The children of Mumbai’s slums have found some valuable friends this year, including undergraduate students, MBA students, Public Health professionals, student-doctors, and physicians. These friends come as volunteers through AVSAR, Alliance of Volunteers for Service, Action, and Reform, and have included inspirational people such as:

-          Anand Dholakia, an MBA student at Babson University, Boston, MA

-          Suhas Radhakrishna, a medical student at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA

-          Sachdeep Rehsia, a medical student at University of Western Ontario, Canada

-          Soren Ulhre, a health care organization analyst from Copenhagen, Denmark.

-          Nadia Umar, a dentist from Karachi, Pakistan

AVSAR volunteers donate their time and professional skills to provide healthcare services and health education to the most needy in the heart of India. AVSAR was started by a 27-year old Indian-American physician named Ashish Goyal in July of 2003. Dr. Goyal spent one year of his life creating the organization after being deeply affected during a 4-week volunteer experience in Mumbai’s slums, including Dharavi (the world’s largest slum). The organization’s goal is to increase the momentum of India’s healthcare reform by creating local and international alliances which utilize domestic and worldwide resources to promote positive change and reform in India.

During his year in Mumbai, Dr. Goyal helped the Niramaya Health Foundation, a local Mumbai Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), reform existing clinics and even create an innovative new “model” clinic which is slated to serve more than 2,000 child-laborers who live in Mumbai’s hidden sweatshops. These successes gave Dr. Goyal hope. Although he initially aimed to recruit just 1 Non-Resident Indian (NRI) student-doctor to volunteer with 1 partner NGO for just 1 month, during the month of February 2004 he recruited 6 US volunteers to work with 4 different NGOs throughout Mumbai’s slums. Now, the mission is to provide 500 months of free volunteer services on a yearly basis by the end of 2008. Having already provided over 30 months of free volunteer services by placing over 22 volunteers with more than 6 different grassroots NGOs, AVSAR is clearly on its way to meeting its goals. Students, professionals, and everyday people from around the world are interested in making a difference in India, and are now doing so through AVSAR.

AVSAR has worked closely with the leadership of other volunteer organizations, including Indicorps and the American India Foundation, and has welcomed 2 major founding partners: the Foundation for Global Understanding (FGU) and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI).

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