“With Love, from Vatsalya”

www.vatsalya.org

Volume 1, January-2012

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings”

Eric Hoffer

At Vatsalya, we absolutely fail in this arithmetic! The innumerable ways in which we are blessed is simply extraordinary in its magnitude and magnanimity. These blessings come to us in the form of unconditional affection, unfailing trust, sustained friendship, moral and emotional courage, care and compassion, creativity and innovation, hopes and inspiration, guidance and insight, optimism and motivation, devotion and praise, humble charity, thoughtfulness, generosity, goodwill, respect, understanding, wisdom…..! There must be other gifts, but, again, our weak arithmetic makes it difficult to count …J!

Treasured friends of Vatsalya, we wish to begin our New Year by gratefully acknowledging your valuable support in the year 2011 that has enabled us successfully to beat the odds, overcome troubles and continue our endeavours to bring happiness into the lives of children and many others. Vatsalya remains indebted to you forever! We pray and wish for a long, peaceful and prosperous year 2012 for you and your loved ones. We also hope to see some of you soon sometime this year; your presence inspires and encourages us!

Now to some very exciting and inspiring events happening at Vatsalya!

The School at Vatsalya Udayan

Vatsalya created its own new school in the year 2011. It was an amazing example of team work by people over NINE different countries across the globe that joined the campaign. US$ 29,000 was raised in 3 months, six classrooms were completed and we opened the school on July 31st, 2011. The school is built to accommodate 200 students and enrolling children from neighbouring villages is in progress. We have children in Grades 1st to 12th and 2 of our big girls got registered this year with the University of Rajasthan for their Bachelor degrees.

While a lot of development, such as completing the remaining construction, planting trees and making playgrounds, is happening on the school premises, we are also equipping the school with IT tools. An Audio Visual classroom with a TV and Tata Sky connection, LCD projector and computer with Skype connectivity and a collection of educational CDs and DVDs is set up. Timetable and schedules are being developed so as to involve teachers and volunteers, both local and international, to teach our children through distance education methods. A Global Classroom is an exciting proposition and our children are keenly looking forward to learning in this new 21st century environment! We need volunteers who can teach our children online and would be happy to workout time schedules with them. Also, we welcome school collaborations where we have interactive sessions with children in a classroom anywhere in the world. Those who wish to get involved may please write to us for details at

The First Vatsalya Advisory Council Meeting

Members of Vatsalya Advisory Council travelled from Australia, England, Scotland, Holland and USA and had their first meeting at Vatsalya in November. The objective was to review the progress of various interventions, brainstorm on the efficiency and effectiveness of these interventions and of course, most of them were meeting each other for the first time! During their stay, extraordinary inputs were made by the members as individuals and as a team. Some of these are:

·  The Vatsalya website: VAC went through each section of the website, modified and almost rewrote the content of some of the sections. Caroline, with her specialized expertise in designing, took the lead in working on its design, the visuals and overall presentation of the website. And yes, you can donate to Vatsalya directly through Pay Pal now!

·  Food: with love from Jaipur: The members developed this recipe book in the record time of 4 days! It was printed as well and taken home by the members when they left. The idea, of course, is to raise funds through the sale of this Vatsalya Udayan recipe collection.

·  Volunteer Poster: Anita, the newly inducted member of VAC, created a very attractive poster describing the projects and areas in which people could contribute significantly with their knowledge and skills. These posters are meant to be placed in colleges, universities and other institutions to let people know of the volunteer opportunities at Vatsalya.

·  Vatsalya-Amity Collaboration for Volunteer Placement: Maureen, the president of VAC, along with the other VAC members, met Dr Raj Singh, the Vice- Chancellor of Amity University, Rajasthan, to initiate collaboration between the two institutions. Amity will be placing its students at Vatsalya and also conduct TOT with specific objectives for Vatsalya personnel. Maureen also redeveloped an online application form for Volunteers and Interns.

And some FUN and learning experiences VAC members had during their trip:

·  Attending Indian weddings (a city wedding and a village wedding)

·  Feasting on a grand meal on Annakoot, consisting of 56 different recipes, all made at Udayan on that day

·  Morning walks in 2 beautiful parks of Jaipur followed by road-side breakfast of Bun-Maska, Samosa, Jalebi and Chai

·  A Sunday breakfast made by VAC members comprising of recipes from Australia (Bruchetta), Holland (Bread with Hagelslag), USA (Hash Brown), England (Apple Pan Cake), Scotland (Scones with homemade raspberry jam) and India (Upma, Poha, Halwa, Khaman)

·  An 8 Mile walk around the Goverdhan in Mathura by Hitesh and Maureen (the distance was covered by some on a Rickshaw!)

·  Visits to forts and temples of Jaipur, the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Iscon temple in Vrindavan and the Balaji Temple in Mahua.

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Vatsalya’s Livelihood Program

The Vatsalya livelihood programme, namely Upaarjan, completed 2 years in October, 2011. This Market-Aligned Skills Training (MAST) program works mainly with high school dropouts aged 18-35 years in urban centres, and equips them with skills and confidence to access entry-level jobs in high-growth service industries, while matching the needs of the local economy. It is an extremely satisfying and fulfilling intervention as we witness its transforming effects in the lives of many of our students. Most of them are FIRST generation employees in a regular job! Below is the coverage profile of the program:

Vatsalya Livelihood programme for disadvantaged young population
Year / Young people Trained / Young people Placed / Disabled Trained / Disabled Placed
April 2009-March 2010 / Male / 110 / Male / 96 / Male / - / Male / -
Female / 111 / Female / 108 / Female / - / Female / -
Total / 221 / Total / 204 / Total / - / Total / -
April 2010-March 2011 / Male / 696 / Male / 504 / Male / 35 / Male / 10
Female / 922 / Female / 594 / Female / 7 / Female / 1
Total / 1618 / Total / 1098 / Total / 42 / Total
April 2011- till October 2011 / Male / 405 / Male / 311 / Male / 24 / Male / 8
Female / 901 / Female / 272 / Female / 23 / Female / 6
Total / 1306 / Total / 583 / Total / 47 / Total / 14

Our livelihood program had a great input in October this year from two IBM professionals, Julian Borys (Australia) and Sandra Tobler (Switzerland). They have prepared a five-year expansion strategy for Upaarjan which is going to help us take the program at a different level. We also organised a Job Fair which was tended by about 600 young people and over 40 employers. Mr. Mahesh Joshi, honourable Member of Parliament from Jaipur awarded certificates to young graduates. Samvedna-Jagriti, the Health and Education Camps

Vatsalya reaches out to children living in the slums of Jaipur through its Samvedna-Jagriti Health and Education camps. The objective is to inspire and support them in working towards higher goals in life. Our children from Udayan conduct these camps along with senior staff members and that creates a great impact on the minds not only of the young children but their parents as well. These camps are held 2-3 times every month in selected slum locations in Jaipur city. About 150 children, their elder siblings and parents are contacted and a variety of health, education and awareness-generation activities are carried out. Our hope and aim is to facilitate a complete transition of these slum dwellers into a progressive, future-oriented and positive-thinking community.

Vatsalya celebrated November 14th, which is observed as Children’s Day in India, with the children who participate in our outreach camps and also are the members of Child Parliaments we create. A day-long program of sports and cultural activities followed by a grand meal was organised for these children. A team of paediatricians and ophthalmologists also conducted medical check-ups for these children. In all, 170 boys & girls of age 8 to 14 years were examined by the team. The main medical problems identified were tonsillitis (2), upper respiratory tract infection (6), abdominal pain (7), tachycardia (1-refered to cardiologist) and defective vision (3). Considering where they come from and how they live, we could say that the children were remarkably healthy. All the children were given medicines and are being followed up during our regular outreach camps.

From the Files of Friends

The thoughts and views of volunteers who stay with us are very important for us. They guide, encourage and inspire us. Also, it makes us feel proud to share them with you.

“....I had prepared myself that since some of them were orphans they would be sad and unhappy and would have lot of problems. But this was not the fact when I met them in Udayan. The children are full of joy and happiness. They are open-minded and very generous. The atmosphere in Udayan is very nice and kind of healing. The pure nature surrounding the beautiful buildings and the children’s joy is wonderful to observe. It is nearly impossible not to find the peace within yourself, when you are here. Sometimes in the evening when I watched the spectacular sunset and heard the children’s laugher while they were playing, I thought this is true the meaning of life...! It is amazing that you have created this fantastic place. Some of the things I value the most are your endeavours to find the best solution for the children, your efforts to give these children a good life (e.g. the opportunity for a practical education), your frankness regarding development and an open mind for a different view. Marie Hejlskov, Denmark

“.....I believe this place on earth, is a micro-wonder. This is a place to be loved and cherished.”-Hugo de Schrijver, Belgium

“....It was wonderful getting to know the staff and children at Udayan. The children are very sweet and welcomed me without question; they continually surprised me with their intelligence and artistic skills. I will treasure my memories of my time there. I hope I can visit again in the future....”- Jennifer Koester, USA

Talking of Udayan, I would also like to share with you some of the thoughts and aspirations of our growing children. We presented awards to the outstanding performers for the year 2010-11 and this is what some of them had to say about the prizes they won:

Anmol (Star of Udayan)...”I am humbled by this award and am grateful but I think I really do not deserve it. Last time I got this award, I was simply excited to receive it and never thought whether or not I actually deserved it. But it seems my values make me question these things now. Having received it, I will do more to come up to the expectations of my elders and my own. I dream of becoming an honest, able and hardworking administrator of Udayan and helping everyone in this noble work...”

Devashish (Rising Star of Udayan) ...”I think I am given this award because I have worked hard to leave behind my past, developed a positive attitude towards life and now I stand right next to others who were much ahead of me 3-4 years ago. I am obedient, respect my elders and have been able to control my anger considerably. When I complete my studies, I want to be a good teacher and help little children learn everything about the world. I am happy to get this award, but please don’t mind if I say I did not need it. I have my goal in front of me and to be able to pursue it is enough for me ...”

Mukesh (Academic Star of Udayan) ....”I am happy to get this award. Some years back, when I was not listed for any award, I was very heartbroken. I was angry with myself and vowed to change it. Awards are important for me; they encourage and inspire me....” Mukesh, who is in 12th Grade and is preparing for the entrance exam of the government administrative services, questioned the system of deciding awards in Udayan! He said there was not a good mechanism to select good performers. Coming from a person like Mukesh, no one challenged his question. And so there was an instant decision to appoint an “Awards Committee” to undertake the responsibility in future. Though it sounds like a bureaucratic management strategy to bypass troubled areas, you can trust our children to get the best out if it...:)