Work started

Above are some photos from field visits on past trips to India. The top photo is women cutting chara for buffalo feed, and the bottom is me holding a goat in front of the Hero Honda motorcycle, a workhorse for NGO travel.

I have received a message from the field workers detailing their work thus far. As I mentioned, they have the office all set up in Khora, and they have a self-help group (SHG) set up in Kukrela. The term self-help group refers to our microcredit groups, most of which will be established amongst the womenfolk, to use the Indian term, of the various villages. Additionally, Rohitash and Gopal have been going around on motorcycle, setting up meetings in villages to talk about the possibility of setting up SHGs there, as well as youth technology and leadership groups (YTLGs). In short, they have been laying the ground work for setting up future groups. They anticipate that very soon there will be groups in the villages of Bhamod, Bhindor, Sundarpura (purely beautiful, in Hindi), Chechawala, and Berakee. So, again, I am very satisfied with the pace of progress in our work. Just a year ago this organization was just a dream.

A quick word on the structure of our women's microcredit groups (this information will be formalized into a document, probably next summer): our model is that the women put their own money into a central fund, from which members can take loans. Hence, no funds from the NGO are used to "give" women loans, but instead their own money is used to provide these loans. We provide the logistical support, primarily maintaining the account with the bank. We hope after a few years of operation these groups will be able to take over this function accounting function themselves. In previous work, we have found the women in these groups use the loans to buy buffalos for milk, or seed for their fields, or medicine for their family, and many other such things. Thus, health, wealth and many other things are increased by their activity.

Finally, one other things I found it relevant to note: by Indian law, LSS cannot directly accept funds from foreign sources during its first 3 years of operation. Hence, we have to work through an auxiliary organization that monitors our activity to ensure transparency. This organization is Naman Sewa Samiti (NSS). The key point is for their services they take a 17.5% fee on all funds sent over to India. This is fine with me because it's the price of getting started in India, but I thought any potential donors should know this. It cannot be denied that during the first few years of operation our organization will not be the best "bang for your buck" on donations. Nonetheless, we think we are getting started on something very special and hope that you will still consider make a donation.