Houston Helps Eradicate Illiteracy in Rural India Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation USA, Annual Fundraising Event Houston Chapter

From left: Yogi Patel, Keynote Speaker, Ashok Danda, Past President Ekal USA and, Naren Chavda, President Ekal Houston Chapter.

From left: Yogi Patel, Keynote Speaker, Ashok Danda, Past President Ekal USA and, Naren Chavda, President Ekal Houston Chapter.

HOUSTON: The Ekal Vidyalaya Houston Chapter held its Annual Fundraising Event on May 4, at the Stafford Performing Arts Center.  The event was attended by over 1000 guests and raised over $400,000.  The Houston community pledged their support to over 1100 schools across rural India.

From left: Jugal Malani, President India House, Subhash Gupta, Chairman of the Ekal USA Board, Ashok Danda, Past President of Ekal USA

From left: Jugal Malani, President India House, Subhash Gupta, Chairman of the Ekal USA Board, Ashok Danda, Past President of Ekal USA

This annual event raises funds to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal regions in India. The Ekal Foundation supports “one teacher schools” throughout rural India using the power of the largest grassroots organization within the country. The Ekal Foundation’s “one teacher school” model has had enormous success in rural India and is now used to promote village health, hygiene and socio-economic development. The Foundation was awarded the prestigious S. R. Jindal Prize – 2012 for Peace, Social Harmony and Social Development.

Guests were entertained with Bollywood and Sufi songs by the Vibhavari Group led by Vibhavari Yadav, “the Nightingale of Gujarat” and Sunil Menon, finalist 2005 SaReGaMa contest.

The evening was highlighted by speeches from prominent members of the Indo-American Community including Jugal Malani, President of India House, and Yogi Patel, co-founder and Ambassador of Pratham USA. Renu Khator, Chancellor of The University of Houston was among the distinguished guests.

Patel made an inspiring appeal for donations citing how the giving spirit of the NRIs from East Africa facilitated his educational journey. He presented the vicious cycle of poverty that begins with the lack of education: “illiteracy – early marriage – population growth – poverty”. Ekal Vidyalaya is making a difference by removing the key link, illiteracy, from that cycle thus positively affecting the lives of 100’s of millions living in rural India.