, including the Princeton, the Boston and the Maryland chapters, organized marathon programs as an effort to raise funds for supporting grassroots level initiatives in India. Running a full or a half marathon is a herculean task, especially for many of those who have never run more than 2 miles in his/her life.
AID anti-corruption team (ACT) believes in the power of information in fighting social injustice. The malaise of corruption has seeped through every pore of India's socioeconomic, political and bureaucratic fabric so much that the Indian citizenry had started accepting it as a way of life!

Recently approved projects

November 2008 in AID TMIA pdf file

Editors Amrita Balachandran, Subhrajit Bhattacharya

Volume 14, Issue 7

 
Oct/Dec 2008 Dishaa
Newsletters - Dishaa

We at AID are deeply saddened by the tragic events in Mumbai; our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. We strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attacks and the ideologies that promote such actions. We join millions of citizens in demanding effective and accountable government action, which will ensure security without resorting to draconian measures. We also resolve that we will not allow these incidents to be exploited to worsen the communal divisions in the society. While we fortify our walls and work to bring the perpetrators to justice, we also need to find ways to break barriers, remain united and build a vibrant peace in the region.

Bihar

The floods that hit Bihar in late August 2008 were different from previous years. the scale of destruction was unprecedented as the Kosi River breached an embankment upstream in Nepal. The torrents of water that changed the course of the river left thousands dead and affected 3 million people.

Doctors with Bags Full of Craftturmeric

Since 1993, Tribal Health Initiative (THI) has shown what it takes to achieve this level of health. Working in the adivasi, rural, Sittilingi valley (Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu), THI has brought infant mortality down from 150 in the 1990s to 32 in 2007; maternal mortality is now non-existent.

Creating a Mind that Can Give Up

In urban and rural India alike, a variety of food restrictions are taken up voluntarily for religious reasons. Some people fast, eat only one rice meal, or avoid meat on certain days of the week. Others fast or restrict their food for specific reasons. Yet others give up something they like when a loved one passes away.
The Face of the Vidarbha Crisis

VandanaIndebted and distressed, Anil Shende committed suicide two years ago, leaving behind his wife, Vandana, and two young children. As a single mother trying to raise her children on the rain-fed farmlands of central India, Vandana prefers to earn a daily wage for her labor rather than incur further debts to cultivate her husband’s land. 

AID Seattle goes Green

AID Seattle decided to go green in the second year of its existence. At two events – an awareness-generating quiz competition called Chakraview in August 2008, and a concert by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia in September 2008 – we served refreshments using compostable tableware (spoons, forks, plates, boxes, cups), and recycled napkins.

Social Health Activists They Are – Will the Government Accredit Them?Sunderbai

SunderBai is a Kokana adivasi lady, and a community health worker (CHW) in Thane district, Maharashtra.She was trained by SAATHI (Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives, a long-term partner of AID) – along with 47 other women who had never attended school – to be a community organizer,health educator and trusted partner in her village’s social affairs. 

Recently Approved Projects 

October 2008 Dishaa pdf file 

Editors : Divya Sridhar and Supriya Kumar

Issue: 55, October - December 2008

 
September 2008 in AID
Newsletters - This Month In AID

Floods in Bihar: A report on AID’s work
Flood in BiharThe floods occurring this year caused by River Kosi which changed its course due to an embankment breach at Indo-Nepal border, brought a havoc of unthinkable magnitude submerging thousands of villages in water which had never experienced floods in last hundred years. Millions of people were left homeless along with a huge loss of lives and property in parts of Bihar that were already marginalized.

AID Retreat – Only to go forward again!
AID retreatFor the Labor Day weekend I traveled to College Park to meet with other AIDers who were interested in discussing the challenges before AID and finding a few ways forward. So, the retreat began on Saturday with about 25 of us huddled on the basement floor of Surekhaji, a long time College Park volunteer.

Partner Update: Mozda Collective, Gujarat
Solar lampMozda Collective is an NGO working in the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary area, Baruch, Gujarat for 17 years on a wide range of development issues, including watershed development, women’s co-operatives, alternative energy and forest resources.

LSS/Prayaas conduct Summer Camp
Summer campAID partners, Lok Shikshan Sansthan (LSS) and Prayaas have been working with tribal children in the Bhadesar area of Chittoregarh District in Rajasthan. A major problem in the local schools is that the teachers only attend school intermittently thus leading to children dropping out as parents question the effectiveness.

Recently approved projects

September TMIA pdf


Volume 14, issue 6
Editors: Subhrajit Bhattacharya, Srinadh Madhavapeddi

 
August 2008 in AID
Newsletters - This Month In AID

Health self-sufficiency in Chitoor

Chitoor health“Sahanivasa” in Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh runs health programs where Ayurvedic doctors and herbal medicine experts validate existing practices, demonstrate, instruct and help women identify, collect and prepare herbal medicines.

Snehi Bhavan: A site visit report

The Jackfruit Project founded in May 2007 by Elizabeth Philip and myself supports the SnehibhavenSnehi Bhavan home in Kerala for tribal and dalit girls, many of who are the children of sex workers. The project is named for the fruit bearing trees that grow behind Snehi Bhavan; just as a single jackfruit houses many bulbs and seeds, it provides both sustenance and metaphor for the large family of children for whom Snehi Bhavan is home.

Bihar Flood Relief
Several million people in over 500 villages in Northern Bihar have been affected by severe floods. AID has received an urgent proposal to help with flood relief. The effort is being coordinated on the ground by AID collaborator Dharmender and Associate Jeevansaathis Ashish and Kamayani. The team will work to provide food, safe drinking water, medicine and shelter. We ask for your help in support of our relief work. Please make your contributions to the Bihar Relief Fund at https://secure.aidindia.org/aidadmin/donate/current/Donate.jsp?p=BiharFloodReliefFund

Summer camp with a difference!
Summer camp

Lok Shikshan Sansthan (LSS) and Prayaas conducted a month and a half long Summer Education Camp in the Bhadesar area (Chittoregarh dist., Rajasthan). The camp prepared children to stay away from home in a government school cum hostel to obtain quality highschool education.


An Eye Opener – AID Clemson visits AID Duke

Aid meeting at DukeWe were a group of fifteen new volunteers from Clemson University attending the AID meeting at Duke. A majority of us were just about a week old in Clemson and had a small introduction about AID from their core volunteers. Meeting AID Jeevansaathis Ravi and Aravinda was an inspiring moment. Their demonstration of the hay box - a low cost, energy efficient tool - was truly remarkable. 

AID Fall Music Extravaganza

The Fall 2008 music season features several concerts organized by AID chapters.

Recently Approved Projects

August 2008 TMIA printable pdf

Volume 14, Issue 5
Editors: Sunila Nair and Sharatchandra Bhargav

 

 
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