In my long journey in the social sector, I have met many heroes whose journey in life has been incredible, inspiring and awe inspiring. But nothing prepares me for my meetings with people with special needs, especially children with special needs.

My journey with Vibha is 12 years old, but Vibha’s journey with Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM), an Ajmer (Rajasthan) based organization working with people with special needs has been much longer since 2003. Vibha supports RMKM’s programs on providing homebased rehabilitation services, employment focused vocational training, counselling, training and so much more.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to meet so many children with special needs who have developed and progressed phenomenally in life. There are many such children over the years, but let me share the story of Khushi Kanwar from Khori village in Pushkar, Ajmer, whom I met again recently after several years during my field visit to RMKM. My name is Deep Ranjani Rai from Vibha, and I manage the RMKM project .

I first met Khushi in 2018 when I was on visit to RMKM.  She lives in Khori village of Pushkar with her parents and other extended family members.

When Khushi was born in 2012 she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy which had affected her motor functions, control over her body and speech with moderate intellectual disability. She was identified and enrolled in the RMKM’s community based rehabilitation program in 2014. When I met Khushi she had been in the  program for almost four years. Her initial condition was severe: she was not able to sit up by herself, and could only stand briefly with some support. She was not able to grasp objects or use her hands much. Her parents shared that Khushi was not able to recognize anyone at home or relate to them in any way and her speech impediment restricted her from articulating even the smallest of words. When I went to meet Khushi and her family, she was totally dependent on her mother and spent much of her time lying on the mat. The only difference was that she was able to recognize Bhairon Singh, the RMKM CBR worker and responded delightedly to him. She was able to stand with support.

In the four years that Khushi was in the program, intensive physiotherapy and occupational therapy was given. She also was slowly introduced to repetitive word and voice stimulation and use of various materials to enable her to develop her social and communications skills. By the time I met her this year in September, Khushi has turned 10 years old. I was amazed at the difference in her: she was able to walk albeit a few steps at a time or with support of the wall! She was so responsive to us as well.

Khushi now goes to Day Care Center in Pushkar and looks forward to going there every day. The arrival of the center’s vehicle each morning  is a big excitement for her.

Her mother, couldn’t stop smiling and was delighted at the progress her daughter had made. “I am so happy that Khushi has developed so much, she is able to eat food by herself, recognizes all of us and is able to communicate her needs. She is trying to also speak words although at this moment she can only say one syllable words. I had never thought that the day would come when she would be able to walk!”

RMKM is one of the pioneer organizations in Rajasthan in the excellent work they are doing for the well being and development of persons with disability. Vibha has been partners with RMKM since 2003 and every year, every story is a source of inspiration and hope that persons with disability indeed have  good chance at achieving their highest potential. Khushi’s story is only one of many!

On arrival at Swanirvar on 28^th July 2022, I was overwhelmed to see how well-prepared the team was for my visit. I was given a tour of two Swanirvar facilities, located on organically farmed land in a self-sustained idyllic setting. I was served a sumptuous breakfast and then taken through an agenda for the visit. We were to visit Jasaikati primary and secondary schools (day 1) and Banglani primary school (day 2) in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

On day 1, I was greeted warmly in both schools. First, I attended a literature class that was full of interactive learning. I was enthralled by the teacher who used puppetry to build her students’ imagination, creativity, and observation while getting them to learn language skills as well. The bell for the science class shook me out of my classroom reverie. The science class was equally interesting. With the use of inexpensive materials available in our day-to-day life, Mr. Subhankar Bhabak , the science teacher engaged the children in hands-on activities. He did a fabulous job of explaining how science and scientific reasoning can be used to explain observed phenomena. Very cleverly, he went on to show how blind faith and superstitions are based on falsehood and should always be examined through a scientific lens. I have seldom seen children so engrossed in classroom teaching. The result was whenever the teacher asked a question, most hands went up. Taking liberty, I asked the children who among them wanted to become a scientist. Needless to say, every hand in the class went up excitedly.

Apart from formal education, Swanirvar places great emphasis on co-curricular activities like music, drama, art, craft and gardening. I was treated to a song and dance performance by the children, following which I visited the flower and vegetable gardens that were cultivated by children and teachers using organic farming techniques. Children also informed me about the bio-diversity register they were maintaining.

On Day 2, I visited Banglani primary school in Swarupnagar, located close to the Indo-Bangladesh border. Here the children and teachers performed a song and dance for the entire school including many parents. There was a display of some highly impressive drawings and paintings that the children had created. I also interacted with teachers who had much to say about the help they had received from the Swanirvar team and the positive changes they had witnessed in their school because of that.

Amidst this enriching environment, bursting with knowledge and enthusiasm, I was slightly dismayed to hear about the employment prospects of the children at Swanirvar schools. Only 3% of students graduating from high school are successful in getting good jobs. I can see that they are full of promise. The best leaders and analytical minds can potentially emerge from this gravely underdeveloped area, with just a little push of technology, digital training, and exposure to apprenticeship and academic opportunities. I sincerely hope this push comes in strong and comes in soon.

Now you’ve heard my story. Can you tell me what was it that made my India trip a transformative experience? It has been a conundrum for me ever since I returned.

About Swanirvar

Swanirvar is an organization that strives to promote an evolutionary model, for a sustainable, collaborative, and effective transition to a prosperous India. It has four focal areas: education, community health, women empowerment, and agriculture.

While Swanirvar works extensively in primary schools, high schools, and undergraduate colleges, their primary focus is on schools. Presently, they are working with 160 schools in places like Deganga, Baduria, Swarupnagar, Bongaon, and Sunderban in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. After the precipitous drop in student attendance and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is encouraging to see that children are now flocking to schools where Swanirvar is operating. An invigorating environment welcomes you when you step into the premises. Teachers use diverse teaching-learning materials and activity-based learning methods. Student-teacher interactions are positive and heart-warming. Parents are highly involved in their children’s education, unlike what parents at government schools are wont to do. All this has led to zero dropout rates and high enrolment. In fact, students are leaving their schools to come and study at Swanirvar-run schools.

With respect to other initiatives, Swanirvar provides rural health care and paramedical services in 10 villages and 27 hospitals in the North 24 Parganas district as well as in Kolkata. Women in self-help groups (SHGs) are trained in skills like making traditional food and spices, handicrafts, and running small entrepreneurial businesses. They are also supported in getting business loans. The team at Swanirvar travels across the district to teach organic farming techniques – like preparing bio manure, seed conservation, and propagation to the locals.

Vibha’s partnership with Swanirvar began in 2006. Vibha primarily supports Swanirvar’s teacher training initiatives. Additional funding was provided for a few years to Prayaash, a program focusing on children of migrant laborers who are not enrolled in school or have dropped out.

Subhojit Roy

Vibha Volunteer

Eager to help others continue their educational journeys, this team of 2 manages the Samavesh community learning centre at Dhamkheda sector-B. Muskan is 16 years old and plays the role of Chote Guruji, while 11-year-old Khushbu is the centre’s Chote Ustaad. They engage more than 30 students in a multi-grade multi-level (MGML) classroom setting where they not only teach Math and Hindi but also conduct activities like puppetry, origami, story-telling and poem recitation.   

A recent incident in the life of these two girls exemplifies the famous adage, “opportunities come to those who seek them.” Bhopal was lashed by heavy rains in the last week of July this year. The storm water drains overflowed and flooded into several homes. Slums in the city were worst-hit. Muskan and Khushbu were among many who lost their homes to this deluge. The primary school in Dhamkheda Sector-B became their home for the next few days. Needless to say, all the residents of the primary school were feeling hopeless and miserable. The anxiety caused by seeing their homes washed away and being stranded indefinitely at the school was overwhelming indeed.

Deluge in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh during Bhopal floods, July 2022

Resilience and never give up attitudes demonstrated by these young leaders and their mentee students at Samavesh

Aftermath of the Bhopal floods at Samavesh

Unfazed by the calamity, Muskan and Khushbu saw an opportunity in this misery. They got together and decided to restart the community centre. Armed with their innovative spirit and the resources that were stocked up at the centre, they began their activities for children. A new day dawned and the centre began functioning as usual. The homeless children and their families felt reassured, hopeful and positive!

“We enjoy facilitating the different activities at the centre. It has made us immensely confident. We have gained a lot from working here,” the girls say with shy smiles. They are an inspiration to the children at the centre. The children love their Chote Guruji and Chote Ustaad very much and are eager participants in all the activities. Our best wishes to these shining stars. May they continue to spread the Khushbu (fragrance) of their enthusiasm and their Muskan (smiles) among their peers.

About Samavesh

Samavesh Society for development and governance is a nongovernmental organization based in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Samavesh’s primary aim is to enhance the quality of education in target schools so that children can achieve the minimum grade-level competencies. So far 200 teachers and 4,500 children in 82 government primary schools have benefited from the program. Involving children from the schools and communities as Chote Guruji (teacher) and Chote Ustaad (assistant teacher) to facilitate peer learning is a unique offering which positions children in the community as leaders and also allows Samavesh to optimize their staff requirements.

Most of us are well-versed with summer camps and the excitement among kids. However, for some kids, summer camp is an alien concept. This is the story of Urala village of Durg district in Chhattisgarh, where the Language and Learning Foundation (LLF), a project partner of Vibha  manages a project to improve foundational learning capabilities among primary class government school children. While summer camps are common among private schools, government schools do not have enough support or encouragement to host such events. 

Mr. Roshan, who is posted by LLF as a point teacher at government primary school in Urala, worried that the summer break would slow down the learning practice among students. These students had already suffered a huge learning gap due to school closures of 18 months during the Covid-19 pandemic. While LLF ensured to maintain and sustain the already learned skills of the students, developing new skills was almost at a standstill during this time. The schools had just regularized since March 2022 and then the summer break came up. Such events adversely impact the continuity in a child’s learning, a long gap of practice leaves students at high risk of learning loss or regressing in what they already knew. LLF proposed an idea of conducting summer camp where students can have fun while learning, and Mr. Roshan jumped on the idea and could not find a better way to give the students a break from regular learning and yet continue their remedials. 

A few school volunteers and teachers joined along, and a detailed plan was made to organize a fun-filled, game-based learning experience during the camp. In addition to the students, community members, parents and volunteers were invited to this summer camp with the idea to involve as many participants as possible, so the learnings can be practiced at home. This inclusive approach towards learning was very well received by the participants.

A gala learning camp with 150 students and 23 parents witnessed high-octane participation in activities like poem recitation, storytelling, drawing, toys making, clay art, role play and other activities.

Here are some testimonials from participants:

“समर मेले में आयोजित गतिविधियों से मेरे बच्चों में उत्साह देखने को मिला, मैंने खुद जाकर समर मेले को देखा है। जहां बच्चों के रचनात्मक कार्यो का विकास हुआ है। बच्चे नए नए चीजों को सीख रहे थे, और सभी मजेदारी के साथ सीख रहे थे। ऐसे गतिविधियों को स्कूल में भी लगातार करने से बच्चों का सर्वांगीण विकास होगा। — लयनी साहू (पालक-खुशी की माँ), कक्षा 4।“

Translation: I saw a lot of enthusiasm in my children during the activities organised in the summer camp, I’ve myself witnessed this (enthusiasm). Students were learning new things with a lot of fun and developing their creativity. Conducting such activities regularly in school enables holistic development of students. – Layani Sahu (Mother of Palak and Khushi), Grade 4 parent.

15 मई से 1 जून तक संचालित समर मेले के आयोजन में सभी शिक्षक साथियों, समुदाय के सदस्यों खासकर स्वयंसेवक साथियों का लगातार सहयोग मिला, जिससे बच्चों के सीखने में नवाचार गतिविधियों से जुड़ने का मौका मिला– लखन लाल देवांगन, प्रधान अध्यापक उरला

Translation: Summer camp organized between 15^th May to 1^st June received great support from teachers, teacher educators, academic support and volunteers who made it possible for the students to participate in innovative learning activities. – Lakhan Lal Devangan, Head Teacher, Urla

Vibha youth mentors meet with these children on a weekly basis to help with their homework, provide emotional support while also learning to excel in the shoes of a ‘Big Brother and Big Sister’, learning to get better in Hindi and Gujarati speaking skills through this process. 

Spearheaded by Radhika Reddy, an adult Vibha volunteer from the Dallas Vibha Action Center, this program was launched in April 2021. In Radhika’s words, ‘I have always wanted to help the less privileged in whatever ways I can, so when this opportunity was brought to my attention by my action center lead I jumped on it to lead this program for the next generation adults from the USA and India’.  Eleven youth mentors from the Dallas Action Center and 10 youth mentors from the Los Angeles Vibha Action Center (21 youth mentors total) began working with 13 underprivileged children from the CORP India project. Mentors and mentees virtually meet  on Whatsapp video calls during weekends to help with homework of the underprivileged children along with providing any emotional support they may need to go through their day to day lives. Both mentors and mentees complete the ‘Mentor-student feedback form’ periodically to keep track of the progress made through this program. Radhika adds that both the mentors and mentees look forward to their weekly meetings, and they will resume their weekly meetups in mid-late August 2022 after the current summer break. Radhika also plans to bring in some adult volunteers to this program in the future to overcome some of the language obstacles mentors have during their mentoring sessions. 

While at the New Jersey (NJ)  Vibha Action Center, Rachayita Shah, an adult Vibha volunteer, led this effort when it first started in April 2021. About 7 youth mentors virtually meet weekly with 7 underprivileged children from CORP India(1:1 mentor/mentee) to provide tutoring support to the mentees in Math and Science subjects. Rachayita says ‘I wanted this program to be a two-way street where both the mentors/mentees learn something new from their weekly meetings, therefore while the mentees receive tutoring support the mentors get adept in their Gujarati and Hindi spoken language skills’. Some of these weekly calls are ongoing in NJ as well. 

Like any new endeavor, this endeavor also has its challenges such as poor connectivity issues, lack of sufficient digital devices for the children in India since a family of 4 or 5 is likely to share one mobile phone. When these challenges arise mentors have felt impediment in their communication and overall productivity during their calls. Vibha continues to work with its project partners to bridge this digital divide in India. In conclusion, Pair 2 Care has been a successful program since its launch and Vibha will continue to support this program as long as the mentors and mentees reap benefits out of the same.

The wonderful teachers and staff take good care of the 35 girls living there, of ages between 5-18 years. Vibha funds the education and vocational training programs for all the kids. Some of these girls have been living in the center for over a decade. They are kids who are either orphaned or abandoned from the nearby slums. 

Vibha, Riddhi, Ashwini, and Anvi (the VIbha volunteers) reached there around 11:30 am. All the children were studying and writing in their notebooks at that time.

The Vibha volunteers had all the children gathered in a circle- sitting comfortably on the floor and did a round of introductions. After that, Riddhi, who is an architect by profession and has a lot of experience teaching children art, taught the girls Mandala art, using the supplies thy had brought with them. 

They found that these girls were very creative, cheerful and so open to learning. Some older girls already know Zen mandala art and showed their sketch pads full of Beautiful artwork to the Vibha volunteers. 

After about an hour, the volunteers wound up the activity and celebrated Children’s day by cutting a delicious strawberry cake that Vibha shah had brought with her. 

During their visit, there were two girls who were attending their tailoring class. When the volunteers asked these girls about what they were making, to the volunteers’ surprise, about a hundred cloth masks were brought and put in front of them. The masks were 2 ply, made of soft cotton and stitched with highest of quality. We bought a few and told the staff that Vibha volunteers in Mumbai would help market and sell them during the holiday season. 

During the activity, Vibha Shah spoke to the teachers about the records they kept on the children and the kind of data they submitted to the funding agencies. Depending on the information Vibha Shah gathered during her visit, Vibha volunteers in Mumbai are planning to create an app for them to be able to move that information online. 

As Vibha, Riddhi, Ashwini and Anvi bid goodbye, around 1:30 pm, to the girls and the staff (Hasina Ma’am, Chandrika Ma’am and Sangeetha Ma’am), a sense of gratitude and love filled them. 

Vibha, Riddhi, Ashwini and Anvi thank all the Vibha volunteers who work selflessly and tirelessly to educate these children. They are truly making a difference!

Here is a link to a video of some glimpses of some of the activities the Vibha volunteers did with the girls at the shelter home, including the youngest volunteer, Anvi Kumar, talking about her experience there.

Over the past several weeks, almost 50 volunteers in the action center have been tearing around making clay diyas, painting them and conducting sales in various locations across the entire Dallas metroplex. Here are some of the metrics the volunteers complied:

Number of Diyas and Coaster made: 2000
Volunteers engaged: 50
Individual sale Events: 13
Funds raised: $5000

A huge shout out to the youth leadership team members – Kranthi, Poorni, and Sunitha who led the efforts. This initiative is 100% theirs! Unbelievable job on scaling this to this level of engagement and revenue generation!

There are multiple people who have worked super hard on creating the Diyas and many more involved in painting them including a few elderly who have thrown themselves into the process! Quite a few volunteers came forward to lead sales efforts in their homes, community events, neighborhoods, the farmers markets, libraries and even corporate events! Other volunteers marketed the products on all their social media and real life networks. Yet others spoke about the cause to visiting friends and family members who in turn just wrote out huge donations checks!

Suffice to say that Vibha Dallas is very, very grateful for the efforts of these volunteers!! Lastly, Rohini and Ritesh extend thanks to the folks serving on the Dallas Exec team who continually support all initiatives, saying that they are always thankful for the involvement and support the Exec team.

Together, the volunteers have taken a gem of an idea, given it a shape and scaled it to such heights this year! Kudos!!!

Below is a video complication of the various facets of the diya effort!

On September 6, in Atlanta, a cricketing excitement was building. The cricket contest at the Sharon Springs Park in Atlanta was a five-over blitzkrieg! The final match at the Sharon Park between Rapid IT Monsters and Paramount United CC reached the nerve-wracking stage of requiring fourteen runs in the last over.

To introduce new excitement, Vibha chose a format called Singapore Sixes, and with some tweaks came Futuretech Vibha Sixers Cricket Tournament. Anj Balusu, General Manager at FutureTech and the architect of the new Sixers format said, “Since inception, Vibha Cricket has been bold to come up with new ideas to improve competitiveness, sporting spirit, and to make it fun for all. Vibha laid the foundations for several cricket competitions in Atlanta, and we at FutureTech are happy to be part of all the innovation.”

Six players a side battling it out in five overs in each innings in a much-shortened boundary, forcing four different bowlers to bowl, each wide and no-ball penalized with three runs, batsmen forced to retire after scoring 30 runs—the new format was met with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

Taking full advantage of the small ground, some batsmen opened their innings with five sixers in the first five balls and retired for the innings. Any short ball was swiftly sent over the ropes. Scoring twenty runs an over became on-par. Bowling a maiden over needed extraordinary bowling—and there were extraordinary bowlers!

During the competitive knock-out games, the ball dominated the bat resulting in some low-scoring games. Rapid IT Monsters and Paramount United CC entered the finals beating Future Tech and Team Pyramid respectively in surprisingly one-sided matches, with some top guns failing to fire at the right time.

The finals, on the other hand, lived up to the expectations. Scoring six sixers and four boundaries, the United CC made a respectable 82 runs in their five overs, with Manoj Yadagiri and Dinesh Anandan scoring 24 and 33 runs respectively. Dinesh came back to bowl the best over of the match, conceding only 5 runs. In the very next over, Monsters’ Jigar Soni more than compensated for the first tight over by scoring 6,4,6,6,Wide,6 taking his individual total to 30, the maximum. United CC fought back into the game by taking two wickets in the next over. Ganesh Lad seized the moment in the next two overs scoring 31 runs with three sixers and two boundaries. Monsters team and fans led by their manager Sanjay Narla celebrated a victory dash to the pitch as the penultimate ball hovered in the blue sky over the fence.

Pradeep Hegde of Team Pyramid won the Best batsman award, with a total score of 74 runs. Jigar Soni walked away with Man of the Tournament for his all-round performance with both the bat and the ball for the Rapid IT Monsters. He also bagged the Best Bowler award for taking nine wickets in the tournament and the Man of the Match for the Finals.

Rama Ryali, who led Vibha cricket several times in the past, said “Vibha is always resilient in the face of adversity, and we saw an opportunity to experiment and come up with a game-changing format. I am so happy that all the players loved the Sixers tournament. The ultimate goal is to raise funds for the cause of education, and we rose again to meet that challenge”

Thanking all the players for their participation in the tournament, Sravan Vellanki, the Chairman and CEO of FutureTech, said “We are extremely proud to be associated with Vibha for nearly two decades. I congratulate the core team to have come up with this new format in a challenging environment and all the volunteers to have executed it so well, as always with dedication.”

ICS or International Community School located in Decatur GA, is a charter school that caters to immigrant/refugee population. ICS’s students already faced a lot of challenges due to lack of resources as well as cultural and language barriers. Covid and online learning further exacerbated the situation resulting in a lot of kids struggling to keep up with their studies. In order to bridge the learning gap for these students , ICS started a program this summer called the Summer Bridge Reading Program. This program was entirely funded by Vibha as part of Vibha’s mission to support educational initiatives in local communities in the United States.

The broader goal of the program was to challenge students to become lifelong readers by enhancing their reading skills through targeted reading interventions. The team set a measurable goal that by the end of the program 50% of the students will increase one reading level as identified by the PV assessment. 45 students participated in the inaugural program that ran for 4 weeks during the summer of 2021. We were delighted to find out that at the end of the program ,34 out of 45 students increased their reading level by 1 or more reading levels i.e the 75% of students showed growth in 4 weeks.

ICS has plans to expand the program to more students next year as well as incorporate more STEM , art and music activities. Vibha is proud to be a supporter of such a worthy project.

Brief Summary of Training Workshop for Field Staff

Project Name: Comprehensive Education Initiative (CEI)

Project Area: Paderu Tribal Division (11 Mandals in total), District Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh                                                                          

Training Dates: 4^th Aug 2021 – 8^th Aug 2021

Place of Training: BCT Campus Haripuram, Vishakhapatnam.

Trainers – Lt Cdr Kapil Sangwan (Vibha);Pranil Naik, Larissa Lopes and Chaitanya Chakravarthy (LeapForWord); Sri Ram Murthy (Bhagavatula Charitable Trust); Rama Nandanavanam (Sikshana Foundation)

Trainees – Project Coordinator, Mandal Coordinators (also referred as ‘Mentors’), Special Educators (all BCT employees)

Objective:

• To help the mentors understand the whole CEI program.
• To train the mentors on
  • Elementary and Advance Reading levels of LFW’s English Literacy Program
  • Inclusive Education Programme of BCT
  • Student Motivation Programme (‘Prerana’) of Sikshana
  • ‘We Love Reading’ Programme of Government of Andhra Pradesh
• To get to know the challenges faced by the mentors during the covid situation.
• To understand and get an experience of how the schools operated during the covid scenario.

Training plan:

• Day 1 – Orientation on CEI Program and training on Elementary Reading level
• Day 2 – Training on ‘We Love Reading’ Program and Advance Reading Level
• Day 3 – Field visit to Paderu and meeting with Education Department Officials
• Day 4 – Training on Inclusive Education Component
• Day 5 – Training on Student Motivation Program and CEI Mobile Application

Vibha’s Contribution to the Workshop:

1. Entire planning for the conduct of the workshop in collaboration with other stake holders
2. Funding for the workshop (the entire CEI Program is being funded by Vibha)
3. Coordination with State and District Education Officials and District Institute of Education and Training (Visakhapatnam) for participation of District Resource Personnel in the workshop
4. Planned visit of representatives from each organisation to the Govt Schools in the Paderu Division for first hand understanding of  the ground situation
5. Interacted with Administration at Paderu Division to develop the joint implementation strategy for the Project

Few Glimpses of the Workshop

Day 1 – Orientation on CEI Program

Day 2 – Training by DIET (Visakhapatnam) Resource Faculty

Day 3 – Field visit to a school in Paderu Division