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| JASON TOWLEN/Staff photographer |
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RUTGERS: The task of giving India's most impoverished women and children the chance of an education is like a steep, rocky slope shot through with veins of hope, in the eyes of two students at Rutgers.
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| Rutgers graduate students Diwakar Kedlaya and Hithesh Nama at the Busch Student Center in Piscataway yesterday. They are recruiting runners for a marathon that will aid India's poor women and children. | ||
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"Even a small amount of money raised can make a big difference back in India," Nama said.
Last year, Kedlaya and Nama raised $30,000, along with other Central New Jersey volunteers who participated in marathons in Philadelphia and Staten Island, N.Y.
The money went to Save the Children Home, a school and home for abandoned and homeless girls in West Bengal, the Mathru Educational Trust for the Blind in Bangalore and other programs in India.
Kedlaya and Nama are members of Asha for Education, an international organization with some 70 chapters, each of which targets funds to chosen educational programs in India.
In keeping with the organization's name -- which means hope -- the volunteers want to help segments of the Indian population that would otherwise lack opportunities, such as prostitutes and their children.
"There's a stigma," Nama said. "These kids are not even allowed in the public schools."
Education opens doors, Kedlaya said.
"That's the only way they can get into any kind of job," Kedlaya said.
Each organization that receives funds from Asha must be monitored to ensure that it spends the money properly, Nama said, adding that volunteers visit the sites and evaluate the programs.
Just 10 runners garnered pledges that reaped the $30,000 windfall last year, which was the first time the Central Jersey Chapter of AFE participated in marathons.
The students -- neither of whom had entered a marathon until last year's races -- hope to at least double the number of runners who complete the events this fall.
This year's marathons have the potential to raise a lot of cash, Nama said.
"There's a big Indian community," Nama said. "There's so many people willing to give money."
The biggest challenge for the students is finding runners for the race.
"It's a personal challenge for anybody, running a marathon," Nama said.
To prepare volunteers for the rigors of the race, AFE will hold a kickoff event this evening where coaches will advise prospective runners on everything from the type of shoes they should wear to an optimal practice schedule.
Runners can practice together in Johnson Park on Saturday mornings.
Participation in the marathons benefits the runners as well as the recipients of the fund-raising effort, Kedlaya said.
"I used to hate running," he said. "I'm running the San Diego Marathon this weekend."
Nama said he was amazed by the dedication of educators he met during a trip to India in January, when he evaluated a school for slum children in Hyderabad.
The school's leader -- who is 70 years old and in poor health -- had persisted in his efforts, even after the building was burned during a riot, Nama said.
"He hasn't given up hope," Nama said. "I couldn't believe that there are people like him who could sacrifice his whole life for the school."
Such dedication spurs the volunteers who are here in the United States.
"Twenty-six-point-two miles seems like a small thing in comparison," Kedlaya said.
The kickoff event will be held at 7 p.m. tonight in Conference Room 10 of the AT&T Innovation Center at 30 Knightsbridge Road in Piscataway.
For more information, call (858) 353-1851 or send an e-mail to diwakark@eden.rutgers.edu.