by Madavi Nathan Oliver

I have been living in North America for the past thirteen years, since; I was fortunate to get a good education to attain my goal of coming here for higher studies.  In the back of my mind, there has always been a desire to help the millions of other children back in India who do not have the means to accomplish their educational goals.  I have considered joining charity organizations.  As usual, there were the skeptics who cautioned about “non-profit organizations”.  I have considered setting up scholarships in my mom’s name and I have considered other projects.  Just like many of us, I did not put my thoughts into action.

 

Then, two years ago I saw a flyer on the Boston area temple news board, about a NSF walkathon in the Hopkinton State Park to raise money for scholarships in India.  I visited the NSF web site and subsequently spoke to the organizers about it.  The cause and the process convinced me to try this organization.  The first year, I just signed up to collect donations from my friends.  The walkathon event was very inspiring, but not very well attended given the size of the Indian population in the greater Boston area.  Raghavendra and Samit drove all the way from Connecticut to coordinate the events.  I said to myself, “May be I should try to help.”  Since then we have found a group of very enthusiastic volunteers and donors who support NSF activities through the Boston chapter.  We have successfully organized regional educational contests, the 2002 national finals (two proud winners from the Boston area) and a walkathon, which raised 45 scholarships.  I am happy to be associated with NSF than contributing as a solo donor.  I think that I am making a bigger difference this way than what I would have been able to do otherwise.  The experience is also personally rewarding and beneficial.

 

Most Indians abroad want to help India.  If you search the Internet for non-profit organizations helping India, you will find numerous groups with different development objectives including educational, social, economical, religious, infrastructure, political and cultural.  If you are like me, it is quite puzzling to decide why, how and through whom to help.  My opinion is - India needs help in all aspects of life and there are millions who need it.  So, please help in whichever way you like.  I chose improving education as my objective and NSF as the vehicle.  Here is how I am making my small contribution.

 

Seek and you shall find: Everyone knows that India needs help.  Often, the case is that no one asked them for support or they haven’t found an easy way to help.  All of us have the music classes, Kumon classes, soccer practices and India travel plans to keep up. So, ask again for help.  During this process, you will come across marvelous people who will volunteer as well as donate.  You never know who wants to help and how.  For example, when I was working on the regional educational contests, I just happened to mention to my visiting friend about it.  Without me asking, she went to BJs and came back with several cases of snacks and drinks, which the kids enjoyed during their breaks on the long day.

 

Will they trust this “desi group”? It is very unfortunate that most of us who have lived in India have memories of corruption and scandal in day-to-day lives.  Be aware of that psyche and explain very clearly the process by which funds get distributed through NSF. Offer to share financial information and highlight the fact that the network is 100% volunteer based and that the operational budget is very minimal.

 

How much should I ask? Based on my informal analysis, I think that the average Indian family living in USA spends $50 to $75 per month on their kids for extra curricular activities such as Kumon, music, sports etc.  Most of us can afford to support another unfortunate child in India.  Explain how much a scholarship is and if they ask for guidance, give them examples of tax-exempt donation amounts others have given (without revealing names of course).  They can decide how much they want to spend for this cause.  Every dollar makes a big impact towards a scholarship.  You will be surprised to find several generous people.