voices... - Deepalaya

issue of sustainability in the long run.
Deepalaya always upheld that sustained development
is all about people participation
and that the true panacea for an equitable
and fair society ultimately rests with
civil society at large. It was with this enlightened
thinking that conscious efforts
were made, albeit modest, to devise
mechanisms for resource mobilization
through local sources.
As a logical extension of this thinking, involvement
of civil society was sought and
Waiting to be loved
the ‘Child Sponsorship’ scheme was
launched.The first Indian sponsor parent
Babu Mathew, was recruited in 1992 who
contributed Rs. 1200/- towards full sponsorship
of one Deepalaya child’s education
and health care.The visit to the UAE in
1993 was a rewarding experience, which
added around 100 sponsors to the family
of Deepalaya bringing the total to around
700.
Co-terminus with the need to undertake
innovative projects for resource-mobiliza-
It is well known that a child, even a needy one, is best brought up
by his family. Institutional care for deprived children has not proved
to be an answer. Stemming from this belief, we encourage people
to sponsor a child; care for his education, health etc;while he continues
in his natural environment. Sponsorship is distinct from adoption
in that it adopts a cause and not the case! From amongst the
deprived communities Deepalaya is serving, a child between 4 to
14 years of age, a boy or a girl, depending on preferences, is identified
for sponsorship. We encourage regular contact between the
sponsor and the sponsored child. A minimum of two communications-verbal
or non-verbal (drawings, illustrations, etc.) are sent by
the child to the sponsor parent. Sponsorship, with the element of
personal interest is thus an effective one-to-one development tool,
aided by progress reports on the child, visits, correspondence, etc.
tion, Deepalaya felt the need to raise its
profile and become more visible in the
public eye. This led to the setting up of
the Communications Division, geared towards
sensitizing the Indian public to the
cause that Deepalaya had been spear-heading
for over a decade. Deepalaya’s ground
credibility and transparency started getting
positive responses as a result of which many
well wishers and supporters came to patronize
Deepalaya. Between March 1991
and April 1992, the following activities
Sponsor Ms.Saumya Singh with her sponsored child Prity Priyadarshini
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