Uplift a Child - 4000 Children

Dear Sponsors and Friends,

Our children in Nepal, Philippines, DR Congo and Kenya are all doing well with everyone’s support. We are doing very well with our children in India as we have enough Indian sponsors, but it is challenging to get sponsors for Africa, Nepal and Philippines. Hoping that challenge would resolve soon while we continue to do our best. While we struggle a bit with our finances, our children are very comfortable at all locations and doing very well with their studies. Our sincere thanks to all of our sponsors and also to many one-time donors for your support. We cannot do it without you. Thank you

I have visited India this month and wanted to share a personal report on how I have spent and exactly what I do during these types of trips. It may be boring for some, but it is worth to know how we use our time to make a difference. We are very happy to do it for our children.

My trip to India in August 2018 was a nice one. In 2 weeks, have done a lot and was so satisfied meeting more than 1000 children. We had several recipients for Boggavarapu Merit Awards (Cash award for those who stood first, second and third in their respective grades at School). We did not have any Award recipients for Ratnakar Math’s Award (Uplift a Child children who gets 95% or more in grade 7^th, 8^th , 9^th and 10^th would get a cash award along with a certificate from Ratnakar Kudumula). My first stop was in Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD

The next morning was our first Hyderabad Uplift a Child annual program. Dr. Ramakrishna Chelikani, one of our sponsors who have arranged a car and driver for me which took me to our program venue in Kukatpalli. The venue was arranged by Raj & Vijaya Suddamalla along with Krishna Chekuri, Sandhya and many other close friends and families of Raj and Krishna. Suresh, the CEO of Sailotech Hyderabad have sponsored the event expenses feeding all our sponsored children and their parents during the program with the best meal and also by providing a Bus to bring all of our children from Krishna Nagar to Kukatpalli. Dr. JP Narayana was our chief guest for the program and have given a beautiful message to all along with my message. We are thankful to Pramod garu of Amaravathi School and Indrasena Reddy of Bharathiya Vidyalaya for helping our children at their respective schools and joining their hands in service with Uplift a Child. Our camera team, Jagan and Subbu and others coordinated by Sunny Blake Ganta. Our staff, Kalpana from Vizag and Sonia from Vijayawada joined us at the event. Many of the local residents of Brundavan have joined for the program and our team showed a video of Uplift a Child activities resulting in getting some new sponsors locally from Hyderabad. We did invite many others but for them Charity is not a priority, but we missed them as we knew them personally. For those who were at the event, it was a heart touching program with honor to India and blessings from God. We started on time at 10am and concluded exactly at 12 noon with national anthem of India.

Hyderabad Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1117672848396221&type=1&l=00547bc5dc

CHITTOOR

Next morning was our flight from Hyderabad to Tirupati at 6:45am. Arrived by 8am there and took a cab to go to Chittor and we were on time for our 2 hours program from 10am to 12noon. Sharat and his wife have coordinated the program so well. Uplift a Child sponsored the lunch as we did not have any local sponsors there for the parents and children. It was after 7 long years, I visited Chittor again even though Rena and my staff have visited without me and have conducted the programs there. Most of our beneficiary children there are Tamil children living in the area attending good English medium school. Happy to award them with Boggavarapu Foundation awards. Parents are thankful and happy to see their children succeed with their hard work. Some of the parents have poured out their hearts in speaking about caring and compassion of Uplift a Child while their children are doing well at School. After the program, Sonia and Kalpana wanted to go for shopping and asked me permission for 30 minutes. Since I am in the same car travelling with them, instead of waiting in the car, I went along with them to see them shop for clothes there, made those people take out as many clothes as possible and did not buy even one. Asked them what happened? Their simple answer was “We did not like them sir”.  I had no comments anymore. The car driver was very good and enjoyed our conversation. Thanks to Chakravarthy for arranging him. We were safe and sound back to Tirupati airport on the way back to Hyderabad.

Chittoor Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1118893534940819&type=1&l=b78a41e43b

VIZAG

Next day, we all went to Vizag where I took a 2 days break from Uplift a Child to spend with my mom, sister and all other family members. Took mom and sister to the Beach road along with Kalpana and Sonia walking around the Submarine area. Mom wanted ice cream. Asked the ice cream vendor to give us the best ice cream. We got some special ice cream in a mud pot. Mom and sister liked it very much and took the mud pot home to show everyone.  Then, one guy with a silver paint and balled head have approached Sonia and Kalpana and posing as Mahatma Gandhi. It was a lot of fun to talk to him and walk around with our family members.

BOBBILI

After 2 days in Vizag, we started our Bobbili tour by leaving early morning with all of my team locally in the car to drive 2.5 hours. Car sponsored by Sudhakar Kaligithi and his company. We were happy to have one of our Uplift a Child sponsors from USA visiting her native place of Vizianagaram. She joined us on the way and have participated in our Bobbili Uplift a Child annual event. The entire event was sponsored by Naveen & Divya Joshi (Our Uplift a Child sponsor from Virginia) on the occasion of their daughter, Saivi’s Birthday). They have sponsored for food expenses for 300 people and other event expenses. Our program started on time and ended on time. Sahitya was amazed to see how we do our events so professionally and she got a chance to meet 100+ children and their parents during the event. We are thankful to Bhaskar, our local volunteer and coordinator.  We had a very big cake that day after the meal. Not even one piece was left for me, Kalpana or Sonia because, our children liked it very much and ate it  for us.

Bobbili Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1119435041553335&type=1&l=2664012634

KAKINADA

It was the first time for me to visit Kakinada on Uplift a Child. We have a few children there since 2 years. Sudhakar Chinta is looking after them and have arranged for a small little gathering. Mr. CMJ Suvarna Raj, my mentor and school principal from childhood was present for the event. Talked to the parents and children and almost everyone poured out their heart to speak freely and tell about all of their experiences. It was a small program, but best event and it has inspired everyone there to plan and do well in life. Kakinada is the birth place of Boggavarapu Foundation. Once arrived there, made a call to Boggavarapu Akk, Dr. Satya Gnaneshwari and talked to her while remembering Dr. Boggavarapu Subbarao and his family members all over the world. It was an honor to give the Boggavarapu award to one of our Kakinada Uplift a Child students and have told about the founders Lava and Navin Boggavarapu. After the event, Sudhakar Chinta and CMJ Suvarna Raj sir have invited us for dinner where we spent a quality time while listening to a beautiful talented singer (Sudhakar’s daughter). It was a fun filled evening left with great memories of Kakinada.

Kakinada Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1122470384583134&type=1&l=8bfad391c7

RAJAHMUNDRY

The next day was in Rajahmundry meeting our children in a small gathering. We were honored to have Mr. Bhaskar Rao Relangi (one of our sponsor’s father who happened to be a local of Rajahmundry) I met him at our Houston, TX event early this year. At that time, uncle have invited us to join us during my next visit to Rajahmundry. Remembered to include him in our event and also have surprised him with a Cake for his 54^th anniversary during the event. He was very touched with our gesture. He has seen our program, met our children and have seen the interaction of each and everything. He promised to take care of Rajahmundry Uplift a Child annual events food expenses from next time. Our program went well and then we left the next day to Vijayawada

Rajahmundry Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1126354714194701&type=1&l=cc3a7837de

MUDINEPALLI

Mr. & Mrs. Krishna Rao of Vidhyanjali High School in Mudinepalli are one of our best partners of Uplift a Child. They have invited me to be their chief guest for flag hosting on Independence Day at 9am followed by our Uplift a Child annual program. It was a rainy day. But that did not stop us from anything. The rain stopped at the time of flag hosting. Then the rain continued, and we have continued our program in the school auditorium there. The school teachers and many volunteers have worked so hard and coordinated a beautiful program. We had close to 100 children and their families in the area. I was able to spend quality time with most of them and had the opportunity to hear from some of the parents on their conversation. One of our children there have completed 10^th grade and now in college. She is volunteering for Uplift a Child in helping the smaller children with whatever she could. Felt so happy to see how our children are changing from poor and underprivileged children to matured and responsible citizens of India and giving back when they could. What a great satisfaction for me and my team. Boggavarapu awards continue to make a difference at all locations in India. The entire event was sponsored by the owners of Vidhyanjali school. Even though it is expensive, they said that they are happy for all the blessings and this is one way of sharing their blessings with the society. Most of our partner schools are very wonderful people. We work together with such schools to benefit our children locally to Uplift them. We had all of our India staff for this event. Kalpana, Sonia, Siri and Sravani coordinate our program with the local staff.  Returned back with great memories.

Mudinepalli Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1127019630794876&type=1&l=9f358c21ab

MANGALAGIRI

It was continuously raining all week and we are so lucky to have the rain stopped only on that day, so we could have our program with almost 300 people that includes our children, surviving parents, staff and local teachers and the school management. We are thankful to Mr. & Mrs. Aswini Dutt and his team for coordinating the program so well at New Kennedy High School in Mangalagiri. We could not provide a full meal here but have provided a snack just before noon so that our children can go home and eat their lunch. Generally, all the expenses are covered locally with each School with the help of our volunteers. At this location we do not have much volunteers and we are looking currently to get some volunteers so that we can do better in the area. Right now, our children are doing well at school and we are happy with their success. Mr. Joseph Kalekuri from Nizamapatnam have visited us and joined us for the program. Our staff took pictures of every child after the program so that we can share this with our sponsors.

Mangalagiri Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1128216317341874&type=1&l=8af0ed9218

VIJAYAWADA

We are thankful to Srinivas Polavarapu family (our Uplift a Child sponsor since 12 years) for providing an Innova Car along with driver and paying for the petrol for all the 4 days while driving around the area meeting our children in Mudinepalli, Amaravathi, Vijayawada and Mangalagiri. Hari was our driver and he did so well by taking us every where safe and sound.

We are thankful to Mr. Raju David of St. Thomas School for coordinating our annual program in Vijayawada at his school premises. The program was well planned as it started at 5pm and ended at 7pm with all of our inspirational activities followed by dinner. We are not sure if he got some local sponsors, but Mr. Raju David took care of all the expenses for the food and program expenses. Children and parents have enjoyed a nice meal and our time together in the event. We have been supporting many children in this school since 7 years. There were many recipients of Boggavarapu Awards here too.

Vijayawada Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1129899063840266&type=1&l=5aeb2cf10b

AMARAVATHI

We did not have an annual program there this time. But was invited by our local volunteer to the school to meet some of our children and distribute the school uniforms for this school year. Mr. Appaji  Mannava is a devoted volunteer of Uplift a Child who is always there for us in doing whatever it takes to make a difference to our children locally in the area. Since I was there in the area, he wanted me to see what all he and his staff were providing for the children. I got the chance to distribute school uniforms, books, tie and other materials to more than 100 children (all girl children). The uniforms are not yet ready for the boys and will be given in another week. We then enjoyed a meal together discussing about how we can do better for our children. After that, all of us (Sonia, Kalpana, Siri, Sravani, Appaji and me) went to visit one of our sponsored child Navya at the hostel. She is a very dear child to Uplift a Child and was little discouraged for getting 9.7 out of 10.00 GPA. We went there to encourage her and extended our full support for her education. She was surprised with our visit at the hostel. It was a wonderful experience.

Amaravathi Pictures Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1133202836843222&type=1&l=28352af6f8

Thank you all for being a part of our Uplift a Child family. We would like to invite anyone who would like to join us in supporting a child (which generally cost $200 per year) or do a fundraising event like Walkathon, Dance event or any other type of event. Welcome to Uplift a Child and let us make a difference together to the world

Best Regards

Sam

Dear Sponsors & Friends of Uplift a Child 

Here is a brief summary of our visit to Africa and India in 2017 meeting 2500+ children. This is a report in Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Q3Ohvz1bs.

Our annual meetings at various locations like these events are very successful which are resulting in the following

1. Making sure all our children are there as we made it mandatory to meet our sponsored children at least once a year in person.
2. Give us a chance for the surviving parent to pour out their burden on issues if any with the CEO and the staff publicly and we coordinate solutions accordingly.
3. Our events are inspirational and encourages everyone to aim high and work towards the goals step by step. The volunteers, teachers and everyone is held accountable if the child is not doing well at School.
4. Our public incentive programs for the children (Cash Awards and Certificates given to merit children) is going on very well which is encouraging every child to be a recipient of the awards. Currently we have Progressive Development Awards and Merit awards which are sponsored by some of our families of Uplift a Child sponsors (Boggavarapu Foundation, Vonumu Excellence Award, Changa & Swami Award and Bhargavi Trust Award)

We are now getting ready for the new school year (2018-2019) which begins in June for India, September for DR Congo and January for Kenya in Africa. In 2017, we did face some challenges with our finances. Please help us with whatever you can and make a difference to the children’s education as it would change their life and status forever.

Thank you

Sam

Links:

• India & Africa Latest Video