Navin Desai Memorial Fund

May 15

Visit to Vimlashram Gharkul and Navin Desai Residential School

Gaurang Desai
February 17 – 18, 2010

I visited India in January – February this year!
At the invitation of Ram Ingole, my brother Prakash and I visited Nagpur for a 24 hour trip to observe the noble efforts of Ram and his supporters, well wishers and young children who are undergoing a life transformation!
My impressions of this experience follow in this report! The observation can not be described completely! You have to visit the place your self to experience to feel what I came back with!
But this is an attempt to highlight what is happening there!

Vimlashram Gharkul is a place where about 38 children from different ages are getting a home and nurturing to get an education to make a life!
Children are being taught to be part of a big family doing many chores and help each other along with education and also a healthy life style!
The home is a 4 story building, with ground floor being leased for retail shops (which generates extra financial support for this project)!
Key Persons who are guiding this organization are: Ram Ingole and Pinky Singh

Vimlashram Gharkul

Students

Staff

Look at the sparkle in the eyes of these children! You could sense they were excited about the life they are embarking on!
They were also very lively and well mannered!
In addition to the guardians, there were also other supporters, from Nagpur, who were very much involved in participating in this project, which may be perpetual!

This project started in Year 2005 on a location in Panchgaon, about 25 Kilometers from Nagpur
This school has undergone a major foundation stage, with few key milestones:
- School Building foundation complete for 8 rooms
- 3 rooms plus Kitchen and an office completed
- Being used for schooling of 80 students in grades 1-3
- Students are provided with 2 sets of uniforms for boys and girls
- The building is also used after school hours as residential place for these students plus 25 more students (for grades 4 and above) who are going to other schools nearby during day time!
- The students are provided with guidance and leadership of a staff of 13 ( 3 in Kitchen and 10 teachers including vocational class teachers and volunteers)
- There are additional 6 volunteers, who are actively supporting both the students and the teachers
A separate document has been prepared which pro vides background and profiles of some of the students at the school. Please check the Word file NDRS_Students_Profiles.
In addition to the schooling, many new projects around the school have been undertaken in last 2 years, which is making this place a hot bed of activities that will serve these children and youth in this area a wonderful environment to build life, thanks to all leadership, staff, local volunteers and sponsors from all over the world.

Gardening, where variety of vegetables are grown for the students to consume as a part of their lunch and dinner – The students were active participants in developing this garden under the guidance and supervision of the staff and volunteers
A Cow Shed is being built, which will be used to house 13 cows, which are being taken care by a team of students and volunteers group. The plan is to increase # of cows to 20 in fall of 2010. These cows are providing the milk for the residents in the school.
Thanks to a donation of $ 4,000+ from a local donor, the foundation of a Guest House is already in place.
See some of the photographs of what we saw at the school:

Student Assembly	Looking Forward
Teacher	Study & Entertain
Lunch Room	Cow Shed
Inspired by Indira Gandhi, Sant Tukaram & Swami Vivekanand	Navin Desai
Prakash, Ram & Gaurang	Ranked Students with Teachers

A major program to provide vocational training for the youth (16-20 Years) was started in 2009, which is now being expanded this year to provide training to youth in multi-disciplines:
Driving, Security, Handyman, Computer Repair
The concept is a novel one – The program imparts multi-vocational skills to a student, enough to allow some one to land a reasonably well paying job (Rs 6,000 - $ 136 / month)
The first batch for the students in this program has already started.
A generous donation has been received to start this program.
Now the program is also being enhanced by providing the residential facility for these students, which is being created by converting a Rail Bogey in a dormitory. This approach allows housing 40 students for a cost of $9,000, as opposed to $27,000 using a traditional building.

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