Associates - Scholarsh= ips

Scholarships are of two types.

· = Regular scholarships: Regular scholarships a= re given to students who succeeded 10^th grade with good percentage = of marks. They are advertised in all Govt. schools in Andhra Pradesh and selec= ted based on the marks obtained in 10^th grade.

· = Scavenging Children Sc= holarships (SCS): SCS is the brain child= of an accomplished mathematician Prof Shiva Shankar of Chennai Mathematical Insti= tute, Chennai, India, who is a staunch supporter of our project since its incepti= on in 2003. These scholarships are designed to help the students from manual scavenging families. Since we do not have resources to identify students fr= om this background, we take the help of organizations/individuals working among them. Starting from 2008, we have started a new project called “Educational Adoption” where= in we identify students from these organizations at a very early age, put them in= a good English medium school, pay their fee, and try to support them continuo= usly atleast upto 10th grade. If any donor comes forward to help one or more students continuously every year, we link the student to the donor there by the donor will become= a god-parent to the child and help him/her in every way possible. Otherwise we pay the fee from the pool of scholarships we receive for any particular yea= r.pp

1.= Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA),= All over India

We read about SKA founder Mr Bezwada Wilson who dedicated his life for the upliftment of manual scavengers. Mr Benjamin Kaila and Prof Shiva Shankar had series of discussions with him and decided to have a partnership with his organizatio= n. SKA identifies students for our scholarships. We have been working with them si= nce 2005.

2.= Mr Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Uttar Pradesh

Mr Rawat is a journalist and social worker working= among scavenging families in Uttar Pradesh. He has been running hostels for girls= in UP apart from several other activities. Mr Benjmain knew him and his work for years and took his help on various occasions to accomplish tasks related to FFEI. We supported 10 students in 2008 through Scavenging Children Scholarships and in 2009 we sponsored 10 more scavenging children under “Educational Adoption”.

3.= Sister Sagaya Mary, Principal, St Charl= es Convent, Chilakaluri Pet, Guntur Dist

Sister Sagaya came into contact with us after reading = about FFEI somewhere. Mr Benjamin Kaila spoke to her several times before startin= g a partnership with her. FFEI supported 10 students in 2008 through regular scholarships. In 2009, she identified 10 students coming from families whose parents were engaged in manual scavenging in the past. We supported them under “Educational Adoption”. The school was visited by Mr PVV Rao, Mr Devdas, Mr Anand Kaila, Mrs Sunanda Kaila(wife of Benjamin Kaila), and Rev Sundar and expressed their satisfaction of the work t= he school has been doing for the underprivileged students. Mr Viswanath of ASHA for Education also visited the school, had private conversation with the principal and the recipients of the scholarships, and submitted a glowi= ng report to his organization on the work FFEI has been doing. Please read it here.

4.= Mr Gollapalli Israel, Nungampakkam, Chennai, Tamilnadu

Mr G Israel came to our notice through an article published in an Indian newsp= aper of his work among manual scavenging families. He is running two social serv= ice organizations - Janodayam and TAAMS (Tamil nadu Adi Andhra Arunthathiya <= span class=3DSpellE>Maha Sabha)= . Mr Benjamin Kaila contacted him over phone and discussed at length of the work they have been doing. Later, Prof Shiva Shankar met him personally and completely satisfied of his work and recommended for consideration. We have been working with him since 2009 sponsoring 10 scavenging children through “Educational Adoption”.

5.= Rev Epratha Sarath= y, Bangalore, Karnataka

Rev Sarathy was introduced to us by Mr G Israel whe= n we are in search of a reliable person in Karnataka. Mr Sarathy has been involved in social activities for so long and has been running an non-governmental organization to help manual scaven= gers in Karnataka. Mr Benjamin Kaila communicated with him length to understand = the work he had been doing and completely satisfied with his work. We have been working with him since 2009 sponsoring 7 students under “Educational Adoption”.

6.= Ms Sudha Chukkapal= li, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

Ms Sudha was introduced by one of our long term do= nor Ms Krishna Rao of Hope for Humanity, Maryland, USA.= Ms Sudha was an industrialist with a human heart to help= the underprivileged children (irrespective of caste) through educational institutions running u= nder her trust, Chukkapalli Charitable Trust. Impres= sed with her work, Mr Krishna Rao asked Benjamin to= speak to her to explore the possibility of having a liaison with her by sponsoring some students under her care. After a series of dialogues, it is decided to have a partnership with her. We sta= rted working with her since 2009 sponsoring 3 students (2 of them AIDS orphans) under “Educational Adoption”.

Associates - Microloans

Microloans are successful only when handled properly. Unlike scholarships where money = is given once in a year, microloans needs lot of work for identifying right and reliable beneficiaries, coordinating the project, collecting installments, maintaining proper accounting, and redistributing the repayment amount. Handling this kind of laborious and sensitive task needs trustworthy, reliable, and skillful persons. Currently, care is taken to choose persons personally known to Benjamin. We welcome to start microloans in any place if someone comes forward to take entire responsibility of appointing a reliable person to handle this process.

The following are the personnel working currently on microloans. Currently, they are all volunteers.

1. Rev Sundar, Modukuru, Guntur Dist, Andhra Pradesh

Rev Sundar is the husband of Mr Benjamin Kaila̵= 7;s cousin. He along with his wife worked for several years with a Non-governme= ntal organization (NGO) in India, called “ASSIST” working among the marginalized sections of Indian society. In 1990s, Benjamin had an opportun= ity to visit and see their wonderful work among tribals in Andhra Pradesh. Rev Sundar later resigned from = ASSIT and did his theological training to become a pastor. While Benjamin was thinkin= g of starting Microloans, the choice was obvious. The reasons for his selection = were: 1. His experience in the field, 2. He = has plenty of time to spend (busy mostly on Sundays), 3. Availability of servic= es any time (only a phone call away and the work will be done immediately). So, Benjamin gave him Rs.10,000 from his pocket and = told him to start microloans as pilot. He also told him that if he could manage = the money properly, he would get more money for more microloans, otherwise that= was that first and last amount he would get from Benjamin for any reason. Rev <= span class=3DSpellE>Sundar managed microloans very efficiently. Then Prof= Anandswarup Gadde of Aust= ralia (another donor who helped FFEI tremendously through his donations and promoting it through his blog) came in touch with Benjamin and told him that he was visi= ting India on a personal trip. Benjamin gave contacts of all coordinators in Ind= ia and specially requested him to go and meet Rev Sundar<= /span> and the microloan beneficiaries. Prof Anand tir= elessly visited all the beneficiaries (by that time our number was in 10s and opera= ting in 3 villages). He spoke to all beneficiaries and so impressed that he gave Rs.30,000 on the spot to Rev Sundar to give more loans. He sent another impressive amount after reaching Austra= lia. He also met Mr Devdas and Mr PVV Rao in Hyderab= ad and understood the scholarships project. With Prof Anand&#= 8217;s help, Microloans grew leaps and bounds.

Later, Mr Viswanath of ASHA for Education did a field = work on Microloans and submitted a glowing report to his organization. Other visitors who studied our include Mr Dayanand of= Rangde, an organization for the same purpose and Ms <= span class=3DSpellE>Kirshna Rao of Hope for H= umanity, Maryland. She was our another committed donor. I requested her to visit our beneficiaries when she told of her trip to India. She took pains to visit some of our beneficiaries along with his aging husb= and and sister. Everyone praised the work done by Rev Sund= ar boosting my confidence.

Microloans is a very hard work and needs lots of patie= nce and leg work. Currently, the only honorarium Rev Sunda= r (who depends on the contributions from their congregation for survival) gets for his hard work is the fee for his daughter’s education paid every = year by Benjamin from his own pocket. This money was never taken out from the donations.

2.= Mr Varaprasad, Nad= impalli, Guntur Dist, Andhra Pradesh

Mr Varaprasad is known to Benjamin Kaila for decad= es. He was the one who shamed Benjamin (when he was 26) for not reading about Dr <= span class=3DSpellE>Ambedkar and gave him Dr Ambedka= r’s biography that changed Benjamin’s life for better – from an aim= less man to a purpose-driven individual. Though he was not well educated, Benjam= in proudly considers him his guru who showed enlightenment in life by introduc= ing Dr Ambedkar.&n= bsp; Having heard about the microloans, Mr Varaprasa= d desired to start the same project in his village, Nadi= mpalli. An amount of Rs.50,000 is allotted for Nadimpalli and will&= nbsp; be given to him on July 13, 2009.

3.= Ms Devarapalli Kez= ia, Rajeev Gandhi Nagar(slums), Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

Ms Chinnamai is Benjamin’s distance relative= and running 5 women’s self-help groups in one of the slums in Guntur. They take loans and use it for small businesses like vending sarees, brooms, grocery shops etc. An amount of Rs.50,000 is allotted for Rajeev Gandhi Nagar slums and will be given to her on July 13, 2009 to start microloans in one of the groups, Sri Mah= alakshmi group.