KHEL ANNUAL REPORT 2020
One photo cannot sum up 2020. Before and during the pandemic.
Let’s be frank – we all could have done without the challenges of 2020. It was a difficult year and there were times when we couldn’t reach the kids who had no phones, families were going hungry because we couldn’t provide enough rations for everyone, and we couldn’t hold necessary health clinics or do the activities our kids love. We were concerned about the ‘soft’ issues, too, such as the lack of socialization with peers and face-to-face learning, not seeing our kids on a daily basis which is how we know who needs extra nutrition or other aid, and even the emotional disconnect of not being able to see their smiling faces, first because everyone was locked down and then because of masks. Masks, of course, are a necessity and will continue for some time, but it was (and still is) hard on all of us.
“I won’t forget this pandemic for my whole life. Thanks to KHEL for taking care of us and for worrying about all of us! We miss each other while we’re working from home, preparing results and other schoolwork. I’m in touch with many of my 7th class students.” Dinesh G., LDA teacher
Even though we often felt overwhelmed, 2020 had a seemingly monotonous yet stressful rhythm unbroken by children laughing, studying, and playing, and by the daily comings and goings at LDA that we’ve grown to take for granted and that we enjoy sharing with you. We all stayed home as much as we could. The teachers taught, the kids learned as best they could, and the managers made sure everyone had what they needed to do their jobs, study, and get through the year.
And we did get through it. KHEL is not only still standing, we’re stronger than ever. We learned that we are a solid team – managers, teachers, other staff, volunteers, kids, families, and our community. We did what we always do – we kept going, kept reaching out, and kept educating kids. Our teachers stepped up to teach in new ways. Our parents helped their kids learn by also learning new skills such as how to take photos and communicate with teachers and other staff via smart and regular phones. Our managers kept everyone on the same page, often offering advice and comfort beyond the scope of professional relationships. In some areas where we were forced to innovate, we’re in better shape than we’ve ever been.
Our children have always inspired us with their grit, resilience, and good humor in the face of often daunting challenges, but in 2020 they really stepped up. Kids who had smart and regular phones shared information across boundary walls and from flat roof to flat roof with their friends who had no phones, making it possible for more kids to keep learning. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, but until the pandemic, we had no idea that our kids would be instrumental in helping to raise each other.
KINDNESS
Giving masks to our local sanitary engineers.
Use of Funds: KHEL has 27 employees, most of whom are teachers and support staff, and 3 professional consultants – lawyer, bookkeeper, and auditor.
| INR | US$@70 | €@78 | |
| 658,658 | 9,409.40 | 8,444.33 | Financial, legal, travel, office expenses, regulatory |
| 2,554,584 | 36,494.06 | 32,751.08 | Salary & other compensation |
| 700,716 | 10,010.23 | 8,983.54 | Government required retirement fund |
| 150,655 | 2,152.21 | 1,931.47 | Government required medical insurance |
| 287,500 | 4,107.14 | 3,685.90 | Government required security system/fire safety construction |
| 248,564 | 3,550.91 | 3,186.72 | Overheads, maintenance, repairs |
| 758,000 | 10,828.57 | 9,717.95 | Construction |
| 958,421 | 13,691.73 | 12,287.45 | School supplies, other aid |
| 82,500 | 1,178.57 | 1,057.69 | Leprosy colonies: emergency & medical aid, dry food rations |
| 28,000 | 400.00 | 358.97 | Medical aid |
| 260,000 | 3,714.29 | 3,333.33 | Security |
| 232,400 | 3,320.00 | 2,979.49 | Scholarships |
| 92,500 | 1,321.43 | 1,185.90 | Coronavirus related aid, equipment, & supplies |
| 262,000 | 3,742.86 | 3,358.97 | IT |
| 7,274,498 | 103,921 | 93,263 | Total KHEL/LDA expenses |
Community Aid: We distributed masks and hand sanitiser to our community’s sanitation engineers and gave them cash so they could purchase gloves. We also gave masks to our staff and to members of the community who would need to continue working outside their homes. 34 families were given rations and 14 people were assisted with cash so they could purchase what they needed for their families. KHEL’s friend, Sudesh, worked with shop owners to collect funds and distributed 100 ration and supplies to those in need. KHEL helped his efforts with a financial contribution. KHEL contributed to two government aid programs. The government used the grounds at LDA to distribute 150 rations kits to our community.
Educational Aid: Lock downs began just as the school year was ending, making it impossible for parents to buy the supplies their kids needed for school. For weeks everyone was out of work so even when it became possible to go into the market, parents had no funds for school supplies. One of our former students, Suman, started a stationery store our community in 2019, so we purchased school supplies from her. This helped our community by making sure their kids had the supplies they needed to study and by giving our business to a local supplier.
Leprosy Colonies: We supplied rations to 88 people at Rotary, Shanti, Navjeevan Gram, and Indresh leprosy colonies. Prior to the lock downs we took our 7th class students to Shanti Kusth so that they could personally distribute fruits and snacks for #SocialJusticeDay.
IT Upgrades: Between our friends from Germany and one of our Board members, we acquired 12 laptops. We set up the necessary IT equipment at LDA, including a high-speed internet connection and security.
Construction: In 2019, funds were raised specifically for construction. We completed several major and many smaller projects, some of which were government requirements: installation of water tanks on the roof for fire safety, raising the height of our gate, installing underground septic and water tanks, rebuilding, repairing, and raising the height of many of our boundary walls, and adding seating along the base of one boundary wall.
Some of our construction workers with the water tanks we were required to put on our roof for fire safety reasons. They devised and built a pulley system because the tanks wouldn’t fit in our stairwell.
Click here to read our full construction report.
Click here to see our construction video.
Condolences and Congratulations: We lost a few community members to illnesses and natural causes, but only one to Covid. * Rajeshwari’s daughter, Renu, was married – we wish the new couple congratulations! * Raghubir became a grandfather, and we are pleased to welcome Nutan. * Shalini, KHEL’s Co-Founders’ granddaughter and a lifetime KHEL volunteer, married her fiancé, Jared, who has also volunteered at KHEL. We wish them both a lifetime of happiness!
HEALTH
Art by Tammana, LDA 3rd grader.
Pre-pandemic, 223 students were given de-worming tablets. De-worming is a government initiative implemented by our local ASHA’s (Accredited Social Health Activist – a division of the local government focused on women’s and children’s health). Intestinal parasites can lead to anemia, malnutrition, impaired mental, physical, and cognitive development, and reduced school participation, so this program is an essential part of KHEL’s health initiative. Just before going into lock down, we held an educational session at LDA for our older students regarding Coronavirus.
During the pandemic, we couldn’t have the medical, dental, eye, and mental health clinics we usually have, so we focused on regularly reminding our kids to stay home, wear masks, and wash their hands frequently. To make this fun, we held several art competitions about health to keep them thinking about ways to stay healthy. * Varun, our Yoga instructor, continued to teach from his farming community where he was quarantining with his family, helping our kids to stay physically active while stuck at home.
Rural Development Institute (RDI), part of Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), supplied 60 hygiene kits to our older students. This was especially helpful for our older girls who often don’t have access to menstrual products. * Mental health is just as important as physical health. Ankita, our Adolescent Resource Centre Facilitator, stayed in touch with as many of our kids as she could, often just listening to their problems and offering advice. For most of the year she quarantined with her family in the mountains. In order to talk on the phone with our students, she would hike an hour down the mountain to the nearest small town that had internet, Wi-Fi, and phone service.
EDUCATION
Academics: Like most of the world, we had to devise new ways to teach, and there were several factors that limited how we could do this. Some families left for their villages or sent their kids to stay with relatives so even if they had phones, we couldn’t get in touch with them because the internet doesn’t work in the mountains. In the 2019-2020 school year, we had 292 students. For 2020-2021, we have 278 students, and 14 of those were new admissions. 215 have smart phones, 51 have regular phones, and 12 don’t have phones. We set up a system to teach via phones while the kids were locked down. The parents who are literate helped their kids with homework. Many of our students don’t have this luxury.
As soon as it was safe, we set up a system for our kids to drop off and pick up their schoolwork from their teachers at LDA. This gave everyone a chance to safely meet and ask questions. We are thankful for our ample outdoor space, since it’s safer to meet outside rather than in a classroom.
Laptops and IT Education: At the start of the pandemic, we had challenges teaching. Our good friend, Sangita Gairola, was eager to help our teachers but we didn’t have enough laptops or even an internet connection. Last year, our friends from Germany, Ganesha’s Kinder, gave us laptops but we didn’t get to upgrade them before the pandemic hit. We’re thankful to one of KHEL’s Board members, Prabhjot Singh, for donating laptops & assisting with upgrading the German laptops. We partnered with Juana Foundation, a non-profit based in Delhi, to educate our teachers on everything they need to know to engage with our students using technology.
“Before laptops, we had to hand write all our work, take photos, and send it our kids. Sometimes the photos didn’t turn out and our kids had a hard time figuring it out. Our work will go so much faster now, which means we can spend time learning new ways to teach instead of just keeping up with the work.” Asha N., LDA teacher
Click here to read the full report on how laptops changed the way we teach.
LAUGHTER
Before the pandemic, our 8th graders had a graduation party.
Celebrations: Republic Day, Social Justice Day, International Women’s Day, Holi, Earth Day, Mothers’ Day, International Day of Families, No Tobacco Day, Fathers’ Day, Read A Book Day, Rakhi, Independence Day, World Photo Day, Teachers’ Day, Read a Book Day, International Day of Peace, Diwali, World Hello Day, and the Winter Holidays. After March, most of our celebrations were virtual.
Shrishti with her awards. Congratulations!
Awards and Successes: With financial assistance from KHEL and the support of his family, Hunny completed 6 months of required interning at Hotel Radisson Blu Paschim Vihar in Delhi, India, and was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for his work at the Front Desk. · Just before the lock downs, our 8th graders sat a modified exam. Everyone passed! · Bridge of Hope, a non-profit in our community, gave the ‘Superheroes Saving Lives’ award to Kartik (5), Aksha (6), and Shristhi (7) for their extraordinary help with fundraising for the floods in Kerala. · Shrishti (7) won the gold medal at the Uttarakhand state boxing championships in the weight category 24-28kgs. · Pawni, our Assistant Manager’s daughter, placed 81st out of 100,000 test takers for the Indian national law school exam. She is attending a prestigious law university in Mumbai (online at the moment).
Watch our KHEL 2020 ‘That’s a Wrap’ video here!
THANKS
Aksha, an LDA 7th grader, says thanks on behalf of all of us!
Thank you to Ganesha’s Kinder and our German friends, Randall, Jay, Anita and Manu, Sudhanshu and Kelly, Mary T., our Italian friends, Suman, OmWorld Lifestyles, Mr. Ahluwalia, Prabhjot Singh and other Board members, Shruti, Sangita G., Ashok M., Ashok and Sarita S., Bina D., Bridge of Hope, City Councilors Kamli Bhatt Parshad and Haji Iliyas Ansari Parshad, Kiran W., Sudesh, Zakir, Rajinder, Mr. Maindola, Ashish, Maithili and RDI, Sunil K., Digvijay S., Jyoti S., Juana Foundation, Swati G., Manisha M., Ruchi, Jatin, Manaswami, and the Dehradun Police Department. Thanks to KHEL staff for doing an extraordinary job under challenging circumstances, and to Beni, for shouldering an enormous burden and making it look easy! Thanks to our extended family for your continued support, and especially to Saumya and Urban Haas for keeping us connected online. There are so many more people who, despite their own hardships of lockdowns and losses, continued to support us through a tough year. Words can’t express how grateful we are.
Without our Co-Founders there would be no KHEL. Thanks to Lalita Arya, fondly known as Ammaji, who, although not able to be physically present in India, gave us the inspiration we needed to rise to the challenges 2020 presented.
We continue this service in memory of Pandit Dr. Usharbudh Arya (Swami Veda Bharati), who grew up in Dehradun and dedicated his life to serving others. Lakshmi Devi Academy is named after his mother who was a teacher at Kanya Gurukul, the local girls’ school, when Dr. Arya was a child.
The seeds of change take generations to blossom. With your support, we will continue to nurture them with the 4 building blocks all children need to succeed – Kindness, Health, Education, and Laughter.
In Service,
Stomya Arya Persaud, Executive Director
Beni Prasad Bhatt, General Manager
Bhagwat Prasad, Assistant Manager
Manju Maurya, Headmistress