A 2010 wrap-up

2010 has been a busy year for us here at AIC!

For the Residential Program, 2010 was about a long-overdue family trip to the beach, Akash receiving a scholarship to study abroad, welcoming Poonam into the family and watching her change and grow by leaps and bounds, lots of cool extracurricular activities (football, Indian classical dance, stargazing via telescope, a camping trip, basketball, etc), broken bones and surgeries, home improvements and repairs, Pooja's double promotion in the middle of the school year, Ramu beginning nursery school and finally mastering toilet training (!!), opening our home, family and hearts to extremely needy foster children...
For the Education Outreach Program, 2010 meant a new building dedicated exclusively to the Education Program and the hard work of numerous volunteers who painted gorgeous, colorful murals across the walls, a summer camp of activities and games, the start of our very own nursery school, the advent of a 10th standard distance learning class, a field trip to Mahabaleshwar for all of the students, admission to good schools and even a few prestigious scholarships, festive Diwali and Christmas parties, a 100% pass rate for our students' 10th standard board exams...
For the Health Outreach Program, 2010 saw many births and unfortunately, a few sad deaths, a proliferation of medical camps (ophthalmology, dental, pediatric, etc), a much-needed puberty seminar for the older children in the Education Program, several major surgeries and many, many smaller ones, thousands of check-ups and follow-up visits at our clinic, hundreds of check-ups and follow-up appointments with specialists all over Pune, regular health seminars and lectures that were well attended by the surrounding community, outbreaks of malaria, dengue and chikungunya and subsequent petitioning of the local government for increased preventative measures...
For the newly christened Community Outreach Program, 2010 brought the beginning of a new adult literacy class, a tailoring program, various vocational training programs (motorcycle repair, food preparation, hotel management, etc), the community's first ever bank loan, the formation of several new bachat gats (savings groups) with the assistance of Rashmi (program coordinator), AIC-sponsored home repairs for a few of the most vulnerable families in the slum...
With more than 35 on-site employees, 12 residential kids, 250 outreach children, and a thousand men, women and children benefiting from our health and community services, AIC is having a greater impact than ever before. The fact that more than 35 on-site employees work together, every single day, in carefully choreographed synchrony to ensure that nobody falls through the cracks astounds me when I think back to the 3 kids, 2 cats and 1 lone employee that comprised AIC five and a half years ago.

2010 was a year of serious growth, development, restructuring and solidification for AIC, and there is even more in store for 2011! A huge thank you to everyone who follows and supports our work in ways big and small...we are so lucky to have such dedicated supporters.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and productive new year from Pune!