VOLUNTEERS FOR RURAL INDIA

Latest news about VRI and our partner project in India

December 2009: Health Camps

On 10th December, a free health camp was held at the new Amarpurkashi health clinic. Among the doctors who came from the Kothiwal Dental and Medical College, Moradabad were general physicians, eye specialists and dentists. 57 women and 63 men came to be examined. On 26th December, another such camp was held. 49 women and 58 men attended.

November 2009: Eye Camp

A free eye camp was held from 8th to 12th November with eye specialists from the government eye hospital in Moradabad. 190 men and 120 women from neighbouring villages came to have their eyes examined. Of these, 17 men and 14 women were taken to the community hospital in Bilari to be operated on for cataracts. Staff and volunteers from Amarpurkashi supported them during their hospital stay and assisted in their convalescence on their return to Amarpurkashi.

October 2009: Pollution Project

From October to December 2009, two graduates of the London School of Economics volunteered at Amarpurkashi as part of the volunteers’ scheme run by the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy. During their time in the project, they photographed the widespread pollution caused by the local paper factories, collected water samples from four different sites, got the samples tested at a laboratory in Delhi, mapped the area, collected correspondence and reports relating to the pollution campaign and carried out research on the Internet.

September 2009: IVCS on Facebook

Are you on Facebook? Join our Facebook group and keep in touch with other IVCS members.

July 2009: Villages-ESPOIR

Toby Whitfeld, project visitor from November 2006, set up Villages-Espoir when he returned to France. Villages-Espoir is an association of concerned people who raise money to support rural development work in India. They have already provided scholarships to local villagers to study computing and last summer sponsored a course in Conversational English.

Their generous donation in July 2009 has provided the funds for a free eye camp for villagers which will be held in November 2009.

April 2009: Women’s Health Camp

On Sunday 19th April, six women doctors and consultants came from the Moradabad branch of FOGSI (Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology India) to talk to local village women and give free advice and examinations.

Although the weather on the day was very hot with strong dusty winds, 75 women from 6 nearby villages took advantage of this opportunity. The camp was so successful that the doctors have offered to make it a regular event.

December 2008: Eye Camp

A free eye camp was held from 7th to 12th December. 530 villagers came to the new clinic at Amarpurkashi to have their eyes examined. An eye doctor and his team came from the government eye hospital in Moradabad. Free medicines were distributed and 39 villagers identified for cataract operations.

Stringent new regulations meant that the operations could not take place at the clinic. Patients were taken to the community hospital in Bilari and then brought back to Amarpurkashi for their convalescence. Our staff and students looked after them both before and after the operation and the project provided special food and transport. All the operations were successful.

December 2008: Film on Pollution

Blossom Carrasco, a professional documentary film maker, visited Amarpurkashi and filmed the environmental pollution caused by the paper mill.

November 2008: International Conference

INTAF (International Task Force for the Rural Poor), an organisation with close links to IVCS, held an international conference at Amarpurkashi. The theme was "Poverty, Politics and Power". click here for further details

September 2008: College News

The number of students on roll at the Gramodaya Degree College and Research Institute rose to over 1000. The pass rate for B.A. Final students was 100%.

July 2008: Pollution presentation

Mukat and Jyoti Singh gave a talk to an invited audience of the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy. The topic was the pollution at Amarpurkashi and surrounding villages. See Pollute and Prosper. Another account of the talk can be found on Stephen Lee Ostrowski's blog

July 2008: school scholarships

100 students of the Gramodaya Primary School were awarded scholarships covering their tuition fees for one full year. This is funded through the IVCS children's scholarship fund

February: HIV/AIDS Awareness Programme starts

In Febrary 2008, the APK project became involved in an HIV/AIDS Awareness programme. This programme is funded by the UNDP through Plan India and will run for three years. 40 link workers covering 100 villages, four supervisors, a clerk, a monitoring and evaluation officer and a district resource person have been employed. 50% of them are women and all are local. The programme aims to raise awareness among rural people and enable them to take suitable precautions against HIV/AIDS.

May 2007: Health Care Fund for an eye clinic

Last year, a new Health Care Fund appeal was launched, and has already raised £3000 towards a new eye clinic. For more details, see the Health Care Fund appeal page

December 2006: Degree college news

98% of final-year degree students graduating in 2006 passed their BA examinations.

A record 430 students have enrolled for first year BA courses this year, bringing the total student population to 757.

10 students have enrolled for the post-graduate diploma in Rural Resource Management for year 2006/7, including two international students who heard of the course when visiting the project at APK.

Feb 2006: Child Scholarship report for 2005/6

The report is now available, showing how your donations will be used to help school children in rural India in the current academic year.

Nov 2005: Eye camp

A free eye camp was held from 7th to 12th November thanks to a generous donation from an IVCS supporter. Over 500 patients were treated, and 53 patients were referred to hospital for cataract operations. All the operations were successful.

July 2005: INTAF conference

INTAF (the International Task-Force for the Rural Poor, an organisation closely linked with IVCS), ran a conference in July 2005 on the subject "Investing in the Rural Poor". See Spring 2006 newsletter for details

October 2004: success of post-graduate diploma

The eight students who completed their post-graduate diploma in Rural Resource Management in 2003 have now completed their 1-year placements and have all obtained jobs in good NGOs, earning good salaries. Two of them are now employed by the APK project itself. 20 students have enrolled for this year's course.

January 2004: Degree college results

Once again, 100% of final-year degree students passed their BA examinations.

All eight post-graduate students passed their post-graduate diploma in Rural Resource Management, with five of them receiving a "first division" mark (a mark of more than 60%).

January 2004: Success of the new B Ed course

Last year, extra dormitories and lecture rooms were added to the Degree College in the hope that the new B Ed course would attract more students. 100 students, including 26 girls, enrolled in the B Ed course in October 2003.

September 2003: Intercollege is now teaching Maths and Science at Sixth Form level

The Government has just given permission for the Intercollege to run science and maths in the sixth form. We have a good class of students for the first year of sixth form and two new teachers with degrees in Physics and Maths.