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With temperatures on the rise across the country, the heat was on at Rang De too. Music extravaganzas, campaigns, events and field trips followed one after another. We aim to keep you abreast of all the happenings through our regular blogs. In fact we have just completed our hundredth blog (http://blog.rangde.org/2010/05/weve-hit-a-century/) and welcome all our readers to contribute too.
Our team members have been writing about their brush with ancient art http://blog.rangde.org/2010/05/art-in-the-heart-of-orissa/ , innovative and overwhelming invites sent by our social investors http://blog.rangde.org/2010/05/no-gifts-only-rang-de-vouchers-please/ and many other interesting topics. So make the Rang De blog a regular habit and don't forget to send in your feed back.
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Making The Most Of Marathons
Our volunteers at Rang De are a dedicated and enthusiastic lot.
On the 23rd of May, a Sunday morning a group of our Bangalore chapter members were at the Sunfeast world 10k marathon, promoting Rang De and they did it with panache.
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Saturday Night with Rang De
Music transcends all languages and barriers and we put that to the test by organising our very own musical events.
The first one was held on 13th March with an absolutely splendid performance by the band Oxygen.
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Saturday Night with Rang De
Music transcends all languages and barriers and we put that to the test by organising our very own musical events.
The first one was held on 13th March with an absolutely splendid performance by the band Oxygen. Their breathtaking fusion music left everyone gasping for more and all the last minute glitches were soon forgotten. Relive the run up and the actual event at
http://blog.rangde.org/2010/03/oxygen-in-concert/
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The Oxygen Concert
Spurred on by the 'high' after the first event, a second one quickly followed on the 1st of May. This time around, it was Swarathma that kept the audience spellbound, including our celebrity guest Ms Waheeda Rehman. A short mime showcasing Rang De's role in the alleviation of poverty caught everyone's attention. What got the organisers of the event into a flap this time and more at
http://blog.rangde.org/2010/05/swarathma-in-concert/
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The expressive mime artists
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Swarathma in full form
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Although last minute hitches seem to be inevitable, Saturday nights with Rang De are here to stay. With Chennai leading the way with two events, other chapters are also planning similar events. So keep abreast of what's happening, by reading our Blog, following us on Twitter and becoming a Rang De Fan on Facebook
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Garnering the Youth Power
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Rang De has joined hands with Pan IIT for their "Reach for India" (http://www.reachforindia.org/forms/main/login.php ) vocational training initiative.
The initiative aims to reach out to the poor uneducated youth in our country to create a skilled workforce. Vocational training in fields such as welding, masonry, catering etc. is conducted at their Gurukuls and the students are assured placements. They pay for their training, once they start earning.
The first two batches chosen for the programme are through our field partners, BMSKSS from U. P. and HOPE from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. 25 students from U.P have started their training in construction, and training of another 20 students from Kurnool is underway at a welding school in Chennai. Talks with our field partners in Maharashtra and Orissa are in progress to induct the next set of students into the programme.
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Potential students at a village in U.P.
Nikhil Nichkawade an intern at Rang De shares his experience of a field trip to one of the gurukuls. http://blog.rangde.org/2010/04/the-unknown-indian-youth/
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Events and Campaigns
Ram our CEO, a big fan of headstart was invited to be at the ITsAP conference held at Hyderabad.
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Rang De’s First Field Partner Meet
The first, Rang De field partner meet was held at Mahabalipuram in the second week of December. The travel arrangements and coordination of events were brilliantly organised by Diksha and around 40 participants from across the country congregated to discuss, review and plan the future role of partnerships with Rang De. The initial icebreaker session led to more serious discussions and presentations by various partners and informative sessions with Water.org and the Pan IIT foundation.
It was also the first time that many of our own team members met each other and it also allowed us to put a face to the voices we were hearing.
Our partners also made a resolution to promote the cause of Rang De. Read more on the Rang De field partner meet here.
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Social Investors Rise To The Occasion
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As Hope IRDS in Kurnool worked to bring normalcy in the area, after the floods, we at Rang De began to inform our social investors of a possible default in repayments and simultaneously launched a campaign to raise funds for the victims.
The response from our Social Investors was "Loan repayments can come later. How can we help them now?" The amount collected was forwarded to HOPE and the major chunk came from one single individual, who does not wish to be named. When we asked him what made him feel for the needy as he did, this is what he had to say:
"I am thankful to a lot of good and excellent human beings who have helped me to develop and be what I am today, emotionally, financially and otherwise:
- My maternal grandfather, who at the age of 85 used to walk 5 kilometers to the University to get a Degree Certificate for a friend’s grandson
- A late maternal uncle, (a Doctor), who spent long hours treating the poor, until the very end, without bothering about the money he was getting, or the pain that he was in, as cancer ravaged his body
- A friend who had helped various people at different junctures of their lives (studies, marriages, house construction etc.) and whose life was cut short a year ago
- A boy, who came out of his house and gave me a towel so that I could dry up, whilst I waited drenched in their verandah, on the highway
- A woman, who gave me Sambar Rice for nothing when I was on a Grameena Bank audit and had nothing to eat in a village
- All those helpers in my fathers office, who took us out on their bicycles and told us stories and happenings in the villages, which helped us learn a lot about life in childhood
- Several other human beings who were totally selfless in their lives or at the point of interaction with us
My contributions to Rang De and the Kurnool flood victims are to satisfy myself and thank all those individuals who helped me along. If we could do even a part of what all those Good Human Beings have done..."
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Aditya Shembekar’s experience of a lifetime
A social investor turned volunteer speaks about his experience on a field visit to some of our borrowers:
"I was one of a team of seven that headed to T. Narsipura one weekend in July. I had been fascinated by the Rang De concept and was one of their social investors. I expressed a desire to visit some borrowers and this was the trip that I joined as Rang De was doing their evaluation rounds.
We met the first borrower, a woman who seemed to have her fingers in several pies. Her husband worked at a factory close by and she worked at the local post office. In her spare time she conducts tuition classes for some of the neighbourhood children and also does odd tailoring jobs. The loan received from Rang De was used to buy additional materials needed to expand this tailoring business and she seemed satisfied that it was working well for her. Time management at its best!!
We knew that our second evaluation was a disaster from the word go. The borrower seemed totally in the dark about the loan and we had to probe further and make enquiries with many of her neighbours to unravel the mystery. Anusuya’s story has now become a learning point for Rang De too.
The other evaluations went off smoothly and soon we were on our way back. What amazes me to this day is the transparency with which Rang De operates and their frank admission of their problems. Besides, the experience of being able to meet these borrowers and getting a first hand feel of how seemingly small sums of money can have such a huge impact on someone’s life is something I will cherish for a long time to come."
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Milestones |
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| Borrowers Impacted : 2828 |
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| Social Investors : 1367 |
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| Loans Raised : Rs. 1,46,97,300 |
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| Loans Repaid : Rs. 76,80,424.30 |
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| Repayment Rate : 98.9% |
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Flood Relief At Last |
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All our borrowers that were affected by the floods at Kurnool have started repaying their loans and are on their way to settling in to their new lives. Our field partner Hope has put in tremendous efforts to rehabilitate the victims. Get a detailed account of the current status at http://blog.rangde.org/2010/03/kurnool-floods-update/
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Setting A New Bench Mark |
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Rang De has been using Benchmark Email for a while now and we are extremely happy to have them support our cause. Bench mark Email is now free for Rang De and we cannot thank them enough
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Remembering Mothers |
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| When the world celebrated mother's day and everyone got caught up in trying to do something special for their own mothers, Preena from our editorial team realised how even the poorest mother has her child's interest at heart. Here (http://blog.rangde.org/2010/05/mothers-day-with-borrower-mothers/) she pays tribute to the mothers that come from underprivileged families and still mange to make their children feel privileged |
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| Heard of Raghurajpur? Our newest set of borrowers comes from this small village in Puri, Orissa. So what is special about Raghurajpur? A village with just a hundred odd homes has the unique distinction of housing more than 300 artisans, with at least one artisan, in every household. |
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The art forms are handed down from generation to generation. They include painting on palm leaf or treated cloth called Patachitra and the artists themselves are known as Chitrakars. Some of the other art forms practised are, wood carving, stone carving and papier mache. Phew!Close
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Write to us at info@rangde.org |
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Talk to us at +91-44-42121919 |
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Visit us at www.rangde.org |
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