The tea party fundraiser

Along with a few buddies, I am heading over to the Grand Canyon this weekend for a trail run. We start at the South Rim, find our way down to the Canyon floor, and up to the North Rim and back all the way. 48 miles of it. Or as much of it as fun, pleasure and camaraderie will allow. The whole thing should be a fascinating experience, visual treats along with extremes in temperature differing by 70F, and elevation changes in many thousands of feet.

This is a simplistic course profile here, but it looks simply beautiful. When I first saw this profile a month ago, I thought it looked like an old tea cup made of clay or of china whose handle had broken off. That simple imagery continues to be a symbol of pleasant anticipation for our trip to the Canyon. So that's what we're headed out there for - we've had all our little parties here, and now it's time for a grand old tea party at the grand old canyon.

photo courtesy: Maneesh Pandey

I got into running several years ago primarily to raise funds for the wonderful schools run by GSK in Rajasthan, India. That was when they had 65 children in thatched structures for classrooms. Today, they have 300 kids with great infrastructure and all of them enjoy spending time at what increasingly feels like a successful movement to restore the joy of childhood. The school's revolutionary alternative methods that attracted much opposition and criticism a few years back are now bearing some fruit - graduates excelling in public examinations, passionate buy-in from impoverished rural communities and more collaborations with mainstream schools.

There's a long haul ahead still for GSK, and funding continues to lag requirements - the Strides of Hope program from Asha for Education is a critical part of fulfilling this need for several such initiatives. My Grand Canyon run and tea party and a $1000 target are all part of this program. Donations made through this fundraising page go to the Austin chapter of Asha for Education. Asha for Education is a completely volunteer-run organization, and all donations are tax exempt in the US.

Thanks for sharing your time; now all you have to do is pay for your cuppa by 5/15 ;)

Links:

1. Donation page
2. Grand Canyon National Park
3. Gramin Shiksha Kendra (GSK)
4. Austin chapter of Asha for Education
5. Strides of Hope program

Nueces Trail Marathon

The Nueces 50 Miler and Marathon race was held on March 6 this year at the Camp Eagle park. This was the first year for this race in this form, and it was very exciting to be a part of the launch.

Camp Eagle is a gorgeous park. This is beautiful, rugged Texas hill country, with steep hills and a spring-fed river. I'd visited the park earlier for a few days in fall 2009 when I volunteered to help create, measure and map the trails here for the race. I was so impressed with the park and the facilities there that I felt like I'd stumbled upon a hidden treasure in my backyard! It wasn't the best time to visit the park for me though, as most of the hills are covered with cedar trees, and bush-whacking through the trees just puffed up clouds of pollen that didn't do my cedar allergies any good. It was all good though, I really enjoyed hiking and running on the trails, learning about how Joe Prusaitis, the race director, maps out the race courses and meeting all the friendly folks at Camp Eagle. It was no surprise then that I decided to run the race...

I selected the Nueces marathon as my target race for Team Asha and I pledged to raise $100/mile for the Austin chapter of Asha. At Asha, I have been working with 2 projects for children in Rajasthan (India) for a few years now:
(a) GSK, an education project that provides very high quality education to about 400 kids this year.
(b) RMKM, an education and rehabilitation program for about 375 mentally challenged children.

The race
I hadn't trained specifically for this race, but I had been running and keeping up with my fitness generally. But I'd flared up my hip flexors a couple of days before the race, and I was worried about having to run through pain and having a miserable race. My anxieties lifted though even as I drove into the park the previous night, and met all my running buddies. I decided that I'd have fun at the race - and the attitude change helped with my run the next morning.

It was a wonderful day to run. It was cool, in the 50's, cloudy, and we had challenging trails in beautiful hills to run on. I started very slow and it took me nearly 2 hours to complete the first 9.5 mile loop. And from miles 8 through 14, I struggled through with pain in my right hip flexor. The worst part of having the pain was that I couldn't run all those long delicious downhills! Even as I was starting to contemplate dropping out of the race, the aid station at mile 14 came up and I was supplied with some ibuprofen. That saved my race, and my next 12 miles went much better than my first 14 miles had. Surprisingly, I finished rather strongly and managed to pull in to the finish chute in about 5:50. I was happy with the time I made, especially with all the low expectations I'd set through the previous day and the race.

It was a good race to be a part of - the race organizers, the volunteers, the camp staff and the scenery were all wonderful. I'd definitely go back for this race next year!

Links
My Team Asha fund-raising page
Gramin Shiksha Kendra (GSK)
Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM)
Nueces Trail Marathon (Tejas Trails)
Pictures from my Camp Eagle visits

Visit to RMKM

A report from my visit earlier this year to RMKM, a non-profit organization working on women's empowerment and other issues in Rajasthan.

Project: Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM)

Date of Visit: Mar 12, 2009

Project coordinator: Kshama Kshade

Project Details

RMKM is an organization mainly focused on women’s rights and empowerment in the Ajmer district of Rajasthan, India. The projects I have been associated with are initiatives for mentally handicapped children in Ajmer.

Getting there

I traveled by train from Chennai to Jaipur along with my friend Stanley Berly. The train arrived at the Jaipur station early in the morning, and then we took a bus down to Ajmer immediately from there. The bus took about a couple of hours to get to Ajmer, and as soon as we landed, we called Kshama and got a ride to RMKM.

The RMKM campus and activities

At around 9am, we reached RMKM’s campus at Chachiawas. I had visited the campus earlier in 2005, and could visibly see several improvements and new vocational units. Kshama then gave us a tour of the building and campus.

Vocational training

We started with the vocational units including carpentry, paper products, embroidery etc. The vocational training program has been partly supported by Vibha since 2006. Chandrasekar heads the vocational training program.

Finished products

RMKM has a showroom of sorts where they display many of their finished products. There are teaching and learning materials to be used in primary schools, made by the vocational trainers and finished by mentally challenged children. The teaching and learning materials can be sold to other schools, and RMKM may also be able to sell some through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme. There are several arts and crafts made by the children as well.

RMKM is an organization primarily devoted to women’s empowerment, and a big focus is their work through women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs). These women have formed a cooperative through which they make products and sell them at the Pushkar fairs. The social and economic position of these women has improved in society through these activities.

The National Trust supports the sale of products, and some expenses for the hostel etc. ARUNIM is an organization set up for that purpose, and RMKM had sold Rs 13000 worth of products through ARUNIM. ARUNIM had preferred the wooden products. They have also assigned RMKM to be a resource center for other organizations so that RMKM can make some money through training as well.

After we checked out the products in the showroom, we visited some of the outdoor vocational units like vermicompost, water plant, and rainwater harvesting.

The tiger and the goat

While we were outside, we saw a teacher lead some of the children in a game of “tiger catches goat”. This game allows children to mingle with one another and improves their reflexes and other psycho-motor skills.

The wood craft unit

Saurav was trained in 10 months. He is physically disabled, but now works full-time at the wood craft unit.

Paper cutting unit

Manoj initially studied at RMKM’s day care center. He has been working in the vocational unit for more than a year now. When RMKM first started working with Manoj, his initial diagnosis was social awkwardness and cerebral palsy (CP) with monoplagia.

Special education classrooms

The children learning here are at different levels, and each special educator works with only 5-6 children at a time.

Physiotherapy unit

This unit is used for physiotherapy for all the childen. The schedules are printed and pasted on the wall. While we were there, a trained worker was stimulating the nerves for one child, and another child was training to walk on the stair-step stool.

The deco unit

Here’s where RMKM makes its greeting cards, jewelry and other products that require decorative finishes.

Hostels

Separate hostel rooms for boys and girls currently exist within the building. They are constructing a new hostel building with help from the Embassy of Japan.

After the tour of the building, I met Rakesh Kaushik and the accountant. We discussed RMKM’s accounts, and other operational issues. Shortly thereafter, we went into the mess and all the staff and children settled into a communal lunch. There was lunch prepared in RMKM’s kitchen, and also food that most staff members and children had brought. It was a great experience to sit in a circle, share stories and laughter, and sample so many different kinds of fantastic native Rajasthani food. We really gorged ourselves here, helped in no small measure by everybody insisting that we have more and more of the food they had brought.

Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) program

The CBR program is currently supported by Vibha and the Austin chapter of Asha. In this program, workers trained in special education, physiotherapy and speech therapy visit children periodically (about 1-2 times a fortnight). Parents and other community members are sensitized to the child’s issues and given training so that the child’s rehabilitation is continuous.

We first visited J., 8 years old and diagnosed with a severe handicap. J. needs daily intervention, but he is unable to come to the day care center where he will be taken care of better.

Mohd is 19 years old. When he was younger, doctors and others told his parents that there was no cure. His Muslim parents, in their desperation, had even taken him to various temples. His younger sister is also disabled. His father, who had a secure job with the Indian Army, gave up his job so that he could take care of his children. Mohd can now walk with the help of a walker and wheelchair. He has a natural talent with operating cell phones, and is now assisting in his father’s shop with accounts. RMKM has arranged for Astha disability benefits and insurance for the family.

G. was initially diagnosed with ADL. RMKM has been working with him for 2 years now, and he is now able to take care of some basic daily activities like eating etc. It will be better for him if he can stay at the RMKM hostel, but his relatives (no father) are reluctant.

R. is 17 years old, and RMKM has been working with him for a year now. His family is agricultural, and they own a few bighas of land. Since his childhood, his relatives have made him very conscious of his disability, and even when we were there, they were mocking his “lesser” brain. He was initially diagnosed with mild retardation, but because there has been no childhood intervention, he now needs more attention. RMKM wants to get him admitted into the vocational training program, as they feel that he can pick up a few remunerative activities. However, the parents hesitate to check out the program because they fear the loss of their daily wages if they spend a day traveling to RMKM’s campus.

Discussion with RMKM staff

Well up to 3% of the general population in India is suspected to have some form of mental disability, like retardation or autism etc. This translates into many thousands of children in the Ajmer district alone and RMKM is the only organization working on this issue. The resources available to RMKM in terms of funds and other logistics mean that they are handling far fewer children than they should, and are also strapped in terms of how well they can help these children who are distributed all across the rural landscape. They have been thinking hard and coming up with innovative means to reach more children and make their intervention more effective.

Regarding the vocational unit, they currently support only about 35 children. They can expand with current resources to about 100 children if travel could be arranged for them. In the hostel itself, lodging and food cost only about Rs 100/month. Vocational product sales range from Rs 50-100,000/year, but this is felt to be far below the potential. Part of the problem lies in Ajmer being located in a fairly remote area. They plan to focus on self-sustainability unit-by-unit.

Other ways to expand the number of children with existing resources are being explored. They can train physically handicapped children who can then help with the training of mentally challenged children. Some of these vocational units like decoration and vermicompost can be set up at community centers across the district.

Our RMKM visit concluded here. It was a wonderful experience interacting with all the children, the community members and the staff of RMKM.

LINKS:

1. Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM)

2. CBR program supported by Vibha

3. CBR program supported by Asha Austin

4. Vocational training supported by Vibha

5. Pictures and videos from site visit

Why am I running?

I am training to run the Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler race as part of Team Asha. My target race is on February 7, 2009, in the Huntsville State Park, Texas.
This is my first 50 miler ever! Infact, it is way longer than anything I have attempted so far. Training has been fun but hard, and has involved a lot of commitment in time and effort for my first 50 miler. I am doing all this, as I keep reminding myself on runs that keep getting longer and harder, for a cause I absolutely love and support. I am running as part of Team Asha this year to raise funds for the wonderful and deserving schools run by Gramin Shiksha Kendra in rural Rajasthan.
The schools provide a high quality of education thats relevant to the local community in order to bring about meaningful socioeconomic change. It is a very thoughtful effort by a few committed and talented educators to make a real and qualitative difference in the lives of the impoverished rural community. They promote learning based on fun and child-centric activities. Teachers employ innovative teaching techniques and educational materials tailored specifically for every child to learn effectively and thoroughly. Local knowledge and cultural expertise is incorporated into the syllabus so that the children have a broad curriculum that they can relate to easily. More importantly, it also grounds the education of the children to the success of the local community. I passionately believe that the success of this initiative can provide a good model of education that can be replicated across various rural and urban communities all over India!
For this initiative to succeed, it needs your support! Learn more about this exciting project here.
I have pledged to raise $100 for every mile I run in my race. All the proceeds from my runner page go towards supporting Gramin Shiksha Kendra. Please contact me to sponsor my race and help me reach my fundraising target as I strive to reach my 50 mile distance.

My runner fund-raising page where you can DONATE is here.

Vibha Dream Mile 5K

After 7 years of being a part of the organizing team for the Vibha 5K, this was the first time I actually ran the race! The Vibha Dream Mile 5K was held on October 5, 2008.

The Vibha 5K course starts at the East Mall and goes through various roads in the UT campus, and that makes for a nice setting. Its a hilly run, slightly harder than an average 5K. Parts of the course repeat in 2 loops and so runners can take 3 water stops during the race.

Overall, a fun race. Its fun because its a small race and is run by enthusiastic volunteers and supported by excited runners and patrons. The whole atmosphere is festival-like, especially with all the huge tents for the kids' games, music and Vibha information (a novelty since the 2007 edition).

Personally, for me, this was my first 5K. I carried a camera with me on the run and got some pictures on the course. I also finished sub-30 mins, so that was nice. My team, Team Asha, also had a great time, with best team prize and Jith coming first in his age category.