Excerpt from Ganesh Kumar’s Travel Diary (July 7-26): My visits to nonprofit organizations in Mysuru

This is Ganesh Kumar, signing back in to share about what I learned from my humanitarian work in the state of Mysore.

The temperature here in Mysuru is much cooler compared to the scorching temperatures in Hyderabad. The traffic is pretty light unlike Hyderabad.

In Mysore, we visited a total of 6 non-profit organizations. I met the staff and children in-person to understand the mission of these organizations and how Project Jatropha can be involved with these organizations as a part of our ongoing humanitarian missions. 

1. My first stop was Sri Chayadevi Anathashrama Trust, a well-known establishment that not only serves children, aged 1-18, but also homeless adults. This organization offers them free education, clothing, housing, and food.
2. My second stop was Chamundi Children’s Home, a non-governmental organization that caters to boys aged 1-18. Their mission is to educate and encourage the boys to become independent.
3. My third stop was Lord’s Home, an educational and charitable non-government organization, which caters to boys aged 3-18. Their mission is to rebuild the lives and nurture the young children’s dreams in order for them to become responsible change makers of the society. They provide the boys quality education, equal opportunities, and financial support through spirituality and educational training.
4. My next stop was Om Sri Sai Trust, a charitable non-governmental organization, which helps poor girls in pursuing their nursing education after high school. 
5. My fifth stop was Pratham Organization, a global non-profit organization, which helps underprivileged children all over India by providing them with quality education. They partner with governments, local communities, teachers, and volunteers in order to accomplish this mission. More information can be found at: https://www.prathammysore.org/.
6. The last stop was Aarine Foundation, a non-profit organization that empowers the underprivileged and weak children of the society. Their mission is to uplift both women and young girls so that they become self-sustaining, educated, and responsible members of society.

My main goal in visiting these organizations was to understand the effect of COVID pandemic from a public health perspective. Most of these organizations have suffered huge financial setbacks. We enlisted financial help to buy groceries, clothing, and school supplies upon their requests. By watching these kids go through the hardships, I realized how fortunate I am to live in the U.S. I am now motivated to use my role as a youth ambassador of Project Jatropha to help the needy children in our future public health endeavors.