May 19th, 2005 was when we started the first summer camp at Urappakkam. As of today, May 19th 2009, we have come a long way and we see a long way ahead of us.
Some of what we see as our achievements this year:
We have a good number of girls coming regularly to the center. This was a major issue that we needed to deal with when we entered the scene. Employing women facilitators has helped loads in taking care of this issue.
No girl has dropped out of school in the last one year. A girl who dropped out the previous year, got back into school this year!
Areas that need immediate improvement:
A seeming lack of parental involvement in the activities at the center is very disturbing.
The fact that we still have not found feasible metrics to track our progress, because the "confidence level" that we seek to improve is such an intangible objective.
Our vision when we started the center 4 years ago was:
To make Urappakkam a
culturally rich, economically sound and a well-informed area through the holistic education of children, literacy programs and vocational training for women and health care for entire families.
We have made a little progress. We have miles to go before we sleep.
