Updates

The Right to Education (RTE) law has, at its roots, a wonderful philosophy to help alleviate the daunting issue in India of access to a decent education. RTE mandates that every private school reserve 25% of its 1st grade seats, or 7 seats (whichever is more), for children from marginalized and minority communities. The government gives each child rs2 (US$0.033) per day of school attended and provides uniforms, books and other essentials directly to the students. When KHEL started educating kids 30 years ago, we often paid parents to send their kids to us for education because many of the families were dependent on the few rupees a day that those kids were bringing home from begging on the streets – so we know that this can work, at least on a small scale. In addition to the rs2/day given to the parents, the government promises to pay the school whatever tuition fees would have been collected from the parents. KHEL charges a minimal amount anyway, and many of our kids are in school completely free of charge. We’ve been doing this for decades, so it would seem that nothing has changed at Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for under served children in Dehradun, India. If only that were the case! New regulations inevitably lead to more bureaucracy, more time interacting with that bureaucracy, and of course, more money spent, if only for the numerous trips to the Education Department to sort through all the red tape. There aren’t any other schools like LDA in Dehradun. We’re government recognised, secular, private, funded by donations, offering a free or heavily subsidised Hindi curriculum education taught by a well trained, dedicated and qualified faculty. Our support [...]

It’s been a challenging year at KHEL. We couldn’t save the life of one of our students, the monsoons were financially and emotionally devastating, our volunteers were threatened by an online stalker (who lived a little too close to ignore) and one volunteer/family member suffered a traumatic brain injury. Swami Veda, our spiritual preceptor, ardent KHEL supporter and former family member to some of us was extremely ill. Mrs. Lalita Arya (fondly known as Ammaji) co-founded KHEL with Swami Veda when he was Dr. Arya; she spent a great deal of time away from KHEL this year, caring for him. Challenges can be a blessing in disguise; we learned that we have faith in each other and that our team of volunteers and employees which runs KHEL is incredibly strong. We communicate and collaborate across great geographical and cultural distances and in the end this is what makes us resilient so we can continue serving the community in the face of often daunting circumstances. Whether the challenges we face are of a professional or personal nature and whether we are volunteers or employees, the kids still turn up to school expecting us to do our job of teaching them and keeping them well; that’s what we’ve done for the past 30 years and will continue to do in the future. The cost of doing business – and of doing good – continues to rise as India shifts from a third world country to a developing nation. KHEL must remain in good standing with the government; we use chartered accountants for our yearly audited reports and by maintain several types of government registrations. Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, India, is [...]

I arrived back in India not too long ago and it’s been a fun and crazy carousel ride, even more so than usual since my two sisters, Sharada and Shanta, and my brother, Sat, were with me. We attended a family wedding in a village a couple of days travel from Dehradun and then continued on to visit several cities.We checked in at the Ramada Inn in Varanasi, one of the oldest inhabited cities of the world, also known as the City of Light. I was with my siblings having a wonderful time, not really thinking about KHEL or the work that was most likely piling up back home. Hotels in India are working hard to cater to tourists, so the employees usually dressed in Western style clothes, speak English and tend to greet the guests with ‘Welcome’ or ‘Good afternoon’. I wasn’t surprised to see a professional young woman approaching me, dressed in a Ramada Inn blazer and pants. But I was surprised when, with a big smile on her face, she folded her hands in the traditional way of greeting and said, ‘Namaste, Mataji’. I realised that I recognised this young woman – after all, I’ve known her since she was a five year old little girl at KHEL’s school in Dehradun. I was overcome with emotion.Sarita, fondly known as Ruchi, told me a little of the journey that brought her to the Ramada Inn in Varanasi. As a child at Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, she would listen with wonder to the guests who came to visit her and her friends. She told herself that someday she’d be able to speak English, which is one of [...]

The October 2nd birthday of the ‘Father of the Indian Nation’, Mahatma Gandhi, is a national holiday and celebrated with great vigor and prayers. Since schools are closed on Gandhiji’s birthday, the students at Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA) KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, India, observe and celebrate the day before; the teachers speak to the students about Gandhiji’s life, his dedication to non-violence and what it means in practical terms to lead a nonviolent life. At KHEL, we practice the spirit of this every day; for example, in most Indian schools corporal punishment is still the norm for disciplining students. At LDA, our faculty and staff treat the kids with respect, and violence of any kind is unheard of. In yoga philosophy and the Himalayan Tradition one of the first lessons in Yamas and Niyamas include the practice of non-violence in thought, word and deed...indeed difficult to practice unless inculcated from childhood and later by deliberate action in adulthood. It took Gandhiji several years, lots of persistence and discipline to make this his life’s philosophy, but in the end his perseverance and that of his followers won and India gained independence from the British in 1947.I watched the interview of Jon Stewart, an American comedian and political commentator, with the now famous 16 year old Swat Valley teenager, Malala, and was amazed at her equanimity, wit, precise language and most of all her lilting laughter. What was most incredible was her statement about what she would do if one of her attackers came to harm her. Among other things, she said that she was only 14 years old when she was threatened and warned by the terrorists to stay away from school and [...]

At Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Teachers’ Day has a special significance – our teachers are so much more to our kids; they are the first line of defense in KHEL’s continuing struggle against poverty and lack of education. Without them, KHEL’s administrative staff wouldn’t know when a child or their family is having a particularly difficult time and need more than the usual amount of assistance. The teachers that have stayed with KHEL for many years have an extraordinary commitment to our mission and often go above and beyond the call of duty. In addition to their regular teaching duties, this year they have supported our kids through the death of a classmate, kept us informed on medical issues that could adversely affect some of our kids and they even cleaned two feet of mud and dirt out of the school building so that the kids could come back to a clean, safe environment. Beni, KHEL’s General Manager, sent this report:‘For Teachers’ Day, our older students enjoy planning a program of dances and songs for their teachers. They do this on their own, with one or two of the teachers monitoring that the presentation is appropriate for all the kids, as sometimes older students aren’t aware that the younger ones shouldn’t be exposed to certain songs or music. This year, the kids were happy to share with us songs and dances from the Garhwal region of the mountains where many of our families come from. Of course, they also presented some of the popular movie dances and songs from Bollywood!It’s customary to invite local guests to this event. This year we were pleased to welcome our MLA [...]

Manju is the Headmistress at Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Her duties include hiring and managing faculty and other school staff, keeping accurate student and financial records, dealing with student related challenges and working with Beni, KHEL’s General Manager, on regulatory and educational compliance issues. But that’s not all she does; Manju is deeply committed to KHEL’s mission to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children. She has bathed filthy children under the School’s outside tap, cooked meals for hungry kids and comforted families who have lost a child. Most important, Manju keeps us informed about the kids’ home lives so we know when a family needs extra help, which often has meant the difference between a child staying in school or dropping out. The last couple of months have been hard on the whole community. But the kids are back at school and Manju is determined to maintain a sense of normalcy at LDA so that the children have some stability, regardless of what else is going on in their lives. Here’s what she has to say about the past two months:‘July was a very bad month for LDA. There was very heavy rainfall and the school filled with two feet of mud when the Rispana River broke its banks and flooded the neighborhood; this mud isn’t clean, it’s full of garbage from the overflowing river, and with water borne diseases. We waited until the water had receded and then all KHEL’s staff got together and with some additional cleaning help, cleaned very thoroughly so it would be a safe environment for the children to come back to. It was a big mess, but we finally were able [...]

Mukesh, our Art and Music Teacher, lost so much during the recent disaster. A photo of the devastation in his village was in the local Dehradun paper. We asked permission from that publication to use the photo on our website and Facebook page and promised to give them a photo credit. At the height of this horrible disaster, they thought only of themselves and said no. Beni, KHEL’s General Manager, decided to lend Mukesh KHEL’s camera and gave him paid time off to go back to his village to document the disaster. Mukesh traveled through dangerous areas to bring us this report:‘My name is Mukesh Singh. I am the son of Mr. Gyan Singh of Village Ganga Nagar, local area Patwari Pshalidhar, Sub division Ukhimath and District Rudra Prayag. My family lives in the village of August Muni. I am a teacher at Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.People from my area in the mountains need more basic living help, and basic food. It is about 180km (111 miles) from Dehradun, and about 20 km (12 miles) from Rudra Prayag to August Muni. It might not seem like a far distance, but with broken roads and mudslides, it is very dangerous.It was 16-17 June when we lost our home in Mandakini River, which comes from Kedarnath. In this flood my family’s home and shops were all washed away, along with more than 30 other homes. Before this disaster we had 4 shops and a 6 room home; now we don’t have even a single room. All the families who lost their homes are living in tents, renting rooms from some people who didn’t lose their homes, or have been [...]

Judy-Ann E., a teacher at The Blake School in Minneapolis, MN, commits a portion of her summer break to take Blake student volunteers to OpCamp, a summer camp for underprivileged children in Mineral Wells, TX. As always, the volunteers and the kids had a wonderful experience! But this time they wanted to do something special for the school district of West, TX, where there was massive explosion at a fertilizer plant earlier this year. The towns of West and Mineral Wells are almost neighbors, and the explosion affected many people, businesses and schools in the area. Three of West’s schools were damaged and even with government aid and a full scale investigation there isn’t currently enough money to rebuild all the schools. Judy-Ann arranged for KHEL’s small grant to be used to show solidarity with the West School District and the people of West. After returning to Minnesota, she sent us this report and photos:‘Service breeds more service!With KHEL’s grant, we purchased 100 4" x 4" canvasses and markers.  If you will recall, the fertilizer plant that exploded in Texas destroyed schools. Since the kids of Mineral Wells receive a service by being able to attend Op Camp, I thought it would be good for them to do a service project for the West, TX, schools.These photos are of the mural the Op Camp campers made for West School District where the explosion occurred. The campers, with the help of our great volunteers, painted squares and helped assemble the mural. Then, everyone put their initials on the outside border edge of the canvas.  The smiles on the campers when they saw the what they had created was incredible! The community of Mineral Wells will deliver [...]

The monsoon rains in June were disastrous. In Uttarakhand, boulders, mud and pieces of the Himalayas gave way under heavy rainfall and erosion. The well organised Indian military evacuated thousands of tourists and pilgrims but the people of the mountain areas who have lost everything have nowhere to go; many of them are stranded in the mountains or are slowly making their way to Dehradun, where KHEL is located. There are many people unaccounted for; the probable missing and dead will be at least 6-10,000. Entire villages are buried under several feet of mud; hundreds of homes and businesses were swept away, and several holy sites were badly damaged or have disappeared. The Indian government and many NGO’s are working hard to restore some semblance of normality and safety to the area. This isn’t going to happen overnight, or even within a year; for many mountain people, going back to their former lives won’t be an option – homes, businesses and family members are gone. Insurance for replacing lost property is non-existent, as is life insurance for those who have lost family members.At KHEL, we’ve only started to assess the damage. Shiv Puri Colony, where Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for under privileged children is located, was flooded twice. The first round of flooding filled LDA with two feet of water and mud. The second flooding tore away the wall that holds back the Rispana River, causing severe damage to many homes, businesses, roads and drainage and sewage facilities. Like many of KHEL’s staff, Mukesh, LDA’s art teacher, has family in the mountains. He’d gone up to his village to get engaged; two days later, his family’s business was completely destroyed, and his family’s [...]

Beni, KHEL’s General Manager, has had intermittent internet connection because of the severe monsoons in Dehradun. In between cleaning water and mud out of his own home and helping his wife, Kamli, with her City Councilor duties in the flood ravaged colony of Shiv Puri where Lakshmi Devi Academy (LDA), KHEL’s school for underserved children is located, he found a few minutes to take some photos and send this report:‘There are a lot of NGO’s sending supplies for the mountain areas but most of it is sitting in Dehradun and the food donations are rotting. At this time all the focus is on the tourists/pilgrimage people. In a few days most of them will be able to go home but the losses to the villages in the mountains are terrible. Many people have lost their family members, homes, farms, businesses and animals. Many mountain people use mules for transporting goods to markets to sell, so the loss of the animals makes it impossible for them to make any money. Some farms are okay, but the roads are all gone so they can’t sell what they have grown. It will be a big challenge for all of them to survive, especially in the winter. There are already camps around Dehradun where the mountain people are coming. They will need help with food, clothes, medicines and other needs. We’ve had a really hard time here in Shiv Puri Colony [Beni’s living room is pictured above]. The Rispana River which comes from the flooded Rajpur hills has twice broken the stone wall that protects the Colony, on June 16th and 25th. On June 16th LDA was flooded with two feet of water. On the 25th morning about 3:30am, [...]