How and why did we start?
I have often wondered what motivates people to start not- for- profit organizations and choose names to represent what they do. The motivation to start SABHA was sparked by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004.
My name is Shanta Kalyanasundaram and at the time, I was a teacher at Atlanta International School. We were on winter break when the disaster struck and when we got back to school on January 5th; I knew that we, as a school community, had to do something to help in the relief effort. Our parents, administration, faculty, staff and students came together with an energy and commitment that was extraordinary. Work began in earnest to collect relief supplies, pack and send them to where they could do the most good.
Inspired by the amazing support from the entire Atlanta International School community, I was equally inspired by the link we formed with Kodaikanal International School in South India. When the two schools came together to help and support the survivors of the Tsunami, it became clear that when like-minded people come together, anything is possible.
Together, AIS and KIS supported close on four hundred families who were devastated by the Tsunami that devastated struck the southeastern coast of India. Each school filled two hundred steel trunks with survival kits for the survivors. KIS –orange and blue trunks and AIS –all blue trunks. Other essential supplies such as water containers and cooking pots, tarps, blankets and clothing were part of the relief effort
Once the UPS vans left AIS with boxes filled with supplies and goodwill, we wondered what else could be done. The Tsunami left thousands of orphans who desperately needed support right across Asia.
Both AIS and KIS being IB schools had a Community, Action and Service (CAS) program. KIS students did their service hours at Bethania orphanage, a small but poor institution located not too far from their school. Two months later, in February 2005, my 12th grade advisory and I started a CAS program to support Bethania orphanage’s capital projects. The connection between Atlanta and a service project in South India came about in an unexpected way.
Bethania orphanage galvanized the Atlanta community in general and the parents and students of Atlanta International School in particular. Our pioneer student volunteers from AIS who served at Bethania between 2006 and 2009 were, James Brindley, Aude and Justine Mulliez, Jenna and Kelsey Sanborn, Paige Brownlow, Cassie Huntley, Louise Ellinor Darner (Netherlands) and Anusha Sthanunathan. We believe they made a positive and lasting difference in the lives of these children.
However, it became clear that the Atlanta International School CAS program would not be able to provide a viable platform of support for a major service project abroad. So, in August 2006, together with two senior students, Kristine Vanijcharoenkarn and Zoe Meroney, I began the process to start SABHA, which gained its inception in March 2007 as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. SABHA undertook the support of two projects in 2007 – Lakshmi Narayana Primary and Nursery School (LNS) and Bethania Orphanage, both located in the State of Tamil Nadu in South India. You may wonder why South India, and in particular why Tamil Nadu? There are twenty nine states in India and each state has its own language. Tamil is the language spoken in Tamil Nadu. I lived in Tamil Nadu for twenty three years and knowing the local language of the region has been vital in coordinating SABHA’s projects in India.
Fundraising efforts for Bethania in 2005 and 2006, under the auspices of the AIS CAS program, provided new furnished dormitories, a school bus, new water pipes for the existing well, dining tables and bicycles for the older boys. Then, between 2007 and 2010, SABHA, together with your support, provided Bethania with solar energy panels, beds for the girls, construction of a new bathroom and additional toilets, two milking cows with calves and three new water storage tanks. After six years of dedicated support by the Atlanta community and SABHA, Bethania is now supported by two noteworthy groups. The years we have spent in service to Bethania have been most rewarding and fulfilling.
Funding for Lakshmi Narayana Primary and Nursery School, a rural school in South India, began in2007.Between 2007 and 2015, SABHA provided new classrooms, computers, library books, sports equipment, a photocopier, computer software and above all, a generator. Most villages in India get between 3 to hours of electricity in a 24-hour period. For any electronic equipment to work during school hours, a generator is vital. Thanks to the purchase of the generator, LNS is now able to accommodate EduComp Smart Class technology which allows both teachers and students to have access to a state wide curriculum, the internet and a broader research base.
SABHA directors visit the school regularly but, both parents and ex-AIS faculty volunteers have also served at LNS. Of note are AIS ex-Faculty member, Rhonda Mott Hill who presented a teacher workshop and AIS Alum Parent Uma Sthanunathan, who introduced the Montessori Method of Education to LNS.
The response from the LNS faculty to teacher workshops was very positive. We knew that with such enthusiastic teachers and a school administration that fully supported the education of girls, this school had the potential to become a benchmark rural school. SABHA has conducted six annual teacher workshops at LNS and also successfully introduced the concept of Professional Development to the faculty, a first in rural education.
Again, when like-minded people come together, anything is possible.
We are SABHA and Together We Serve. Drawn together by a collective passion to serve others, SABHA is staffed wholly by volunteers who receive no compensation. In March 2017, thanks to your sustained support we will have given ten years of service to educate and help children who face overwhelming obstacles of poverty, sickness and despair, but yet continue to hope for a better life.
Together We Serve 