Vasudha is excited to share further updates on this Miyawaki Forest Development initiative that was announced earlier. This is an initiative we have taken up using the expertise in this area of Miyawaki Forest Development by International Association for Human Values (IAHV) and Afforestt.com. Over the last couple of months we have done a lot of prep work to get ready for the plantation. Our activities so far included soil testing, setting up drip irrigation system, site audit for possible native plants that can thrive in the area, procuring necessary soil amendment, procuring mulch for covering the top soil, forest design, and procuring the necessary plants.

Following is the result of our audit for native plants in the area:

Based on the audit, we have come up with for the following plantation design:

With all this prep work behind us, we are now looking to do the heavy lifting of soil digging with back hoe, natural soil amendment mixing and plantation. Following are the activities planned in the next two weekends:

We would like all nature lovers to join us as part of this wonderful activity to rejuvenate Mother Earth and lend us a hand in the effort involved.

Address of the location where above forest is being developed is 14815, Monterey Rd, San Martin, CA – 95046.

If you are looking to join in one or more days of the above plan, please signup at this event page. Please get your water bottle, gloves and any other utensils like shovels, wheel barrows, etc that could be used for the work. Please wear proper boots as the land is wet with grass on it. Based on the number of people present at noon time, we can order some pizza for lunch. We will have some snacks and a water container. Get your own water bottle so that you can refill and we can avoid using more plastic.

Vasudha has been continuing to work with our partner organization PENS Sahyog Foundation in Maharashtra in setting up up skill centers. This is an initiative we have started working with them since 2022 and hundreds of people have been getting supported through these skill centers. Based on the interest of the people from surrounding villages, we have now expanded these skill centers to 4 locations: Vangaon, Tarapur, Nandgaon, and Palghar. Vasudha is supporting these skill centers through the initial investment of machines needed for the skill centers, salary for a trainer, and the materials needed at the center.

Based on a request Vasudha received from the principal of Pedagollapalem Primary School in Singarayakonda Mandal, Prakasham Dt, Andhra Pradesh, Vasudha is now supporting this primary school with a Vidya Volunteer who can assist them in teaching the 60+ students in this understaffed school. Half of these students are migrated from Bihar and are not aware of the local language and needs additional effort from the teachers to make them progress with their studies. With this situation, school needed additional staff. Though they have requested the government, they are yet to receive a volunteer teacher. Vasudha is looking to support the school until such help is provided by the government. Vasudha is paying Rs 5000 per month to this Vidya Volunteer starting January 2024 as a honorarium.

Vasudha team in collaboration with Pens Sahayog Foundation is helping to improve the education in the rural areas. As a part of this effort, we are providing free after school tuitions for underprivileged students from 6th to 8th grade for 2 big schools in Kainad Morepada. As part of this effort Vasudha is providing teacher salaries for two teachers Priyanka and Sweeti. This is a program taken up by PENS for the calendar year from June-23 to May-24. Vasudha has committed to provide salaries of Rs 10K each for these teachers from December-23 to May-24.

At the beginning of the new year 2024, Vasudha team has distributed 200 woolen blankets to Tekulagudem village residents to help handle the winter temperatures in the area. For the last few years Vasudha team has been helping people in the rural villages with blanket distribution. In the past we have done this in several villages of Asifabad district and also in a village of Kodada. This year we have done the blanket distribution in Tekulagudem, Khammam. Police officer Mr. Ramarao that has been working with Vasudha team since his Asifabad days has helped coordinate this distribution in Tekulagudem, Khammam.

Vasudha is pleased to provide an update of its activities over the last 5 years.

Vasudha has successfully completed 5 years in operation. During these 5 years, we have taken up 80+ projects spending about 84 lakh rupees ($103K+) helping about 20,000+ people across Bay Area California, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.

Thank you all for making this possible. Let us measure ourselves by how we are able to expand our consciousness to connect with the oneness that is powering the whole universe by serving more and more people that are less fortunate than us.

In December 2023, Vasudha team visited Telangana Tribal Welfare Degree College, Junior College and Model School to encourage them to learn right values as they grow up through their education. As part of International Yoga Day 2023, Vasudha team has conducted various competitions (Yoga, Elocution, Essay Writing) across these colleges to make them think beyond themselves and provided a number of prizes as encouragement.

In December 2023, Vasudha team visited our production tailoring center at Jainoor in Asifabad district of Telangana to understand how well it is utilized so far. It hasn’t been utilized to our satisfaction so far, as the trained women are facing their own difficulties in using the center on a regular basis. Only few of them are able to utilize. We have informed them to use it regularly or else we would like to move the machinery to Tiryani where we expect more people to benefit from it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/YKl-iUezGQg?feature=share

In December 2023, Vasudha has successfully completed 100 day Tailoring Training camp at Gadalapalli village of Tiryani Mandal, Asifabad district, Telangana. As part of this camp, 31 rural women have been trained to learn tailoring skill and utilize it for their own needs as well as to earn their livelihood. One additional aspect to note with this camp is that the trainer for the camp has learned the tailoring through our earlier camp in Tiryani and she has mastered it so well that she is now able to teach others in the nearby villages. At the end of the 100 day camp, our team visited from Hyderabad to test their skills and they all have performed exceptionally well.

Vasudha under its physical wellness mission is embarking on development of Miyawaki Urban Forests to fight the climate change. Miyawaki Urban Forest development is a proven concept that everyone of us can contribute to fight the climate change and create bio diversity that has been taken away from Mother Earth through urbanization. Compared to conventional landscapes and tree plantations, forests made using Miyawaki Method grow 10 times faster and they have 30 times more green surface area. They are full of biodiversity. The process of forest making is 100 percent natural and free of chemicals. These forests retain ground water, thus recharging the ground water table. They attract more birds, produce native fruits and improve air quality. They are relatively easy to implement as a small forest can be developed in as small as 10 X 10 sft backyard area.

Vasudha will be using the Miyawaki methods established by Shubhendu Sharma of Afforestt and local expertise of Ms Neelam Patil of International Association for Human Values to start with a small patch of land in San Martin, California and look to contribute more from that experience.