Glance at the two photos on the right. The little girl is Amutha, in Karumbalai slum in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. This picture was taken when she was in 6th grade, The other picture is from VOICE, Mumbai, and the photograph is a class conducted on railway platforms, in between train arrivals so that the children can continue their livelihood and also get an education . Within two years these kids are then moved to a regular school . These photos are only a sample of the efforts of 'Asha for Education', a non profit organization that has 35 chapters in US and who work closely with NGO's and other support groups in India to bring about socio economic change through the medium of education.

Asha-Boston, the chapter of Asha in Boston was started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in March 1995. The core volunteers at Asha Boston are around fifty and 10 - 15 active volunteers attend its regular meeting held on alternate weekends (Sundays). During meetings, fund-raising, events, publicity, etc as well as project proposals, funding and the progress on projects are discussed

How do volunteers get attracted to Asha ? All Asha volunteers agree that the main motivation is the recognition of the fact that education is the means to achieving self reliance. "We are thankful for what has been given us and the desire to reciprocate takes over. We wish to help those less fortunate in some way", were the sentiments voiced by V.J.P.Srivastovoy,. To this purpose, its focus lies in providing education to underprivileged children.

Melli Annamalai, a project coordinator for Asha admits that her involvement with the group has made her conscious of the lifestyle that she follows. "I think more about things like wastage, the paper I use, whether child labor was used for some consumer items and so on", she says. She believes in partnering with projects rather than just funding them, works on dalit issues and working with the government . Nilanjan Adhya also an Asha-Boston coordinator believes in streamlining Asha's processes to make the group's functioning more efficient. Joydeep Mitra who makes regular site visits to India admits that "the biggest contribution of Asha is the change it has brought about in the lives of its volunteers."

An effective fund raiser, Asha hosts a number of events in and around Boston to raise money for its funding. A recent book reading of Chitra Divakaruni, writer and author of her latest book 'Vine of Desire' was the brainchild of Anu Raghavan, Asha's fundraising coordinator. Anu uses her interest and expertise in the arts to identify and bring top class artistes for Asha-Boston. Another innovative awareness idea in the offing is the screening of Kutti (the Tamil film based on a child working as a maid-servant). Publicity coordinators, Mugdha Velankar and Ranjini Reddy, work hard in gaining support for Asha through media coverage, publicizing their events, maintaining contact with the local media and garnering support from a wide section of the people.

A unique aspect of Asha is its flat structure . What that means is, it has no hierarchy of people and this encourages the group to pursue and focus on their area of interest wholeheartedly with support from within. A typical volunteer puts forward a proposal, gets it approved and works towards it. There is a great deal of flexibility and many volunteers may move on to become activists in a totally different area like the Narmada Valley project. There are office bearers however, for the sake of maintaining accounts and the IRS. Dilip Warrier current Asha-Boston treasurer, uses his excellent organizational skills to maintain Asha-Boston accounts and is strict about adhering to IRS rules .

Asha also boast of a group of seriously committed volunteers who make periodic visits to India to monitor and visit the sites and in some cases return for a full time commitment. Sandeep Pandey, one of its founder members is now a full time social worker for Asha in India. Asha's impact in India has been felt more strongly partly due to people like him. Asha defines literacy in a practical way. It realizes that education unless linked to livelihood, loses meaning and many of it projects are supported up to the 10th grade. Ananth Chikkatur, previous chapter coordinator visited several Asha projects in India recently and found them a rewarding experience, and feels proud to be a member of Asha.

The Boston group also has set of dedicated volunteers in Ravi Mundoli and Saritha Vuppala, their web gurus and Ram Krishnamurthy and Anurag Sharma, actively involved in projects.Asha Boston believes firmly in supporting secular schools as defined by the Indian constitution. Focus has also been in educating the the girl child,disadvantaged children, the disabled, speech and hearing impaired and spastic children. Volunteers like Vijay Mokashi, Samir Dhume, Aswin Punathambekar, Badhri Uppiliappan, Chetan Parekh all pitch in their ideas and efforts to forward Asha's mission.

Asha Boston sponsored projects include SLADS, in Singbhum in Bihar, Aarambh in New Mumbai, a program for the children of the slums and Voice of people (VOP) in West Bengal where drop out kids are identified and trained in vocational and trade based opportunities.

Asha ultimate goal can be summed up in the words of one of its own members " Asha means hope! It is our firm hope that by 2050, there should be no person who does not have access to basic education. That is why we have transcended caste, religion, language, state and politics and are striving hard."

For more information visit www.ashanet.org

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