SAGE JOURNEY TO INDIA

making a difference – voluntourism at its most rewarding

It’s not often you get an opportunity to step up and make a real difference while experiencing travel and adventure in a land of paradox. This is exactly what we are inviting you to do when you join us on this incredible journey of the heart in India.

You will experience India like you have never dreamed before on the most unique, inspiring and soul fulfilling travel adventure.

SAGE Journey to India is no glossy travel itinerary. Come with us to experience India at the grass roots level. This journey will be one of the most profound of your life and stay with you forever. Simply by being on this tour you will save lives and give people hope for perhaps the first time ever. We will combine social responsibility with the adventure of the real India, far from the India seen from a luxury coach.

Day One: Saturday 5th March

Your adventure starts in Mumbai - which is the thriving hub and gateway to India. Gifted by Portugal to Charles II of England as a dowry when he married Catherine of Braganza, Mumbai is a cultural melting pot and bustling urban metropolis combined with incredible poverty. A city of over 13 million people and without the infrastructure to support its growth its surprising anything can be achieved here, but it is and its absolutely thriving.

Mumbai derives its name from the temple of Kali Goddess Mumba or Maha Amba. Aai in Marathi means mother.

You will be collected from the airport and driven to the Godwin Hotel (a comfortable 3 star hotel in South Mumbai). It is likely different members of the group will arrive at different times and it may be in the middle of the night however please ensure you are ready to join us by midday on the 5th- if you are arriving the day before we can arrange accommodation at the same hotel for you. This morning you can relax – walk on the nearby sea front – explore the local streets or simply sit on the rooftop of the hotel and take in the view of the sea and surrounding area.

We will provide you with an easy to read small map of the area to make sure you can find your way back to the hotel if you go walking. Breakfast will be supplied at the hotel.

At 12.30 we will meet on the rooftop for a cold drink, small snack and a brief orientation and introducing ourselves. We will then head off for an Indian style “thali” lunch at the Golden Star Thali. They serve cuisine that comes from the cradles of Gujarat and Rajasthan. It brings to you the spirits, sights and sounds of the people who do India proud with their vibrant colours, their haunting aura, exquisite food and flavours, their dance and their undisputed beauty.

It will be a selection of different regional dishes, served in small bowls on a round tray usually made of steel. Dishes include rice, dhal, assortment of snacks and vegetables, chapati, papad, curd (yoghurt), small amounts of chutney or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it off. Don’t be concerned if you are sensitive to spicy foods - we can arrange for mild dishes for you.

After lunch it’s time to walk some of that food off! We will start our afternoon adventure – which will take us around two hours, from the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Temple where we will be shown a short video on Indian history, culture and religion.

We will then go to Mani Bhavan (Gandhi’s residence) a place which will give you a real sense of the power
of one man’s stance for freedom.

After this memorable visit, we will drive past August Kranti Maidan where Gandhi flagged off his Quit India Movement. A monument commemorating this historical event is currently located in a garden inside the Maidan. The locality surrounding this ground is known as Gowalia Tank. The name “Gowalia Tank” refers to the olden days when there was a water tank situated here where shepherds (”Gowalia” in Gujarati) used to bring their cows and sheep for water. And on via the Babulnath Mandir (Shiva Temple), ascending Malabar Hill, with a view over Chowpatty Beach to the Hanging Gardens, then down to BanGanga. 

See more in Activities……..

MELBOURNE CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS THE POWER OF DIVERSITY

From 10-12 October, political leaders, civil society activists, private sector and media representatives came together from Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region for the inaugural ‘Unity in Diversity-10.10.10 Global Dialogue Forum’ in Melbourne.

Hosted by the Global Dialogue Foundation (GDF) and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the event highlighted successful examples of collaboration across cultures and provided a unique platform for new partnerships aimed at building cross cultural understanding in the region.

Participants heard the views of the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle; the High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, President Jorge Sampaio; as well as Human Rights Commissioners, Members of Parliament, SBS news representatives, RMIT and Swinburne and Deakin Universities.

Participants representing the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, local councils, corporate-business, community leaders, policy makers, students and media outlets expressed a common desire for finding new solutions and upscaling currently successful programmes in the field of cross-cultural understanding.

A key feature of the forum was the Marketplace of Ideas, which showcased innovative and groundbreaking civil society initiatives designed to develop intercultural understanding and dialogue in the Asia Pacific region. These projects were presented to an audience of potential partners - among them, representatives of international organizations, foundations and academia.Among the organizations that participated in the Marketplace of Ideas were: The Western Bulldogs, Essendon Football Club, Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, Victorian Arab Social Services, Y-Gap, the Centre for Multicultural Youth, Brahma Kumaris, The Art of Living and New Australia Media.

Other highlights included “Me and the Others”, a presentation of primary school children’s artworks organized by the UNESCO Observatory of the University of Melbourne [link].

Global Dialogue Foundation’s Hon. Chairperson KK Bose highlighted the significance of this event: “With fifty percent of Australians having a parent who was born overseas, this country has an invaluable role in setting an example to the rest of the world for promoting greater tolerance, understanding and co- operation of people from various cultural backgrounds.”

“This Forum illustrates how the issue of cultural diversity, central to multicultural societies around the world, plays out differently in different regions of the world. It also confirms the relevant role of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in globalizing the cultural diversity agenda, ensuring that it becomes a priority for decision-makers worldwide and helping to connect government policies with the groundswell of innovative practices created at grassroots level” said Jean-Christophe Bas, Senior Advisor, Strategic Development and Partnerships at the UNAOC.

The event has greatly contributed to the visibility of the UNAOC in Australia and in the region. A development plan involving several key stakeholders is beginning to take shape, with clear objectives for building the capacity of civil society in terms of preserving cultural identity and heritage and building cohesive communities.

      

 

 Mumbai - Dreamcatchers Bollywood Launch

We just finished the Mumbai launch of the movie. The biggest so far. Around 1500+ people engaged two sessions at the rustic theatre Sophia Bhabha Hall. There were dignitaries, like the chief of police (which helped for crowd control), senior government officials and Bollywood movie stars and the icons of Industry. When local star of Dreamcatchers ‘Maya Shahani‘ graced the screen with her amazing presence the whole audience erupted in applause, which led to a standing ovation.

                                                                                                             

 Back to Mumbai. The reaction was…out of this world. I have literally hundreds of people coming to me telling me the movie was wonderful, even Bollywood stars and directors (who of course make major blockbusters). They loved it. India definetly got ‘the movie’. They said it was what they knew to be the truth, what the Veda’s had said and so many asked me to make a movie about India and its spirituality. Got me thinking…but no..I will take a break from movie making just at the moment. Yash Birla was one of the wonderful people I met in Mumbai who adored the movie. As the chairperson of the Yash Birla group he is the world’s 3rd largest cotton manufacturer and that is just one thing he does. A 30Billion dollar company, the traffic was so bad that he walked a couple of miles with his wife because he wanted so much to see the movie.

 Maya Shahani commented to me this morning that she was amazed people wanted to touch her feet after the movie. I laughed of course. In India you touch a guru’s feet to become blessed and pay homage. Maya is truly a guru of course. We had a fabulous dinner in typical Bollywood style on the lawns outside the theatre, where we dined with stars, socialites, dignitries and the ordinary people. I really enjoyed the pageantry of the occasion. Whilst everyone was amazing in their feedback and good wishes, for the most part I was relieved for Maya, that they loved her. She must have been so nervous, as many of her family and friends were in the audience.

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Tickets 1 -800 for Dreamcatchers. 801 - 1600 is opposite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can be the change to make Mumbai environment friendly.

SAGE and PATT are organizing a tree plantation project on 22nd of May, 2010 on land owned by INS Trata (Defence establishment). This land is a stone’s throw away from Bandra-Worli sea link (Worli entrance). At present the site is barren, rough and rocky. After the plantation it will be a beautiful site and will add to the greenery of Mumbai. This is in line with the objective of SAGE and PATT to beautify Mumbai and bring about a change in society.
Volunteers are needed to assist with this plantation project. To assist the volunteers pits have already been dug and red soil provided on site. The pits are 1 metre deep and 1 metre wide to ensure the saplings penetrate down easily and the survival rate increases. High quality saplings have been already sourced for the project to ensure a survival rate of above 90%. Manure is available on site and kept near the pits. The tree selected for the project is the Coconut tree. Coconut trees survive better than most other trees near the sea side and in similar salty terrain.
To help volunteers in the process, there will be people explaining the right way to complete the plantation. At least 10 saplings have already been planted as examples for people who love to watch and proceed on their own. Tools will be provided on the day to assist people. The dress code for the day would be anything comfortable like T-shirts, Bermuda’s and Three-fourth’s. Anything tight or fancy should be avoided.
SAGE and PATT have successfully organized similar projects financed by various brands like Standard Chartered, HDFC, Barclays, AEGIS, etc. Noted projects in the pipe line are funded by UTI, Birla Sunlife and Nerolac. By being a part of a tree plantation project, people will gain more insights in to plantation, importance and they in turn can confidently spread the word in the city to increase afforestation and reforestation. Volunteering for the project is an excuse to do something different from the regular city business and tree planting is also a proven way of mind relaxation.
We need volunteers who like to contribute and people who like to get their hands dirty for a cause. We will always have more projects for those who can regularly participate in similar tree plantations. This is your time to bring about a change in Mumbai. Come, be a part of the change to preach what you practice.
Contacts:
SAGE: Maya Shahani (022 23682488/ 022 23683033)
http://www.thesagefoundation.com/
PATT: Vashitwa Mishra (9702210203/8898080203)
http://www.pattfoundation.org/index.php

Venue and Directions:
INS Trata ground,
Opposite Coast Guard building
Next to Bandra-Worli Sealink (Worli side),
Worli, Mumbai
While coming to Worli from the Bandra- Worli sealink please take a left when you reach Worli on the Khan Abdul Gafar Khan Marg. Keep driving and in seconds you will come across a turnabout. Take left again from the turnabout on a small connecting road that will lead you to Coast Guard Gates. One of our guys will be present at the gates to guide you further to the site.

Google map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?

q=19.015597,72.816664&num=1&t=h&sll=19.01584,72.818273&sspn=0.005173,0.009645&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=19.0151,72.817372&spn=0.005173,0.009645&z=17

Date and Time:
22nd May 2010 (Saturday) at 9:00 AM.

 

 

PATT, SAGE and UTI Mumbai tree Plantation

Another tree plantation project was flagged off on 17th March 2010 by PATT foundation, SAGE foundation, INS Trata (Indian Navy) and the Unit trust of India (UTI) mutual funds, Mumbai. UTI funded the entire project with great support from INS TRATA who provided the land for the plantation of the 200 coconut trees. The beautiful piece of land is located in Worli facing the Arabian Sea and the famous Bandra-Worli Sea link.UTI was well represented by senior executives including Mr. Jaideep Bhattacharya (CMO, UTI Mutual Fund), Mr. T.N. Radhakrishna (Head HR, UTI Mutual Fund) and Mr. Gaurav Suri (Head marketing, UTI Mutual Fund). The project was well coordinated by Ruchi Sihare (Manager, UTI), Lieutenant Ramesh of the INS Trata and (Vashitwa Mishra, country manager, PATT). The project was inaugurated at 8:00 am in the morning and 20 saplings were planted by the excited UTI representatives. Commander Dinesh Singh of the INS Trata, an avid fan of tree plantation himself was present on the occasion and pledged support for future tree plantations. The CMO was happy with the way the project was conducted and expressed desire to support more such events which could be enjoyed by UTI staff along with their family members.

The plantation was followed by a short photo session and all the participants were taken on a small guided tour of the INS Trata base. All the free space within the INS Trata base has been utilized for tree plantation making the base and absolute beauty to visit. After the tour, the exhausted participants were treated with snacks, courtesy the INS Trata again. The time was also used to network and discuss future projects. UTI has expressed happiness to be associated with PATT, SAGE and INS Trata on similar projects in the future.

All-in-all another successful tree plantation project.

 

 

 

Windows of the World Exhibition held at Melbourne Square, Australia on the 12th September, 2009 engaged major cities of the  world as it showcased projects addressing social and environmental challenges. It provided a window through which other cultures could be seen, understood and appreciated as a mutual reaching out towards living peacefully in this world, and indeed, for the survival of life on our planet.

Windows of the World represents active support for the developement of a new and more humane existence, where environmental sustainability, spiritual fulfillment and social justice become the guiding principals of our time.

Pauline Crosbie of BumbleBee Creations, and Peter Gorgievski of Global Dialogue Foundation reached out to SAGE Foundation and helped showcase rugs made by the Mumbai slum dwellers as gifts for the school children affected by the bush fires. Furrah Syed, Brand Ambassador of SAGE Foundation, presented the rugs. Based on this goodwill gesture, Pauline will help market SAGE products globally.

SAGE Foundation/Bumblebee presentation by Furrah Syed (with the microphone), daughter Sophiya (SAGE ambassadors who flew to Melbourne for the event) and Pauline Crosbie (far left) present artwork by SAGE Villages to Melbourne fire affected school principal. A precious moment.

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bollywood Night at Melbourne                                                Glimpses of Windows of the World Exhibition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAGE Foundation receives recognition at the Clinton Global Initiative in Hong  Kong, China

Maya Shahani, Chairperson of SAGE Foundation, was recently invited to be part of the Clinton Global Initiative established by former President Bill Clinton. This initiative, aims to turn pioneering ideas into viable solutions to urgent global challenges, bringing together international leaders from government, the private sector, NGOs, the media, and academia to make “Commitments to Action” that impact lives around the world. Clinton Global Initiative attendees have included U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Condoleezza Rice, Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Sergey Brin, Muhammad Yunus and many other current and former heads of state, CEOs, Nobel Peace Prize winners, and philanthropists. They have contributed to CGI’s work to help improve the lives of millions of people.

Ms. Shahani shared the work that SAGE was promoting with some of the world’s most influential leaders at the two-day meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Hong Kong. The meeting aimed to strengthen Asian philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and development. It encouraged members to take action on education, energy, climate change, and public health. Designed to stimulate practical ideas, immediate action, and long-term sustainable results the partnership created between CGI and SAGE Foundation will go a long way in helping rural growth in India and the rest of the world.

President Bill Clinton issued a certificate of recognition to SAGE Foundation for its commitment to create a self sustaining model village near Mumbai, which could be replicated anywhere in the world. This project which will be executed in partnership with the global transformational organization Rock Your Life, run by Mike Handcock and The Woman Incentive Program, a program developed by Samantha Backman to support womens’ education, diet, disease prevention and hygiene. Samantha Backman apart from having her own TV show in 52 countries, which has the ability to market SAGE products globally, plans to film a documentary on life in the SAGE village as part of her documentary on the plight of women around the world. Samantha will be implementing her education program along with Don Tolman’s Imagination Academy.

The SAGE Foundation seeks to end mass illiteracy and unemployment. This will be achieved by educating village children on the one hand, and empowering their families through skills training, by opening the SAGE School of Creative Crafts which hopes to revive the traditional arts and crafts of India.

In order to create sustainability in the long run, the model village will have the following components:

1. A well-built school will provide quality, out of the box holistic education for a range of ages, with a focus on equity in education and teachers’ training programmes. A preschool called the Starting Point School will be the starting point for this venture.

2. The SAGE School of Creative Crafts will educate older siblings and parents in a trade so that they have paid employment and could contribute to their children’s education financially. The products created by them will be marketed locally as well as globally. Organizations such as Positive Elements, Extraordinary Ones and others will buy eco friendly products created by the communities and so help to feed and educate their children.

3. Rock Your Life SAGE tours will bring socially-responsible global visitors to the village to work with the villagers, and assist in training and development of the social projects.

4. The SAGE Foundation will also dedicate resources to ensure that clean water is accessible by all in the villages, and sanitary conditions meet acceptable international standards. Additionally, a medical care center will be established in the village so that villagers receive holistic physical and mental health treatment.

5. In partnership with other organizations such as PATT Foundation, Times Foundation, and Standard Chartered Bank, SAGE Foundation will also focus on planting trees, training villagers on horticulture management, and will assist them in distributing products in urban areas.

6. The SAGE Foundation has established a partnership with the Global Dialogue Foundation (GDF) and WCA Family which will collect goods in usable form from participating countries ranging from cars, televisions, earthmoving equipment to septic systems, and send them to the SAGE villages.

7. The One Laptop Per Child Foundation has connected with SAGE Foundation and will deliver one laptop to every child nurtured by SAGE.

8. The SAGE Foundation will also focus on microfinance and creating self-help groups to empower women in small scale industries like making pickles, sauces and chutneys, for which ties are being created with organizations like Extraordinary Ones for buying their products.

9. A major development has been a tie up with Buy1Give1 which has set up a virtual village on their website connecting donors with Worthy Causes. Through this site potential donors will be contributing to the real villages set up by SAGE Foundation with the help of the Clinton Global Initiative team. Through Google Earth the donors can actually see the villages being built brick by brick through their efforts. The Buy1Give1 Team will work in tandem with The Rock Your Life SAGE Tours to bring their donors to the SAGE villages in order to contribute hands on to the collective global effort. They will enrich and in turn be enriched by this experience.

10. Committed donors like Mike Handcock, Marc Robinson and B1G1 have already started working towards raising funds for this dream project.

For further information about the initiative, please click hereto go to the Clinton Global Initiative website.

About SAGE Foundation (www.TheSageFoundation.com)
Founded by its Chairperson Maya Shahani and Managing Director Akhil Shahani, SAGE Foundation is committed to educating children and giving wealth generating skills training to their families for creating extraordinary lives. Looking at a holistic approach, SAGE attempts to enhance living conditions through quality education and social empowerment, focusing on health, environment and eradication of poverty. SAGE has started by adopting major slums in Mumbai and one hundred villages. Known for ethical excellence, its greatest strength is its credibility, visibility and networking base. The Managing Director of SAGE Foundation, Akhil Shahani, apart from looking after the under privileged, also focuses on educating the elite through collaborations with global universities. The Shahani Group believes in equity in education. (www.Shahanigroup.com)

About the Clinton Global Initiative

in 2005 as a project of the nonpartisan William J. Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,200 commitments valued at $46 billion. Already these commitments have impacted more than 200 million lives in 150 countries, and commitments made at the 2008 Annual Meeting are expected to impact almost 160 million. CGI Asia is the Initiative’s first meeting overseas. For more information, contact press@clintonglobalinitiative.org.

For further information about the initiative, please click here to go to the Clinton Global Initiative website.

Global Shipment Update

Our project”Global Shipment” is being featured at a Melbourne exhibition at Federation
Square (City Center) between 11-24 August 2009. We!re preparing a 40 foot container outfitted with medical equipment which we!re donating to SAGE Foundation. You!ll be able to keep the container and use it as a mobile medical facility. The container will be on display for the 2 weeks at the exhibition.

The purpose of the exhibition

• Present Global Shipment as a major initiative, among others aimed at addressing and solving
issues of local and global importance, interest, challenges and concerns in this world of change,
• Raise awareness, engagement and support from individuals and organizations, both government
and/or non-government, profit and or non profit organizations, corporations, foundations,   individuals, as well communities on local and global levels (sponsorship included);
• Initiate, promote, inspire and establish new more human ways of dealing with problems and
individuals and at the same time, educate action groups with importance of more social and human
approach towards problems based on dialogue, respect of each and every identity, culture, faith,
needs and new opportunities raising from this new more human and more social global
engagement, analyzing and resolving/solving mutual problems for brighter future;
• Connect with multiple cities around the world via large city screens or via a similar appropriate
method for showcasing our as well other visions and efforts for uniting Humanity, and vice versa
(initiatives of other countries on our big screens, focussing on and emphasizing interactive and
interconnected address and dealing, sharing and solving new and old problems. Whether on local
or global level in a time of crisis, raised from a new changed world and environment, and/or
ongoing well known problems, with the aim to help friends in need as well, increasing their
standards of living and achieving balanced development of this world, bravely face and embrace
opportunity in this time of crisis and solve the pending issues for brighter and safer future.

The initiatives presented

• Unconditionally distributing-redistributing/shipping/transporting needed “material” for a balanced
   developing world via - “Global Shipment” project
• Global village development- “SAGE Foundation”
• Environmental sustainability, among other areas for a better world - “Be The Change,
   Symposium”
• Culture in Community
• Faith
• Integrity in workman/craftsman-ship

Key items in the lead up:

• We!d like to ship 30-40 or more containers of donated medical and dentist equipment to India,
   Africa and Latin America. The equipment is currently in storage and available to us.
• Engage 200 schools to commit to a sustainable project for their own school and/or community.
   Participating schools will have their school name on the inside of the container.
• Attract sponsorship.

Notes//Ideas/Requirements:

• We!d like to feature the work and words of great leaders such as Mr. Bill Clinton, or/and Mr. Tony
Blair, His Holiness Pope Benedikt XVI, Mr. Nelson Mandela, and/or others on the big screens in
Melbourne and around the world. They each could possibly do a short presentation about their
organizations/foundations and at the same time, acknowledge the efforts in Melbourne and foster
similar around the world for coming together for Humanity. They!re presence on screens around
the world can be quite inspiring and moving towards action. There was quite some excitement
around our meeting last Wednesday at the thought/mention of this happening.
• We (I/Global Dialogue Foundation/I) are working on raising funds for launching Global Shipment,
i.e. shipping donated goods. It!d be great if we can access funds for stepping it up and possibly
delivering a few dozen containers with medical equipment to areas in India, Africa and Latin
America between now and August… and then screen video with a thousand expressions of thanks,
love and appreciation from the local people and children in those underdeveloped countries to the
developed world… right around the world. Our goal is raising $300k before June for achieving this
start. After that, our goal is advancing the project considerably with a view to engaging as many of
the idling ships as possible. The global shipping volumes are reportedly down between 30 and
40%. There!s quite a lot of available capacity.

Some pictures and other exhibition information:

• This is the area where the container will be staged i.e. facing Flinders Street, at the corner of
Swanston Street, absolute Melbourne City Centre; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 • The big screen pictured below (top left) is available to our group for 4 hours every Tuesday
beginning 11th August, for 6 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

• The main outdoor area of Federation Square. Most of the showcasing will be in this area. The
screen is just beyond the top right of this picture.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Several surrounding restaurants (E.g. as pictured below) will facilitate various public speakers and
action group meetings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The container below was recently donated to Africa. It now serves as an education facility. 

 

 

 SAGE SCHOOL OF CREATIVE CRAFTS

Conceptualized by Renu Kapoor, The Sage School of Creative Crafts is Sage foundation’s latest and most innovative initiative. Known for being a first mover and extremely futuristic in its vision Sage has decided to integrate the Craft College into its macro vision of providing Global Academics and Empowerment.

Indian Craft is one of India’s largest and untapped resource and is poised to be the next new industry. It is currently the second largest employment sector providing employment to almost 7 million people, a vital and yet unknown fact. Based on its own natural resources and its strategic location, India has acquired a vast knowledge of materials and indigenous skills .

The management of these skills will require a fresh review and appreciation on a scale that is comparable to other countries in applications and which are absolutely diverse from its current predictable state. The Sage School of Creative Crafts (SSCC) is an ambitious yet practical and realistic endeavor in precisely this direction.

As part of its process of converting its business plan into reality SSCC has decided to launch the school with a two month program of one craft and twenty students. Women from the village of Panvel have been counseled and have been invited to enroll for the two month program

Aim of the program - to provide an infrastructure for fulfilling the need of quality training for the Indian craft industry. It is proposed to eventually establish a a full fledged training institute which will impart training in various crafts. This program is a pilot program. The training would focus on aspects such as product & design, quality standardization, market research, production tools & techniques, export modalities, business management skills and others.

Providing an alternate career opportunity Sage foundation will provide a platform to facilitate these candidates in creating markets for their products .Talks are already on with Ebay, Blue Banyan, Sandhi and other marketing agencies.

SAGE believes in equity in education. With this objective in mind, and considering the interest generated in these courses, the skills training would be open to all strata of society including enthusiasts from overseas. However, there will be a large percentage of village students enrolling who will be sponsored through donations.

Total sponsorship required ( for the 2 month course for 20 students) - Rupees Five lakhs ( Rupees 5,00,000/-) USD 10,000/- Donors could also sponsor a person identified by them.

Micro credit Finance - It is proposed that an amount of Rupees five hundred (USD 10/-) will be taken from each sponsored candidate for their training. The balance amount will be recovered from the candidate in a slow, staggered and sustainable manner by recovering 10% of all sales that are made by them through the Marketing channel of the Sage foundation. This process will eventually create a corpus for funding future students and thus fulfill SSCC vision of becoming self sustaining. 

Accountability of utilization of funds - A report will be submitted to the donor with details of all expenses and outcome of the activity of each student . Any surplus will be carried forward for the next batch of students.

All funds contributed are exempt from income tax under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. The Shahani Trust is entitled to receive contributions in Foreign currency and is registered under the FCRA act.

Varalaxmi Pillai, daughter of a housemaid was nurtured by SAGE Foundation and received a degree from HR College, a prime Educational Institute of Mumbai. Here she is receiving an Achievers’ Award for the best student at the hands of Maya Shahani, Chairperson of SAGE Foundation, and Indu Shahani, Sheriff of Mumbai. Laxmi was offered a scholarship at the London School of Economics but she opted to workfor a year at Thomas Cook to gain some workexperience and international elan. She was given a