A Journey Through the Grassroots

AID – Spanning India Through Projects: Bridging the Two Worlds

Chapters across USA Projects in India

School seems a distant dream

• A mere 63% of Indians are literate

• 46% drop-out of school between grades one and five

• Only 43% of Indian Women have primary education

AID and Education

The School Goes to the Children -Mobile School Project, Pune

“I have stories to read now” - Srikakulam Library Project, AP

The Railway platform is my school..

- Ruchika Platform Schools, Orissa

Experiments can be done with throw-away materials

- Jagriti School, in Lodhar (near IIT Kanpur)

“Maybe not early, but earnestly to school”- Vocational training programs, Gujarat

But What if I am Not Strong Enough to Go to School?

• Infant Mortality Rate in India: 63 deaths per 1000 births –

• Compare that with 6 deaths per 1000 births in USA

AID and Health Care

Health Check-ups at Appalagraharam- AID Internship Program

Dispensing low cost medicines -Village Outreach Clinic, Ganiyari, Chattisgarh

Leading a Medical Revolution- Health Camps by Swanirvar, West Bengal

Low cost centrifuge for testing Anemia

Health Care Research Center- Jan Sahyog Samiti, Chhattisgarh

Research on Multi-drug Resistant TB

Women’s Health Remains a Neglected Issue in the

Indian Society …

Training Traditional Birth Attendants- Association for Services to Rural India,

Maharashtra

To this day, many women in India face:

• Dowry Deaths

• Sexual abuse

• Social Inequalities

• Domestic Violence

AID and Women

Women - at the core of the village health training sessions

18 women saving Rs.20/week = Financial Independence

- Village Micro-credit Enterprises

AID and

“Struggle for Justice”

Dec. 3, 1984 – the Night of Death…

Union Carbide, Bhopal after the Gas Leak

16,000 breathed their last

20 Years LaterFor 120,000 people

The Darkness still remains

Fight for justice:

Satinath Sarangi, Rashida Bi, Champa Devi outside DOW HQ

One day at a time …

“Mother” Nature Also Brings Disaster to our Homes

Gujarat Earthquake Orissa Cyclones

Every year 130 million people in over 70,000 villages face starvation

due to severe drought

Seasonal Floods Devastate Millions of Lives Each Year

AID and Disaster Relief

Temporary shelter houses - Earthquake Relief Projects, Kutch, Gujarat

Mobile Health Camps - Earthquake Relief Projects, Kutch, Gujarat

Floods can be Man-Made Too …13 more villages are submerged due to

Dam Displacement

AID

and

“Technology for the Masses”

Where Big Dams Fail, Local Initiative Brings Electricity–Bilgaon Micro-Hydel Power Project

I am capable of generating power for my own needs!

-Pedal Power Project

I can do it too!

- Pedal power generator project

Organic farming AID-GRASS Project, AP

One TRIUMPH at a Time for AID

The India-Pakistan Peace Initiative by AID Receives Recognition from Congress Member Sheila Jackson

Bhopal Activists Win the Goldman Prize – the Nobel Prize in

Environment

With Bhopalis – in solidarity

3032 people from all over the world sign the petition that forced the

government of India to order clean-up of the Bhopal area –

Justice Prevails …

Recognition from the US Community

AID has received a 4-star rating by Charity

Navigator, America’s largest independent

evaluator of charities.

AID has also been ranked #2 among 10 of

the Best Charities

• Relationship is one of partnership

AID and the people …

• Listening to the people and what they

want – the solutions lie within them• Developing sustainable and repeatable development models with local flavor

The message from the grassroots

is one of Hope….

Of courage …

Of Optimism …

Compassion whenever there is suffering…

Conviction that the compassion is strong enough to eliminate suffering…

Courage to make this conviction a reality..

THIS is AID….