"Village India" Program:
Help Send American Students to Reach Rural Kids

Washington University has a strong and growing engagement with India and the Indian-American community:

• The Indian/Indo-American student association, Ashoka, is highly active and has a membership of 250. Its production of Diwali is always the hottest ticket of the year.
• The university has recently established formal linkages with IIT-Bombay and Jawaharlal Nehru University through the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
• Many university leaders are Indo-Americans, including Prof. Shanti Kindukas (led the Brown School of Social Work to the #1 ranking nationally) and Prof. Mahendra Gupta (Dean of the Olin School of Business).
• International Studies, History, and Religious Studies are all currently conducting national searches to add faculty specializing in South Asia.

But beginning in summer 2007, something new will happen. The Village India program will bring 6 undergraduate students each summer to rural Andhra Pradesh. These students will teach English and other subjects, develop extra-curricular programs, and interview village residents as part of long-term research projects overseen by Washington Univ. faculty.

Two American students have come to rural India in the past 2 years. Abby Stone (left) taught photography and helped the kids start their own photoblogs. Emily Hawkins (right) taught drama and produced a school play. Click for Village India Program Description.

Financial Aid. Like all universities, Washington Univ. has to charge tuition for participation in study abroad programs. Tuition has to cover a wide range of expenses including development costs, faculty expenses, NGO expenses, medical care, in-country transportation, living expenses, local lecturers, and the staff of the college office and Study Abroad which handles administration of the program. Together with airfare from the US, the program will cost around $5500. This is more than what all but a few families can afford. Washington University has agreed to partly subsidize this program because of the unique opportunity if offers, but we need an average of $2000 per student. IRDF Summer Fellowships will try to meet this need.

I.R.D.F. (India Rural Development Fund) is the American partner of the Hyderabad-based Rural Development Foundation (RDF).  RDF which builds and runs rural schools in A.P.; IRDF is a U.S. tax-exempt charity that supports RDF.  Its overhead is 0% -- all funds go towards projects benefiting Rural India. IRDF is now appealing for contributions to allow this Village India program to go ahead.

Why support a college students travelling to a rural Indian school, rather than directly supporting the rural school? Because this program will benefit the rural schools in multiple ways, both directly and indirectly. This program will:

• Improve English education. While RDF schools have had striking success in most aspects of education, English training has lagged behind because of the expense of attracting and retaining fluent English teachers and because English is rarely used by students outside of English class. Experience has shown that when English-speaking students come to the schools, the students quickly begin to hone their language skills by talking with them.
• Teach new skills, such as photography, drama, starting small businesses, spreadsheet and word-processing skills, webpage design ... it all depends on how many students we are able to bring on the program.
• Help open up the world to the kids. Students at Kalleda Rural School have found American students fascinating and they bombard them with questions and observations (the American students have found this equlally fascinating). The Junior College students will be close enough in age to form real friendships, and the internet will allow them to stay in touch.
• Build a group of talented advocates for rural India. Few students will leave the village without having developed a new sense of commitment. These students will go on to be educators, policy-makers, scientists, investors, NGO directors, philanthropists.
  

It will also help Indian-American students begin what will hopefully be a lifelong engagement with India. So far three Indian-American students have submitted preliminary applications to the program, including one whose goal is to attend medical school in the US but to spend part of his time practicing in India (he cannot participate in this program without a scholarship).

Will you consider a gift to subsidize students in the Village India program?

• pledge $3000 to sponsor one student
• pledge $15,000 to establish a family-name or company-name fellowship (students could list on their resume)

If you would like to discuss this program and the possibility of helping to sponsor it with a tax-deductible gift, please contact:

• Sunil Erraballi, President of India Rural Development Fund (Sunil@indiarural.org)
• Glenn Stone, Prof. of Anthropology at Washington Univ. and Village India Program Director (stone@wustl.edu)