Occasionally, the question comes up "Why should I bother to help someone in need?". The same question popped up in my head 10 years ago. I felt that God gave me lot of skills and luck to ensure a comfortable life. At the same time, there are great many others back in India who are not so lucky to lead an independent life. Why not give a little supportive hand to help them lead an independent life too?

With the sole intention of helping the needy, I started volunteering at AID in 1998. I was drawn by the sheer dedication of the volunteers. Ever since, I had been an AID volunteer. Our initial projects were on supporting schools, vocational training, micro-credit, health etc.

At that time the common question was: "How to ensure that the money is put to good use?". A site visit before supporting and then working closely with the NGO and visiting them ensured that.

As more and more AID volunteers returned to India, leaving their American careers to work full time in developmental work, we started understanding the issues better. All the work we are doing like supporting schools where government schools were not effective is similar to putting a band-aid on a wound. The goal should be to prevent the wound. System change also has to take place. We also started focusing on government accountability, policy, tribal land rights., etc.

It is also a personal fight. A personal fight not to indulge in dowry, a personal fight not to give or take bribe, a personal fight to quit Coke and Pepsi products for their worst corporate practices in India.

This year, we also took up the task of spreading awareness about Right to Information (RTI) as an effective tool to fight corruption and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) implementation as a means to improve rural infrastructure and boost rural economies. AID along with many other NGOs campaigned successfully to stop the amendment that would have made RTI ineffective.

The question raised now is "How much impact will a little organization like AID create in a large country like India and what will a few dollars I donate do?".

The answer lies in improved education methods in 30,000 government schools that AID-India helped create. The new methods boosted the literacy rate from 30-40% to over 85%.

The answer lies in the thousands of farmers who were are on the brink of suicide being helped to move to low-chemical input, sustainable organic farming.

The answer lies in thousands of kids who survived with the simple health program that AID and TNSF implemented (and received recognition from WHO as 10 best health programs in the world).

The answer lies in the smile on the face of the kid who would not be alive today to smile, had not been for the health program.

The answer lies in using every penny effectively to create an opportunity for the under-privileged.

The answer lies in what MK Gandhi said "No matter how insignificant what you are doing may seem, it is important that you do it".

All this would not have been possible without your support. This is still a small slice of India. There are still millions who need the support, hence the request for your continued support to AID, no matter how small it is.