asha-request@mit.edu Asha-Boston / MIT PO Box 391802, Cambridge, MA 02139 U.S.A.
Asha for Education
MIT
October 18th, 2003
To:
Mr. Chandraveluchamy.R.K,
No. 13, Giri Nagar,
Ramapuram,
Chennai – 600089,
Tamil Nadu,
India.
Dear Chandravel,
We received a proposal for TRY
from Anu for funding the running expenses of the TRY school. We are delighted to hear that the project is
doing well. Through conversations with
Anu we have been following the activities of TRY. We are happy to let you know that the initial proposal has been
approved for $3150.00 The breakdown of
the funds are as follows.
Provisions Rs.
8500
Rent Rs.
3000
Cook’s salary Rs.
1500
Staff salary Rs.
2500
Coordinator Salary Rs.
3500
Electricity /
Transportation / Communication Rs.
3000
Tuition master salary Rs.
1000
Medical Rs.
500
Total – Rs. 23,500
per month.
We had a discussion at our chapter
regarding the TRY project and I wanted to take this opportunity to share some
of the thoughts of the Asha volunteers.
The cost per child for this project is comparatively on the higher
side. Looking at the figures that you
provided the amount requested is reasonable; the costs appear to be high
because the number of children are less.
Have you considered Anand Home supporting more children?
The amount requested does not
include expenses for the children, books, clothes, tuition etc.? How are such expenses covered
currently? Are there medical checkups
of the children on a regular basis?
Could you let us know more about
community involvement efforts of TRY?
There is a social stigma associated to commercial sex workers and their
children. How can the society become
more understanding towards the children?
There are various root causes to prostitution that a few other Asha projects like Odanadi and Street to School are trying to tackle (you will be meeting these groups at the Asha-Sanctuary meeting in Mysore in December). While working with the children is important, it is also beneficial to go to the root cause and work against the proliferation of this occupation there. For example, in many cases there are specific villages which send girls to this profession due to social and economic reasons. It is imperative that more girls do not join this profession and we were wondering whether TRY’s efforts could focus on that aspect as well. Maybe you could discuss this with the other groups you will be meeting at the Asha-Sanctuary meeting.
We heard about Marudamuthu being
transferred to English medium for an year.
On discussion of medium of instruction, our chapter would suggest that
the medium of instruction being the mother tongue is best, as various child
psychology and linguistic research has suggested. Additionally learning English is helpful, though the medium of
English may lead to more harm than good.
The total amount is for a 6 month
period from December 2003 – May 2004.
Rs. 23,500 x 6 = Rs. 141,000,
which is about $3100.00. Do kindly note
that this is a one-time funding for the 6-month period mentioned from the
Boston chapter of Asha. We are
enclosing a check for the amount of $1600.00.
The remaining $1500.00 will be sent within a months time.
Please send us a paper receipt for
this amount as soon as you receive it. Please also send us receipts at the end
of the year showing how the amount was utilized. This is required so that
Asha-MIT/Boston can file these receipts with the US government’s Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
Anu Raghavan
Harish Chawla
Asha-MIT/Boston.
Encl: 1. Check for $ 1,600.00
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