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Yatra Foundation > Home
Yatra Foundation held its second fundraiser in Adelaide on Saturday 1 May 2010 at Fullarton Park Centre. Guests made a huge effort to dress in their Bollwood best and were treated to a night of fabulous food from Royal Tandoori Restaurant, great entertainment by "Fusions Beats" dance group, and an impromptu Elvis act from our talented MC, Shane Radbone.
Shani Dean, a midwife from Adelaide who visited our schools in Rajasthan gave a passionate, insightful, and emotive speech about her experiences and the difference Yatra's projects are making to these children and their communities. We would like to thank everyone for attending and making the evening such an enormous success and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year!
Yatra co-founders Renu and Sanjay visited the Yatra schools and resources in January 2010 with their daughter Suhani. Sanjay wrote this update for yatrafoundation.org Yatra Faria School gets exceptional attendance despite being closed for the cold [For a complete photo diary of the trip click here] It has been an exceptionally cold winter and, on our visit, and as we drove in thick fog and heavy mist towards the Yatra faria school I wondered if any children would be there. The governement had already declared today too cold for children and all government schools were closed. It was the start of the chilli harvesting season and the fields and some of the hills were already covered in a blanket of red. As we approached the school we could see a small fire around which 40 or so children were huddled together with their teachers. They had come in the hope that school would be open. I could recognise quite a few of them from my September trip.
As there was no formal schooling possible today the children divided themselves into playing cricket or painting. Suhani and Renu watched as some, remembering the kangaroo mascot that we had given them previously, applied their traditional art form of Mandana to Australian animals (see Yatra's YouTube video log). Arti, 6, showed remarkable talent. Panditiji, the farmer who donated the land for the Yatra Faria School, had made the 4km trek from his home for lunch. He was confident that the school could now run at a full capacity of 250 children as it has now been accepted and entrenched in the community. We think an increase of 40 more children and a enclosed room will be the priority next year. The water pump was not working as the water table has now fallen to 250m and the Yatra pump is not strong enough. The girls toilet was road tested by Renu and it was functioning and clean. We need to look at waterless toilets. We were unable to hold a community meeting as the villagers were all busy in electing the village head (sarpanch) and it was fascinating to see the long arm of the national political parties infiltrating this local rural democratic voice. A picnic with the Yatra Hanuman Basti School
The school is functioning well with 60 children enrolled and about 50 attending regularly from kindergarten to grade two levels. There are now three class rooms and a small lunch/activity room.
The children looked clean, healthy and happy, which is a remarkable contrast to when we first started the school two years ago. It also seems the children have learnt quite a bit of the syllabus and are well progressed. The English classes were showing some improvement and this will now be the focus for the school. School picnic We took the children on a picnic, the first outing for the school and for some children the first ever time they had sat on a bus. The children had an absolute ball and the park was filled with laughter and excitement. We also served them a hot meal, devoured by them at a speed we could hardly believe.
They also learnt to leave the park clean and put their rubbish in bins, something we encouraged them to do at home. It was hard to leave the children that day as they held onto our hands and begged us to tell another story or show them some new card tricks (which I had just learnt from my 10-year-old nephew). Santosh Yatra Computer Training School
This was our first visit since the resource centre had opened. Even though the room is small and at present we only have one computer, the centre is teaching 15 children the basics in computers. There are 5 girls attending and there are more than 25 other applications for enrollment. We have hired another teacher and it is hoped that we will be able to access another room in the building and expand the program. As usual, villagers had gathered around and it seems the centre is a hit for the community and they are encouraging us to expand. The contrast between the India with its high tech call centres versus rural children with no knowledge of what a mouse does continues to amaze. Swiss doctor visits Faria School The Faria school was visited by Dr Claudine Rieubland from Switzerland and her partner Jerome in late October 2009.
Jerome took these wonderful photographs of the children, the school, and environs. View a pdf slide show. [3.9mb pdf file, Adobe Acrobat is required to view this file] Claudine worked in Melbourne for a year in the genetics department of the Royal Children's Hospital with Ravi Savarirayan, where she became a supporter and donor of Yatra Foundation.
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Listen to an interview with co-founder Ravi Savarirayan on ABC Radio's 'Breakfast Club' |
