Finding True Passion In India

1) The Making of YUVA UNSTOPPABLE

In May 2005, I quit my job as senior Systems Configuration Analyst at Hewitt Associates in Atlanta, to visit my family in India. I had got the highest scholarship ever offered to an international student at Texas A & M, College Station, Texas. I was to start my MBA in August, 2005.

I had come to India after living in the U.S. for eight years. To my shock, I found that my 84-year-old nanny, Kamalaben, was unwanted by her only son's family. Kamalaben had no money and nowhere to go but suffer the insults, cry and pray for death. I enrolled her into a nearby old people's home. I shouldered her financial responsibility. I was touched by the poignant stories of several other elderly people there. Soon dozens of my friends and I started visiting them twice a week. We also started going to orphanages, local Blind People's Association, two slum children's schools as well as poor vagabonds found near the railway stations. I decided to postpone my MBA for a year.

I founded a new organization called "YUVA Unstoppable" which means "the inexhaustible youth." YUVA Unstoppable is a social work organization of college students and young professionals of India.

From four people who helped me with my initial project, now we have 450 members across the state of Gujarat in 11 short months. The progress of YUVA Unstoppable hasn't been anything short of a miracle.

Since its inception in June 2004, YUVA Unstoppable volunteers have put in more than 13,000 man hours and are helping more than 3,500 underprivileged children through education, entertainment and medical help. We are also feeding close to 1,000 poorest of poor children every month.

We bring hope to poor children by teaching English, math, science, drama, dance and indoor/outdoor games. Besides, YUVA Unstoppable has started providing clothes, blankets, shoes, books and other amenities to hundreds of children of various slum areas. We take them out to movies, restaurants and our homes. We also celebrate social, national and religious festivals with these children. Our message to the slum children is that they do not have to lead a life of quiet desperation and frustration, or live a life of crime, or do drugs and alcohol. There is a better way. There is hope for a significant future.

I am Founding Chairman of YUVA Unstoppable with a strong team of dynamic youngsters. We have dedicated Project Leaders, Team Leaders, Public Relations Officer, Secretary, Treasurer, Entertainment Chair and several others who help run the organization very smoothly and efficiently.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, got impressed by our dedicated work and invited me to meet him on December 14, 2005. We have been authorized by the Education Minister of the State, Ms. Anandiben Patel, to visit colleges and make presentations on "Social Awareness and Today's Youth." I am addressing students in top colleges such as H.L. Commerce College, Ahmedabad; L.D. Engineering College, Ahmedabad; Khedbrahma Arts and Commerce College, Khedbrahma and others.

The Government of Gujarat has recently invited us to make presentations to the 1,25,000 volunteers of National Social Service (NSS), a social work organization operating in every college of the State. We shall be recruiting those volunteers to join YUVA Unstoppable and help even more underprivileged children on a weekly basis.

In addition, we have joined hands with more than 20 NGOs that work with underprivileged children. Please view the YUVA Unstoppable Ahmedabad Events for details about some of the NGOs we are supporting.

Right now we have opened three chapters in the cities of Ahmedabad, Mehsana, and Khedbrahma in the State of Gujarat. YUVA Unstoppable is on its way to be in 5 more cities in the next four months. YUVA Unstoppable movement is catching on local as well as national television and newspaper media. My short-term goal is to have a YUVA Unstoppable chapter in all the major cities of Gujarat, India by 2010. My long-term goal is to open up a chapter in every major city in India by 2020.

My growth as a professional and a human being has been invaluable. A new generation of strong, intelligent and dedicated young people wanting to change the future of their country is awakening!

References:

Manav Sadhana, NGO - www.manavsadhna.org

(USA) : Viren Joshi, 1916, Pastoral Lane Hanover Park IL 60133, USA

Email: namahshivay@rediffmail.com

(India) : Jayesh Patel & Anar Patel

Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad-380027, Gujarat, India

Tel- 91-79-756 00 02, 752 81 73 Fax- 755 80 52

Email: manavsadhna@icenet.net

2) THE SPIRIT OF YUVA Unstoppable

YUVA Unstoppable's Vision:

Enlightening the underprivileged children

YUVA Unstoppable's current activities and future activities:

Child education, Entertainment, Medical help, Feeding, Housing, Abuse prevention, etc.

YUVA Unstoppable's Mission:

To Create and provide volunteers (minimum of 2 hours/week) to any organization or individual (viz. NGO, NPO, Social Institute, Government's Social Organization etc.) working towards our vision.

Honor Code (YUVA Unstoppable is a way of life, not just something we do for a few hours a week):

1) God is in charge, we are just the instruments through whom He works

2) Help YUVA Unstoppable's volunteers in their time of need

3) Go to places in time

4) Treat everyone in YUVA Unstoppable as equal

5) Respect all children, volunteers, parents, elders, etc.

6) Work with commitment and dedication

7) Always be Honest

8) Keep away from ego, attitude, jealousy, gossiping and negative thinking

9) Restrain from Alcohol,