For those unaware, Christel House opened 5 Learning Centers in its first 4 years of operation. Since then, we've focused 100% of our attention on fine-tuning the "engine" of poverty alleviation. We've set high standards, implemented quality assessment tools and have the results to prove that what we're doing truly does end poverty for our children.
At the same time, a company in India has been planning a 'hill station' (new city) the size of Paris to be built outside Pune, India. That's right, the size of Paris. An effort of Hindustan Construction Company, this new city, called Lavasa, is being built on 12,500 acres of land and draws partnerships with some of the best organizations in the world and we're proud to be on the list. Most admirable is that from a corporate social responsibility perspective, Lavasa is preventing poverty. In their planning, they know there will be a 'working class' and feel, as we do, that children of those families deserve a quality education like anyone else.
We're exstatic about the opportunity and look forward to opening our 6th Learning Center this summer, Christel House Lavasa. Upon opening it will serve 120 children in grades K-2 and 800 when at full capacity. The new students will be from the Bhoini and Dhanman Ohol villages and other surrounding areas.
Hindustan's leadership searched the globe for the best in educating low-income children and selected Christel House.
We're glad they did and look forward to building a great future together.
Many of our friends and supporters have asked if we have any direct connection with those affected by the devastation in Haiti. As one of our students put it, "Yes, we are directly connected. We're members of the same human race and we call the same planet home". We'd add that our children and their families have experienced similar hardship and poverty in their own way.
All our children and staff learn that at Christel House "We share, we care and we make a difference".
Our Learning Centers around the world are all doing different things in response. At Christel House South Africa, our students learned about the tragedy, held a moment of silence, and lit candles - one for the mothers, one for the fathers, and one for the children of Haiti. They also formed the country's name to let them know they are on our hearts and minds.
From collecting items, donating to relief efforts and holding candlelight vigils - we encourage you to continue to support the people of Haiti.
Join Christel House International as we travel to India February 20-24, 2010. We'll start with an exciting sightseeing tour of historic and beautiful Bangalore City. Then, we'll spend a full day at Christel House India where we'll tour the facility, work on projects with the students and visit the areas that they call home. Finally, we'll enjoy a full-day field trip with the students to the palaces at Mysore.
For more details, download the trip packet below. Reserve your spot today by contacting Mandi Melangton at mmelangton@christelhouse.org or 317-464-2341.
Mr. Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director, Dell International Service celebrates his birthday with the children of Christel House India on 10th October 2009.
Our friends in LA are throwing a bash and YOU should be there!
After months of planning, it’s my pleasure to cordially invite you to our Christel House Fundraiser hosted by The Network Of Indian Professionals LA-OC on Nov 21. Please join us for a spectacular evening on the skydeck of the Shade Hotel. From a fantastic sunset to the delicious cocktails, we invite you to come discover this beautiful gem in Manhattan Beach.
The Network of Indian Professionals (Net IP) is a professional non-profit organization, dedicated to the overall achievement and advancement of South Asian professionals. It is a leading organization for South Asians, recognized by political, civic, and community leaders across North America. It has also become the unequivocal voice for those South Asians who want to excel in every aspect of society! The four pillars of our organization are Professional Development, Cultural Awareness, Political Awareness, and Community Service.
Christel House is an amazing international children’s organization that is ending extreme poverty for children in five countries including India, South Africa, Mexico, Venezuela and the U.S. We’re excited to help them in educating and empowering their young, talented students and look forward to seeing you there! For more information, please visit the event website.
You don’t have to be in LA to help in our party for a cause! We encourage you to consider donating your ticket even if you can’t attend. We will miss you but definitely appreciate all your help! While, we certainly are a network of Indian professionals, we invite everyone of all backgrounds to join in our bash!
For more information about the event or Net-IP, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Tulika12@gmail.com.
A Report on The First Annual Global Adobe Youth Voices Summit 2009
We arrived on 29th July 2009 at the Stanford University where the Adobe Youth Voices Global Summit was to be held. We were absolutely delighted to be a part of the summit. We met so many new people from all over the world, it was a great opportunity to learn about other participants and the places they live and also share our experiences with them. On the first day we had an introduction activity which gave us the opportunity to know all the participants with whom we will be working for the next 5 days. We had the ice breaker activity where we were given two puzzle pieces and our task was to search for our group mates and complete the puzzle.
The second day of the workshop began with an opening session by the Creative Director of the Art Department of the film Harry Potter, Mr. David Nakabyashi. We were overwhelmed and very privileged to have met such an outstanding and inspirational personality. This session was very informative and we learnt how to create imaginary creatures. After this session we presented Mr. Nakabyashi with a painting and had our photograph taken with him. Later we split into groups and our task was to produce a short film on “Change”. We were thrilled because we had many ideas that we could use in the film. It also enabled us to develop our skills in learning how to edit the new Adobe Premier Pro- Software. As we were grouped with mixed age people, some of our group did not know how to operate a camera, so we helped them in the photography and taught them how to take different camera shots.
On the third day we went on an excursion to the Adobe Headquarters in San Jose. It was an amazing, modern structure. We were divided into groups and had a tour of the building and learnt the different types of software used.
Day four started with an enormous surprise, the pop group Black Eyed Peas visited and performed for us. This remains to be one of our many fond memories. By afternoon our task was to create “Real Media” with a community impact. This was a difficult workshop; also there was some difficulty in organizing people’s role in the team. We then presented the knowledge we had gained to the other groups. Later in the evening we prepared ourselves for the ‘Adobe Youth Voices Live’ in San Francisco. Our film ‘We are by your side’, was screened to the audience. We also met the staff from Adobe and got the chance to speak with them and take some photographs.
And soon we were back home, sharing our experiences with our friends back at Christel House.
Meagan and Allen were recently married and creatively included Christel House in their special day. Soon after, we received the note below from Meagan. She writes...
Dear Christel House,
We are glad to be of help with our donation and happy to share our story with you. We actually borrowed the idea of making a charitable contribution for a favor from my husband's cousin, whose wedding took place a couple months before ours. We went to their reception and on each place setting, where one would traditionally see a favor, there was a card explaining that a charitable donation had been made to an organization in the guest's honor. I thought it was so nice knowing that a deserving charity received a donation instead of me getting some candy a, shot glass or other typical favor item. I overheard a number of other guests echo my sentiments regarding the favor.
I talked it over with Allen and we decided that a donation would also be a great way for us to express gratitude to our guests and give back to those in need. We wanted to choose a charity that had a special meaning to both our lives. My parents are teachers and his family also has a strong history of supporting education (among other things, his grandmother had been Chief Education Officer of South Kanara district in the state of Karnataka, India) so we thought a charity that helped children with their education would be very appropriate. I remembered seeing an article on my company's website (Target) about a donation that the company had made to Christel House India in Bangalore, India. I had not heard of Christel House before but, my husband happens to be from Bangalore so, that made the idea of giving to Christel House all the more meaningful.
I did an internet search to learn more about the organization. I was delighted to learn that Christel House not only helped children in Bangalore but, also in the USA and other parts of the world. It's easy to see that the work that Christel House is doing truly an impact and I was impressed by the promise that 100% of donations would directly assist children in need. It was obvious from the many testimonials from personal and corporate sponsors that our donations would make a real difference to kids from both our countries. At each table we included a card, as his cousin had done, explaining to guests guests that we had made a donation in their honor. We also explained about Christel House's mission and that the donations would help children in India, the US and around the world to obtain an education and rise above poverty. We also included the website and encouraged our guests to visit the Christel House website to learn more.
I hope that in addition to our contribution, we succeeded in educating our guests about Christel House International and the important you are doing worldwide. We look forward to supporting your organization with future donations and commend you for the work you are doing.
Yours Truly,Meagan and Allen
Thank you Meagan and Allen. Your creativity and commitment is truly inspiring.
If you'd like more information on creative ways to give, raise funds or to help our children break the cycle of poverty, please don't hesitate to contact us. There are countless ways that YOU can make a WORLD of difference!
Christel House students to take part in Adobe Summit
Two students of Christel House Learning Center Supriya Venkatesh and Shiva Sagar Rudresh along with their Art Teacher Dhanaraj Keezhara have been chosen to attend the first Annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit 2009, to be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA USA from July 29 to August 02, 2009.
They are the core members of the team that developed a short five – minute film “We Are by Your Side” overseen by Art Teacher Dhanaraj Keezhara. The film was awarded the second prize at DAM - 09 (Digital Arts Movement Film Festival) at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune in February 2009.
Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) is a signature philanthropy program of Adobe Foundation with a vision to introduce young minds to the world of digital media. Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) gives training to approximately 7500 youth in 30 countries through 400 educators. Out of this, 67 students and 33 educators are selected to attend the Summit. This is the first time that an international summit is being held under the program.
Christel House India students receive exemplary scores
The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) is one of the first important examinations for students in India. It is a certification obtained by students after their completion of the secondary schooling level in India.
Christel House India recently received the following scores and statistics.
64 of 66 students passed (97% passing rate compared to 75% nation wide!)
4 students passed with distinction (80% and above)
32 students passed with first class (60% and above)
16 students passed with second class (50% and above)
12 additional students passed
2 students failed - these students struggled in second language (Kannada). We are planning to include these students in intense remediation and they should be ready for a supplementary exam in June 2009
Additionally, 54% of Christel House students passed with "distinction" or "first class" compared to 30% nationally.
Two students and our art teacher from Christel House India have been selected to attend the first annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit 2009 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. They are part of Christel House India's Animation & Short Film making team who are trained by professionals from AYV.
AYV is an initiative sponsored by Adobe in association with America India Foundation with a vision to introduce young minds to the digital world. The Adobe Youth Voice Summit will bring together 100 global AYV participants who represent over 7,500 youth and 400 educators from more than 30 countries.
Students from grades 7-9 recently filmed "We Are by Your Side", a short film that can be viewed here. Before submitting to several festivals, the film was screened for students grades 5-10 at Christel House India. Many were moved to tears sharing that this was the story of their lives.
Mr. Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director, Dell International Service celebrates his birthday with the children of Christel House India on 10th October 2009. 
