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    <title>GlobalGiving.org: Empowering Vulnerable Children Through Life Skills</title>
    <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754a.html</link>
    <description>Progress Reports for Project #3754 on GlobalGiving.org</description>
    <item>
      <title>Empowering 17-year old Girish to Nurture his Dream</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA17758/girish-at-this-football-practice-photo-from-progress-re/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Girish_1_Small.JPG' alt='Girish at this Football Practice'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Girish at this Football Practice&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;3000 children, 97 batches, across 16 locations in Bangalore are meaningfully engaged 1-2 times a week in core Life Skills programs. This has largely being possible due to the commitments and support from donors like YOU, who have helped us build this organization &amp;ndash; one child at a time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A child like Girish.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Girish is a 17-year old, young man currently pursuing his 2&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; year of pre-university education. During this 9&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; grade, he was introduced to Makkala Jagriti, an NGO that was running a learning centre in his neighbourhood. He joined the learning centre to pick up some computer skills. It was during these visits that he was introduced to Dream A Dream and its various life skills programs. Girish was also keen to learn and play football but was unable to join the school team because he didn&amp;rsquo;t know how to play the game. Dream A Dream introduced the &amp;ldquo;Life Skills Thru Football&amp;rdquo; program for children and young people at Makkala Jagriti and Girish saw an opportunity to make his dream come true.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Girish initially struggled to pick up the skills. In his own words, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;I was not at all playing correctly at beginning stage. But my coach instead of scolding me or punishing me, he encouraged me a lot. That encouragement and support of my coach and my parents gave me a will power in playing football.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;During his 10&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; grade, he became the captain of the School Football Team, a reflection of the self-confidence he was picking up along with the football skills. He ably led his school team in many tournaments. In one such tournament, Girish mentions that they reached upto the semi-finals and then lost a tough match. He says, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;My team was very disappointed when we lost the match but I still encouraged my team.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;His passion for football continued in his college days as he continued to be an active participant in the Dream Life Skills Thru Football program. When Dream A Dream got an opportunity to send a team at a National Tournament in Nagpur, Girish was a natural choice. Girish&amp;rsquo;s excitement was visible, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;That was the first time I went so far to play football. In that tournament we met with players from other states, they were very friendly with us. We enjoyed that, but coming to match, it was very tough tournament. Even then we didn&amp;rsquo;t give up and played hard. We tried our best but unluckily we lost in semi-finals. The whole&amp;nbsp;team was very disappointed, but still our coach was encouraging us. On the last day of the tournament, our team got the Fair Play Award. That moment made us very happy.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The tournament was also a platform to select a National Team for the Homeless World Cup to be hosted in Paris in August. 3 players from the Dream A Dream Team were short-listed to go for the National selections. Hence, Girish and 2 of his team-mates were back in Nagpur for the National selections. It was a tough group since there were young people from many different states and Girish put in his best effort. A few weeks later when Girish was informed that he was one of the young people selected for the team that will represent India at the Homeless World Cup, his happiness knew no bounds. He said, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;I am very happy to represent our great Nation. My aim is to play good in the match and bring a good name to our India. I am sure that I will achieve in this because my parents and my coaches blessings will be always on me .And I am very thankful to Dream A Dream and KVSN.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Being the eldest son in the family, Girish is well aware of his responsibilities and the expectations his parents have of him. Girish admits, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;My parents have a lot of expectations on me&amp;nbsp;that&amp;nbsp;I will perform good in my studies and as I am interested in football, they expect me to perform well in that too. I am confident that I will perform well in both and I have to - because my father works as a gardener and my mother works as a maid. Keeping this in mind I am doing good in my studies and waiting for a good opportunity in football. Later on in my future I will have to look after my family.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;What a pleasure it was to spend time with him in Paris! I think over time I have grown to understand your organization and it's philosophies more and more and in my opinion Girish encompasses all that you want to achieve. He was a great ambassador for Dream A Dream, Slum Soccer and above all was a fabulous representative of Team India. It might be that it is his nature to be as polite and friendly as he is, but I think your work has gone a long way in moulding him into the fine young man that he is today. You have with you a gem of a boy. Cherish him and I'm certain he will repay you all for your efforts. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;All in all, and in retrospect it was a fabulous start to our association with regards to the Homeless World Cup. I look forward to having more of your boys and at least one girl on the Indian team to Mexico City 2012.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; ~ Akshay Madhavan, Slum Soccer post Girish&amp;rsquo;s participation at the Homesless World Cup in Paris in 2011.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; We at Dream A Dream are tremendously proud of Girish for this commitment, determination and faith in his dreams. He reinforces our belief that when children and young people are given the right learning opportunities and guidance they will bloom and build in them the confidence to take on life challenges.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We look forward to this year with excitement and hope. Everyday brings a smile on our face when we see a child taking on challenges in their life with determination and commitment. You are an integral part of this journey and YOUR support makes all the difference.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We have just launched a campaign to enroll 200 donors in our monthly giving program. You can sign-up to be a monthly giver at GlobalGiving and ensure that every child at Dream A Dream is able to graduate successfully from our Life Skills program just as Vishnu did.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you. Do visit our website for continued updates at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org/"&gt;www.dreamadream.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA17759/girish-with-his-football-team-photo-from-progress-repor/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Girish_2_Small.JPG' alt='Girish with his Football Team'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Girish with his Football Team&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org/node/276"&gt;Dream Outdoor Experiential Camps&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:37:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Vishal Talreja</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2011-10-27T05:37:22Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The New Year begins with a Bang!</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA14286/vishnu-making-a-presentation-photo-from-progress-report/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Vishnu_Small.jpg' alt='Vishnu making a presentation'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Vishnu making a presentation&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The New Year at Dream A Dream started in April and in June as the school year began, 2400 children in the age group of 6-15 enrolled into our Life Skills Programs for the year. This was the most number of children we have enrolled in our programs in a single month.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Over 80 batches are run across 15 locations in Bangalore, India 1-2 times a week engaging 25-30 children per batch in core Life Skills programs. This has largely being possible due to the commitments and support from donors like YOU, who have helped us build this organization &amp;ndash; one child at a time.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;A child like Vishnu.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;From unlocking the computer room at 3 PM to packing up the laptops and locking it up, Vishnu would do everything. One look at him and you&amp;rsquo;ll realize that he is pretty much the star of the school, a kind of icon that his classmates look up to. Vishnu recently completed 2 years at the Dream Life Skills program teaching computers and as he graduated from this 10&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; grade, his confidence was clearly visible.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Coming from a free school run by a partner charity because his parents could not afford to send him to school, Vishnu has been a story of determination and transformation.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Vishnu can be characterized by his ability to take initiative and volunteer for tasks in the sessions and at the same time committed to complete all his session plans as part of his learning. Along with completing the given activity on time, he would assist in buying snacks and packing up after the session. Being one of few who have the privilege of owning a computer, Vishnu puts it to good use. Not only does he learn and practice at home but also ensures that his peers are doing well.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Vishnu wears a naughty grin on his face, perpetually and at the same time is one of the most brilliant students in his class.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;The Dream LearnIT program helped not only hone is computer skills but also helped him inculcate in himself some life skills which he began exhibiting in his behavior.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Looking ahead, one cannot deny that Vishnu&amp;rsquo;s future is bright.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;We at Dream A Dream feel tremendously proud of Vishnu&amp;rsquo;s achievements and are happy that we are able to provide these experiences to over 3000 children a year now.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Some of the key highlights of the last 3 months have been:&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Organizational Highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Annual Planning and Budgets completed for the year 2011-12&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Winner at the Most Outstanding Annual report Awards for the year 2009-10 hosted by CSO Partners and FMSF.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Shortlisted to present Dream A Dream&amp;rsquo;s scale plans at Ashoka Globalizer event hosted by Ashoka &amp;ndash; Innovators for the public (&lt;a href="http://www.ashoka.org"&gt;www.ashoka.org&lt;/a&gt;). The event brought together 16 Ashoka Fellows from across the world to present their plans and models to an esteemed network of successful business entrepreneurs and seek their inputs on strengthening their plans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;/ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Program Highlights:&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;2400 children enrolled in our various Life Skills Programs since June. Plan to enroll another 600-800 children in the second quarter.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Completed a Life Skills for Career Development program during the summer for 130 young people enrolled in our DreamConnect Program. The program will continue for another 600 young adults through the year.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Completed &amp;ldquo;Lead Facilitator&amp;rdquo; training for 8 Trainers in partnership with PYE Global in early July. This is an ongoing partnership to develop a team of Lead Facilitators for our scale plans.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Completed a Teacher Training Program on Life Skills Development for a school in Munirabad, Belgaum as part of our prototype scale plans&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Completed 3 Teacher Training workshops on Life Skills Development and Creative Facilitation for staff from Agastya Foundation as part of our prototype scale plans&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;With support from Grassroot Soccer (GRS), South Africa we have completed the &amp;ldquo;Life Skills Thru Football (LSTF)&amp;rdquo; Curriculum. This curriculum has been developed for children from Grad 4 to Grad 10 encompassing 40 sessions a year (structured and unstructured)&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;With support from GRS we have completed the &amp;ldquo;Training of Life Skills Facilitators Manual&amp;rdquo; to deliver the LSTF Curriculum. The manual covers 4 primary areas of Dream A Dream Engagement with children/youth. These include Giving Praise, Creating a Safe Space, Building Personal connections and having Vital Conversations.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Completed a 5-day intensive training for all Life Skills Facilitators in our LSTF program. The training was conducted by GRS representative Taylor Downs alongwith Lead Facilitators from Dream A Dream. &lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;/ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;We look forward to this year with excitement and hope. Everyday brings a smile on our face when we see a child taking on challenges in their life with determination and commitment. You are an integral part of this journey and YOUR support makes all the difference.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;We have just launched a campaign to enroll 200 donors in our monthly giving program. You can sign-up to be a monthly giver at Global Giving and ensure that every child at Dream A Dream is able to graduate successfully from our Life Skills program just as Vishnu did.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you. Do visit our website for continued updates at &lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org"&gt;www.dreamadream.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA14287/girls-in-our-life-skills-thru-football-program-photo-fr/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/IMG_0378_Small.JPG' alt='Girls in our Life Skills Thru Football Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Girls in our Life Skills Thru Football Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA14288/a-girl-at-our-learning-exposure-program-photo-from-prog/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/IMG_8622_Small.JPG' alt='A girl at our Learning Exposure program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;A girl at our Learning Exposure program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <enclosure url="http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Vishnu.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
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      <pubDate>Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:52:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Vishal Talreja</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2011-07-21T08:52:21Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Building Skills for Life: 3000 children a year</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA11971/children-shaping-their-dreams-photo-from-progress-repor/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/24082010012_Small.jpg' alt='Children shaping their dreams'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Children shaping their dreams&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Greetings from Dream A Dream!&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Someone rightly said, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Every child can be reached; you just have to stretch far enough." ~ Copyright &amp;copy; 2006 Robyn Sorrell.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; At Dream A Dream, it is a consistent endeavour to reach out to many more like you to support our effort to reach out to every child we can.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you very much for coming forward to support Dream A Dream with your generous contributions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The funds contributed by you will help Dream A Dream continue to strengthen and deepen its work with its 3000 children. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here is a few examples of how;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Faheem is 17-years old and after being part of the Life Skills Programs at Dream A Dream, he started volunteering in our computer education program to support other children like him.&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;I am putting my free time to use. Since I attend evening college, I have a lot of time during the day. My experience with Dream&amp;nbsp;A Dream was extremely&amp;nbsp;good. I&amp;nbsp;learnt a huge amount in such a small amount of time. It's amazing working with children.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Here is another story from one of our facilitators as they heard it from Saraswathi, a young adult at Dream A Dream.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Saraswathi is 15 years old and lives with her father, mother and sisters. When she was in her High-School she got associated with Dream A Dream and participated in their various Life Skills Development programs. The participation gave her courage and self-confidence. This inspired her to study well and complete her 10th standard. It made her sad that she would not be able to keep in touch with Dream A Dream (since she was leaving the school). But then she got to know of a new opportunity &amp;ndash; Life Skills for Career Development at the DreamConnect Center run by Dream A Dream. They were offering Spoken English Classes over the summer vacation.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sarawathi was delighted and joined the program. Meanwhile, her 10th grade board exams results were announced and she passed in flying colours. However, she was anxious because she was unable to choose a particular stream of college education (Arts/Commerce/Science). DreamConnect introduced her to a Career Counselor and through an assessment she confidently chose to pursue a degree in Commerce. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Since then, she is a regular at the DreamConnect center. Saraswathi expresses her gratitude and hopes that more youth will benefit in future.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the year 2011-12, Dream A Dream has impacted the lives of 3000 children and young adults like Faheem and Saraswathi with your belief and faith in us. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Do check out our latest updated and sign up for our monthly newsletter at &lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org/"&gt;www.dreamadream.org&lt;/a&gt;. We would also love to hear from you about how else you can support us and how we can build this community of supporters.&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you and look forward to hearing from you,&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;With Dreams,&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Vishal Talreja&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Co-founder &amp;amp; Executive Director&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Dream A Dream&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org/"&gt;www.dreamadream.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Dream A Dream is a professional NGO focused on empowering children from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time creating a sensitive community through active volunteering. We offer high quality, high-impact after-school life skills learning programs to over 3000 children every year using mediums such as sports, outdoor adventure, creative arts, computer education, mentoring and Life Skills for career development.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;The children largely come from vulnerable backgrounds such as orphans, abandoned or runaway children and many of them from Bangalore&amp;rsquo;s urban slum communities. While their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and education are taken care of, Dream A Dream provides them the critical opportunities to develop skills such as creative thinking, decision making, team skills, communication and inter-personal skills amongst others that are so crucial to help them breakout of the cycle of poverty.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;You will be delighted to know that Dream A Dream was recently announced as the Winner of the &amp;ldquo;Outstanding Annual Report of the Year Award&amp;rdquo;. The CEO of CSO Partners stated, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;We congratulate you for upholding high standards of transparency and disclosure in this most important credibility building tool.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Dream A Dream has been a Regional Finalist at the India NGO Awards in 2007 &amp;amp; 2009; Runner-up at the Outstanding Annual Report Awards in 2008 &amp;amp; 2009 and a Runner-up at the Global Award for Most Innovative Development Project 2010.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dreamadream.org"&gt;Sign-up for our monthly newsletters here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <enclosure url="http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/24082010012.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
      <pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:49:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Vishal Talreja</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2011-04-12T06:49:42Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Completing Education for Vulnerable Children</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA9835/dream-football-program-children-in-tournament-photo-fro/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/IMG_0283_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Football Program - Children in Tournament'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Football Program - Children in Tournament&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dear Donors&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Season's Greetings from Dream A Dream!&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;This brings you the report card for Dream Life Skills Development Program (Dream Program) for first half of current academic year; June - November 2010. Overall it has been a great success! &amp;nbsp;This academic year, the program has close to 2500 students from 11 schools across Bangalore already enrolled. The target is to close the year in March reaching out to 3000 children.&amp;nbsp; Students are doing well in schools and in the Dream Programs. Some of the highlights of this year have been:&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;Dream LearnIT Program's Bits and Bytes event. The event is organized towards the end of the program. Students make 'PowerPoint' presentations on topics of their choice. On December 4, 2010, children attending the program got an opportunity to make presentations. According to one of the program&amp;rsquo;s volunteer-facilitator &amp;ldquo;The event is a true test of how impactful the LearnIT program has been. The confidence and maturity in each child has clearly been affected positively by the program also the children have grasped the computer applications and internet use taught to them very well&amp;rdquo;. The achievement of these children is significant because this is their first exposure to computers - computer applications and use of internet. &lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;On the June 26-27, 2010, Dream Creative Arts Program held an art exhibition. It exhibited the paintings done by children through the year in the program. The exhibition was open for parents of the children and it was wonderful to see the children show their works to their parents. According to many parents, their children loved being a part of the program and looked forward to attending it. Exhibitions like this help us in getting the community involved in our programs. &lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;li&gt;The third highlight is the participation of 2 teams from Dream Football Program in the Under 14 Mahindra Football Tournament. The participation holds great significance for our children because they got an opportunity to play with some of the top football teams in the city; mostly from the city's elite schools. It also provided a platform for selection into Karnataka State team. Dream Team goal keeper, Hemanth Kumar from Balamandira (home for street boys in Bangalore) has been selected for the Under 14 Football training camp and may get a chance to play for 'Under 14 Karnataka' team.&lt;/li&gt;&#xD;
&lt;/ol&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you for choosing to make a difference to the lives of our children. Your support is truly appreciated. We hope you are satisfied with our updates. We look forward to building a long lasting relationship with you.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you once again for believing and engaging in our work.&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Warm Regards&lt;/p&gt;&#xD;
&lt;p&gt;Priti Ramachandran&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA9836/dream-learnt-it-program-children-presenting-photo-from/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/DSC_0425_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Learnt IT Program - Children Presenting'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Learnt IT Program - Children Presenting&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA9837/dream-creative-arts-program-photo-from-progress-report/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Big_picture_day_016_Small.jpg' alt='Dream Creative Arts Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Creative Arts Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:33:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Priti Ramachandran</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2011-01-03T08:33:55Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Moments that became milestones for the children</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA7857/dream-adventure-program-photo-from-progress-report-mome/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Dream_Adventure_Program_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Adventure Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Adventure Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dear Donors&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In this update we bring you a few moments that became milestones for the children. Thank you for helping us help them. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The following two narratives are from our Dream Adventure Program and Dream Creative Arts Program. A story of a girl-child for whom an outdoor adventure camp was an experience of realization of self-achievement, of breaking barriers, norms &amp; rules stated by our culture, religion and socio-political set up. The second story is of an 8 year old for whom an appreciation is the beginning of his learning in building interpersonal relationships. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nita (name changed) was one of the most active participants in camp. She showed good teamwork and took a lot of initiative. On the last day of camp at ‘Circle Time’, reflecting on her experience of having fun and learning new skills said, “Everyone thinks only men can survive hard physical work and activities that require courage. In this all Girl’s Camp, we have proven that is not true. We can do whatever we set our mind on…its just needs a little effort”. The true inner strength of this young girl was reflected in this sharing. The rest of the group agreed with what Nita had to say and her feedback was received with a thunderous applause. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anil (name changed) was rude and unwilling to follow instructions. Midway through the sessions a breakthrough happened. In one session, the facilitator introduced the concept of geometric shapes using circles as an example but the children were given the option to use any geometric form that they wished to. Anil cooperated and painted bold squares on the sheet of paper given to him. The facilitators appreciated his work. Post the episode, Anil is willing to take instruction, sincerely paints and has fun while doing so. He still continues to talk and do mischief in the class, but is not rude. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All the children in Dream A Dream programs come from extremely vulnerable backgrounds where they have little or no exposure to a learning environment to develop life skills. The Program gives children an opportunity to discover their inner strength and a safe space to explore their skills, attitudes and overcome challenges. The personal growth they experience is something that will stay with them for a long-time and give them the strength to fight the many battles that life throws at them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These instances also reinforces our belief that empowerment is possible when we develop life skills and life skills are needed for a wholesome approach to child development.
 
We have great support from many people and institutions and we appreciate their contributions, time, and effort to help others. We are a team who strives to make a difference in children’s lives. Thank you for choosing to make a difference to the lives of our children. Your support is truly appreciated. We look forward to building a long lasting relationship with you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you once again for believing and engaging in our work.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:32:37 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Priti Ramachandran</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2010-09-29T05:32:37Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Beginning of the Dream Programs at Dream A Dream</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA6491/dream-football-program-photo-from-progress-report-begin/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/Dream_Football_Program_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Football Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Football Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;We thank you for choosing to make a difference to the lives of our children. We are grateful for your support and want to share how your donation is been put to work! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;June is the beginning of the program year at Dream A Dream and we look forward to children returning to our programs in life skills education. We start the year with about 1400 children coming back into our Sports and Creative Arts Programs – both programs aim at building critical life skills in vulnerable children in a fun, experiential and non-threatening environment. In addition, we hope to add another 1200 children to these programs in this year. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to Mr Anand Kumar, Principal, Round Table School, on what makes Dream Programs relevant to the vulnerable child’s development. “The children really enjoy the sports and creative arts program…also there was a visible improvement in the academic performance of the children as they remain more active owing to the program… we are particularly happy that the sports program provides equal opportunity to our girl students. We would not be exaggerating, if we say that Dream A Dream has proved to be a blessing to the school. Thank you Dream A Dream for helping our children live their dreams!”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We are delighted to announce that Dream A Dream has recently become the 3rd organization from India to be part of streetfootball network looking to promote football amongst vulnerable children/youth across the world. This will give us access to new partnerships, curriculum development tools, training, etc. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you once again for believing and engaging in our work.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.streetfootballworld.org"&gt;streetfootballworld&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:58:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Priti Ramachandran</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2010-07-09T09:58:01Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Completing Education thr' Life Skills Development</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA5425/dream-football-program-photo-from-progress-report-compl/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/DSC05976_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Football Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Football Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Few things possess more power than empowering children from vulnerable backgrounds with life skills. Life skills provide a child with the “tools” necessary for engaging with life in a wholesome manner. Dream A Dream mission is empowering children from vulnerable backgrounds with life coping skills. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Conceptualizing Dream Life Skills Development Program as an intervention that supplements regular schooling and helps Completing Education for vulnerable children is the big idea. Moving beyond the child’s need of food, shelter, academic education and focusing on developing life skills is the core idea of Dream Programs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dream Programs performance for Academic year June 2009 – March 2010 was impressive. Total number of children enrolled in Dream Life Skill Development Program for 2009-10 was 2172 (54% boys and 46% girls). The average attendance was 85% and the dropout rate was less than one percent. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The year end highlight was the closing ceremony of each of the Dream Programs.   &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dream Learn IT Program closing ceremony was called ‘Bits &amp; Bytes’. The objective of ‘Bits &amp; Bytes’ was to showcase the competence of children in handling computer applications and provide an opportunity for the children to make a presentation in front of an audience. The event was a smashing success and our little dreamers the stars of the show. They took to the stage with the ease of practiced veterans, presenting on topics which ranged from pollution problems in cities to the role of computers in society today. Intimidating as it may have seemed to them to stand in a room of over 200 people and speak for the first time, they were able to conquer their fears and face the crowd with courage. It is amazing to think that just a few short months have transformed these children from shy, awkward individuals to strong, determined people. Thanks to our dedicated and trained volunteer-trainers, the life skills development program developed to nurture these children to their best potential produced amazing results.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To quote Pablo Picasso:  “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”. In Dream Creative Arts Program, all the artists are children. Here, children have a chance to explore and express themselves through one of the most powerful mediums available-ART! In celebration of this, 3 exhibitions were held as the closing ceremony. According to Kinnar Shah, Dream Champion, “It’s amazing to see how far the kids have come. I remember one little girl used to cry every time we asked her to draw or paint something. She was so scared because she didn’t know what to do. By the end of the program, she was so confident and sure, she created something all on her own. She drew a perfectly beautiful lotus and made a collage out of it”. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dream Sports Program is one of the corner stones of Dream A Dream. The culmination of this year’s activities was a soccer tournament. The result was an exciting week of soccer, fun and laughter. As one member of the Dream staff put it, “Natural Leaders emerged who took control of a situation and rose to the occasion. Yellow Socks was such a natural leader!” ‘Yellow socks’, affectionately named so by the Dream staff because of her bright yellow socks, is one of our little dreamers. She was so enthusiastic and excited about the event that she consistently motivated her team to win. Unfortunately for little Yellow Socks, her team lost! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For some present that day, such as Revanna, Dream Champion, it was a full circle moment. Revanna started as one of the children in the program five years back. When asked why he loves being part of Dream Sports Program, his answer is a fitting conclusion to a beautiful year of accomplishments and triumphs at Dream A Dream: “I want to be a good sportsman one day”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To reach a larger number of children, scaling the Dream Programs is essential. Dream A Dream has aims to reach 4000 children in academic year June 2010-March 2011. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you for choosing to make a difference to the lives of our children. Your support is truly appreciated. We look forward to building a long lasting relationship with you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To know more about Dream A Dream and its work, we invite you to visit our website http://dreamadream.org.
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA5426/dream-creative-arts-program-photo-from-progress-report/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/DSC05697_Small.JPG' alt='Dream Creative Arts Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Creative Arts Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA5427/dream-learnit-program-photo-from-progress-report-comple/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/DSC05759_Small.JPG' alt='Dream LearnIT Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream LearnIT Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/dreamadreamindia"&gt;Dream A Dream Video Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/dreamadreamind"&gt;Dream A Dream Twitter Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.causes.com/causes/277124 "&gt;Dream A Dream Facebook Link&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Fri, 07 May 2010 12:18:08 GMT</pubDate>
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      <dc:creator>Priti Ramachandran</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2010-05-07T12:18:08Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Project Update from Dream A Dream</title>
      <link>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</link>
      <description>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA4117/dream-hockey-program-photo-from-progress-report-project/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/ranjana_178_Small.jpg' alt='Dream Hockey Program'style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; color: #888888; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Dream Hockey Program&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dream A Dream has made outstanding progress in scaling it’s programs. We started this year (April 2009) with a goal of expanding our programs to 2000 children. In eight months, we have reached out to 10 NGO partners impacting over 1494 children through regular life skills development programs. This includes 819 Boys and 675 Girls in our various life skills programs with an almost full attendance showing the tremendous interest. We have currently actively engaged over 648 community volunteers who have contributed over 6600 volunteer hours.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Rugby stars at Dream A Dream 
Utilising sports as a medium to empower vulnerable children with life skills has been the core of Dream A Dream’s strategy since 2003. It gives us enormous pride to say that eleven children from the Dream Rugby program were selected in the state list to play for Karnataka in the State Under 16 Team. Subsequently 6 from the 11 boys have made it to the final list of players representing Karnataka.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As would be expected, the boys - Tamim, Yelappa, Nandish, Rakshith, Manja and Ranjith are excited. This opens up many opportunities for them. They could get selected to play for India! They would now get opportunities to compete with the best in the field and win many laurels. The factor that is most in favour of these boys is their age; the boys are 13 - 14 years old. This gives them a good two to three years time frame to improve and make it to the next level. Making it big seems an achievable target for these children from poor and vulnerable backgrounds!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dream A Dream on a global platform 
Dream A Dream’s project ‘Empowering Vulnerable Children through Life Skills’ has been short-listed for the final round of the Japenese Award for Most Innovative Development Project, as part of the Global Development Awards and Medals Competition. Over 200 submissions were received for this category and Dream A Dream is among the top three finalists. The final round of the competition will take place at GDN’s 11th Annual Global Development Conference to be held in Prague, Czech Republic from January 16th to 18th, 2010. Dream A Dream will be presenting the project proposal before an eminent jury for the final round.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A short anecdote 
Hema is one of the children in a Learn IT batch (computer education) who has been a part of Dream A Dream programs for 2 years now. Anju Lavina, Dream A Dream Staff narrates her experience with Hema.
I have been observing Hema since she joined the Learn IT program last year. It’s encouraging to see the progress she has made. Her baseline evaluation showed low scores on all the life-skill parameters. Just 18-20 months into Dream A Dream programs, Hema has become assertive, takes initiative and developed a good understanding of the IT concepts being taught. Now she is the first to answer the questions. She leads the team in most team work and confidently makes presentations in the class. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Children and volunteers alike have been impacted by Dream A Dream programs. A few reflections from a volunteer and a child who have been a part of Dream A Dream programs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“I really look forward to the mentoring program. Everyone thinks we are useless and rowdy. No adult has ever come to us and said we would like to be your friend. I feel happy when I think of that. Dream A Dream really cares for children like me.” ~ A child in the Dream Mentoring Program&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“An example of how I love their spirit is one day the girls forgot the cones that they use as goal posts in the auto rickshaw. The kids didn’t even pause for a moment- they got coconut shells and played with those as goals instead. I also came across problems like the cows on the field that I would never ever imagine happening in the United States. We played around cows sometimes, which was kind of funny to me! Nothing kept these kids from playing, not even rain. One day it was pouring and we all got soaked, but we played anyway. They only get to play football three days a week, and they were so enthusiastic about it that I had to be enthusiastic as well! They played in the rain until a teacher came out and told them to come inside.” ~ Aisha, Volunteer&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Finally, a BIG thank you from Dream A Dream to all of you for your support and belief in us. It means a lot to us and gives us the strength to stay focused on our vision. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We would like to hear from you about any questions and feedback you have. Please write to us at info.dreamadream@gmail.com. 
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA4118/empowering-vulnerable-children-through-life-skills-phot/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/IMG_0929_Small.JPG' alt=''style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="/photo/PRA4119/empowering-vulnerable-children-through-life-skills-phot/"&gt;&lt;img src='http://cloud.globalgiving.org/pfil/3754/art2_Small.jpg' alt=''style='margin: 5px;'/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/dreamadreamindia"&gt;Dream A Dream videos on youtube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/dreamadreamind "&gt;Follow Dream A Dream on twitter for all the latest updates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
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      <pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:11:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://www.globalgiving.org/pr/3800/proj3754d.html#progressReportLink</guid>
      <dc:creator>Pooja Rao</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2009-12-04T09:11:28Z</dc:date>
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