Thats a great idea. Am based in India and have seen similar programs between US and India, (Indicorps e.g.). I believe your programs currently focus on Australia and Ghana - they could be extended! iVOlunteer (http://iVOlunteer.in) also hosts overseas students for community service programs.

Well besides actually going on one of these programs, it's possible to volunteer in your own country and help with the selection of students to be awarded a scholarship, host the international students coming to your country, or assist with organising fundraising / social events in your community. It's really a community-focused organisation driven by volunteers.

Nice article, AFS is doing a great service. What are the ways other people can get involved into AFS activities?

Another initiative in Pune I found rather effective - http://ngopost.org/story.php?title=Protecting_Punes_Roots_-_The_Tree_Act-1

Hi Chris, commendable effort indeed! I have read other articles on groups that have started libraries like http://ngopost.org/story.php?title=Home_-_Room_to_Read Are there possibilities of resource sharing/collaboration that both efforts could benefit from?

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn. John Lubbock

I completely agree with you Gautam, besides the undue pressue of Dowry in a woman's life and her parents', she has to keep all her dreams aside so that she can adjust with the man she is going to be married with. She prepares herself to be someone she is not in the process of making a family life possible. We the male species are very lucky in this regard, and never think a step beyond our needs and comforts. I wonder if we ever realize, that by not supporting her with her dreams, we might infact be pushing another Kalpana Chawla, or Chanda Kocchar into non-existance. On Dowry again, I have heard such reasoning as "Its a matter of prestige to get large sums of money" and even calling it "Traditions". I have even heard of women being termed as "Potential Gold Mines". Its sad when you hear that women are married not for the person they are but for the potential money they can bring with her. I wonder relating dowry to prestige will actually make the person prestigious, or does it make traditional to trod on a woman's dreams and life.

I think these affiliations become strongest at the time of conflicts with other sects. One of the reasons behind sectoral conflicts, I believe, is our tendency to generalize. Mr. X does something wrong to me, and if I find that Mr. X belongs to certain sect which is different than mine, I think bad of that whole sect. So I behave badly not only with Mr. X but also Mr. Y of that same sect. And Mr. Y suddenly being dragged into this turmoil, who might not have been so attached to his sect so far, now starts feeling bad for me and my sect (while also beginning to feel more attachment to his sect, by necessity if not by reasoning). And this keeps on going.

A great initiative! In a country as vast as India with a large number of unemployed youth, such models need to be replicated. Unnati can reach a wider population by developing models for replication ie. course syllabus, training hours, manpower requirements and consult NGOs in other states to begin such a programme.

its Indian Institute Of Environmental Medicine,Ward No 12 , Sane Guruji Marg, Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai 11. Telephone no: 23014992/23008108 Email:iiem@bom8.vsnl.net.in

This must be useful! Please share contact info for IIEM (email/website/phone/address)!

VKC is planning visits on Saturday and Sunday (Aug 9, 10, 2008). People who are interested can coordinate with Ajit Phadnis (anphadnis [@] gmail.com). For regular announcements on our yahoo group (ittamadu [@] yahoogroups.com). Please join the group to get the latest news on visits.

This is good. Specially liked the part of reuse of non confidential papers. Generally most companies thrash all used paper, and only about 20% is confidential.

Marvellous video but he speaks more of kids giving up playing and stuff as they are hooked on to technology - a beautiful song on the same - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyapY97ugNk We can't have Clifford Stoll teaching 8th graders all over the world but what we could do is use a recorded session of his - something like a virtual classrooms. Laptops merely serving as a medium... Another story on the subject = http://ngopost.org/story.php?title=The_Digital_StudyHall I think we are talking about effective education and I think Laptops can do just that. They won't replace the existing methods but augment them and very well at that! :)

There is no doubting that computers are amazing learning aids but we should remember that they are just one of the many aids to learning. Before we come to the point of what is fair and what is feasible, lets try to understand what this approach actually delivers. Students should get used to the information at a finger tip paradigm, after all Google answers almost all questions I have. But, one also has to think where the initial questions come from. A computer will not teach you what to ask! And that's why there is just no replacement for a hands on approach to learning. Build models, do experiments, visit nature retreats - all this when supported by a computer can really enrich the experience. And for this reference kind of work, I really don't think a laptop per child is needed. Am reminded of this wonderful talk by Clifford Skoll on TED (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html), which talks about a lot of stuff, but mainly about the importance of primary education. He makes a very good point that computers *should not* be in the classroom.

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I don't doubt the benefits of a laptop/computer for children one bit. I am only concerned about it's feasibility. If that's taken care I guess there is little need to worry. There is no way conventional education can beat what promises laptops have to offer. My 3 and half year old nephew who despises schools loves listening to rhymes and educational games on his laptop. He uses it with much finesse (I believe a lot of people brag bout that - just that it has been accessible to these kids - I guess most would be equally good). Nothing in books is as interesting as on the programs on Discovery, NatGeo, History, etc. Media can make things very interesting for even average children. Laptops make enccylopedias very accessible. Looking up anything is like a piece of cake. Most importantly most schools today (not just govt. schools) don't have competent teachers but good material once made on science, math, etc can be re-used. Extremely efficient and effective. These outweigh easily the braindead ways of teaching in school that are out there to kill any kind of creativity. Laptops may not replace other forms of learning but are a good means by themselves for _all_ ages! I just came across this game - http://fantasticcontraption.com/ Learning cudn't be more fun with such tools around! :) These attack the ability of a student to reason and understand more than any amount of cramming typical of most schools. Yes it sounds absurd for kids who don't get basic amenities even but if viable this is a neat way to learn.

I think laptops are a waste of resources for school children of std 10 and below. Badri's point is well taken that there do exist scenarios where a multimedia presentation can comfortably outperform the conventional teaching methods. But even for that, a projector in a school suffices. My bigger argument is with where our priorities should lie. Before focusing on how best to teach advanced topics, we ought to ensure that the basics reach out to all and sundry. Else, it will be again "excellence for some", but not "justice for all". Besides, how many of these advanced topics can be claimed to be "essential"? If one is able to show that some form of computer animations makes math easy for primary kids hailing from economically-and-educationally backward communities, it may be worth a try. But, I wouldn't vote for the use of these rather expensive techniques for stuff like cloud formation which is important but not enough.

While I don't disagree with your points on practical learning, there is still a good use for computers even for middle and high school level. There are quite a few things that may not be learnt in a practical manner. For example, how do you understand formation of clouds or photosynthesis in a practical manner? Its not hard to imagine that computers help here. For primary schools, I guess we need to take a look at the computer OLPC is offering before we comment. I think the right way to see this as an effort to to computerise classroom learning, rather than to replace outdoor learning.

I really wonder if laptops are necessary for school children. I can assume maybe necessary for higher secondary, but before that I really doubt if they make any appreciable difference. I guess more important than laptops are the good teachers, sports, and so on. I have the feeling that the laptops make the teaching virtual, and guess for school things should be more real.

A good energy food for cyclists and otherwise - http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-4-21-2242-1,00.html An article in BBC on bikers in Blr... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7130418.stm

The commencement of the Social Entrepreneurship Outlook Programme has been put off from 26th July to 2nd August, 2008, due to unavoidable circumstances. This is a part-time 5 month course held on Saturdays at Mission Road, Bangalore for people interested in the development sector, volunteers, NGO heads and senior personnel and people who want to start their own NGOs. Those who wish to register may contact the Coordinator at csimblre@gmail.com. Phone- 9886 833 665/ 2550 5197

I have recorded a podcast on my understandings which can be found here http://badcast.mypodcast.com/2008/07/Adventure_with_climate_change-129007.html

Homeopathy treats sick individuals, it is true but one should know its scope and its limitations. Homeopathy can cure only the cureables, others can only be PALLIATED (in sense a symptomatic treatment).

Good info. I only knew about the TN-based officer. It's heartening to see people making a sizable social contribution as a part of their job/profession. This is one thing that pinches me a great deal, being an IT employee. You can only chip in part-time/online and financially. This post has made me wonder a tad more about the idea of retiring from IT at around 30 and taking up something that assists the community and sustains my family simultaneously. Regardless of whether I go for it or not, it would be worthwhile discussing what all ways in which one can do this. Ideas, esp. those of the social entrepreneurship kind, are invited.