First Time on a Plane
I want to introduce you to Neetu Tomar. This month, at the age of 21, Neetu will be doing something she would never have dreamed growing in the small village of Karanpur, miles away from the nearest Indian Railways station: she'll be flying to London.

Neetu is a true success story for PPES. Since graduating she has been teaching at the school, helping educate a new generation of girls coming from the same situation she transcended. Neetu was chosen by Sahara Means Support, a London-based NGO, for a 3-month intensive course in English. The skills she'll learn over the next three months will help her better pass her knowledge on to other students. She will see and experience things she never expected (in fact, she tried McDonalds in Delhi for the first time ever last week! She liked the fries, but the McAloo Tikki? Not so much.)

Neetu is very excited about this opportunity to see the world outside of India and to improve her English skills, and so are we. We wish her the best of luck.

UPDATE: Due to last-minute visa problems, Neetu is not going to London this year. We are hopefully she will get the opportunity again next year.

Our NEW Online Boutique!
From the Village to the World is an online boutique for the the beautiful Indian home decorations and gifts made by students at Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, Inc (PPES).

PPES students, as part of their vocational training, make beautiful hand embroidered Indian home decorations such as cushion covers, table cloths, place mats, napkins, serving trays, duvet covers along with gift items such as wine bottle covers, gift bags, calendars and much more!

Check it out!

In other marketing news, we had the pleasure of providing interior products for M.P. Tourism Hotel in Khajurao. We are also now selling ladies tops with a matching scarf - as well as mobile phone covers. Our Meerut store has shifted to 169/ 10 Abu Lane, Meerut Cantt, and our Gurgaon store has closed due to high rent.

We need help selling our beautiful handmade products. If you have ideas on how we can better sell our products in India and elsewhere, please contact us at info@pardadapardadi.org.

Independence Day Celebrations
August 15th was Indian Independence Day and we had great fun despite a huge rain downpour. Select students performed for a packed room of parents, teachers and students.

Notice how some of the children in the photo aren't wearing uniforms? We don't issue issue uniforms to new students until they have been at the school for two months. At this time, all students have uniforms. We need help selling our beautiful handmade products. If you have ideas on how we can better sell our products in India and elsewhere, please contact us at info@pardadapardadi.org.

High School Students Visit from California
We were delighted to have five students and one teacher from the Head-Royce School located in Oakland, California spend a week at our school (PPGVS). The high school students spent time with individual girls of PPGVS, going to their homes and spending the whole day with them in order to better understand the plight of girls in rural India. They also played games with our students, taught computer skills, participated in the Independence Day celebrations and even squeezed in some sightseeing in Agra, Jaipur and Delhi.

Special thanks to Paul Chapman and Ms. Carmen for making this possible!

We're Coming to San Francisco
From October 5th to October 25th our Director, Mrs. Renuka, will be in San Francisco along with two Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School graduates to visit high schools and speak about PPES's efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged girls in rural India.

If you would like to host a fundraiser for PPES during this time or would like Mrs. Renuka and the graduates to speak at any functions, please contact Renuka at: renuka@pardadapardadi.org.

We're Growing!
With more students than ever, it was time to expand. We have recruited new teachers, a new School Director, Mrs. Rana, and also added people to our administrative office. Poonam Sharma will be heading up fundraising efforts, Jenny Steeves to manage communications, and Vinod Kumartewari to handle billing.

To accommodate this growth, we have shifted to a new office (pictured) in Delhi located at: A-47 Lajpat Nagar - 1, New Delhi - 110024. Our phone number is: 91- 011- 46502621/31.

Pictured: Vinod, Jenny, Nisha and Poonam

Rice Donation
We received a very generous donation of five tons of rice from Mr. V.K. Arora from LT Overseas. This is enough rice to last the school for eight months. Thanks so much!

Boys Vocational School
PPES has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Builders Congress to open a vocational school for boys. PPES is providing local contacts and land; Indian Builders Congress brings technical expertise and financial backing. This project will be jointly managed by both organizations.

Why boys? The girls who graduate from our school are better educated and have more skills than most boys in their villages. But because we want to create a gender-sensitive society, we need to educate and empower both sexes with good values and good skills.

With Kind Regards
Sam