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 > Home DIARY DATE: Yatra Foundation Australia's next Adelaide, Australia, fundraising event will be a Bollywood extravaganza on Saturday 2 June 2012 at Norwood Concert Hall. South Melbourne's Lilian Cannum Kinder and Yatra In late 2011, Renu, Sanjay and Sophie went to Lilian Cannum Kinder in South Melbourne to talk about the Yatra schools and do some Indian cooking with the children. All the children were excited to chop garlic, onions, grate ginger, measure out the spices and produce a delicious chicken curry, to eat with the roti breads they rolled out themselves. Some very interesting shapes were created! The children all showed a lot of interest in the schools in India and were fascinated that the classrooms don't have any walls, and that tigers live nearby in the jungle. The teachers Ken, Meg and Nellie showed enormous interest and support for the Yatra schools. We hope to continue our long standing association with LCK kinder and hope to be back soon for more fun in the kitchen. India Trip – March 2012 Ravi and Sanjay, two of Yatra Foundation's co-founders, are planning a magical guided tour of India in March 2012. The tour will take in Yatra Foundation's schools in Rajasthan as well as amazing sight-seeing. If you have always wanted to go to India but never had the chance, then sign up now for the trip of a lifetime, and see how your funds are being used. You will not be disappointed! Please contact Sanjay on 0412 373 848 A message from a supporter by Alice Saies I have just been at both the Faria school and the slum school in Kota and just wanted to send you all a brief update of how it all went. Both schools offered different but equally wonderful experiences and I was highly impressed with the standard of English of the teachers and children in both the Kota and Faria Schools. The teachers at both schools are incredible and work very hard and take immense pride in their jobs as teachers. They manage the children very well and are dedicated to trying to improve their teaching methods and English and they should all be extremely proud of the work that they do. All of the teachers looked after me so well, they welcomed me to their school and were warm, friendly, very inclusive and made me feel very comfortable and involved. The teachers at the Kota slum school looked after me very well. They took me out one day after school to show me around, it was a great afternoon, and we all had a lot of fun. It was a good chance for them to speak to me in English. Being on my own and new in India, I really appreciated the time that they spent getting to know me, and the effort that they made to improve their English. Continues... read the full story Malvern Primary School (Melbourne) Enjoys Learning about Yatra Foundation Yatra Foundation was invited to Malvern Primary School in Melbourne (Friday November 25th) to give a presentation to the Grade 2 year group about our activities in India.
These children are currently exploring different Asian cultures and how they differ and/or are similiar to Australian culture, with India being a country of focus. More than 100 students and five teachers enthusiastically received the presentation and were very interested to learn about the different environments of our Yatra schools compared with their own school. The students asked many questions and began to appreciate that, although physically very different, the students at our Yatra schools did many of the same activities they did with the shared aim of receiving a quality education. Yatra Foundation will continue to liaise with Malvern Primary School to facilitate further exchange between their students and ours. Yatra foundation thanks Ros James and Beau Robertson for their kind invitation to come and speak with the children! Melbourne fundraiser a great success Yatra Foundation held our Melbourne Fundraising event on Saturday 13 September at the St Kilda town hall. The night was an overwhelming success, and our expectations were exceeded with a net total of $70,542 being raised. All funds raised will go directly to sustaining and growing our Yatra projects.
View some more photos here. A rare and special gift - a volunteer's story Anika Stobart, a girl from Melbourne attending Monash University, was the first official volunteer to visit the Yatra schools; the Hanuman Basti School in Kota and Faria School near Sawai Madhopur.
It is so heart-warming to see the smile on a child's face and see their eyes glisten when you give them your love and attention. This is the moment when a child knows that they are looked after and that people care. It only takes one human in a child's life to believe in them and this makes all the difference. In the Yatra Foundation schools, the children are given multiple teachers and community supporters who show they care and that they believe in them. This is a rare and special gift, which makes and will continue making Yatra such a successful Foundation in changing the lives of children and allowing them to have the opportunity of a better future. Sitting in a large circle under a straw roof in the middle of the Rajasthani desert surrounded by 100 wonderful and happy children as they sing and dance as a farewell for mistery stay, was something that touched my heart. At the end I was asked if I wanted to say any last words to the children; I said that they should believe in themselves, for they are talented and smart, and if they wanted, they can achieve anything they want in life. This was received with smiles and everyone chanting 'ram ram' which was their way of saying 'come back again'.
I visited the Yatra Foundation Faria School for one week thinking I could give the children something special in my stay. However, I did not realize, that they would also be giving me a precious gift in return. As the first official volunteer at the Yatra school; I stayed in a newly built room on the roof of a village home with a local family, 2km from the Faria School. In arriving, I was told to call my new 'mum' Didi (Big sister)and to live with the family as if it were my own. This immediate warm welcome and acceptance was astounding. The father of the family was the community coordinator for the Faria School; he had an important role in ensuring effective community involvement and support from all the five villages from which the students come. Each morning I was woken by my didi with a warm cup of fresh buffalo milk from their water buffalo. As I went to join the family by the warm fire for breakfast, I could see the sun rise over the desert in the brisk cold morning air. I would enjoy the delicious Indian breakfast surrounded by the family and the children. Following this, I would jump on the back of a motorbike; and squeezing between four of us, as we would ride to school. On arriving at the beautiful site in the desert, with the straw roofed hut classrooms, I could see children running with excitement coming from all different directions from all their villages to attend school with joy and happiness. I could only see smiling faces. The morning assembly consisted of songs and community discussions. Children the age of 6 years old would stand up and talk about a community issue in front of so many people. It is incredible to see this confidence from such a young child. It is just a clear example of the support and belief the children receive from the teachers who care about them, and who recognize and treat the children as a blessing.
Over the course of the week I would switch between each of the five classes teaching them English in fun and exciting ways. I was very impressed by the dedication and creativity of the teachers, and it was wonderful that I would give them new ideas in teaching English; techniques that I had received from my inspiring teachers from my school in Melbourne. The Yatra School is fun, the children are always smiling and happy and they want to learn. After one week, as I was getting in the car to leave, I was surrounded by many villagers and local children hugging and waving me goodbye. It was an incredible feeling to feel loved and accepted and wanted. I had achieved my goal to nurture and encourage the students at Faria to believe in themselves. I had given the teachers new skills and ideas. I had exposed the children to different cultures and people of the world and to see that we cared about them. I had similarly achieved these goals at the Hanuman Basti School in Kota for one week prior to this. I was welcomed into their community with open hearts and experienced one week teaching the children English with fun and creative tasks. Similarly, despite the poor condition of the children's families; they are happy children, who love attending school. The Yatra Foundation has an incredible positive influence on so many precious children. As a result of this, the children are not only receiving an education, but extraordinary support and love from the teachers and Yatra members who care about them and recognize their talents and skills. This is a Foundation that cares about each and every student in making their lives happier and their future brighter. I want to give a special Thank You to Ranjeeta, the head teacher and coordinator at Faria, for caring for me and giving me her friendship. She is the most inspiring person I have ever met. I also want to thank the family in Faria who cared for me, fed me and let me stay in their home. I want to thank Meena, who cared for me in Kota and gave me her friendship. I would like to thank Sanjay and the Yatra Foundation for giving me this opportunity. Lastly, I want to thank all the teachers and students who accepted me and treated me with love and respect. They are all truly amazing people who deserve our support. Children's perspectives on children In January 2011, three children from three parts of the world, Tyra, Suhani and Arnav, travelled with their families to visit Yatra's schools in India. Here are the children's perspective on the schools and the students.
Today I went to the Yatra schools, which my masa and masi had founded, three years ago. We drove there and were just in time to see their assembly. During the assembly they sang songs which I think were prayers, but the last song was about a fat man and they did actions to it. After the assembly all the 100 children had settled down, my cousins and myself went to each one of the classrooms and gave them silly bands. We asked their names and the older children would say, my name is..., instead of just saying their names. I think that it is wonder that these children get to go to school and have a chance to learn simple things like reading, writing and adding.
Our trip to India this year was a wonderful journey. To see the Yatra Foundation's rural school we had to drive to Sawai Madhopur, four hours away from Jaipur by car. Through the bumpy car ride I thought about if any changes had been made to the school since the last time I had visited. The next day we went to see the Faria School. We walked to the nearby sounds of chanting from the children. They had all formed a large square and were sitting on mats singing. This was their daily assembly. As we came closer curious faces peered at us. My mum, dad and I joined the assembly and sat down. Listening to the songs made me laugh because one was about a fat man and everyone was doing action. After the singing there was the daily news. The children were given the opportunity to share about anything happening in the villages or lives that had importance to them. I had really enjoyed myself during the assembly! Afterwards the children placed mats outside the hut-like classrooms and got ready for their class. I was greeted with a friendly hug from the care taker's wife, who is also attending the Faria School. My three cousins and I walked around the classrooms to give out colourful bands. We asked what their names were and some of the older children enthusiastically responded in English. The school is set out in the open. You can see mountains surrounding and it looks like a grazing site. There are five classrooms that have roofs made out of sticks and grass laid neatly. I watched how the children were learning and liked how they used natural resources to help them. Some of them were copying from books and reading stories others were using sticks and stones to understand their times tables and addition. The younger children together were saying aloud, colours, shapes and fruits buy looking at an object. During the classes separately important people got together to hold a community feedback meeting. This included the board members of GSK, Yatra founders (Renu & Sanjay), committee members, villagers and parents. They talked about improvements and if this school was making a difference. I think this school is making a difference to the children attending because education can get you further in life and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to experience one.
We went to the school built by Yatra around Sawai Madurpur, a few hours away from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, India. We reached just in time for the morning assembly. Everybody got to say a poem, story or a piece of news from their own village. After the assembly, all the kids went to their classes. They studied in these huts made out of rock and hay. They were decorated with bright drawings and paintings. The classes were about to start. But before that my cousins and me introduced ourselves and gave bands to every student at the school. All of them told us their names too. After that the children started class. I saw what each class was doing. It was fun to help the kindergarten children with their colors and shapes and the first grade kids with their addition and subtraction. I went to the back of the school and I saw a boy filling his bottle with this tube well and it looked like he was having a pretty hard time. I went up and helped him. He smiled at me and shook my hand before going back to his class. They then had a break and I played cricket with them. When it was time to go all of them accompanied me back to the car. They liked shaking hands and all of them were shaking hands with me at the car. I think Yatra is doing a great job helping these children get an education that will help them for the rest of their lives. Hanuman Basti School update Present: Indira, Sanjay, Meena Manjula, Mukesh, Tripti A beautiful morning as we drove into the Basti at around 10am. The voices of the children reciting poems could be heard from outside the school. All three classrooms were full with 56 children in attendance. There seemed to be more girls than boys although the attendance records indicated an approximate 50/50 ratio. "Sanjay Bhaiya" they screamed as if an old friend was visiting again. The children were neat and clean with most of them in Yatra uniforms. Some of the children have been there since the opening of the school which in itself is an accomplishment for the drop out rate in government schools has been as high as 80% from one year to the next. The teachers had their full attention and although progress is slow the children have definitely been improving in their writing and reading skill, are more articulate and have grown in confidence. Still there are plenty of children in the Basti who were not attending the school and I wondered if the community is grasping the importance of education … will need to discuss this in the next community meeting. It was great to see LALA at the school even though we have progressed him to private school, he still prefers to come and spend time at the Basti school whenever he can. Maybe we will make a difference in this child's life … "one child at a time" I remind myself. An insatiable hunger for education A report from Kota, February 2011 Anand, the only son of a cart courier, was sponsored on the insistence of his father, who had observed children coming to the school. "Please educate him as well", Ihe pleaded. He could not afford the fees as he made less than $3 a day so we agreed to take him on, in the hope to make a generational change out of poverty by education for this family. He was found to be an intelligent 7-year-old and picked up the syllabus quickly but, after a while, the teachers noticed that even though he knew the work he would not answer in a public forum. Over time, he stopped doing his homework and started becoming disruptive in the class. One day he started hitting other children. Meena (school principal) called his father for a meeting but only his mother turned up, insisting that Anand was doing his homework and was well behaved. Anand's 13 year old daughter was also present, shifting uneasily in her chair. During this meeting, Meena warned that if he did not improve she would have to suspend him and, much to her surprise, his mother snarled back: "Take him out if you want, it doesn't worry me!" Meena remained patient but started to pay more attention to Anand. She noticed he often arrived crying and unwashed, and bearing a few bruises which she had assumed were from playing. Anand continued to deteriorate and become more violent. One day, the 13-year-old sister came to drop Anand off and when Meena told her that she was considering expelling Anand from the school she burst out: "No, no, please don't throw him out, I will make sure he does his homework, I will make Anand understand…education is important for him and for us." When pressed further she revealed that her father was an alcoholic who often beat her and Anand. She said she would be beaten more if Anand was thrown out of the school. "Our father doesn't care about us girls and often allows Anand to get away with things but when he is drunk he beats all of us. "I am going to school because I want to get out of that house. They don't care. I have to work after school to pay for the books and also look after Anand. I want to be a Doctor," she said as tears started streaming down her cheeks. This story, of a family with few opportunities, and their daughter's insatiable hunger for education despite the terrible reality of her life, inspires us and highlights the heartbreaking truth of the obstacles facing these children. Read more stories about Yatra's work on the archive page If you would like to subscribe to the Yatra Foundation email list, please complete this form.
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Listen to an interview with co-founder Ravi Savarirayan on ABC Radio's 'Breakfast Club' |
