AID-BayArea Newsletter Oct '02 - Dec '02 HAPPY NEW YEAR NEW PROJECTS 1) Support for CAME, a Dalit Rights Organization 2) Support for flood relief in Nandurbar & Jhabua District 3) Support for Ravi & Thelma Narayan's visit to Hesperian's annual conference ELECTION RESULTS EVENT REPORTS 1) DHYAAS PARVA (An Era of Yearning) - film by Amol Palekar CURRENT ACTIVITIES 1) One For India 2) 2003 AID Calendar UPCOMING EVENTS 1) 'Suraj Kha Saatva Ghoda' Nataak play OTHER NEWS 1) Interview with HBP volunteer Shanthi 2) Mozda group's watershed work wins award 3) Inaugration of Second Micro-hydel project in Narmada Valley. 4) AID's 2001 annual report. ADDRESS CORRECTIONS *----* *----* *----* *----* HAPPY NEW YEAR! AID-BayArea volunteers wish all friends of AID a very happy and peaceful new year and thank them for their support. *----* *----* *----* *----* NEW PROJECTS 1) Support for CAME, a Dalit Rights Organization Bay area chapter approved funding of Rs 1,15,200 for one year to CAME (Cultural Association for Mass Education) for their campaign to assist and promote dalit self assertion for human rights and dignified living. The organization works in Sathyavedu, Varadaiahpalem, Pichatur and Nagalapuram Mandals of Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. Dalits in this area are subjected to various problems of casteism and untouchability; they are entangled in land issues due to corrupt government and forest officials, they have neither enough political support nor proper political representation. Dalit women have to contend with problems such as child marriages, dowry, sexual abuse from both within the community and outside. The Dalit children are under-nourished, school drop outs and end up in odd jobs as cleaners in hotels, service stations or grazing cattle, etc The CAME philosophy is based upon identification of Dalit issues by maintaining regular contact with the Dalits and then organizing them to give a collective response to particular issues. They also help in formation of women's thrift societies. They pressurize the authorities, political leaders and vested interests to do justice to the poor dalits as per law, through mass mobilization. They petition the concerned authorities, organize mass rallies, dharnas, hunger strikes and move the courts, if necessary. They promote mutual co-operation and economic self reliance among Dalits, in some cases with government assistance programmes. 2) Support for flood relief in Nandurbar & Jhabua District An amount of $1350 was approved for Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Center. BSFC and AID-India had provided tarpaulin sheets (245 12'x18' sheets) and flood relief help in adivasi villages of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh during August-September 2002. 3) Support for Ravi & Thelma Narayan's visit to Hesperian's annual conference Hesperian Foundation based in Berkeley is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care and has supported AID in the past by providing 5000$ to help translate one of their popular books "Where women have no doctor" into Tamil. They have invited two experts Ravi & Thelma Narayan of Community Health Cell in Bangalore to speak at this year's 5th Annual International Health Conference, "People's Health in People's Hands: What Works and Who Decides?" on March 1, 2003 in the UC-Berkeley Campus. The conference will explore how community-based organizations influence advocacy, priorities, and problem-solving in developing countries. Ravi and Thelma's presence at this conference will get more publicity for the People's Health Movement in North America, as well as provide the impetus to strengthen and build the PHM in the US. In addition to speaking at the conference, they will network with other groups and will speak in different places in the US. AID-Bay Area decided to support & learn from their visit and has approved 600$. *----* *----* *----* *----* ELECTION RESULTS Ramani Arunachalam, Kaustubh Desai and Vithal Shirodkar have been elected as the Secretary, Project Coordinator and Publicity Coordinator of the AID-Bay Area chapter. In addition, Mathirajan Manoharan is standing for the post of Fund-raising Coordinator. Best Wishes to all of them. With their commitment & enthusiasm and encouragement & help from all the other volunteers, we hope to achieve a lot more in the next year. *----* *----* *----* *----* EVENT REPORTS 1) DHYAAS PARVA (An Era of Yearning) - film by Amol Palekar MAITRI and AID with the help of Stanford South Asia Intiative cosponsored the free screening of DHYAAS PARVA, a marathi feature film (with English subtitles) at Stanford University on Nov 16th. This award winning film which dealt with the campaign for small families and women's control over it by a couple in Maharastra over a century ago was watched by about 170 people! The screening was followed by a Q&A session with Amol Palekar. *----* *----* *----* *----* CURRENT ACTIVITIES 1) One For India. Our 2nd online fundraiser has raised about 35,000 dollars so far. This fund-raiser which runs till Jan 31 and hopes to raise 75,000 dollars; the amount raised will be used to support our developmental initiatives in 2003. If you have not pledged your support yet, please do so now and join AID in wishing India a happy and prosperous future, one in which every one counts. http://www.oneforindia.org is the site and it will just take you a few minutes. 2) 2003 AID Calendar AID's 2003 calendar "Visible Work, Invisible Women" has been a remarkable hit with volunteers and friends of AID throughout the world. To get your copy, send mail to Ramani at rarunach@b... *----* *----* *----* *----* UPCOMING EVENTS 1) 'Suraj Kha Saatva Ghoda' Nataak play 'Suraj Kha Saatva Ghoda', a novel written by Dharam Veer Bharathi and made into a movie of the same name by Shyam Benegal will be adapted for a play by Nataak. This benefit event for AID-Bay Area and ASHA-Stanford on February 22nd & 23rd at West Valley College Theater in Saratoga promises to be an exciting one. For more information and/or to buy tickets, contact Aarthi Rishi at aarthi_rishi@h... *----* *----* *----* *----* OTHER NEWS 1) Vikatan carries an interview with HBP volunteer Shanthi. Vikatan, a prominent tamil magazine with a large circulation carried an inspirational interview with Shanthi, the statewide coordinator of the Tamil Nadu HBP health programme. Titled "Arogyathukku peyar shanthi" (meaning "Health is synonymous with Shanthi"), it is very inspiring. You can read it at http://www.vikatan.com/aval/2002/dec/20122002/aval0412.shtml For those who don't know Tamil, there's an earlier English interview with Shanthi at http://www.indiatogether.org/wehost/tnsf/tnsf-janfeb-2000.htm 2) Mozda group's watershed work wins award Work initiated by Swati and Michael in Juna Mozda (an Adivasi village in Narmada District, Gujarat) and supported by the AID-Bay Area chapter last year received an award from Development Support Centre (Ahmedabad), an institute that provides training in Natural Resource Management. The award includes a citation and Rs. 50,000/- which will be used to continue the watershed work this year. The award was given in a ceremony in Ahmedabad, where 16 people from Mozda and surrounding villages participated in the ceremony and accepted the award. 3) Inaugration of Second Micro-hydel project in Narmada Valley. "The latest and the most glimmering achievement of the people in the Valley is the MICRO HYDEL PROJECT in Bilgaon, (second following a much smaller one : 300watts : in Domkhedi), on the river Udhai, a tributary of Narmada. The 15 KW project built with the hard work 'Shramdaan' by the adivasi youths and elders under the guidance and with the brilliant, sincere inputs by the committed engineers Madhu and Anil, from People's School of Energy, Kerala,is a symbol of alternative development paradigm respecting people's right to resources and sustainable, just ways of managing those." This AID supported project will be inaugrated in January 14. For more information and/or to participate in the opening ceremony on at Bilgaon, please visit http://www.narmada.org/nba-press-releases/december-2002/bilgaon.html 4) AID's 2001 annual report. AID's 2001 annual report is available now. You can read it at http://www.aidindia.org/hq/resources/index.htm One of the editors Malini Vittal says "Do take some time and read the report as it gives an overall view of what we have been doing. I found myself in awe when I read the complete report!" ADDRESS CORRECTIONS If you have moved recently, send your new address to Neerja Bhatt at neerja.bhatt@oracle.com or Bipin Todur at (btodur@c...). This will ensure that you receive the AID postal newsletters as well as receipts for your donations correctly. *----* *----* *----* *----* *----* *----* *----* *----*