One! International has grown so much since it’s beginnings—teaching the children on the ground in front of their “houses”. As for any organization, growth brings change. We have school rooms in which to teach; we have volunteers from all over the world coming to Mumbai to help teach the children; we have corporate sponsors in Canada, India and the United States which allows us to have special programs such as boarding school sponsorship, sewing and woodworking, hiring professional staff, and providing medical and dental checks.

Pallavi Metkari has moved on to work with an organization in Mumbai that works with handicapped children. We are sure that the skills and knowledge that Palavi gained while working with One! will mean that she will be a valued member of their organization. The entire One! family in India and in Canada wish Pallavi all the very best of luck and success in all her future endeavors.

Growth brings the need for more and more “paper work” to meet the needs of a growing organization— government requirements, budget, promotion, etc. etc, etc. The Canadian Coordinator will be looking for some volunteer assistance to help meet the increased workload in Canada, and Tania is organizing the volunteers in India to help with the needs in India.

We have started quite an extensive Family Help Program. We give out loans to the families after they approach us with a proposal for why they need the loan, how much money they need, and why we should trust them in business. It has proved to be a great way for the parents to be more responsible and also for them to learn how to communicate better and explain themselves more clearly.

Almost every family has taken out a loan—some have turned out more positive than others. Kanchan (Rakesh’s mother) and Fatima (Reshma’s) turning out to be the worst examples. There are plenty of good examples though—Aruna (Parkash’s), Sarita (Dharam’s) and Dadiji (Dharam’s Grandmother) who have only missed a couple of payments each.