Art is a great speaker. It speaks not only the artists mind but also tells us about the traditions, culture, issues, emotions and numerous other things about a place and it’s people. It exists like a beautiful and colourful solution to so many of our problems. And the greatest good it does is that it acts as a leisure activity. Isn’t it! Even a three year old loves to colour his colouring book. No matter how the child manages to do it, he still wants to play with colours and loves the magic of putting red, yellow, green, pink, blue, black, white, purple, orange, black crayons on his paper. This innocent enthusiasm about creating something new, something beautiful and colourful is what we adults share in common all over the world. We love to see and are enthusiastic about the great pieces of art which are beautiful. It is this feeling towards art that binds our human society together.

An organization called ‘Kalanirvana’( ‘Kala’=Art and ‘Nirvana’=Ultimate Satisfaction =>  achieving ultimate satisfaction through art) is an art movement dedicated to bring the world closer through art. The following is based on an interview with Ashis Pahi (born in 1973) who is an artist, curator, social worker, animation film maker and the founder of Kalanirvana International Art Centre.

– Saumya Agrawal, Youth Leader India

Ashis Pahi has been involved in art work including painting, advertising, model photography, animation and feature film making. It is interesting to know how his career path progressed after his graduation. Just like each one of us moving step by step up on the ladder of life, Ashis Pahi had a worth mentioning journey. He established a social organization called ‘Kartabya’ in 1994. He then proceeded to obtain B.F.A.(Bachelor in Fine Arts) after which he moved to animation film making by joining ZICA, India’s first animation institute. From 2000-2004 he worked as a creative head in Zee Telefilms and also with Padmalaya Telefilms. His first animation film, ‘Another Reminder’ was an expression of social message in new medium like animation. He worked as the Creative director of ‘Bhagmati-the queen of fortune’ and as the director of India’s first animated ad films based on the amusing ‘Essel world’. Technology enhances and adds new dimensions to art. Ashis Pahi has moved with technology, thus making a fine balance between Art and Technology while expressing his invaluable views on society. After many years in the field of modern technology like animation and new media creations, his urge to give back to the society with ART, which is his forte, led to the creation of ‘Art for Awareness’ and ‘Kalanirvana. Kalanirvana along with his another creation World Art Critics(WAC) were also meant to add new dimensions and innovations in art world.

The present day appears to be full of miscommunication. We all do it. Isn’t it! Taken on a bigger scale we see serious issues like terrorism, racism, regionalism arising due to this miscommunication. Ashis Pahi feels that art, as the first language of communication has a universal appeal and power to bring greater understanding amongst people about each other’s mindsets and feelings. The purpose of Kalanirvana is to bring the world together through art. It is a revolution which aims to build a bridge between artists of different nationalities, religion, caste, color and thoughts.  It intends to remove the gulf that exists between artists and galleries, art buyers, art dealers, art lovers and the common man. Kalanirvana ideology is to offer a new perspective, a solution, a viewpoint on issues that dominate our life through art which acts as a universal language and can be understood by the diverse groups of people. Kalanirvana is guided by the philosophy of art as the medium of expressing oneself without any inhibitions and also touching and transforming lives. It is always evolving and moving, connecting and reaching people around the world. It started in Secunderabad and has spreaded to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Auckland, Eston and Nairobi. Kalanirvana hopes to achieve creative awareness through workshops, art projects, artist residency, art camps, art exhibitions and art classes on various subjects. It is also involved with organizations and individuals for social betterment and charitable causes.

In an attempt to make the world understand multi-cultural, multi-religious and peaceful Indian culture, Kalanirvana organized an international artist residency programme which made artists from USA, UK, France, New Zealand, Iran and Albania stay in India for 15 days. It enabled them to understand the mindset of the Indian people and consequently spread the Indian influence globally. Ashis Pahi states that the foreign artists were in tears while leaving and were talking about the magic India has. What a lovely influence, our country’s culture has on this world. And Kalanirvana is one of the mediums by which we can integrate the world to help understand one another. Kalanirvana is also working for charitable causes like fund raising for special privileged children and doing charity shows. They are also conducting an auction of paintings for a social organization which is working for education for slum children. In addition they are working on a project called ‘CITY TO VILLAGE’ which depicts the gap between urban and rural Indians. The money generated from this will be used for rural problems. Kalanirvana is looking for organizations to help with regard to the above project. If you are interested or anyone you know is interested you can contact Kalanirvana at kalanirvana@gmail.com. Apart from this project Kalanirvana is also conducting an international photography hunt and artist hunt whose work they will promote internationally. The theme for this will be based on different causes related to India and global community.

The greatest challenge Kalanirvana faces is money and support from public according to Ashis Pahi. He asks the people, the corporate and the government to take an interest in art and artists as they are preserving and developing our culture and traditions through their art work. After knowing about this movement I feel that Kalanirvana has been doing some positive work in art which results in spreading peace, awareness, understanding, emotional and intellectual bonding and effective communication around the globe. Kalanirvana is a platform where artists come together. I feel that it brings their art to the fore-front which helps to spread ideas while providing a solution for some of the world’s problems. The foreign artists who were invited to the Kalanirvana International Artist Residency have something to share with us about Kalanirvana as well.

Mehrnoush Pishroin: LONDON

“For me, when I had heard that I was invited to India for the ‘Kalanirvana Residency’ and the International Exhibition, I was shocked and excited. I have always had a passion for the Indian culture, whether it be the music, clothes, dance, food, film or the general vibrancy of the nation, and of course the warm, kind and welcoming Indian citizens, who always consider you as family. The reason I feel so strongly about the Indian culture may be because it is very close to the Iranian culture that I was brought up with.

When I got to India I met many talented Indian and international artists through the organizer of the event, Mr Ashis Pahi .The energy and love with which Mr. Pahi organized our daily events was also astounding. I can only say that I am truly happy to have been included in this program, and I consider it an honor to have so many good memories, to have made such great friends, to have interacted with so many amazing artists, and to have seen so many astounding sights. And experiencing Indian culture.

For this incredible opportunity I have to thank Mr. Ashis Pahi who made it possible for me, and showed all of us so much kindness throughout the program.”

Jacqueline Lima: Easton, USA

“The experience of “Kalanirvana” International Artist’s Residency actually changed my life, in an “opening” kind of way. My thinking is more widely global, aesthetically and culturally. I have many friends who live on the other side of the earth from me. My far neighbours.

I know better the experience of interconnectedness. I worked alongside artists from around the world, from other parts of India and from Hyderabad. There were many different approaches to thinking about and talking about art.
Lectures were excellent and the two exhibitions were in beautiful spaces and well attended with much press! All good!”

Brunilda Mamajesi: Tirana, Albania

“I have to say special thanks to kalanirvana to invite me to experience different colors of Indian culture and people as well as knowing a lot different cultures through different artists from other countries. It was a travel of world culture being at  one place. It changed my point of view about different countries and cultures and people. I would love to do the same in my country with help of Ashis Pahi. Special thanks to Ashis for his support and giving me the opportunity.”

Links:

KALANIRVANA: www.kalanirvana.com

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=277897350323

World Art Critics:   http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79603397040

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About the author

Saumya Agrawal: I am currently a home maker residing in New York City. I did my undergraduate studies at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in Mathematics and Computing and then pursued my graduate studies at New York University in Mathematics in Finance. In my childhood I wanted to do something different. In college I always wanted to contribute to India through some meaningful contributions. So here I am trying to make a positive change through writing about the achievements of a few people through Youth Leader Magazine, who are working to make the world a better place to live in. My interests include painting, cooking, programming, mathematics and finance.

Would you like a newspaper with your morning cup of tea/coffee???

The answer from many of us including myself would be “The morning tea becomes tasteless sans the newspaper”, “It’s difficult to start the day without reading the newspaper” and so on…

The truth is WE, so as to say; the sighted people feel incomplete and empty without reading newspaper in the morning. However such timely access to the daily newspaper has never been available or even a privilege for the BLIND!

Up until now, radio and audio from television were the only two mediums through which the visually challenged or the blind people could keep themselves updated about latest political/current or social affairs news.

However thanks to ‘Sparshdnyan’, India’s first registered Marathi newspaper in Braille, now the blind have their finger on the pulse too.

A brainchild of Journalist – turned – Theatre personality cum Wild Life Photographer and Documentary Filmmaker, Mr Swagat Thorat, Sparshdnyan is the first attempt at enabling the visually disabled readers’ access to news on their own.

– Ronal Shah Batham, Youth Leader India

Where a new invention promises to be useful, it ought to be tried..

For Thorat, it all started in 1997 when he directed a play “Swatantryachi Yashogatha” (Glorious story of independence) which created a world record, with 88 blind artists from two blind schools in Pune, on the background of golden anniversary of Independence Day. This play was entered in ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ and ‘Limca Book of Records’.

Thorat reminisces, “While doing the show, I travelled with these kids and observed that their discussions revolved around things that they had read. Back in 1998, there were very few Braille books available. Now, the number has gone up. But I realized that these kids wanted to read more. There was a need…”

During that Diwali, Swagat came out with festive issue of Sparshagandh in Braille. Diwali special issues, which are an integral part of Marathi literary culture, had never seen an issue in Braille.

People enjoyed the Diwali issue so much that they started writing in saying that an annual issue wasn’t enough. “I decided to focus on building the infrastructure to start a periodical for the visually impaired. This included raising funds, and saving up to acquire Braille printing machines. In 2007, I got together a setup and the first issue of Sparshdnyan was published on February 15, 2008” mentions Thorat. He further adds “I have invested more than Rs. 4,00,000/- on procuring own Braille printing machine and renting an office space in Mumbai. We started with 100 copies and in three & half years we have brought it up to 400 copies”.

To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping…

Today Sparshdnyan, is a 40-page bimonthly that reaches nearly 400 subscribers and features contributions from prominent Marathi journalists like Rajeev Khandekar and Raju Parulekar, who don’t charge a fee for their inputs. 400 issues are gifted to Schools for the Blind and NGOs working for the blind from 31 districts of Maharashtra. Each issue is read by on an average 60 people, which makes the readership of the issue more than 24000.

“Our subscribers re-circulate the issues to others” mentions Swagat. “When people know you’re doing something good, they help, hence I approached all my acquaintances and well-wishers with a special scheme. He further adds “If they paid an annual fee of Rs 1200 (revised from Rs 960 due to increase in paper cost), a copy of the fortnightly magazine would be presented to a blind person.”

“While the scheme helps me cover the cost of the paper, which is considerably high, the administrative cost comes from my own pocket. It feels wrong if I raise funds for a cause and I don’t end up spending anything from my own pocket.” says Thorat.

Nobody delivers better than Sparshdnyan!

Swagat serves as the paper’s editorial decision-maker. His co-workers include a paraplegic sub-editor, who subs articles and works out of her home in Kolhapur, two production assistants, one of who is partially blind, a visually-challenged reporter, and another employee, recently hired to manage advertising and distribution. They also have a network of writers and journalists who contribute their articles free of cost to Sparshdnyan. All together, bring out the fortnightly Sparshdnyan in Braille!

“Sparshdnyan leaves no stone unturned in inspiring our readers to scale new heights. Most of the content in the paper revolves around social issues, international affairs, inspiring biographies and education and career options” mentions Thorat. “Our ideology is clear. We want to acquaint our readers to current issues around them. We don’t want to discuss or debate only issues that affect the visually handicapped. Sparshdnyan carries content that you and I like to read in our morning paper” adds Thorat. He further says “We cover subjects such as health, politics, music, films, theatre, literature and food, including recipes, the 40-46 odd pages”

Sparshdnyan chooses to give a miss to a few key news areas that are an integral part of mainstream newspapers. Crime and cricket are left out! “The paper we use is so expensive that I want to be judicious of what gets printed on it and quality has been our prime concern. Cricket is all over the broadcast media. As for crime stories, they affect even the sighted. So imagine the impact it will have on the blind, many of whom do battle depression,” says Swagat.

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere!

Sparshdnyan has managed to achieve a substantial readership within a small span of time and has even received huge coverage and media support. Inspite of this, it has yet to find an advertiser!

For three years, the advertising company that has worked with Thorat has failed to sell a single ad in his paper. “It is tough to convince advertisers that blind individuals are consumers too, their families are consumers too. We hope to slowly drive home this point” says Thorat.

Despite his difficulties attracting advertisers, Thorat says he believes that there’s a demand for more Braille newspaper coverage. An estimated 10 million Indians are visually impaired and within a year, Thorat plans to launch a daily title.

Currently the circulation of the Sparshdnyan is limited only to the State of Maharashtra as it’s in Marathi language. However, Thorat plans it to make it a National level newspaper in the due course of time but that again means bigger machines and that means more funds!

“We have over 3000 requests for copies, but I don’t have the means or resources to print more!” said Thorat. “I need bigger machines and that means more funds. Sparshdnyan has come all this way without any grants from the government or donations. We don’t have any advertisers on board. It is tough to expand.” But even with all these impediments, Sparshdnyan has managed to stay afloat so far…..

Thorat who is striving to make a difference feels that Government is not doing enough to cater to the needs of blind! “Social organizations are doing much more for the physically challenged than the government” says Thorat.

Sparshdnyan has come all this way without any grants from the government or donations. Swagat confides “I dream of a day when blind individuals will get their own daily. I hope some media house starts it, but if they don’t I will start the daily on my own in a few years”. He further adds “I am trying to get public libraries at the district level to start Braille sections”

“What typically happens is that due to lack of access to Braille books beyond their textbooks, blind students lose touch with reading once they graduate,” says Thorat. “True, they can have a few books read to them, but that’s not reading, it’s listening! Reading and listening are two different functions. When you read, it has a deeper impact on your personality. It enhances your language which listening can’t” specifies Thorat!

This is why till date there has been no alternative to Braille the world over!

Sparshdnyan is published on the 1st and the 15th of every month and is presented to Blind Schools and institutions across Maharashtra. For more details, write to sparshdnyan@gmail.com

To donate the subscription amount for a blind reader, contact Sparsh-dnyan on 9223217568 / 9422317979

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About the author

Ronak Shah Batham: I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and I pay my bills on time.  On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in wrestling matches with my 2 year toddler, where I usually WIN fair and square! When I’m bored, I clean and scrub till I can see my face in the tiles of the floor! I am a dynamic figure, often seen reading books or playing PS3. Having 7 years of work experience in BPO industry, I enjoy thinking, enjoy learning, enjoy working and I am able to bear work pressure. Having won several awards and trophies for work excellence, what else can I say; I am a woman with lots of SUBSTANCE! Mail -> ronak.youthleader@gmail.com

In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men — many of them illiterate — to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It’s called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy has changed lives for the better and empowered the poor to gain access to a bright future.

In a country where countless people live on less than a dollar a day, Mr.Roy has initiated the Barefoot College which has transformed lives and galvanized positive social change.

About the Barefoot College

Established in 1972, the Barefoot College is a non-government organisation that has been providing basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities, with the objective of making them self-sufficient and sustainable. These ‘Barefoot solutions’ can be broadly categorised into solar energy, water, education, health care, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women’s empowerment and wasteland development.

The College believes that for any rural development activity to be successful and sustainable, it must be based in the village as well as managed and owned by those whom it serves. Therefore, all Barefoot initiatives whether social, political or economic, are planned and implemented by a network of rural men and women who are known as ‘Barefoot Professionals’.

With little guidance, encouragement and space to grow and exhibit their talent and abilities, people who have been considered ‘very ordinary’ and written off by society, are doing extraordinary things that defy description.

Since its inception, the long term objective of the Barefoot College has been to work with marginalized, exploited and impoverished rural poor, living on less than $1 a day, and lift them over the poverty line with dignity and self respect. The dream was to establish a rural college in India that was built by and exclusively for the poor.

What the rural, impoverished and marginalised think important is reflected and internalised in the beliefs of the College. The Barefoot College is one of the few places in India where Mahatma Gandhi’s spirit of service and thoughts on sustainability, are still alive and respected.

The College has adopted the Gandhian ideas into its lifestyle and work ethics, holding it true and relevant universally even in the 21st Century.

Why Barefoot?

• It is symbolic of the recognition, respect and importance the College gives to the collective knowledge and skill that the poor have;
• By calling it ‘barefoot’ they want to give its application a unique category of its own that is superior, sophisticated and enduring. Far more valuable than any other paper qualification.

Why College?

Because it is a Centre for learning, with a difference:-

• A centre of learning and unlearning
• Where the teacher is the learner and the learner a teacher;
• Where everyone is expected to keep an open mind, try new and crazy ideas, make mistakes and try again;
• Where even those who have no degrees are welcome to come, work and learn;
• Where those are accepted who are not eligible for even the lowest government jobs;
• Where tremendous value is placed on the dignity of labour, of sharing and those are willing to work with their hands;
• Where no certificates, degrees or diplomas are given.

The Barefoot College is viewed as a success story because it is shown as an example of what is possible if very poor people are allowed to develop themselves. It is a new concept that has stood the test of time. What the College has effectively demonstrated is how sustainable the combination of traditional knowledge (barefoot) and demystified modern skills can be, when the tools are in the hands of those who are considered ‘very ordinary’ and are written off by urban society.

The Barefoot College demystifies and decentralises sophisticated technology by handing its control to poor communities in rural India. It believes that even the poorest of poor cannot be denied the right to use, manage and own technology to improve their own lives. The aim has been to develop the capacity and competence of communities to take decisions and responsibilities and improve their management capabilities. The Barefoot College enhances their self-confidence by providing them access to learning to harness their ability to serve their own community, thus making them more confidently self-reliant.

The Barefoot College encourages a hands-on learning-by-doing process of gaining practical knowledge and skills rather than written tests and paper based qualifications. It promotes and strengthens the kind of education one absorbs from family, community, and personal experience. It applies the knowledge and skills that the poor already possess for their own development thus making them independent and letting them live with self respect and dignity. Very ordinary people written off by society are doing extraordinary things that defy description.

Graduates of the Barefoot College Share their Experiences:

Dhapu Bai explains how her training as a midwife at the Barefoot College as given her the ability to impart vital health information to village women in this video below:

Bhanwar discusses how she “crossed the veil” and went to work for the Barefoot College. Her courage has given livelihood and supplementary income opportunities to women in her village who work together, regardless of caste in this video below:

Kailish discusses how the Barefoot College gave her employment which has allowed her to care for herself and family, and travel outside the traditional village setting in this video below:

Kamala discusses how she came to be solar engineer at the Barefoot College with no formal education in this video below:

Bila talks about the various opportunities given to her by the Barefoot College from work in handicrafts, and computers to teaching in a day school. The College’s efforts have helped change the social barriers that keep many village women homebound, in this video:

Lalita Bai, a water mapping engineer at the Barefoot College explains the process in which she learned in using computer without having any formal education and how her new found confidence has given her the courage to remove her veil and the power to overcome traditional caste constraints, in this video below:

The Barefoot College creates livelihoods directly as well as indirectly, through its programmes such as Solar Energy, Water, Education, Health Care, Rural Handicrafts, People’s Action, Communication, Women’s Empowerment and Wasteland Development.
Since all programmes and its initiatives are planned, managed and implemented by members of the rural community, each one acts as a source of employment to some degree.

People’s Action, Communication and Women’s Empowerment initiatives, indirectly create employment within rural communities to reduce migration. They encourage and motivate poor and unemployed rural youth, as well as middle-aged men and women, to seek jobs that help to develop rural communities and improve the quality of life.

The Barefoot College is one such source of livelihood, through which any (adult) member from the rural community, irrespective of gender, caste, ethnicity, age and schooling, can work for the development of rural communities, as well as provide basic services and sustainable solutions through a combination of demystified technologies and traditional knowledge and skills.

About Bunker Roy

Development projects the world over run into one crucial point: For a project to live on, it needs to be organic, owned and sustained by those it serves. In 1972,  Sanjit “Bunker” Roy founded the Barefoot College, in the village of Tilonia in Rajasthan, India, with just this mission: to provide basic services and solutions in rural communities with the objective of making them self-sufficient. These “barefoot solutions” can be broadly categorized into solar energy, water, education, health care, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women’s empowerment and wasteland development. The Barefoot College education program, for instance, teaches literacy and also skills, encouraging learning-by-doing. (Literacy is only part of it.)  Bunker’s organization has also successfully trained grandmothers from Africa and the Himalayan region to be solar engineers so they can bring electricity to their remote villages.

Sanjit “Bunker” Roy was born in 1945 in Burnpur in West Bengal, India. His nickname “Bunker” comes from the Bengali habit of rhyming siblings’ names; his brother’s name was “Shanker.”

What changed the course of his life was the Bihar famine in the mid 1960s. He went to Bihar “out of curiosity,” he says, “to get to know another bit of India,” but the suffering he witnessed affected him deeply. Subsequently, much to his mother’s distress  he dedicated himself to improving the lives of the rural poor.

“How is it possible that some people live in such penury – and we go through the best of education but don’t give anything back?” Roy asks. It was this motivation that drove him in 1971, to found the Barefoot College in Tilonia.

He was selected as one of Time 100, the 100 most influential personalities in the world by TIME Magazine in 2010.

In 2002 he was selected for Geneva-based Schwab Foundation’s award.

Watch Mr. Roy’s inspiring TEDX talk in the video below:

With his abiding compassion for the rural poor in his native India, Sanjit “Bunker” Roy,  has nurtured a grass-roots social entrepreneurship that is redefining the way the world thinks about fighting poverty.

As he says, Barefoot College is “a place of learning and unlearning: where the teacher is the learner and the learner is the teacher.”

“Roy’s idea is that India and Africa are full of people with skills, knowledge and resourcefulness who are not recognised as engineers, architects or water experts but who can bring more to communities than governments or big businesses.”

How You Can Help

The Barefoot College draws on a mix of resources, such as the Government of India, International funding agencies, private foundations, as well as corporate and individual sponsors, for applying cost-effective and self-sustainable Barefoot solutions in remote, rural villages of India and abroad.

Partners as well as donors provide the crucial support needed to replicate the Barefoot approach. So far, it has been replicated in 17 states of India, 15 countries in Africa, 2 countries in Asia and 1 country in South America. Any contribution, monetary or voluntary in nature, helps the College in social developments of poor, rural communities. For instance, a contribution of:-

• $100 educates one child in a night school for 6 months.
• $250 helps in fabrication and maintenance of one solar lantern in a poor rural household; thereby providing light for 4 hours every night for at least 2 years.
• $500 pays for the installation and maintenance of one fixed solar lighting unit in a rural non-electrified household, and provides it 4 hours of light for at least 5 years.
• $1,000 trains 5 semi-literate women to become Barefoot computer instructors in 6 months.
• $5,000 will install a rainwater harvesting tank in a rural school to collect 50,000 litres of water that will provide 50 children with drinking water for 6 months, or will solar-electrify 10 households and train 2 rural, semi-literate or illiterate women to become Barefoot Solar Engineers in 6 months.

(Those who wish to make a contribution can do so on www.tilonia.com Friends of Tilonia Inc., a US-based 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization, will provide 100% of your tax-deductible contribution to the Barefoot College for the programs you have chosen to support).

To know more about the Barefoot college and how you can help, please visit this link

When Europeans first came they could drink out of the river water in Native American land.If they had lived like the Indians, they would be able to drink the river water today, as the air is sacred, the water is sacred. Our DNA is the same as tree – the relationship between humans and the tree is symbiotic. We are all from the earth and when the earth water, atmosphere is corrupted then it will create it’s own reaction.

The world has become a “market” and this market we have to deal with. There are boundless and endless resources- but resources are actually our family and they deserve our respect. The structure of the world is such that it functions on natural law- natural law is based on regenerative growth. If you challenge natural law, you are bound to fail because the natural law has no mercy. The earth has it’s own process and if it comes to the point where humanity disappears, earth will continue to exist and the world, no matter what damage you have done to it will regenerate and re green except there would not be any people- because it’s got all the time in the world.

As you come down the final stretch and you face a stone wall, you do not stop but instead accelerate- that is a corollary to excessive use of resources leading to disaster. Every day that you don’t do what is right, you have lost an option – no tree is grown alone- it is grown in a community which provides natural medicines- so by destroying the trees, you are destroying the communities and life, Replanting trees is not replanting the community- you would have lost a community. Of 100 dominant economic units in our day, 49 are countries and 51 are corporations- corporations are the driving force of decision making today and they are not concerned with the community, human lives – these corporate states can destroy the world. People have to become aware and awake- they need to challenge the existing paradigm which is driven by economy, not community. Everyone should be a leader. It is your duty to look after all life- you have to look after the trees, the fish, the animals, everything that grows, everything with life

Small efforts can make a big difference-we all can. If living a little simple, we make this world a better and  beautiful place, is it not worth a try? GREEN YATRA, as the name implies, has embarked on a journey to safekeep Mother Nature for future generations. The journey unfolded as Dr. Pradeep Tripathi, Executive Director, Green Yatra,  informs us, in Mumbai (2009), when idols of Ganesha floating on the beaches following Ganesh Chaturthi festival led to the germination of GO GREEN movement to rescue marine life from being throttled. The campaign begun with a conviction by Dr. Pradeep Tripathi and Durgesh Gupta, has burgeoned into a movement today with 400+volunteers and 50+interns, committed to ensure a ‘Clean, Green and Pollution-free Mother Earth.’

- Kawaldeep Kour, Youth Leader India

Envisioning a safe secure habitat for the future has been the motivation for innovation at Green Yatra, with initiatives as Go GREEN Ganesha, Go GREEN Kids and Zaroorat-A Need (launching shortly). Driven with a passion and fired with extraordinary vision to protect and preserve the natural ecosystem for all living creatures, Green Yatra intends to inform, enlighten and educate on the efficacy of how every small conscious effort made by each individual can make a great difference to save Mother Nature. Promotion of environmental sustainability through education, campaign and community participation, creating mass awareness among people to recognize their personal positive and negative impact on earth, environment and global warming and promoting activities to minimize their negative impact on the same through daily lives small efforts is what the GO GREEN movement strives for. Operating from   Bhayandar (East) Thane, in Mumbai, Green Yatra networks with NGO’s across India. Expansion plans in major cities across India are also on the anvil.

Clean up at Bhayandar-Chowpatty by Green Yatra

As Dr. Pradeep believes, ‘Every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson.’It is his vision and belief that has transformed an initiative into a movement-‘To be the Change and Bring the Change.’GREEN YATRA have had its share of challenges- funds, support and association from government and corporates, which have been both difficult and motivating. Support and appreciation from people who felt inspired by this ennobling mission have been pouring in along with positive results of efforts to bring change for nature and society as well.

Go GREEN Kids @ SHREE RAJENDRA HONEYCOMB ORPHAN CHILDREN HOME

What has been the propellant at GREEN YATRA? It is the sheer joy and dream come true, as we are informed, of trust, goodwill and popular support that the initiative has come to enjoy. Its recent enterprise –of involving the future generation to save the enviornment for future generations has led to the Go GREEN Kids - a unique, innovative International environmental educational and practical initiative where children get a chance to be part of the campaign, talk shows, Eco-natural picnics, tree plantation workshops and lots more. Till now it has garnered the support of approximately 5 million plus students in various schools across India and they hope to involve 200+ million children across India. While ZAROORAT – A Need, is meant to a self-sustainable effort with plans to set up 500+ collection centers across Mumbai where donations of books, clothes, stationary, home appliances, utensils etc. These would be collected, sorted sewed, packed, transported and distributed to the rural areas & urban slums throughout India.

Calling people charged up with enthusiam and passion for nature to devote time and energy to the pursuit of a worthy cause, GREEN YATRA, voices a recurring need  of youth to pursue social entrepreneurship as not just a career but as a ‘social necessity.’It is undoubtedly a great responsibility and the pursuit of it has its rewards and challenges. At GREEN YATRA, the voyage has just commenced- the expedition to spread the green voice to save Mother Earth.

For all you nature lovers, its

www.greenyatra.org

http://zaroorat-a-need.blogspot.com.

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About the author

Kawaldeep Kour: I am a Research Scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Reading is a passion and Writing- a self satisfying experience. I strongly believe in the power of dreams and visualise myself as a Dream Maker. Weaving magic with words is what I wish to accomplish.

Mere solutions of critical and perennial problems do not entice the stakeholders, what truly catches their attention and take them by astonishment is the simplicity of the thought process in crafting the anatomy of the solution. Solutions, by the virtue of the definition, are not non-existent; all that remains to be done is excavation. The treat becomes doubly sumptuous if the path to the solution is simple, linear, and uncluttered. One exemplary case of such simplistic approach to solve the long existing issue of illiteracy is Parijat Academy, founded by Uttam Teron.

– Devashish dhar, Youth Leader India

Birth of an idea

One who is empathetic towards the society feels its pain as a fellows-sufferer. Uttam realized the need of the solution when he witnessed, “The poor tribal children of my village, ones which were not going to school and were not interested to attend school used to roam dangerously near by stone quarry aimless. The sight made me think to start a small school at my home.” It did not take a high degree of effort for him to see the gap in the society, an inherent quality of an educated mind and compassionate soul. In fact, his dream aligned with the solution. Uttam, a young man from Pamohi (20 km from Guwahati), had an ambitious dream for 100% literacy in his village. For the same he used his expertise he gained after graduating in 1999 from a city college where he was active member of the Guwahati Zilla Moina Parijat, a local group working with children’ giving them training in leadership, music, physical education etc. He happily concludes, “I was training kids anyway and decided to set up a school at home to take kids around my village under my wings.”

Street play for kids

Time for pre-school

How Uttam defied the basic logic of preparing first and then taking the challenge remains a highlight of his initiative. Instead, he scaled his preparation while actively taking up the cause. He exclaims, “Parijat Academy started in 2003 with four students.”

Uttam was born to a train driver father and a homemaker mother who never went to school; he invested the Rs 800 he had earned as a private tutor in constructing a room with a tin roof and bamboo walls. Parijat got its first classes. With the remaining amount, a pair of desks and benches was procured from a village carpenter. Nothing is more motivating than an example of immense human grit, courage, and risk absorption.

Taking tests and exams

Uttam is quick to admit that Parijat academy’s journey was frequently inundated with tests; though, they remained miniscule in comparison to the task that lies ahead. He recalls the mindset of the villagers as, “When I asked the

Czech volunteers

villagers to send their children to my school, they said that education is useless for their children. If our children work with their parents in jobs such as collecting firewood, their family will be in gain.”

He further adds that the culture of disruption of societal activities owing to incidents deeply impact the education in the area. “In Assam, the Band culture could halt activities by different groups in state or a district.” Further, he attributes the economic limitations of the area as an undercurrent for the slow development of educational activities. He explains, “Assam lacks behind others state of India in due to the poverty/major flood problem. The plain areas are damaged by floods while face the problem of communication. Together they impact development in the field of education.”

While he chalks the social impediments as, “here in Assam the major tribes live in rural areas. Moreover, the tribal people not much aware on education.” He briefly mentions the cultural factors as well, “Where dowry/early child marriage system is prevalent and the many tribes have their own different culture and dialect.”

Though, he has managed to take up the economic limitations for the institution on his own and external support. The major limitations existed in the form of paying fees to teachers, have basic medical amenities and provide books for education.

Passing the matriculation

After eight years of rigorous effort and unflinching determination, Uttam now proudly proclaims, “Today at our school there are 508 children studying from Nursery to Class 10 with free education. Out of the total, 256 are girls” What further complements the celebration: “Now the tribal people realize that education is important.”

It does not require a mind of high intellect to realize that reasoning similar to that of Uttam Teron might have been a driving force behind the Right to Education Act. India witnessed a momentous period in 2010, when the Government passed the Right to Education Act, 2010. Thus, a lot has changed for Uttam and for Indians. What seemed as a prerogative of fortunate people has now been drawn as a level of subsistence for all Indian citizens. Though, we shall always remain indebted to Uttam for taking a cause seven years before it translated into an Act and which has found supporters in one and all. In fact, he stands in stark contradiction to state governments which claim the Act as absurd and shredded with hidden motives.

Uttam is all praises for the Act, though he mentions, “Only degree is not enough for a teacher to teach children. He needs to have passion and interest for the profession.  Children need more motivation. Teaching should be skill/job oriented in higher class towards learning for earning.  If this goes properly it may reduce poverty.” A progressive mind hardly rest on glories; instead, prepares meticulously for the tasks at hand.

Preparing for graduation

Uttam Teron

Uttam, vindicated and optimistic, has now bigger plans for his academy. He believes employability is the next logical step for education at his academy. He has a plan in place to logically transit kids from basic education to vocational training. He considers, “I am giving more attention on vocational skill development with formal education at Parijat Academy. Without skill, in today’s world, it is tough to sustain. My plan is to provide Vocational Skill Training for the youth between 18-30 years with 90 days training model and plan for placement. Here youth will also hone their communication and computer skills. The students will have a minimum education till Class 8 or class 10 and the program will be focused on Learning for Earning.”

Uttam believes that it does not matter how many people join the cause. Instead, the quality and passion is more important. He says, “Do something for the society. Need not ask what society will give us. It’s our duty what we can do for our society. Parijat Academy work is small but trying to do sincerely for the underprivileged with limited resource. If somebody wants to serve the cause, do from heart.”

Uttam Teron can be contacted at: Parijat Academy, PO. Garchuk, Guwahati, 781035, Assam.

E-mail: parijatacademy03@yahoo.com. Mobile: 098640-41711

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About the author

Devashish Dhar: I am an Equity Analyst by profession and based out of Gurgaon. A graduate from India’s pioneer undergraduate B-School – CBS, I am currently working in a financial research firm.  A staunch believer of – ‘ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’, I pursue my interest in political developments, international development, public policy, and history after my work hours. I am also a voracious reader and world cinema enthusiast, along with having interests in swimming and music. Going by my belief – ‘This is the best time to be an Indian to make a worthy difference’, in the long run I wish to work towards infusing contemporary and robust fundamentals in India’s public policy

Every athlete knows pain as a constant companion – for it is the only hurdle in that quest for the top, and it is the ability to deal with it that separates men from boys. Here too, as in most of life’s metaphors, it is the journey rather than the goal that shapes the individual, putting that ‘steel in one’s’ step as the quip goes.

Cycling, of which most of us have surrendered to during some part of our lives, is an activity that can survive anywhere from the urban chaos to absolute remoteness. While the world gloats upon the former with the Lance Armstrong-s (who, incidentally, is not such a bad rider off the road as well) of the world, mountain biking is often wrongly conceived as the haunt of unruly adrenaline junkies; what makes it even more ironical is the fact that it is an Olympic sport, thereby certifying the activity as a ‘discipline’ rather than a time pass for rowdy teenagers.

– Parth Joshi, Youth Leader India

As a well deserved reprieve, the trend is now changing for the better. Although still confined to the backyards to a large extent, the sport has really organized itself during the past couple of decades, with international organizations and consortiums coming together and giving a ‘shape’ to the sport, lending it a structure through rules and regulations, infrastructure, management and liaisons, sponsorships and certifications (the International Mountain Biking Association is one such example), and associations with other forms of cycling events (BMX, stunt riding, downhill, XC etc.). Off road cycling today has become a composite of all such events managed under one umbrella with accredited events held all over the globe, thereby making the sport viable for sponsors to put some money  into the sport, thereby making it a feasible career choice for talented riders.

In India, the ages old stigma of ‘academics v/s sports’ has still persists in an age where alternative career choices are no longer a scarcity. With the increasing commercialization of cricket and droplets of glory in other sports like Olympic medals, the sports infrastructure is getting a boost, especially with the implications of the biophilia hypothesis worrying the modern Indian ruing the lack of physical fitness; but the general perception is still unwavering, with not many considering sports as a viable career option. Add a sport like mountain biking with high levels of risk and steep cost of equipment (and virtually no sponsorships or monies in any other form), and disapproval lies served on a platter. A large portion of the lower strata of the society in urban areas still rely on cycling as means of transport, and it has always been the preferred mode of door-to-door transport in rural areas. Moreover, with cycling gaining momentum as an alternative form of urban transport to reduce congestion and pollution, the momentum is in the right direction.

Bike touring, although not popular or widespread, has existed in India for quite a while now, especially in the southern parts of the country, but it was intermittently sparked by entrepreneurs undertaking the suffering for a social cause or dedicated youngsters with sufficient means to fund their hobby. The surge during the past decade can to a large extent be attributed to the It boom and the consequent economic growth at the turn of the century. The result was that a large mass of youth who were interested in adventure activities were now equipped with sufficient disposable incomes to fuel their passion (one can still see that a majority of adventure enthusiasts are based around IT and industrial hubs like Bangalore, Pune, Chennai etc.).

Imagine trying to organize an international mountain biking event in India in such a scenario, and one can easily imagine the daunting road ahead. However, bracing the rough tide, Mohit Sood and a group of friends started MTB Himachal in 2005, billed as one of the toughest MTB races in the world with tracks amounting to 500 kms over a period of eight days with altitudes reaching upto 3, 000 mts. The first five races editions featured a route from Shimla to Manali, but from 2010, a circular loop has been devised from and to Shimla, meaning better management and logistics. Seeing participation from countries like US, Austria, Germany, Nepal and Bhutan, the event has now built up a reputation for itself, and has a good number of sponsors with TI Cycles (of the Hercules brand fame) as the principal sponsor and support from Himachal Tourism and Incredible India campaign.

I had the opportunity to cycle through the first two days of the race and it was one of the toughest and most competitive trails I’ve ever come across. Catching up with Mohit for a brief chat (for nothing more was possible with the track beating everything out of us riders), we had his views upon the event as it has grown from being an enthusiast’s  fancy idea to one of the premier cycling events in the country.

Parth: What was the idea behind the event?

Mohit: It was simply a passion for the outdoors, and from a need of finding good tracks to race on, it grew into an aim of promoting the beautiful and often neglected Himalayan backcountry to the outer world, exploring new frontiers and territories and making it an enriching experience for everyone involved.

Parth: What were the difficulties faced?

Mohit: Raising monies for operations and prizes, getting sponsors and publicizing the event. Getting good, dedicated people to man the operations was also a problem.However, with the event having grown in stature over the years and mountain biking emerging as a popular form of recreation in the country, we see a bright future for the event.

Parth: How has the support been from the authorities?

Mohit: We have had excellent support from the government, especially the Department of Tourism, Government of Himachal Pradesh, who have been very gracious in assisting us with the logistics, permissions and other arrangements.

Parth: How do you manage the environmental/ socio-cultural impacts?

Mohit: We have environment partners (local bodies, NGOs) who not only manage proper waste disposal at break points and campsites, but also educate the volunteers, riders and local population on garbage disposal, conservation and the deep bong between nature and cycling which makes littering a sacrilege.

We also interact closely with locals, encouraging them to involve themselves in the event and not be a bystander, which we believe is the primary reason why local populations often become antagonistic.

Parth: Future plans for the event?

Mohit: We want mountain biking to grow as the sport in the country as it is the biggest adventure sport in the world, we are constantly on the lookout for more locations in association with local groups and associations, and are working towards involving more enthusiasts and cycling groups and associations across the country to organize frequent and professionally managed events and rides across the country.

One can visit the MTB Himachal website and check out their Facebook page. But we’d rather you’d just pick up a bike and start riding your way to those grueling but life changing trails.

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About the author

Parth Joshi: I work as a marketing no-good, while away time, squander on monkey see, monkey do idiosyncrasies, and think of myself as the cleanest dirty soul around! Love to wander, cycle, click, scribble… If all the world was apple pie and all the seas were ink and all the trees were bread and cheese what would we have to drink?!

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar.

According to a report by BBC from September 19th, 2009 with the title ” Meeting India’s tree planting guru”, SM Raju organised 300’000 villagers from 7,500 Villages from Bihar state in a mass tree planting ceremony held on August 30th, 2009. As per the BBC, report the target was the plantation of one billion trees within a single day from 6 am to 6 pm.

Compiled by Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma

OK, folks. We thought we’re cool by off-setting a few grams of CO2. Here’s how to go at it. Yes, you CAN do this in your place, if people wake up. What a legend! Check out Raju:

The ‘green’ man

Raju is a senior civil servant presently posted as Commissioner of Tirhut Division in Bihar, India. He has introduced innovations in the field of poverty elimination through social forestry at the bottom line of economic pyramid in rural Bihar. He has also integrated the Indian government’s rural employment scheme (NREGA) to forest development.

Raju has served the state of Bihar for the last 18 years. He hails from the state of Karnataka is an Agriculture Science graduate. Born in a village called Sultanpet, Chikkaballapur District (Karnataka, India) on 3 July 1960 in a family of farmers, he was christened Sultanpet Munilakkappa Raju.

Achievements

Raju’s work has led to an increase in environment related consiciousness in the government of Bihar, which has earmarked a sum of Rs. 700 crore (Approximately 150 million US dollars) for this project for a period of three years. Rural Bihar underwent an extreme level of depletion of forest cover in the last fifty years, resulting in massive level of drought and flood in the past decades.

His past achievements include the redevelopment of Mahabodhi temple and its precincts in Bodh Gaya as the District Magistrate of Gaya in the late 90s. It is believed that Gautama Buddha received enlightenment there. The project was supported by the Overseas Economic Co-opratiive Fund, Bihar. Through the efforts of Raju, the temple complex received world heritage monument recognition by UNESCO.

‘Lack of awareness’

Raju has linked his “social forestry” programme to the central government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which is also designed to provide employment to poor people.

I told the villagers that they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them SM Raju. Under NREGA – initiated in February 2006 as the government’s most ambitious employment generation scheme for poor people – the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year to members of families living below the poverty line.

About 44% of Bihar’s population falls into this category. “The scheme has brought benefits to thousands of families since its implementation,” said a recent International Labour Organisation report. But Mr Raju says that Bihar – being the poorest and most lawless state of India – has not been able to spend the allocated NREGA funds. “This is because of a lack of awareness among officials about the scheme,” he said.

The poor monsoon this year has led to lower agricultural outputs, while flash floods in some northern districts have made the situation even worse, he said.

“So the idea struck to my mind, why not involve families below the poverty line in social forestry and give them employment under this scheme for 100 days?

“Under the scheme, each family can earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210).”

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The path he followed

The civil servant immediately made a blueprint of his idea and got the support of senior state officials.

In June Mr Raju released a comprehensive booklet of “dos and don’ts” and distributed it to village heads and district officials. His initiative meant that NREGA funds were fully utilised – in the past this has not always been the case.

“I told the villagers that they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them. The old, handicapped and widows would be given preference,” he explained.

Every village council has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings – a group of four families has to plant 200 seedlings and they must protect them for three years till the plants grow sturdier.

“They would get the full payment if they can ensure the survival of 90% of the plants under their care. For a 75-80% survival rate, they will be paid only half the wage. If the survival rate is less than 75%, the families in the group will be replaced,” the guidelines say.

Under NREGA rules, each worker has to be paid 100 rupees ($2) per day for 100 days in a year.

World record

Recently, he made a world record by planting 9.6 million plants in a single day with the help of villagers in the state of Bihar, India. The Guinness Book of World Records registered the plantation of 5,41,176 saplings on a single day on July 15, 2009, in Pakistan. However, the state of Bihar broke the record by planting almost 20 times more trees on a single day, although this has not been included in the book as of December 2009.

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Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8257563.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M._Raju

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About the author

Samarpita Mukherjee-Sharma – Practical, yet a romantic — I thrive on the smell and sound of paper binded together into fiction. My dream career still being that of a bartender and an author, I currently write and edit to make money and spin stories for the little ones to make myself happy. With a Masters in Economics as well as Mass Media, I hope to successfully use my knowledge and expertize to help change makers reach out to the rest of the world. I also hope to have my own short stories for children published in some time.

Mail->samarpita.youthleader@gmail.com

Some of us dream about happiness, new house, new car, new job, while others look for love. But, at the end don’t we all have just one and truly desire? Desire to live, to wake up every other morning, being thankful for that new day, new hope, new beginning… new life? The answer is positive. Although there are people whose chances are fading or those who never get to that point of even asking for any chance, that doesn’t mean that chances do not exist. They do, but the question is, do you believe in your faith?

By Nadica Mitreska, Youth-Leader Magazine

Women for Women International is a humanitarian organization that provides financial and emotional support to women survivors of war and reinstate their faith. Projecting a lot of different programs they help women to achieve self-sufficiency through education, job skills, training or direct aid. Since their beginning in 1993, when it was founded by Zainab Salbi, Women for Women International has been lighting up the faith of more than 299,000 woman survivors of war and conflict and helping them to overcome the horrors of war and rebuild their lives, after family loss, widowhood, rape, murder, forced migration, poverty starvation, trafficking and torture.

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Zainab Salbi was  born in 1970 in Baghdad, Iraq. Experiencing a difficult childhood, because of her family’s psychological abuse from Saddam Hussein, since then she knew what was her mission to this world is to be – to dedicate her life helping all women around the world.

In the early 1990s, Zainab Salbi and her husband Amjad Atallah, heard stories about women of former Yugoslavia, many of whom were raped and forced into concentration camps. They wanted to help, but because there wasn’t any organization that addressed these injustices and egregious wrongs. So, they themselves founded an organization with the main purpose of creating “sister-to-sister” connections between sponsors in the United States and woman survivors of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With the support of other concerned individuals, who tried to show that the world hasn’t forgotten about war survivors, they started Woman for Woman International with budget of only 9000 dollars and a team of eight woman volunteers. From then on, Woman for Woman International has helped and supported woman-war survivors not only from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also from other parts of  the world as, Rwanda, Kosovo, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Columbia and also had established one-to-one connections with more than 23.300 sponsors in the United States and 55 other countries.

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As a result of the gained experience in the field, the organization beside the financial assistance, that alone haven’t been enough to make deeper change in women’s life, today they have created different programs in order to develop their marketable skills, cultivate an understand in for their position and their rights and also learn to create secure ways to earn money for years to come, and all of that just to help these women to rebuild their lives, to overcome war experience and become an active member of our community.

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Furthermore, Women for Women International could not provide direct financial and emotional support to women living on the margins of hope without the backing of a global community of dedicated staff, volunteers, generous donors and also global ambassador.

“In war we often see only the front line stories of soldiers and combat. AT TEDGlobal 2010, Zainab Salbi tells powerful “back line” stories of women who keep everyday life going during conflicts, and calls for women to have a place at the negotiating table once fighting is over.”

What an excellent COMMON SENSE, WISE and BRILLIANT IDEA: it’s about time to see it happen! Women bear a tremendous lot of suffering from wars started and run predominantly by men. Not to blame anyone, but to emphasise the supposedly collateral damage, which is too little considered, – the abuse, rape, forced pregnancy, torture by MEN TURNED BEASTS by the horrors of war and – in the truest sense of the word – infusing their lunatic pain into helpless, civilian women. Rape in war has been central and evident throughout history. This has to stop. And this matter has to be on centre stage of society – because young and old men may get drugged up by the idea of war glory and power, but we are far from the public glorification of rape; though one has reason to worry about what’s going on in some special film industry… there sure is some healing to do in some of its clients…

Let’s all work on improving this matter. As the New York Times titled, truly “Women and Girls are the Moral Issue of Our Times.” Putting private life warfare suffering on the table can help society’s overcome the rigid patterns of accepting and tolerating war… by raising awareness of The Other Side of War.

For audio and text bites of “The Other Side of War”, follow this link.

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan came forward and helped to perform Women to Woman International’s goal. She was rewarded with The Woman of the World Award as recognition for using her voice to speak on behalf of other women who have been silenced but the violence and chaos of war, worldwide.

“Empowering women today is, perhaps, the single greatest legacy we can bestow upon our children. Our daughters, watching in admiration, will be inspired to emulate our initiatives and excel in their chosen fields. Our sons, proud of the positive changes they see not only in their families but also in society, will recognize the value of empowering women. Ultimately, we will all benefit from a more cohesive and active global community, renowned for respecting each other and proud of the strong foundations it has built, together.” — Queen Rania of Jordan

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ARE YOU JOINING IN?!

Zainab started from Iraq to help women of Europe. History has returned a task of helping millions of women in a devastated Iraq. HOW ABOUT HELPING THIS MARVELLOUS ORGANISATION – and the hundreds of thousands they are helping , and making a SHIFT in international policies?

There are some great women and girls initiatives that you can learn about in YL. Join them, start local clubs. Raising awareness and self-empower yourselves about BEING Women Leaders, or joining ranks with them – as a boy and man is the start. There’s a lot to catch up on this matter, and every progress is a heartfelt celebration!

Here’s Aiki’s experience from the Girls& Women summit:

“Without a doubt the G(irls)20 Summit has triggered a positive change within me. It has helped me realize that in order to truly empower others, it’s important take time to self reflect. Today, I am a stronger woman than last year. A positive change in the lives of girls and women can impact the entire world as their persistent efforts generate waves of humanistic reforms. I am determined to be an active change maker – creating a better world for girls and women around the globe by empowering each individual to believe in their innate and boundless potential. I sincerely appreciate everyone that enabled me to participate in the Summit and wish the successive generations of delegates well.”

Give it a try!It rocks!

And for women affected by War?

Here is what you can do.

Or how about ADOPTING a region or city district with your School or University, like other programs adopt-a-village? YOU could enter long-term cooperation, dialogue via online video bridges, all sorts of things, and change the world-view of your community forever!

Sponsor a woman!

http://www.womenforwomen.org/sponsor-a-woman/sponsor-a-woman.php

Donate Today!

https://give.womenforwomen.org/donate/index.htm?wfw=webgen

Get involved!

http://www.womenforwomen.org/help-women/help-women-globally.php

Make a difference!

http://www.womenforwomen.org/help-women/make-a-difference-womans-life.php

Sources:

http://www.womenforwomen.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_for_Women_International

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About the author

Nadica Mitreska: Doing her Bachelor in Law, loves traveling, learning and helping People. She has worked for an NGO for HIV/AIDS projects and has also been an active person in Environmental Programmes. She feels “The world is a wonderful place, you just need to have positive thoughts and positive energy and you can do everything you are up for”. Mail > nadica.mitreska.youthleader@gmail.com

How exactly can we acquire the knowledge that is needed for making our planet healthier and greener? Where to kick-start our personal campaign for a sustainable green economy? How to proceed farther? The answers are all given in “The Young Activist’s Guide to Building a Green Movement and Changing the World”, an exciting, powerful, insightful, practical guide by Sharon J Smith.

It’s exactly the well planned, well practiced ideas and actions of award winning living heroes being portrayed on the pages that make this book so original. Unique in its own right. YL volunteer Nusrat has read it all and is up to share it all with you people:

For readers in general, especially for aspiring changemakers Sharon J Smith presents a book, unlike any other. It is an insightful as well as refreshingly surprising book which will help you climb the ladder; the ladder you must climb if you want to bring sustainable and significant GREEN positive change around your neighborhood and in your country. As you start climbing up, you will find tons of important tools, strategies and lessons in every single bar and rung of the ladder.

Unleash the unabashedly positive hero who lies in you. You might have already addressed some environmental concerns and probably you found your passion in GREEN movement like protecting environmental destruction by conserving the rainforests, by launching a community garden, by cleaning up the nearby beach, shutting down toxic waste dumps, protesting an oil company polluting the air that you inhale. Turn your passion into ACTION! You have no time to wait any longer.

Let Sharon Guide you; let her guidelines help you make the difference. Buy the book please. Let the book help you become the very best you that you can possibly be.

I have some deeply satisfying reasons as to why I am recommending you to read this book:

Our very own planet earth is being intimidated by tens of thousands of mindless, irresponsible man-made environmental challenges. Human life is endangered. Some seventeen thousand species are in the risk of extinction! We can’t just sit around watching climate crisis causing drought, untimely flooding, wildfires, increasing poverty and doing nothing. Billions of people started taking actions. We are a part of this planet so we need to step into our greatest self; we need to be a part of this activism in saving the world. Every single contribution, in its small or large scale, is vital.

In short, in her book Sharon discussed in detail on:

• Taking your first step in getting involved with an ecological cause. Great appetizer! The introductory pages will make you hungry for more information.
• Creating an ACTION PLAN. You’re gonna need the guidelines stated in this chapter, trust me.
• Spreading your message. Don’t you want to be heard? This chapter could help you BIG time.
• Lobbying politicians and get your message heard far and wide. There you go! Sharon is here with the info you have been looking for.
• Taking your campaign to the next big level-CORPORATE. Use your innovation to solve major challenges to create a new, green economy by going after BIG BRANDS, e.g, credit cards, banks, soft drinks, packaged foods, cell phones, clothing, electronics, music…what not. Make sure, you and your peers have enormous power to influence corporate practices. So what do you do with this power?…you have to read the book to learn about it .
• Holding a demonstration. “youth have a tremendous amount of power to influence any issue when they band together and demand CHANGE”. In this chapter, Sharon sheds light on how-when and other confrontational tactics to organize a peaceful protest. This chapter makes this book a must-read for young protesters who have decided to fight for a CAUSE.
• Ways to use media for publicity. Want to get your campaign a smashing success? -Capture the attention of the media. This is the most effective way of mobilizing thousands of fellow community members with your cause as well as reaching an audience of tens of millions of policy makers, educators, administrators, decision makers, allies. How?-Press release, blogging and…Go read the book yourself to know more ways.
• Methods to achieve financial support, fundraising. O my! This part is full of practical ideas; so extensive, so inspirational. Let me quote from this chapter, “Don’t assume that donations will stream in just because you are doing a fantastic job on your campaign. You have to ask. Get comfortable with NO. You’ll probably hear NO more than you will hear YES. Consider it is a success if you are hearing NO- that means you are doing your job as a fund raiser and making lots of asks!”

With a large dose of appreciation, with an enormous amount of integrity, Sharon depicted the fascinating stories of some fabulously fearless young eco-heroes. Awfully good…bigger-than-life accomplishments:

May Boeve, 21, Detroit, USA. Leader of Middlebury college’s action-oriented environmental and social justice group: The Sunday Night Group.

Erica Fernandez lead a four year long grueling protest against a multinational billion dollar corporation from setting up a liquefied natural gas facility in her community.

Alberta Nells, 16, founded Youth of the Peaks and started a huge, steady campaign to prevent a local ski resort from expanding which could have resulted in removal of 74 acres of trees. She saved the area held sacred by 13 Native American nations.

And many more…

This Bigness IS NO SMALL THING! Although they are just like us ordinary humans!!

An interview with Sharon:

Dying to learn about your new book, Young Activist’s Guide to Building a Green Movement and Changing the World. The title says it all but still can you give us a hint as to what it’s all about?

I wrote the book I wish I’d had when I began my activist journey—a how-to compendium with all sorts of tools and tips for campaigners, such as planning a campaign, recruiting supporters, raising money and attracting media attention.  This book can help novice activists translate ideas into actions and changes that matter.

I wanted to distill the strategies devised by young folks, and took the winners of Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards–America’s top honor for young green leaders—as the starting point for success stories.

Throughout the book I spotlight stories from youth like Jessie-Ruth Corkins, who saved her school $90,000 by greening its heating system for a science project, and Billy Parish, whose small student group became one of the most influential coalitions in America addressing climate change.  These eco-heroes have made headlines for passing legislation, founding nonprofits, and raising millions of dollars for sustainability–all before their twenty-third birthdays.

Green movement…sustainable future…young eco-heroes; are you optimistic about the fact that the dots are connecting?

I have spent more than a decade working primarily with students and youth on environmental campaigns of all stripes.  I found that youth are often semi- invisible heroes behind new groups founded, legislation passed, and the cessation of unsustainable practices. I’ve got to be optimistic: I’m seeing the growth of the movement on a massive scale.  When I started my activist journey I went to the EcoConference, the largest-ever conference of its type, with 1,000 students.  Just eight years later I went to a similar gathering with more than 10,000 youth!  How can I not be hopeful that we’ll figure out strategies to create a more sustainable future?

What’s the impact of the book so far? Practically. Are others replicating, joining?

I hope it’s been useful, but as an author I haven’t heard many reports from the field.  I know that some groups are using my book as a training manual for their new organizers, while just last week I heard that a group of organizers in the Baltic region were discussing my book at a regional conference, so it’s making its way around the globe!

Sharon (far right) goofing off with some winners of The Brower Youth Award on a camping trip

You’re a Program Advisor for Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards; as an ORGANIZER and ACTIVIST you’ve worked extensively with youth and student networks in the global justice, peace, and environmental movements. Recently you turned into a WRITER. Quite some achievements. What do you find to be the hardest part of your roles? And which one is the most fun part?

I just love working with other incredible people and together playing the role of David in a David and Goliath-style effort.  It’s incredible to win when the odds seem stacked against you!  And I do this work in part because I love the values and passion of the individuals I get to work with.

The most challenging part of my role is in adapting to the pace and intensity of the environmental threats.  For example, I’ve done a lot of work on forest protection and am totally in love with tropical forests, where I’ve worked and traveled for more than a year of my life.  Yet looking at an issue such as the burning of peat forests in Indonesia to make way for agribusiness, I don’t see citizen and NGO efforts keeping pace with rampant destruction.

Do you find it challenging to shift from Activist to Author? The thought of ‘becoming a best-seller author’ worries you?

I wouldn’t be worried about becoming a best-selling author—that would be incredible!  But I’m not shifting from an activist to an author.  I think of myself not as an author, but rather as an activist who wrote a book speaking to a critical issue for the young generations.

When you look back on your enormously successful career, is there anything you would’ve done differently? If so, what and why? If not, how do you manage to move forward without regrets?

At one point early in my career, I stepped back from taking on a position directing a campaign.  I was nervous about assuming the stress and responsibility for what was a very critical campaign, with a lot of coalition members.  I wasn’t sure I was able to lead the organization to victory with the skillset and experience I had at the time.  In retrospect, I think I should have taken on the challenge; I would have developed more skills, over time, to lead the campaign to victory, as well as a thicker skin to handle conflict.   But I don’t have regrets about many things in my career trajectory.  Like everyone, I made my past decisions for a reason, and I still honor the logic and emotion driving those decisions.

Aspiring changemakers at various career points — struggle with rejection, unsupportive friends or family members, mixed reviews, and their own insecurities.  Are you a stranger to these sorts of feelings?

I don’t think that any self-reflective person is a stranger to rejection, doubt, and insecurity.  More power to you, if you can avoid these feelings  As for the rest of us, these emotions and experiences are part of being human and struggling to live a life of meaning.  I heard a great piece of advice last year that I use to center my thinking: “humans are problem-creating machines.  Make sure the problems you’re focused on are worthy of your time.”  I can focus on my own limitations or challenges, or I can look at a bigger picture. Obstacles and challenges can help develop character, but the planet calls for us to move beyond our own self-doubt and obstacles to address the planetary challenges that are also worthy of our time and energy.

What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

I happened to be lucky in finding an agent and publisher for this book. Katherine Cowles of the Cowles-Ryan agency came to one of the award shows celebrating the recipients of the Brower Youth Awards.  She is a book agent, and afterwards she said, “I think we’ve got material for a book here.”  I agreed, as I’d been thinking the same thing for a few years.  Originally, we conceived of the book as a series of essays written directly by the Brower Youth Award recipients.  When we found a publisher, Ten Speed Press, they helped us shape the direction of the book as a how-to guide, and that’s when I decided to pen the book myself, with the help of the amazing community I had cultivated over ten years of activism.  I owe this book to early efforts by Katherine and my colleague Jason Mark at Earth Island, himself a published author, who helped dream this book into being.

If you have something to say that the world needs to hear, do everything in your power to share that vision.  Talk about it to everyone you meet; hopefully you’ll inspire someone who can introduce you to the right people you need to turn your dream into a real, published, resource for the world.  I’ve been amazed at how many people have said to me something along the lines of “I love to make other people’s dreams come true”.  Make sure people know what your dream is.  Nearly everything done of substance involves a community of folks who makes it happen—people just have to hear what your dream is, and they can them help you move it toward reality.

The book is no peekaboo game, fairytale, futuristic science flick. Neither is it a big-bang theory. It’s a book, a guideline to be exact, written with one single aim: To make you capable in changing the near-to-death gray world that we live in now into a greener, healthier, better one.

Order a copy of her book online at her book’s website:

www.buildagreenmovement.org

Know more:

http://www.amazon.com/Young-Activists-Building-Movement-Changing/dp/158008561X

http://www.broweryouthawards.org/article.php?list=type&type=54

Photo courtesy:

http://www.broweryouthawards.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=102

http://11thhouraction.com/node/3031

http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_brower_award

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About the author

Nusrat Azim: Outrageously passionate about bringing positive change in the youth group. Vegetarian, nature-loving, animal-loving Nusrat also loves music, movies, traveling and hula-hooping. Work experience with non-for-profit organizations as well as tough Corporate sectors in three continents built a friendly, disciplined, optimistic human out of her introvert being. Two Master degrees couldn’t quench her insatiable thirst for knowledge. She is learning every moment of everyday at every step of her life. She strongly believes that life is full of joyful-colorful-possibilities and humans have the potentials to turn themselves into ‘miracles’. Mail -> nusrat.azim.youthleader@gmail.com