So, you read the newsletter, bought the T-shirt, and came to the fund-raiser… but you feel as if you could do so much more to help your charity of choice! I was in your shoes over two years ago, when the usual avenues of giving back to my community were simply not enough. That’s when I decided to create my own website so that I may be able to attract attention and funding, inspire similarly-minded individuals, and ultimately help a great cause. Starting a website can be a wonderful experience of self-discovery and personal growth, but as I learned very early on, you have to venture out of your comfort zone to really get what you want. Before you dive into your mission of saving the world through online activism, you should get familiar with the following rules
News From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (November 2009)
In the month of October we trained 82 new health activists (Swasthya Sakhis) in Uttar Pradesh from Sangrampur, Unchahar, Sareni and Bhetua blocks. We also conducted six refresher training courses for 99 activists already working in the field in Salon, Jagatpur, Musafirkhana, Baldirai, Bhafiya, and Gauriganj blocks. In the month of November we plan to train new activists from Jagdishpur and Dubey blocks besides conducting six refresher training sessions for old activists.
According to our plan for 2009, we had planned to pilot test our program in a new district to see if we can replicate our work and methods outside Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The plan is on schedule. We are expanding to a new district: Jhansi. Our staff will travel to Babina, Jhansi to train new health activists from 26th to 29th November. We have also received requests from other states to start our program there. We may do this in 2010 depending on our resources and experience in Babina, Jhansi. We are currently drawing up our plans for 2010, which we will publish in our January 2010 newsletter.
Doctor Ganju, india, maternal mortality, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, VolunteeringLSNP Group & Save A Mother – Annual Charity Walk by Ashvini Bommakanty
A small San Diego based puja group sponsored Save A Mother for their recent Annual Fundraising 5k Walk, which took place at Torrey Pines State Reserve. This group was started in 2001 by four ladies, Uma Bommakanty, Annapurna Yenamandra, Prabha Pyati, and Anasuya Peesapati. They meet on a monthly basis to recite the lalitha sahasranam to goddess Lalita Devi, a Divine mother who is also symbolized as feminine power, Shakti. Their organization is named LSNP (Lalita Sahasra Nama Pathanam). This year they introduced an annual charity walk in addition to their monthly pujas as a way to encourage team building, well being, and support for charity organizations. They chose to contribute to Save A Mother for their very first walk because it’s an organization that values the life of a mother
annual charity walk, Events, philanthropy, san diego, saveamother.org, VolunteeringNews From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (October 2009)
TRAINING In September, we conducted four, three-day long trainings for new health activists. We trained 79 new activists in all We conducted eight refresher training courses for those already in the field We are now working in 459 villages and will reach our target of 600 villages by the end of December 2009 REPLICATION Our [...]
Doctor Ganju, ground work, india, maternal mortality, news from the ground, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, uttar pradesh, VolunteeringMaternal Nutritional Needs – by Varun Renjen
There are nearly 30 million low birth weight babies born annually. These babies often face severe short- and long-term health consequences. Low birth weight is a major factor of mortality, morbidity and disability in infancy and childhood. This also has a long-term impact on health outcomes in adult life. The consequences of poor nutritional status and inadequate nutritional intake for women during pregnancy not only directly affects women’s health status, but also has a negative impact on birth weight and early development. Low birth weight also results in substantial costs to the health sector and imposes a significant burden on society as a whole. Whereas the global prevalence of such births is slowly dropping, it is as high as 30% in many developing countries.
maternal mortality, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, sultanpur, uttar pradesh, VolunteeringNews From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (September 2009)
Our training program has had one positive effect. In the beginning of this program, about 18 months back, we encountered some difficulty in motivating even one volunteer to attend our training session. But that has changed. Now, many more volunteers than we reach out to show up for our trainings. And we train them all, [...]
Doctor Ganju, ground work, india, maternal mortality, news from the ground, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, sultanpur, uttar pradesh, Volunteering