100% of all donations made to Yatra Foundation are used to fund Yatra projects. No proceeds are used for any administrative costs, which are paid for by the founders or by the organisations and businesses that support Yatra's work. Yatra Foundation Australia has the authority to fundraise under permit no. CFN/21179 in New South Wales and 10272 in Victoria.
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Yatra Foundation > Archives inspire (in|spire) by Raj Jain 1 fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative: Create (a feeling, especially a positive one) in a person: It's a beautiful autumn day in the middle of September. The morning sun has some bite and as you drive along a bumpy rock filled dirt road not far from a thriving education centre, you wonder where the Yatra school is? You hope it is close as your backside pounds down again into the half inch of foam padding in the Indian made Maruti. The foam compresses like jello. You keep driving over bumps and pot holes at 20km/h praying the school will appear anytime soon, there are kids that should be at School but are busy doing all sorts of other activities. Then you see a little building adjacent to the road. You look at it and think what is this and when you are told it is a school where 60-75 kids come to learn. You walk in and turn right and look into a room not much bigger than a bedroom in Australia and see around twenty kids learning the alphabet. They stop as you enter, get up off the floor behind small desks and proudly announce "Good Morning Sir." You respond and the kids sit, they look at you in wonder and amazement. A smile appears, not only on your face but a larger one on theirs. The teacher then proceeds with the lesson. The kids answer the questions enthusiastically to make the sure the visitor knows that they are learning. This scene is repeated in the next two rooms and you are overcome with emotion. Emotion to do something for these beautiful kids who have so little yet are so happy and grateful. The kids I saw at the school had learnt not only numbers and letters but how to share. This I thought was the biggest lesson they had learnt given the dog eat dog environment in which they live. A visit to the Yatra school that Sanjay, Ravi, Sophie and Renu have set up is truly amazing almost life changing. The kids inspire you and I look back at that brief visit and words such as hope, blessed and joy spring to my brain.
Yatra Indian trip March 2010 Report Yatra founders Sanjay Jain and Ravi Savarirayan visited India in March 2010. They were joined on the trip by Ravi's eldest son, Jacob (aged 12 years), and his parents Sesh and Chandran. Daniel Stoeckel, a Yatra supporter from Adelaide, also made the trip. The group visited the Faria School in Rajasthan and was impressed by the progress the students are making in their studies. A father of a student was present and we asked him why he is sending his child to our school. He replied that he spends 14 hours a day working the fields and hopes that a good education will mean that his child will not have to do this.
The group finished their visit with a spirited game of cricket in sweltering heat and dust with the children and their teachers joining in. It was decided to build basic guest lodgings for visitors to the Faria School in one of the neighboring villages to facilitate further Yatra supporters who visit in the future.
The group also visited the "slum" School in Kota and a second medical camp was conducted (in conjunction again with a local Paediatrician) for all the children living in the slum. The improved health status of the children attending the slum school was marked and in stark contrast to those children in the slum not attending our school.
The group also attended the official opening of the Santosh computer school in Mandana village which is aiming to teach basic computing skills to the local children and young adults.
Yatra Faria School gets exceptional attendance despite being closed for the cold [For a complete photo diary of the trip click here] january 2010 visit to India 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 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. Melbourne Event - Saturday 13 March
Yatra Foundation held an extremely successful fuindraising event on Saturday 13 March at the Brighton Town Hall in Melbourne. More than 250 guests dressed in their best Bollywood attire, attended and were treated to a night of delicious food, fabulous wines and outstanding entertainment. Many unique silent and live auction items were donated and valuable funds raised which go directly to support the Yatra projects in India. Yatra Foundation would like to thank the generous support of our friends in making the event so successful. Thank you to all the people who supported Yatra Foundation at the Sydney event on Friday 13 November 2009. The event was a great success. More details on the evening will follow soon. If you missed out, it's not too late to donate to Yatra Foundation. Please use our direct bank facility or visit our donation page to make credit card payments through PayPal. If you would like to attend another Yatra event, visit our events page for details on 2010's Melbourne and Adelaide events. Adelaide Fundraiser an 'overwhelming success' On Friday 1 May Yatra Foundation hosted its inaugural Adelaide fundraiser. A huge crowd of more than 200 attended for the sell-out Bollywood gala. The event was an overwhelming success thanks to the fabulous Adelaide guests and all the people who helped to put the event together. Both silent and live auctions attracted some lively bidding with brilliant outcomes. Yatra Foundation would like to thank the generous support and help from all those involved, with special thanks to: The funds raised from the event will go directly to help build and finance a school for up to 300 children living in a remote part of Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. Visit our projects page for more information. If you missed out on attending, it's not too late to donate to this school. If you would like to contribute please visit our donations page. A selection of photos from the event are available on Yatra's photo album. Parents show their support at school meeting In an significant show of support for Yatra's Hanuman Basti School, more than 25 parents attended the school's parent-teacher meeting. Held on a scoarching 38 degree day, the Sunday 6 September meeting also highlighted the potential for higher attendances with many children still not attending any school. Two representives from the basti were elected by the parents to represent the community and also help manage the strategic planning of the project. An additional teacher is also required and Meena will hire after Diwali. (Sponsor a teacher for $200 a month.) Under the guidance of one of the parents, a vegetable and herb garden will also be planted at the school. Awards for cleanliness and attendance were also given to the children. There are about 40 children coming regularly to the school, however with the additional room at the back the school can now handle up to 60 children. Read more about Yatra's Hanuman Basti School. Visit the school page for an update on the Yatra School, Faria. Mandana Computer centre Location: Mandana Village, near Kota, Rajasthan, India The mandana community has historically earnt its income through self-sufficient farms. The village is the birthplace of the father of Sanjay Jain. Sanjay is one of Yatra Foundation's co-founders. As such, the Jain family still has three houses in the area that have slowly deteriorate over time. These houses are now being repaired so that they can be used for community based activities. One such activity is the need for a computer centre, particularly given that computer studies is now part of the government curriculum from Grade 9 onwards. In the mandana area, however, there are only five computers for more than 1000 students. A room in one of the houses in a central part of the village has now been repaired and will house up to six computers. With a teacher already hired, and two computers already donated by the Ranka family, it is expected that when fully operational the training school will provide basic skills education to more than 100 children who would otherwise not have access to any computers and hence possibly fail their exams.
A further discussion with the head representive of the village could lead to the centre being used also by the general farming community for accessing pricing and weather information in addition to sharing new farming methods. At present the priority is to get the centre functioning for the benefit of the children. Medical Camp held in Kota and Hanuman Basti Schools Yatra Foundation held a medical camp in Kota and the Hanuman Basti School in March 2009. Co-founder, Ravi Savarirayan (a pediatrician, pictured below) was joined by a local pediatrician and a pharmacist as they conducted general medical checks on the students.
Many of the children were found to be iron deficient while others had evidence of significant malnutrition. All the children were given immediate treatment and will have free, ongoing, medical follow up. The children were also supplied with vitamins and health supplements to give them a better chance of concentrating and learning in class. Medical checks were also performed on other children in the Basti, their parents and other relatives where necessary. The medical camp complemented the Dental Camp held by Yatra Foundation in September 2008. Yatra foundation is committed to integrating health care in the education setting and plans to conduct medical and dental clinics in our schools on a regular basis.
As part of a community building exercise, a Dental Camp was run in September 2008, which attracted many of the children and their families. A local Dentist was invited to attend and dental examinations were carried out for each child, and oral hygiene and oral health discussions took place. Each child was given a new toothbrush and toothpaste. It was a lot of fun and engaged the community in a positive way. Yatra's inaugural fundraiser 2008 In April 2008, Yatra Foundation held its inaugural launch/fundraiser event in Parkville, Victoria, Australia. More than 150 people attended and $25,000 was raised thanks to the fantastic support of those who attended and those who donated their time, auction items, and food and wine for the event. The money raised has already made amazing changes to the lives of some of the poorest children in India. If you would like to subscribe to the Yatra Foundation email list, please complete this form.
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archived Articles Yatra India trip March 2010 Report Yatra Faria School gets exceptional attendance despite being closed for the cold A picnic with the Yatra Hanuman Basti School Santosh Yatra Computer Training School Swiss doctor visits Faria School Melbourne Event - Saturday 13 march Success in Sydney - Friday 13 November 2009 Overwhelming Adelaide - Friday 1 May 2009 Visit to India - September 2009 Yatra's inaugural fundraiser - April 2008 archived Photos Yatra Foundation's Adelaide event - 1 May 2009 Yatra Foundation's trip to India - March 2009
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