Annual Day: Tumbling, singing, dancing and performances - that was the scene for the biggest event of the year: Annual Day. The weather was sunny and pleasant, and guests from India and abroad were greeted by hundreds of students and presented with a busy schedule of events, tours of the school and a delicious lunch. Suzanne Schwartz of New York City was very impressed with the school. "I have worked as a volunteer for schools in Delhi, but I was surprised by how large Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School was, yet it was much more organized and the students were intelligent and fun to be with."

The chief guest, Andrew Horne, the South Asia head of Xerox, and his wife, distributed prizes to the top students in the school. These include girls with the best grades and with maximum attendance. Dave Prager, of New York, most enjoyed the reception he received when he first arrived. "We were each assigned a student as our guide. My guide spoke English, and she gave me a tour of the school. The students were unfazed by our attention and were very confident."

Diwali: the biggest Hindu festival of the year, fell on October 28th. The students decorated the school with rangoli and lit up diyas and feasted on some yummy sweets.

Recently, we've had the honor of having two volunteers at the school. Elissa, of New York, came 4 months ago to shoot footage for a documentary, and is also teaching English and compiled profiles for our students which record information students and their family. As she prepares to go home, Elissa reflected on her time at PPES, "As I wrap up my projects, I realize I'm learning more from the girls who I had originally come to teach."

Jacobi Wade (pictured), of Florida, came for 6 weeks and in between teaching English, she organized a library in which students can check out books to take home. Basic Hindi books are very popular, as well as Dr. Seuss books because they use very simple words and the illustrations help you understand the meaning of the words (for example, you see that a cat is indeed "in the hat").

If you would like to help stock up our library with books or other educational materials, please contact Jenny Steeves at jenny (at) pardadapardadi.org.

On Saturday, October 11th, we held a benefit mela event in Delhi. It was a unique opportunity for us to sell our home-furnishing items, as well as get out the word about what we do. We were joined by over thirty exclusive and export quality vendors, so it was a big shopping opportunity for all the invitees. Many thanks to Ellen Schwartz for hosting and organizing.

On this day, we were raising money specifically for our Residence Complex project. Though there is no shortage of eager students for our school, PPES is struggling to find well-trained teachers. Because of the poverty and lack of good education in this district, it's necessary to recruit teachers from outside Bulandshahr. But because the villages nearby the school do not offer any rental accommodation, the girls are missing out on the opportunity to get the best possible education.

The school is located in a remote part of Bulandshahar with the nearest hotel located two hours away. When volunteers or visitors come, they stay at Sam Singh's (President/Founder of PPES) home. Since he can accommodate only two people at a time, so there is a tremendous need to find additional housing. Click here to contribute. Many thanks to Sherry Fuchs and Ernst & Young for their contributions.

We were recently visited by Mr. MV.Subramanian and Ms. Shubhanjali Roye from Axis Bank Foundation. Impressed by our work, they have decided to renew their commitment to PPES and sponsor students for a second year, and have even increased their support to a total of three hundred students.

We are thankful for their support, and encouraged by their continued commitment towards rural girl child education.

Dear Friends,

Neetu is very excited about this opportunity to see the world outside of India and to improve her English skills, and so are we. We wish her the best of luck.

UPDATE: Due to last-minute visa problems, Neetu is not going to London this year. We are hopefully she will get the opportunity again next year.

Independence Day Celebrations

High School students visit from California

We're coming to San Francisco

From October 5th to October 25th our Director, Mrs. Renuka, will be in San Francisco along with two Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School graduates to visit high schools and speak about PPES's efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged girls in rural India.

If you would like to host a fundraiser for PPES during this time or would like Mrs. Renuka and the graduates to speak at any functions, please contact Renuka at: renuka@pardadapardadi.org.

We're growing!

We received a very generous donation of five tons of rice from Mr. V.K. Arora from LT Overseas. This is enough rice to last the school for eight months. We are extremely grateful!

Boys vocational school

PPES has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Builders Congress to open a vocational school for boys. PPES is providing local contacts and land; Indian Builders Congress brings technical expertise and financial backing. This project will be jointly managed by both organizations.

With kind regards,
Sam

Dear Friends,

The parents who agreed to send their daughters to the school are true change-makers and a ray of hope for the future. PPES believes that one day villages like Amarpur will be more concerned about their development, quality of education, and quality of human life than about the caste of their daughters' classmates. However, this can only happen with consistent interventions from all of us to work for the development of underdeveloped.

Activities at the School

On an exposure trip thirty students and five teachers visited the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The students learned about power generation. It was a good learning experience and picnic for everyone. We are very thankful to NTPC for providing this wonderful opportunity.

On 25^th July a cultural program was held at the school. Parents of new students were invited to join the student audience for this program. Through this program, we welcomed new parents and students to PPES family. At the same time, the program was an opportunity for the students to show off their talents and for PPES to tell parents more about the school's vision.

Ms. Suman Tomar student of class XI was selected to visit the US for five weeks. Members of the Bitiya Organsiation (Ms.Vinita Garg, Ms. Sandhya) were kind enough to host her for two weeks, followed by Mrs. & Mr. Javid Sonde. Suman was able to visit many places in Washington D.C. and New York. PPES expresses its heartfelt gratitude to all the hosts for hosting Suman and providing her with such a fulfilling experience.

I also had a fruitful visit to the Unitied States. In Chicago I attended a fundraising party organized by Mr. Kush Agarwal. It was really nice to interact with such a diverse group of people. On behalf of PPES I would like to thank him for all his support and guidance.

Ms. Teresa Kozakova visited Pardada Pardadi School. She has agreed to help us in recruitment of volunteers.

With Kind Regards,
Sam

Rikki Asher, Queens College professor and PPES volunteer, has been accepted to present a talk about Pardada Pardadi at the New York City Art Teachers Association in October. She has also submitted a proposal to talk about PPES at a National Art Education Convention in Minnesota in March. Please see the abstract for the talk below:


Session Description:

Dr. Asher has also written an article, entitled "Books of Hope", in "mindfields", an alternative education journal. "Books of Hope" discusses another project in which she helped the girls in class 5th and 7th make their own books. To read the article click here.

This summer rural England became involved in the Pardada Pardadi cause when Mrs. Kate Bedford, mother of Izzy, one of the PPES volunteers, and her friends organized a fundraising event for the school.



left: the fundraiser invitation






Here is what Mrs. Bedford had to say about "A Bollywood Evening":

I thought it would be a nice idea to have a fundraising evening for PPES while my daughter Isabel was working at PP School. Along with my friends, Emma and Helen, and their husbands, Brian and Eddie, we organised a “Bollywood Evening” in our local village hall in Oldbury, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, U.K., on 29th June 2007.
We screened “Bride and Prejudice” and served Indian snacks and drinks to about 75 friends and members of the local community. We managed to raise £650 at this very successful and enjoyable evening.
Kate Bedford.





A picture of the organizing team. 









PPES deeply thanks Mrs. Bedford and her friends for all their help!


If you too are interested in helping the school or simply learning more about the organization please send us an email.  (See the sidebar for contact information.)