Minutes of the meeting held on October 12 -by Amrish

In attendance at the meeting were:

Asha, Susan, Rajesh, Kumar, Manoj, Vinay, Sachin,
Sridhar, Amit, Dipali, Uday, Amrish, Arup Ghosh, DP
Prakash, Shouri Chatterjee, Tara Bhandari, Sundar
Kumar Iyer and Sujit Nair.

Pesentations were made by Arup Ghosh (Tomorrow's
Foundation) and our own DP. They had traveled from
Vermont for this purpose. Shouri and Tara came from
NYC and SKI from Poughkeepsie for hearing the talks.

1. Arup described the impact made by Tomorrow's
Foundation in making education available to the
children of sex workers in the Kalighat area of
Kolkata. Starting in a small way in 1990, the
Foundation now has a paid staff of 28 and is providing
education, health and nutrition services as well as
counseling and guidance to 173 children in primary
classes and 109 in secondary classes. They work
closely with the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and
use the government school buildings. Great importance
is given to vocational training because the goal is to
equip the children with skills necessary to make a
living.

The project is being supported by Asha-LA since 1995.

Great need is being felt for a halfway home where
children in boarding schools can stay during summer
breaks. The place would also provide shelter to
children when their homes get flooded.

Arup and his brother are highly qualified
entrepreneurs and own a fashion garment business. 

Arup presented to us a mounted photograph of a collage
showing how Tomorrow's Foundation is working with
children.

2. DP gave a stirring talk On Project Pride and
Universal Quality Education (UQE). 
 
There are many elements of Project Pride which is
driven by the premise that the majority of people in
India are well-meaning and good but their initiative
is not enough to surmount the barriers raised by
senseless government processes. One of the elements is
the clean-up of Chennai beaches so that they compare
with the best in the world.

Another, related to Asha's mission is to support the
running of schools in villages along the coastline. DP
has requested our Chapter to conside some actionable
items related to this including the stewardship of the
project. Rajesh has agreed to take over the
coordination of the Asha-Chennai Scholarship Project
from Asha-Berkeley.

DP also provided details on the SIF (Serve India
Forum) Conference convened by him during the summer.
As we all know, there are many organizations in the US
that are lending support to development activities in
India. We would all be much more effective if these
organizations arrive at a common platform and work
together in some areas.

For example, we all know that the government does not
spend enough on education. We can be the catalyst for
bringing about a change that is long due.

DP shared his vision of UQE (Universal Quality
Education) being implemented in India by the year 2047
(100 years after independence).

The next meeting will be on October 19 and will be
structured for the benefit of new volunteers.

Regards.

Amrish