Cheer, Warmth and Fashion at Pratham’s Holiday Luncheon Fundraiser

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: As a couple of male speakers mentioned, there was only a smattering of men among the mostly female crowd who came for Pratham’s Holiday Luncheon this past Friday, December 6 at The Junior League of Houston and that was certainly by design rather than by accident.

“This used to be called the Ladies Luncheon for the past five year’s”, explained Mani Surkari, Executive Director of Pratham Houston as she nibbled at her lunch in between the program, “but we changed it this year”. And the event is easily one of the most popular that Pratham holds throughout the year, coming at the heels of the festive Holiday Season and bringing all the warmth and color of it that the Junior League setting exudes. It was all the merrier and easier to appreciate especially on a chilly afternoon when the temperatures hovered in the high 30s.

The event has traditionally been Pratham’s last fundraiser for the year and was in support of the tailoring and beauty center programs that the charity supports in India to provide vocational training to women to enable them to become entrepreneurs and set up their own small businesses. This year’s event was spearheaded by Dr. Marie Goradia, the newly elected Pratham Houston President who spoke of her fervor for the non-profit which her husband Vijay Goradia co-founded the USA chapter in 1998.

“I became hooked on the concept when we visited a slum in Bombay and saw twenty kids seated in a circle in the open, learning and raising their hands to answer questions”, Goradia recalled, “They wanted a chance to be free – to become a doctor or teacher – or to just be ‘me’”.

She explained how Pratham has become the largest non-profit in the world in the field of elementary education and become a major force in India through four programs: Annual Status of Education Report or ASER, Read India, Vocational and Entrepreneur Training an Second Chance Open Schools for Girls. Read India has been particularly effective since its launch in 2007 to reach 34 million kids in India and teach them basic reading and simple math in a unique 2-month program.

Among the guests was Pratham founder and current CEO Dr. Madhav Chavan who said a few words of appreciation and support for the event and then in turn Goradia recognized other Pratham directors and presidents in the audience.

The keynote speaker for the afternoon was Mike Feinberg, a co-founder of KIPP (for Knowledge is Power Program) which he launched in 1994 for fifth-graders in an inner-city school in Houston. He developed the KIPP Academy Houston while the other co-founder Dave Levin started KIPP Academy New York.

Feinberg started his speech with an acknowledgement to the passing of the South Africa apartheid foe and President Nelson Mandela the day before and a quote from the 95 year-old statesman. Feinberg said that there were many similarities in philosophy between KIPP and Pratham including the programs’ contribution to the founders’ hair loss, he jested! He related the traditional greeting between Maasai warriors of Kenya which is “How are the children?” responded to with “All the children are well” to illustrate the importance the nomadic tribe places on their young. “Here in the US, the answer is “Uh!”, Feinberg declared.

He illustrated his speech with statistics that showed the disparity of the 31% of students in the US who graduate from college – 82% of the top income class versus only 8% of the bottom.  In India, he countered, only 15% start college. He explained that there are two schools of thought regarding this dilemma: one is to eradicate poverty and the other is that education is the ticket out of poverty. “Society doesn’t believe that we can lick the problem”, he said.

After 20 years, KIPP has an enviable success rate of 45% of its kids graduating from college. The secret seems to be in getting more learning time and getting families to commit. “People don’t believe they can make this change”, Feinberg said, adding, “but all children can learn. Pratham has changed that thought to ‘all children will learn’”. He concluded by reading an excerpt from the children’s book “The Polaris Express” which is about Christmas and ended with tinkling a small bell he pulled out of his pocket to signify the happy ending and encouraging the guests to make sure other kids heard the bell of happiness and hope. “Its kinda funny that a Jew is reading a Christmas tale to a bunch of Hindus”, he chuckled.

Goradia picked up with a short pledge drive just as lunch was served, for the two Pratham initiatives, and an anonymous donor pledged to match each dollar upto a maximum of $15,000. All told, the event reportedly raised about $139,000. Goradia also acknowledged the dedicated devotion of the Pratham staff with Mani Surkari serving as Executive Director for 10 years, and Dimpal Kalani.

Keeping in with the emphasis on women’s participation, a fashion show with models walking down a catwalk was presented with clothes and outfits by Sameera Faridi of Poshak and Jamal Nasir of L.K. Bennett. Also featured were makeup booths by Berkha Khokhar of Fashion Face; Sara Duggal of Touch of Elegance, Saks Fifth Avenue and Country Rose.